The American Heritage Center (AHC) at the University of Wyoming offers five annual travel grants to be used by scholars. The grants are for up to $500 each and provide support for travel, food and lodging to carry out research using the AHC's collections. Subject areas include: Wyoming, the American West, transportation, conservation, water resources and the performing arts. Persons interested in such grants should complete the application at http://www.uwyo.edu/ahc/_files/grants/travel-grants-application.pdf.
We ask that each applicant also attach a brief description of the project, indicate any publication plans for the project, and which collections at the AHC will be used and how these will support the work. Applications are due April 14, 2017. Application and current resume should be sent to: Bridget Burke, Director, American Heritage Center, Dept. 3924, 1000 E. University Avenue, Laramie, WY 82071.
The AHC is the University of Wyoming’s repository of manuscript collections, rare books, and University archives. Our collections are the raw data of humanistic and interdisciplinary research. We are the laboratory for citizens and scholars to engage with primary sources in all formats that support the creation of historical narratives, interrogate the past, build community, and pose and answer questions about human experience. The AHC holds collections of distinction, serving citizens and scholars in Wyoming and beyond. For more information about the AHC and its collections, please go to http://www.uwyo.edu/ahc/.
Bridget Burke American Heritage Center University of Wyoming Dept. 3924 1000 E. University Avenue Laramie, WY 82071 307-766-3756 ahc@uwyo.edu
The Tombstone Epitaph National Edition, an internationally circulated monthly journal of Old West history, seeks a new editor. Founded in historic Tombstone, Arizona, in 1880, The Epitaph is Arizona’s oldest continuously published newspaper and is devoted to chronicling and promoting the history of the American West.
The ideal candidate should have a strong background in the history of the Old West, a solid understanding of 19th century American history, and relationships with contributors in the field. The applicant should possess the editorial skills necessary for all aspects of the production of a monthly print publication, including the ability to meet all production deadlines.
This is a hands-on position. The editor solicits, receives, and edits historical features from established and new contributors, selects stories and artwork for publication, and prepares all content for submission to the publication’s computer designer. The editor may contribute his/her own articles covering Tombstone or Old West history. The 20-page paper typically runs three or four historical features each month. Monthly columns include: Letters to the Editor; a Frontier Fare food column; YesterWest; Wandering the West; and Just Around the Bend. Content for some of the standing features is compiled and/or written by the editor.
The editor also supervises The Epitaph website, www.tombstoneepitaph.com, preparing monthly content updates drawn from the print publication. Other administrative duties include helping with advertising, marketing, and the paper’s social media presence.
The Epitaph maintains an historic newspaper museum in Tombstone, Arizona, which is open seven days a week. Staff include a professional graphics designer and a web designer who work remotely, along with an office manager and two retail staff who handle subscriptions and are located in Tombstone. The National Edition does not report on current Tombstone events – these are covered independently by the local edition of The Tombstone Epitaph, published by journalism students at the University of Arizona.
Preference will be given to candidates who reside in the Southwest. The job is considered part-time, with teleworking arrangements possible. Interested candidates should send their resume (including publication history) and a writing sample to Epitaph owner Robert Love at editor@ok-corral.com. Questions: call 301-656-1662. Application deadline is April 30, 2017.
In light of the LGTBQ theme study recently released by the National Park Service, The Public Historian invites proposals for articles to be published in a special issue of the journal on LGTBQ public history to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. A broad range of proposals focused on LGBTQ public history in North America and beyond are encouraged, including community-based projects, oral history, digital history and new media, museum exhibits, archival initiatives, collective memory, and public history education and training. Proposals for alternative formats, such as reports from the field, interviews with practitioners, and roundtable discussions, will also be welcome. Proposals, which should be no longer than one double-spaced page, should be submitted to The Public Historian at scase@history.ucsb.edu and to the guest editor, Melinda Marie Jetté, at jettem@franklinpierce.edu. The deadline for submission of proposals is April 26, 2017. Selected authors will be notified by May 24, 2017. Articles will be due by January 1, 2018. Publication of the special issue of The Public Historian will be in 2019 (Volume 41).
