Historians in the News

Building a digital archive for decaying paper documents, preserving centuries of records about enslaved people

by Daniel Genkins

Paper archives are vulnerable to flooding, humidity, insects, and rodents, among other threats. Political instability can cut off money used to maintain archives and institutional neglect can transform precious records into moldy rubbish.

The Radical Lives of Abolitionists

by Britt Rusert

History has tended to sanitize the lives of abolitionists, many of whom were involved in other radical movements as well, including Free Love, which promoted women’s independence and an end to traditional marriage. A review of Holly Jackson's American Radicals: How Nineteenth-Century Protest Shaped the Nation.

National Security Archive Releases USCYBERCOM documents which shed new light on the campaign to counter ISIS in cyberspace

by Michael Martelle

New FOIA documents show challenges in operational synchronization, deconfliction, and inter-agency coordination.

Historian Jonathan Holloway will be named as Rutgers first black president

A historian specializing in African American studies, Holloway received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University, where he played football with New Jersey U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, according to his official Northwestern University biography.

The Twitterstorians Trying to De-Trumpify American History

In a time when President Trump and his followers are known for spreading dubious versions of American history, historians are taking to Twitter to set the record straight.

African Americans and Africa: A New Book about Black America’s Relationship with the Continent

 An interview with author Nemata Blyden about her latest book. 

AHA Sends Letter to NARA Archivist about Altered Women's March Photo

The AHA sent the following letter to the Archivist of the United States objecting to the alteration of a photograph on exhibition and praising NARA staff for acknowledging this serious lapse in judgement.

Prohibition began 100 years ago, and its legacy remains

Featuring Harvard history professor Lisa McGirr, whose 2015 book “The War on Alcohol” examines Prohibition’s political and social repercussions.

Think universities are making lots of money from inventions? Think again.

Featuring the research of Marc Levine, an emeritus professor of history at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.

AHA Encourages History Departments to Provide Full Library Access to Alumni and to Unaffiliated Historians in their Regions

by James Grossman and Becky Nicolaides

The AHA encourages history departments to provide full library access to their own scholar alumni and to unaffiliated historians in their regions.

Clayborne Carson Interviewed by World Socialist Web Site on 1619 Project

The profesor of history at Stanford University is the latest historian to be interviewed by the webiste about the 1619 Project. 

“A staggering tour de force – but an opportunity missed”: a historian’s review of the film 1917

by Jeremy Banning

How does 1917 deal with the realities of war and what does it show about the real events of 1917 – the retreat by German forces and life in the trenches? 

NY Journal of Books Reviews Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy

"David Zucchino cuts through a century of propaganda, myth, and big white lies to unmask the stunning history of the Wilmington coup, its origins in the political climate of the era, and its far-reaching implications for North Carolina and the entire South in the decades that followed."

AHA Enrollment Study Finds History Enrollments Hold Study as Department Efforts Intensify

by Julia Brookins and Emily Swafford

For the past several years, the AHA has conducted an optional annual enrollments survey of history departments.

National Museum of American History Marks 2020 as “Year of the Woman”

Celebrates 100th Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage With Exhibitions

How Educators Are Rethinking The Way They Teach Immigration History

Feauting quotes from historian Greg Grandin. 

Robert Caro’s Papers Headed to New-York Historical Society

The New-York Historical Society has acquired Mr. Caro’s papers — some 200 linear feet of material that will be open to researchers in its library.

Historians Thomas Krainz, Colleen Doody, Emily Romeo, Amy Tyson Featured in Article on 1920s

"The decade’s glamor and glitz overpowers its racism, crime and economic troubles."

The 10 Most Checked-Out Books in N.Y. Public Library History

Librarians and analysts spent over six months parsing through hundreds of titles to compile the list. They considered all book formats, including e-books and foreign-language editions.

The past’s long shadow: A network analysis of economic history

by Gregori Galofré Vilà

Economic history is a thriving subset of the field. This column uses network analysis to review the development of the discipline over the last 40 years.