The Organization of American Historians (OAH), formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of

American history The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Numerous indigenous cultures formed, and many saw transformations in the 16th century away from more densel ...

. OAH's members in the U.S. and abroad include college and university professors;

historians A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

, students; precollegiate teachers; archivists, museum curators, and other public historians; and a variety of scholars employed in government and the private sector. The OAH publishes the ''

Journal of American History ''The Journal of American History'' is the official academic journal of the Organization of American Historians. It covers the field of American history and was established in 1914 as the ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review'', the official jo ...

''. Among its various programs, OAH conducts an annual conference each spring, and has a robust speaker bureau—the OAH Distinguished Lectureship Program. The organization's mission is to promote excellence in the scholarship, teaching, and presentation of American history, and encourage wide discussion of historical questions and equitable treatment of all practitioners of history. Membership is open to all who wish to support its mission. In 2010 its individual membership is approximately 8,000 and its institutional membership approximately 1,250. For its 2009 fiscal year ending June 30, 2009, the organization's operating budget was approximately $2.9 million. In its 2018 annual report, membership in the organization "stabilized" with approximately 7,000 members. In fiscal year 2019 (ending June 30, 2019), the organization's budget was $3.66 million. Raintree House-082007-640x480

History

The Mississippi Valley Historical Association was formed at a meeting in

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United ...

, of seven historical societies of the Mississippi Valley on October 17 and 18, 1907. The organization, devoted to studying the Mississippi Valley region, began a tradition of holding an annual meeting each year, and began quarterly publication in 1914 of the '' Mississippi Valley Historical Review''. As the scholarly emphasis of the organization and its journal developed and spread over time, its initial emphasis on the

Mississippi Valley The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

came under sharp challenge from members who wanted a better title and a wider scope. Ray Billington, OAH president in 1962-1963, detailed four issues that arose and caused bitter quarreling during the discussion about the proposed name change in a 1978 ''Journal of American History'' essay: the desire to use the association's prestige to fight for liberal reforms, to change the association's name to represent a national scope, to democratize its oligarchical structure, and to take a firm stand against racial discrimination in terms of hotels and meeting cities. The reformers were successful and the ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review'' was renamed the ''

'' and the organization, correspondingly, was renamed the Organization of American Historians the following year.

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

was selected as home for the editorial offices of the '' Mississippi Valley Historical Review'' predecessor to the ''

'' in 1963. Prior to relocating to Indiana, the editorial offices were located at Tulane University. The organization moved its business offices to Indiana in the summer of 1970 from its home on the campus of the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, t ...

. The organization's headquarters are in

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside the Indianapolis metropolitan area. According to the Mo ...

on the campus of

in the Raintree House (also referred to as the Millen-Stallknecht House, #105-055-80021 in City of Bloomington Historic Sites and Structures Inventory).The Raintree House is a

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

style brick house. The house gets its name from two large raintrees (''

Koelreuteria paniculata ''Koelreuteria paniculata'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Sapindaceae, native to eastern Asia (China and Korea). It was introduced in Europe in 1747, and to America in 1763, and has become a popular landscape tree worldwide. Com ...

''), which stand on the property. Built by William Moffett Millen c. 1845, it is an excellent example of the Georgian house plan favored by well-to-do farmers in southern Indiana and the Upland South in the mid-nineteenth century. The OAH was admitted to the

American Council of Learned Societies American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

in 1971. It is a foundational partner of the National Coalition for History and the National Humanities Alliance.

Advocacy

Guided by its mission, the OAH regularly advocates for the study, teaching, and presentation of American history, the equitable treatment of all those who work in the field, and public engagement with history. The OAH is a member of the National Humanities Alliance and National Coalition for History and regularly participates in advocacy efforts related to federal funding for the National Archives and Records Administration, the National Historical Publications and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, etc. The Organization often submits ''amicus'' ''curiae'' briefs for matters being argued before the U.S. Supreme Court as well as district courts. In doing so it aims to present the court with an accurate account of the history of the cases being litigated. The OAH does not advocate for a particular legal standard rather, as a steward of history, it seeks to ensure that the Court is presented with accurate portrayals of American history. The most recently submitted brief was in the case of ''Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization''. Previous briefs include those submitted for ''Perry v. Hollingsworth, U.S. v. Windsor,'' ''Obergefell v. Hodges'', and ''In re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation''. Advocating for inclusive history education is another key component of the OAH's advocacy efforts. It is part of the Learn from History Coalition, which seeks to educate parents, teachers, and community members on how to support inclusive history in schools. And, in 2021 it began producing a public webinar series, The Future of the Past, that looks at the diverse history behind contemporary events, such as the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Governance