The Midwestern History Association Conference in June: the response to the call-for-proposals for the Third Annual Midwestern History Association conference was overwhelming! From those proposals, 80 presentations have been selected for the final schedule, which can be found at the link below. Please spread word of the conference to your friends and colleagues and join us in Michigan on June 7. Remember, the conference is free and open to everyone and Michigan craft beer and snacks are provided by the Hauenstein Center at Grand Valley State University. For more information visit www.midwesternhistory.com
Midwestern History Conference Tentative Schedule
As historians, we study change, but that doesn’t make it easier for us to handle. For the Western History Association, we are now dealing with a transition in executive directors and home offices. After five years under the stewardship of John Heaton at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, the WHA will, as of July 1, 2017, be housed at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, with the position of executive director being taken up by Elaine Nelson.
Happily, the transition promises to be a smooth one. Thanks to the leadership of Heaton, our association is in very good shape. All members owe an enormous debt to him for guiding the WHA so ably. We wish the budgetary situation in Alaska had not precluded his university from continuing to host the WHA and from his remaining as executive director. We are delighted, though, to have Elaine Nelson on board to shepherd the WHA through its next chapter. Elaine has a long history with our association, having worked for it as a graduate student when it was led by Paul Hutton at the University of New Mexico. She has maintained her dedication to the WHA since joining the faculty at the University of Nebraska, Omaha. Her university has made a substantial commitment to the WHA, which, together with Elaine’s energy, enthusiasm, and all around good sense, augurs great things for our organization.
Stephen Aron, WHA President
The Coalition seeks to appoint a new Recorder and a Website & Media Chair for the organization as soon as possible. Please read the descriptions and time commitments below and consider volunteering for these important positions.
As the “Recorder” (a title which might soon be updated), this individual takes and distributes minutes during Business Meetings and Steering Committee Meetings, drafts meeting agendas, updates committee files and protocols for committee chairs on an annual basis, communicates with the membership about the annual Steering Committee election, and manages the membership database. This individual should be organized and approach the position in the spirit of collaboration. She/he/ze will work closely with the Treasurer, Website Coordinator, and Steering Committee Chair to carry out the mission of the Coalition.
Time commitment: The time commitment for the “Recorder” varies. The most concentrated work takes place between August and October, in preparation of the annual Western History Association conference. There is also a good amount of post-conference work that needs to take place in late-January/early-February.'
Interested? There is a “Recorder Timeline” available if you would like to see the list of duties and how they correlate to a monthly calendar. Please contact cdcahill@unm.edu or cwwh.west@gmail.com to inquire.
The Coalition seeks to appoint a new Website and Media Chair for the organization by March 1:
The “Website and Media Chair” is a working title for a “working” committee which we anticipate will become a CWWH Standing Committee. This position could be occupied by a current graduate student.
As the Website and Media Chair, this individual will serve as the main coordinator for the Website and Media Committee. She/he/ze will be in charge of updating and maintaining the CWWH website. This person will also collaborate with the rest of the Website and Media Committee with the purpose of distributing information about the Coalition through Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. She/he/ze will work closely with the Recorder, Steering Committee Chair, and Newsletter Editor to carry out the mission of the Coalition and promote its activities.
Time commitment: The time commitment for the Website and Media Chair will vary from month-to-month. The most concentrated work takes place in late-January/early-February to account for website updates regarding award recipients, new committee appointments, the Steering Committee election, etc. There is also a little work that needs to be completed prior to the WHA in which the CWWH Website should reflect Coalition-related activities and meetings that will take place at the conference.
Interested? There is a “Website and Media Chair Timeline” available if you would like to see the list of duties and how they correlate to a monthly calendar. Please contact cdcahill@unm.edu or cwwh.west@gmail.com to inquire.
