38-504: The American Historical Association ( AHA ) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional standards, and support scholarship and innovative teaching. It publishes The American Historical Review four times annually, which features scholarly history-related articles and book reviews. AHA
76-576: A book-like academic publication with research papers and book reviews , among other items (each issue typically runs to about 500 pages). Each year, approximately 25 articles are published in the journal. The acceptance rate for submissions is around 9 percent. The journal also publishes approximately 1,000 book reviews per year. The editorial offices are located at the American Historical Association headquarters in Washington DC, where
114-531: A large proportion of the next generation of American historians trained. Among his students were Woodrow Wilson , Thomas Dixon, Jr. , John Dewey , and Charles McLean Andrews . In 1882 Adams founded the "Johns Hopkins Studies in Historical and Political Science," the first such series. He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1881. He brought about the organization in 1884 of
152-470: A leader among academic historians. The association started to investigate cases of professional misconduct in 1987, but ceased the effort in 2005 "because it has proven to be ineffective for responding to misconduct in the historical profession." Presidents of the AHA are elected annually and give a president's address at the annual meeting: The American Historical Review The American Historical Review
190-475: A major journal of history scholarship covering all historical topics since ancient history and Perspectives on History , the monthly news magazine of the profession. In 2006 the AHA started a blog focused on the latest happenings in the broad discipline of history and the professional practice of the craft that draws on the staff, research, and activities of the AHA. The association's annual meeting each January brings together more than 5,000 historians from around
228-721: A small staff produces the publication. The journal is overseen by a board of editors and a team of associate review editors. From the October 2007 issue until 2011, the journal was published by the University of Chicago Press . As of 2023, the journal has been published by the Oxford University Press . The editorial board of the AHR is composed of scholars who represent all fields of historical study. Herbert Baxter Adams Herbert Baxter Adams (April 16, 1850 – July 30, 1901)
266-418: A teaching fellow in history during their inaugural year. Adams stayed with Johns Hopkins until his health failed. Adams was instrumental in organizing the American Historical Association. A leading organizer of American graduate schools , he contributed to various reform efforts. He has been characterized as a His legacy is honored through various awards and professorships at Johns Hopkins University. Adams
304-572: Is a quarterly academic history journal published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical Association , for which it is an official publication. It targets readers interested in all periods and facets of history and has often been described as the premier journal of American history in the world. In the 2011 Journal Citation Reports , the AHR had the highest impact factor among all history journals. Founded in 1895, The American Historical Review
342-427: Is led to look at matters historically, has some mental equipment for a comprehension of the political and social problems that will confront him in everyday life, and has received practical preparation for social adaptation and for forceful participation in civic activities.... The pupil should see the growth of the institutions which surround him; he should see the work of men; he should study the living concrete facts of
380-435: Is the first Black woman to hold that post. From its founding, the association was largely managed by historians employed at colleges and universities, and served a critical role in defining their interests as a profession. The association's first president, Andrew Dickson White , was president of Cornell University , and its first secretary, Herbert Baxter Adams , established one of the first history Ph.D. programs to follow
418-602: Is the major learned society for historians working in the United States, while the Organization of American Historians is a field society for historians who study and teach about the United States. The AHA's congressional charter of 1889, established it "for the promotion of historical studies, the collection and preservation of historical manuscripts, and for kindred purposes in the interest of American history, and of history in America." AHA operates as an umbrella organization for
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#1732837299506456-407: Is typically a collaborative effort, does not necessarily rely on primary research, is more democratic in participation, and does not aspire to absolute "scientific" objectivity. Historical museums, documentary editing, heritage movements and historical preservation are considered public history. Though activities now associated with public history originated in the AHA, these activities separated out in
494-411: The American Historical Association , for which he was secretary until 1900, when he resigned and was made first vice president. His historical writings introduced scientific methods of investigation that influenced many historians, including Frederick Jackson Turner and John Spencer Bassett . He authored Life and Writings of Jared Sparks (2 vols., 1893) and many articles and influential reports on