The Organization of American Historians is a 501(c)(3) non-profit incorporated in Nebraska in 1907. It is governed by an Executive Board, which is composed of OAH officers, former presidents who continue to serve for two years immediately succeeding their presidency, and nine elected members. The OAH Executive Committee is composed of the officers of the OAH and the immediate past president. Both the Executive Director and the Executive Editor serve on the board and executive committee as non-voting members. In addition to the Executive Board, there are forty-seven service and award committees made up of approximately 350 member volunteers who serve two or three year terms.

Programs

The OAH Conference on American History brings together nearly 2,000 historians and features between 700 and 900 speakers participating in an average of 150 paper sessions, workshops, and events on all facets of American history over four days each spring. The central theme for each conference is determined by a program committee and the then president elect. The conference (previously the annual meeting) has been held every year since the organization began, with the exception of 1945 due to war time restrictions. In 1994, the Organization began working with the National Park Service to produce a wide range of projects, including scholars’ visits to national park sites, administrative histories, historic resource studies, national landmarks theme studies, peer review of interpretive material, curriculum development, and conferences and seminars. Since the date of the first cooperative agreement between the OAH and NPS, more than 100 reports have been produced for NPS units around the country. The OAH serves as the program manager, overseeing the historians working on the various projects and ensuring their timely completion. The Distinguished Lectureship Program (DLP), the OAH speakers bureau, was established in 1980 by then president Gerda Lerner as a way of bringing the expertise of members to a broader audience. Each year a new roster historians are appointed to a three-year term. In addition to traditional, in-person events, the program began offering the option of virtual lectures in 2020.

Publications

The ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review'' began in 1914 and was published quarterly under that name until 1962 when it was changed to the ''Journal of American History''. The ''JAH'' is a quarterly, peer-reviewed publication and is the journal of record for the field of U.S. history. In addition to scholarly articles, it regularly publishes book reviews, movie reviews, public history reviews, digital humanities reviews, and, each March, a “Textbook and Teaching” section that is freely available on their publisher’s, Oxford University Press, website. Additionally, one article each issue is designated “Editor’s Choice” and is opened to the public. A nine-person editorial board guides the review and selection of articles for publication.

List of Mississippi Valley Historical Association and OAH Presidents

Mississippi Valley Historical Association Presidents

* Francis A. Sampson (1907) * Thomas M. Owen (1907–1908) * Clarence W. Alvord (1908–1909) * Orin G. Libby (1909–1910) * Benjamin F. Shambaugh (1910–1911) * Andrew C. McLaughlin (1911–1912) * Reuben G. Thwaites (1912–1913) * James A. James (1913–1914) *

Isaac Joslin Cox Isaac Joslin Cox, Ph.D. (1873–1956) was an American professor of history. He was born at West Creek, Ocean Co., N. J. He graduated from Dartmouth College and for several years did research in Mexico. He then pursued postgraduate studies at ...

(1914–1915) *

Dunbar Rowland Dunbar Rowland (August 25, 1864 − November 1, 1937) was an American attorney, archivist, and historian.Frederic L. Paxson (1916–1917) * St. George L. Sioussat (1917–1918) *

Harlow Lindley Harlow is a large town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a new town, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire and London, Harlow occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the upper ...

(1918–1919) * Milo M. Quaife (1919–1920) * Chauncey S. Boucher (1920–1921) * William E. Connelley (1921–1922) * Solon J. Buck (1922–1923) * Eugene C. Barker (1923–1924) * Frank Heywood Hodder (1924–1925) * James A. Woodburn (1925–1926) * Otto L. Schmidt (1926–1927) *

Joseph Schafer Joseph Schafer (1867-1941) was the first academically trained historian in the U.S. state of Oregon. He studied with Frederick Jackson Turner, and chaired the history department at the University of Oregon from 1900 to 1920. He authored ''A History ...

(1927–1928) *

Charles W. Ramsdell Charles William Ramsdell (April 4, 1877 – July 3, 1942) was an American historian. Early life Charles William Ramsdell was born on April 4, 1877, in Salado, Texas. His father, Charles H. Ramsdell, arrived in Texas from New England just befor ...