AMERICAN HERITAGE CENTER
The Bernard L. Majewski Research Fellowship is funded by an endowment provided through the generosity of Mrs. Thelma Majewski and is intended to provide research support for a recognized scholar in the history of economic geology and to facilitate the Fellow's use of archival collections in the American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming. The Fellow shall be appointed for a period of one calendar year. During this time the Fellow will carry the title of the Bernard L. Majewski Research Fellow and represent the University of Wyoming as such. Administration of the Fellowship will be the responsibility of the Director, American Heritage Center.
All application materials must be received by the selection committee on or before March 15, 2017, to be considered for the 2017 Fellowship.
Research Fields
The Fellowship is intended to support research in the history of economic geology. For the purposes of the Fellowship, economic geology is defined as the activities of exploration and development of petroleum, base, precious and industrial minerals, including basic geological research. Acceptable related fields include: history, oral history, and historical archaeology pertaining to economic geology, environment and natural resources history, and business or economic history related to economic geology. The American Heritage Center maintains many archival collections, which can be used by the Fellow as source material in conducting historical research. Research projects which integrate archival data with data gathered from other sources (such as historical archaeology and the earth sciences) are also encouraged.
Selection Committee
The Fellow will be selected by a committee comprised of faculty from the American Heritage Center and various University of Wyoming academic departments. The Fellow will be selected at the beginning of each year and will receive prompt notification of their selection. Research supported by the Fellowship should be conducted by the Fellow within one year of notification.
Qualifications
The Fellow will be a recognized scholar in one of the fields of research outlined. The Fellow should have a record of publication in the field or show significant potential for publication. Emerging scholars, members of under-represented communities, and multi-disciplinary researchers are encouraged to apply. Selection of the Fellow will be made by the Selection Committee, as previously described, and will be on the basis of scholarly merit with no consideration of race, sex, ethnic background, or financial need. The Committee shall, however, consider the applicant's ability to complete the research project and bring it to publication in a timely fashion.
Application
Applicants for the Fellowship should submit to the committee, prior to the application deadline, the following materials:
All application materials must be received by the selection committee on or before March 15, 2017 to be considered for the 2017 Fellowship. Submit your application to ahcref@uwyo.edu.
Obligations of the Fellow
The Fellow will receive a stipend of $2,500 which will be used to defray research costs at the American Heritage Center, travel and other expenses associated with this research, or publication costs resulting from this research. The Fellow will be responsible for scheduling and conducting the research within one year of receipt of the award and for making timely progress toward publication of the results of the research. The Fellow will also be expected to provide a general interest lecture in their field of research during their fellowship. The lecture may be aimed at audience groups including students, faculty, and the public.
The Fellowship stipend will be paid in two disbursements: $500 upon the applicant's acceptance of the Fellowship, and, $2,000 upon completion of the first research session at the American Heritage Center.
Reference Department American Heritage Center University of Wyoming Dept. 3924 1000 E University Avenue Laramie, WY 82071
307-766-3756 ahcref@uwyo.eduahc.uwyo.edu
Call for Papers: "Transnationalisms, Transgressions, Translations"
The 12th Conference of the International Federation for Research on Women’s History/ Federation Internationale Pour la Recherche en Histoire des Femmes (IFRWH/FIRHF) will be held August 12-15, 2018 at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, the home of the current President, Eileen Boris. This will be the first time that this international gathering of historians of women and gender will assemble in the United States.
The theme, “Transnationalisms, Transgressions, Translations: Conversations and Controversies,” probes the meanings of boundaries and frameworks, narratives and epistemologies, analytic terms and foundational categories, global, national and local understandings, interactions and power relations across time and space. We are open to proposals for complete panels (chair, commentator, three papers) as well as individual papers, roundtables, conversations, workshops, and non-traditional forms of presentation.
Submissions due March 15, 2017. Please visit http://www.femst.ucsb.edu/ifrwh/call for more information and for the submission link. Send inquiries to: ifrwh18@gmail.com.