532-677: The Pendleton Act (1883), municipal reform with the New Charter of Baltimore (1895), the training of professional social workers, and efforts to solve labor unrest. Raymond Cunningham , argues that his reformism shows that the Mugwumps movement could attract affirmative and optimistic experts, rather than just suspicious or cautious patricians. Adams was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1886. He received
570-500: The PhD degree in political science. There he was influenced by Johann Gustav Droysen and Johann Kaspar Bluntschli , the latter also becoming his mentor. Heidelberg did not then require a thesis from its doctoral candidates, instead it required an oral examination, for which he chose political science for his major field (Hauptfach), with two minors (Nebenfächer) in public and international law and in political and cultural history. Adams passed
608-465: The 1930s due to differences in methodology, focus, and purpose. The foundations of public history were laid on the middle ground between academic history and the public audience by National Park Service administrators during the 1920s–30s. The academicians insisted on a perspective that looked beyond particular localities to a larger national and international perspective, and that in practice it should be done along modern and scientific lines. To that end,
646-512: The AHA Council before 1971 (out of over 186 members), and in the Association’s first 100 years only one woman, Nellie Neilson , had been elected to the presidency [in 1943]. By 1973 an assistant executive secretary had been appointed for the specific purpose of dealing with such problems. Thavolia Glymph was elected president of the AHA for the term beginning in 2024. The 140th president, she
684-470: The Association, Women and minorities were officially accepted into the Association from the beginning, but enjoyed little or no representation at the Association’s meetings and in the governing structure. No African Americans were represented on the AHA governing Council until 1959, and it would be another 20 years before John Hope Franklin was elected president of the AHA. Similarly, only 15 women served on
722-427: The United States to discuss the latest research and discuss how to be better historians and teachers. Many affiliated historical societies hold their annual meetings simultaneously. The association's web site offers extensive information on the current state of the profession, tips on history careers, and an extensive archive of historical materials (including the G.I. Roundtable series), a series of pamphlets prepared for
760-590: The War Department in World War II . The association also administers two major fellowships, 24 book prizes, and a number of small research grants. The early leaders of the association were mostly gentlemen with the leisure and means to write many of the great 19th-century works of history, such as George Bancroft , Justin Winsor , and James Ford Rhodes . However, as former AHA president James J. Sheehan points out,
798-549: The association actively promoted excellence in the area of research, the association published a series of annual reports through the Smithsonian Institution and adopted the American Historical Review in 1898 to provide early outlets for this new brand of professional scholarship. In 1896, the association appointed a "Committee of Seven" to develop a national standard for college admission requirements in
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#1732837299506836-484: The association always tried to serve multiple constituencies, "including archivists , members of state and local historical societies, teachers, and amateur historians, who looked to it – and not always with success or satisfaction – for representation and support." Much of the early work of the association focused on establishing a common sense of purpose and gathering the materials of research through its Historical Manuscripts and Public Archives Commissions. According to
874-411: The association, other areas and activities tended to fall by the wayside. The Manuscripts and Public Archives Commissions were abandoned in the 1930s, while projects related to original research and the publication of scholarship gained ever-greater prominence. In recent years, the association has tried to come to terms with the growing public history movement and has struggled to maintain its status as
912-638: The degree LL.D. from the University of Alabama in 1891, and from Amherst in 1899. Adams made a report to the U.S. Bureau of Education on summer schools in Europe in 1896, and resigned the chair of American and institutional history at Johns Hopkins University in December, 1900, to take effect in February, 1901, and then visited Florida . Returning to his home in Amherst, Massachusetts, Adams died on July 30, 1901, and
950-428: The discipline of history, and works with other major historical organizations and acts as a public advocate for the field. Within the profession, the association defines ethical behavior and best practices, particularly through its "Statement on Standards of Professional Conduct". AHA also develops standards for good practice in teaching and history textbooks. The association publishes The American Historical Review ,
988-457: The editor. Each issue also reviewed a number of history books for their conformity to the new professional norms and scholarly standards that were taught at leading graduate schools to Ph.D. candidates. From the AHR, Sheehan concludes, "a junior scholar learned what it meant to be a historian of a certain sort". Meringolo (2004) compares academic and public history. Unlike academic history, public history