(1928–1929) * Homer C. Hockett (1929–1930) * Louise P. Kellogg (1930–1931) * Beverley W. Bond Jr. (1931–1932) * John D. Hicks (1932–1933) * Jonas Viles (1933–1934) * Lester B. Shippee (1934–1935) * Louis Pelzer (1935–1936) * Edward E. Dale (1936–1937) * Clarence E. Carter (1937–1938) * William O. Lynch (1938–1939) * James G. Randall (1939–1940) * Carl F. Wittke (1940–1941) * Arthur C. Cole (1941–1942) * Charles H. Ambler (1942–1943) * Theodore C. Blegen (1943–1944) * William C. Binkley (1944–1946) * Herbert A. Kellar (1946–1947) * Ralph P. Bieber (1947–1948) * Dwight L. Dumond (1948–1949) * Carl C. Rister (1949–1950) * Elmer Ellis (1950–1951) * Merle E. Curti (1951–1952) * James L. Sellers (1952–1953) * Fred A. Shannon (1953–1954) * Walter P. Webb (1954–1955) * Edward C. Kirkland (1955–1956) * Thomas D. Clark (1956–1957) * Wendell H. Stephenson (1957–1958) * William T. Hutchinson (1958–1959) *

Frederick Merk Frederick Merk (August 15, 1887 – September 24, 1977) was an American historian. He taught at Harvard University from 1924 to 1956. Biography Frederick Merk was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1887. He graduated from the University of W ...

(1959–1960) * Fletcher M. Green (1960–1961) * Paul W. Gates (1961–1962) * Ray Allen Billington (1962–1963) *

Avery O. Craven Avery Odelle Craven (August 12, 1885 – January 21, 1980) was an American historian who wrote extensively about the nineteenth-century United States, the American Civil War and Congressional Reconstruction from a then-revisionist viewpoint sy ...

(1963–1964)

OAH Presidents

* John W. Caughey (1964–1965) *

George E. Mowry George Edwin Mowry (September 5, 1909 – May 12, 1984) was an American historian focusing primarily on the Progressive Era. As a professor at UCLA and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he taught large classes and directed over 50 ...

(1965–1966) * Thomas C. Cochran (1966–1967) *

Thomas A. Bailey Thomas Andrew Bailey (December 14, 1902 – July 26, 1983) was a professor of history at his alma mater, Stanford University, and wrote many historical monographs on diplomatic history, including the widely used American history textbook, ''The ...

(1967–1968) *

C. Vann Woodward Comer Vann Woodward (November 13, 1908 – December 17, 1999) was an American historian who focused primarily on the American South and race relations. He was long a supporter of the approach of Charles A. Beard, stressing the influence of unse ...

(1968–1969) * Merrill Jensen (1969–1970) * David M. Potter (1970–1971) * Edmund S. Morgan (1971–1972) *

T. Harry Williams Thomas Harry Williams (May 19, 1909 — July 8, 1979) was an American academic and author. For the majority of his academic career between the 1930s to 1970s, Williams taught history at Louisiana State University. While at LSU, Williams was a Boyd ...

(1972–1973) * John Higham (1973–1974) * John Hope Franklin (1974–1975) * Frank Freidel (1975–1976) * Richard W. Leopold (1976–1977) * Kenneth M. Stampp (1977–1978) * Eugene D. Genovese (1978–1979) * Carl N. Degler (1979–1980) * William A. Williams (1980–1981) * Gerda Lerner (1981–1982) * Allan G. Bogue (1982–1983) * Anne Firor Scott (1983–1984) * Arthur S. Link (1984–1985) * William E. Leuchtenburg (1985–1986) *

Leon F. Litwack Leon Frank Litwack (December 2, 1929 – August 5, 2021) was an American historian whose scholarship focused on slavery, the Reconstruction Era of the United States, and its aftermath into the 20th century. He won a National Book Award, the Pulitz ...

(1986–1987) * Stanley Nider Katz (1987–1988) *

David Brion Davis David Brion Davis (February 16, 1927 – April 14, 2019) was an American intellectual and cultural historian, and a leading authority on slavery and abolition in the Western world. He was a Sterling Professor of History at Yale University, ...

(1988–1989) * Louis R. Harlan (1989–1990) *

Mary Frances Berry Mary Frances Berry (born February 17, 1938) is an American historian, writer, lawyer, activist and professor who focuses on U.S. constitutional and legal, African-American history. Berry is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Tho ...

(1990–1991) *

Joyce Appleby Joyce Oldham Appleby (April 9, 1929 – December 23, 2016) was an American historian. She was a professor of history at UCLA. She was president of the Organization of American Historians (1991) and the American Historical Association (1997). Life ...