The Western History Association stands with the American Historical Association, and more than 20 other scholarly organizations Condemning the Executive Order Restricting Entry to the United States The American Historical Association strongly condemns the executive order issued by President Donald J. Trump on January 27 purportedly “protecting the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the United States.” Historians look first to evidence: deaths from terrorism in the United States in the last fifteen years have come at the hands of native-born citizens and people from countries other than the seven singled out for exclusion in the order. Attention to evidence raises the question as to whether the order actually speaks to the dangers of foreign terrorism.
It is more clear that the order will have a significant and detrimental impact on thousands of innocent people, whether inhabitants of refugee camps across the world who have waited months or even years for interviews scheduled in the coming month (now canceled), travelers en route to the United States with valid visas or other documentation, or other categories of residents of the United States, including many of our students and colleagues.
The AHA urges the policy community to learn from our nation’s history. Formulating or analyzing policy by historical analogy admittedly can be dangerous; context matters. But the past does provide warnings, especially given advantages of hindsight. What we have seen before can help us understand possible implications of the executive order. The most striking example of American refusal to admit refugees was during the 1930s, when Jews and others fled Nazi Germany. A combination of hostility toward a particular religious group combined with suspicions of disloyalty and potential subversion by supposed radicals anxious to undermine our democracy contributed to exclusionist administrative procedures that slammed shut the doors on millions of refugees. Many were subsequently systematically murdered as part of the German “final solution to the Jewish question.” Ironically, President Trump issued his executive order on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Conversely, when refugees have found their way to our shores, the United States has benefited from their talents and energy. Our own discipline has been enriched by individuals fleeing their homelands. The distinguished historian of Germany Hajo Holborn arrived in 1934 from Germany. Gerda Lerner, a major force in the rise of women’s history, fled Austria in 1939. Civil War historian Gabor Boritt found refuge in the United States after participating in the 1956 uprising in Hungary. More recently, immigration scholar Maria Cristina Garcia fled Fidel Castro’s Cuba with her parents in 1961. The list is long and could be replicated in nearly every discipline.
We have good reason to fear that the executive order will harm historians and historical research both in the United States and abroad. The AHA represents teachers and researchers who study and teach history throughout the world. Essential to that endeavor are interactions with foreign colleagues and access to archives and conferences overseas. The executive order threatens global scholarly networks our members have built up over decades. It establishes a religious test for scholars, favoring Christians over Muslims from the affected countries; and it jeopardizes both travel and the exchange of ideas upon which all scholarship ultimately depends. It directly threatens individuals currently studying history in our universities and colleges, as well as our ability to attract international students in the future. It also raises the possibility that other countries may retaliate by imposing similar restrictions on American teachers and students. By banning these nations’ best and brightest from attending American universities, the executive order is likely to increase anti-Americanism among their next generation of leaders, with fearsome consequences for our future national security.
Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, like many of his colleagues before and since, did think historically in ways that should inform consideration of President Trump’s executive order. In a 1989 dissent (Skinner v. Railway Executives Association), Justice Marshall observed: “History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in time of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure. The World War II Relocation–camp cases and the Red Scare and McCarthy-era internal subversion cases are only the most extreme reminders that when we allow fundamental freedoms to be sacrificed in the name of real or perceived exigency, we invariably come to regret it.”
This post has been updated to list the following affiliated societies’ endorsement of the above statement: American Association for State and Local History American Society for Environmental History Association for Israel Studies Berkshire Conference of Women Historians Business History Conference Central European History Society Chinese Historians in the United States Committee on LGBT History Conference on Asian History Conference on Latin American History Coordinating Council for Women in History Forum on European Expansion and Global Interaction New England Historical Association Organization of American Historians Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media Society for Advancing the History of South Asia Society for Italian Historical Studies Southern Historical Association Urban History Association Western Association of Women Historians Western History Association World History Association