1026-525: The field of history. Before this time, individual colleges defined their own entrance requirements. After substantial surveys of prevailing teaching methods, emphases and curricula in secondary schools, the Committee published "The Study of History in Schools" in 1898. Their report largely defined the way history would be taught at the high school level as a preparation for college, and wrestled with issues about how
1064-413: The field should relate to the other social studies. The Committee recommended four blocks of Western history, to be taught in chronological order—ancient, medieval and modern European, English, and American history and civil government—and advised that teachers "tell a story" and "bring out dramatic aspects" to make history come alive. [T]he student who is taught to consider political subjects in school, who
1102-466: The institutions of which they speak. The association also played a decisive role in lobbying the federal government to preserve and protect its own documents and records. After extensive lobbying by AHA Secretary Waldo Leland and Jameson, Congress established the National Archives and Records Administration in 1934. As the interests of historians in colleges and universities gained prominence in
1140-611: The new German seminary method at Johns Hopkins University . The clearest expression of this academic impulse in history came in the development of the American Historical Review in 1895. Formed by historians at a number of the most important universities in the United States, it followed the model of European history journals. Under the early editorship of J. Franklin Jameson , the Review published several long scholarly articles every issue, only after they had been vetted by scholars and approved by
1178-444: The oral examination on July 13, 1876, summa cum laude. The new Johns Hopkins University , which opened in 1876, wanted to bring German-style graduate education to the United States. Adams was hired as fellow in history from 1876 to 1878, associate from 1878 to 1883, and was appointed associate professor in 1883. He is credited with bringing the study of history into the realm of the social sciences : "Adams, with his German training,
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1216-417: The past; he should know of nations that have risen and fallen; he should see tyranny, vulgarity, greed, benevolence, patriotism, self-sacrifice, brought out in the lives and works of men. So strongly has this very thought taken hold of writers of civil government, that they no longer content themselves with a description of the government as it is, but describe at considerable length the origin and development of
1254-514: The study of the social sciences. His principal writings are: All these papers are published in the Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, edited by Prof. Adams, 4 vols. (Baltimore, 1883–1986). Although less known for his contributions to the history of education, Adams was essential to its early development. He edited the circular series titled, Contributions to American Educational History which
1292-519: Was a joint effort between the history departments at Cornell University and at Harvard University , modeled on The English Historical Review and the French Revue historique , "for the promotion of historical studies, the collection and preservation of historical documents and artifacts, and the dissemination of historical research." The journal is published in March, June, September, and December as
1330-536: Was an American educator and historian who brought German rigor to the study of history and social science in America. He was a professor at Johns Hopkins University . He was a founding member of the American Historical Association , and one of the earliest educators using the seminar for teaching history. With a fresh PhD from the Heidelberg University in Germany , Johns Hopkins University brought Adams in as
1368-857: Was born to lumber merchant Nathaniel Dickinson Adams and Harriet (Hastings) Adams in Shutesbury , Massachusetts , on April 16, 1850. On his mother's side, he was a descendant of Thomas Hastings who came from the East Anglia region of England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634. Herbert B. Adams received his early training in the Amherst , Massachusetts public schools followed by Phillips Exeter Academy . He graduated from Amherst College , with an AB in 1872 and AM in 1875. In 1873 Adams traveled to Europe to study and write. In 1874 he moved to Heidelberg , Germany , to pursue, two years later,
1406-593: Was determined to inaugurate through the seminar system the scientific study of history based on careful, critical examination of the sources. He hoped to make the study of history an independent professional pursuit rather than a mere branch of literature." From 1878 to 1881 Adams was also a lecturer in history at Smith College . He was then a member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society , from 1881 to 1886. At Johns Hopkins, in 1880, Adams began his famous seminar in history, where
1444-426: Was printed and distributed by the U.S. Bureau of Education. A new class of experts needed new modes of training, and those were provided by the new American graduate schools, built along German models. Adams was a leading organizer. He was a Mugwump who promoted reform at Johns Hopkins and nationally. Under his direction, the faculty and advanced students worked for numerous reforms, including civil service reform in
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