Table Of Content

The President's Preface By Robert Darnton part-time, adjunct, and independent historians and could not be used to istorians have enough locate individuals and discover who was difficulties spotting trends in working on specific subjects. A new the past, so they should shy directory, published online, provides away from making pronouncements information about 8,000 members of the about the present. Nonetheless, I think AHA and the topics of their research. We the following report documents a now plan to publish a print version of turning point in the history of the this individual directory as an addition American Historical Association. In 1999 to the departmental directory and to use the AHA reversed two years of deficits it as a way of drawing a profile of the and moved its finances decisively into a profession at the start of the new century. healthier state. After a long search for a With help from a generous grant from new executive director, the Council the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, we enthusiastically elected Arnita Jones, the launched the Gutenberg-e program. It is executive director of the Organization of aimed at a critical point where problems American Historians (OAH), to manage in library budgets, scholarly publishing, the Association’s affairs. She moved into and scholars’ careers all converge. By office in late May and immediately set organizing a prize competition for the an amicable tone and a brisk pace for best dissertations in fields where the business under way at the AHA university presses have ceased headquarters. Having managed itself publishing monographs, it will help with remarkable effectiveness for the beginning historians to overcome the previous four months, the staff breathed biggest hurdle in their careers. The prizes a collective sigh of relief and settled into are grants that must be used to convert a more sustainable rhythm of work. the dissertations into first-rate electronic With old business dispatched and the books. By helping the historians, the In this annual report... books balanced, new projects could be program will promote a new form of undertaken. A grant from the Ford scholarly publication and set standards The President’s Preface Foundation made possible a meeting of for properly edited and peer-reviewed community college teachers at the work on the Internet. A distinguished Executive Director’s Library of Congress to develop new panel of judges selected the first winners Report pedagogical approaches to regional who were announced at the AHA Report of the Research studies and world history. Teaching and meeting in Chicago in January, and in Division Learning in the Digital Age, a program to March the winners discussed the Report of the Teaching improve introductory survey courses, problems and possibilities of electronic Division was developed in three state university publishing at a workshop organized by systems, thanks to support from the Columbia University Press, which Report of the Professional National Endowment for the should put out the first “e-books” at the Division Humanities. After smoothing out some end of the year. Report of the Editor of the rough patches in its relations with its 105 Meanwhile, Michael Grossberg and the American Historical Review affiliated societies, the AHA adopted staff of the American Historical Review AHA Council, Divisions, and new policies governing their prepared to take a still greater leap Committees for 1999 participation in the annual meeting and forward into cyberspace. After long new modes of collaboration, including a study and heavy bouts of skepticism, 50-Year Members of the AHA special listserv for e-mail discussions and they concluded that the AHR would 25-Year Members of the AHA counseling about electronic publications. have to go online. But how? The Endowment Donors and The staff redesigned the Directory of modalities triggered even longer debates. Contributing Members History Departments and Organizations in An e-AHR could be designed in many the United States and Canada. Although ways and linked to different online Awards, Prizes, Grants, and the old version provided a basic guide to organizations. In the end, Grossberg Fellowships the history profession as a whole, it did recommended that the AHA join with Financial Report by the not mention a significant proportion of the OAH and two leaders in the field | Auditors AHA Annual Report * 1999