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Feb 14, 2004

OAH Reconsiderations ...




The print version of February's OAH Newsletter announces the Organization of American Historians official response to the series of scandals that introduced history to the third millennium. My articles, "The Year When We Got Caught" and "Clio's Malpractice; or, What's A Fallen Girl To Do?" suggested that, while 2001 and 2002 were particularly embarrassing years for historians, the scandals had lots of precedents in the last half century and often involved fairly prominent practitioners of the craft.

The March issue of the Journal of American History will include the previously announced roundtable of articles which address the issues. The Journal's editor, Joanne Meyerowitz, who is leaving to join the history department at Yale, will open the discussion with an essay on"History's Ethical Crisis: An Introduction." Elliott J. Gorn of Brown University will follow on"The Historian' Dilemma." Michael Grossberg, editor of the American Historical Review writes on"Plagiarism and Professional Ethics: A Journal Editor's View." Richard Wightman Fox of the University of Southern California follows with"A Heartbreaking Problem of Staggering Proportions."* Joyce Seltzer, senior editor for history and contemporary affairs at Harvard University Press, writes on"Honest History" and Emma J. Lapsansky of Haverford College closes the discussion with"An Honor System for Historians?"

At the same time, the Newsletter announces that the OAH's new Ad Hoc Committee on Intellectual Integrity will host an open forum on Saturday 27 March at the Organization's convention in Boston. The Committee, chaired by Karen Halttunen of the University of California, Davis, is charged with helping the Organization to formulate new guidelines for responding to issues of honesty, integrity, and professional ethics.

*With apologies to Dave Eggers, we assume.



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