(1991–1992) * Lawrence W. Levine (1992–1993) *

Eric Foner Eric Foner (; born February 7, 1943) is an American historian. He writes extensively on American political history, the history of freedom, the early history of the Republican Party, African-American biography, the American Civil War, Reconstruc ...

(1993–1994) *

Gary B. Nash Gary Baring Nash (July 27, 1933 – July 29, 2021) was an American historian. He concentrated on the Revolutionary period, slavery and race, as well as the formation of political communities in Philadelphia and other cities. Life and education Na ...

(1994–1995) *

Michael Kammen Michael Gedaliah Kammen (October 25, 1936 – November 29, 2013) was an American professor of American cultural history in the Department of History at Cornell University. At the time of his death, he held the title "Newton C. Farr professor emeri ...

(1995–1996) *

Linda K. Kerber Linda Kaufman Kerber (born January 23, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American feminist, a political and intellectual historian, and educator who specializes in the history and development of the democratic mind in America, and the history of w ...

(1996–1997) * George M. Fredrickson (1997–1998) * William H. Chafe (1998–1999) * David Montgomery (1999–2000) *

Kenneth T. Jackson Kenneth Terry Jackson (born 1939) is a professor emeritus of history and social sciences at Columbia University. A frequent television guest, he is best known as an urban historian and a preeminent authority on the history of New York City, where ...

(2000–2001) *

Darlene Clark Hine Darlene Clark Hine (born February 7, 1947) is an American author and professor in the field of African-American history. She is a recipient of the 2014 National Humanities Medal. Early life and education Darlene Clark was born in Morley, Missouri ...

(2001–2002) * Ira Berlin (2002–2003) * Jacquelyn Dowd Hall (2003–2004) * James O. Horton (2004–2005) * Vicki Ruiz (2005–2006) * Richard White (2006–2007) * Nell Irvin Painter (2007–2008) * Pete Daniel (2008–2009) * Elaine Tyler May (2009–2010) * David A. Hollinger (2010–2011) *

Alice Kessler-Harris Alice Kessler-Harris (June 2, 1941, Leicester) is R. Gordon Hoxie Professor Emerita of American History at Columbia University, and former president of the Organization of American Historians, and specialist in the American labor and comparative ...

(2011–2012) * Albert M. Camarillo (2012–2013) * Alan M. Kraut (2013–2014) * Patricia Nelson Limerick (2014–2015) * Jon Butler (2015–2016) *

Nancy F. Cott Nancy Falik Cott (born November 8, 1945) is an American historian and professor who has taught at Yale and Harvard universities, specializing in gender topics in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries. She has testified on same-sex ...

(2016–2017) * Edward L. Ayers (2017–2018) * Earl Lewis (2018–2019) *

Joanne Meyerowitz Joanne Meyerowitz is an American historian and author. She was a professor at Indiana University and the University of Cincinnati before becoming editor of the ''Journal of American History'' from 1999 to 2004. Following her tenure there, she accep ...

(2019–2020) * George J. Sánchez (2020–2021) *

Philip J. Deloria Philip Joseph Deloria is a historian, author and member of the Dakota Nation who specializes in Native American, Western American, and environmental history. He is the son of scholar Vine Deloria, Jr., and the great nephew of ethnologist Ella ...

(2021–2022) * Erika Lee (2022– )

OAH Awards and Prizes

The following is a list of Awards and Prizes given by Organization of American Historians. * Willi Paul Adams Award * Erik Barnouw Award * Ray Allen Billington Prize * Binkley-Stephenson Award * Civil War and Reconstruction Book Award (formerly the Avery O. Craven Award) * Merle Curti Intellectual History Award *Merle Curti Social History Award *John D'Emilio LGBTQ History Dissertation Award * Friend of History Award * Ellis W. Hawley Prize * OAH-IEHS John Higham Travel Grants *John Higham Research Fellowship *

Darlene Clark Hine Award The Darlene Clark Hine Award is awarded annually by the Organization of American Historians for best book in African American women's and gender history. Darlene Clark Hine Darlene Clark Hine (born February 7, 1947) is an American author and profes ...

* Huggins-Quarles Award *JAAS Travel Grants * Richard W. Leopold Prize * Lerner–Scott Dissertation Prize – established in 1992 and named for Gerda Lerner and Anne Firor Scott * Lawrence W. Levine Award * Liberty Legacy Foundation Award * Samuel and Marion Merrill Graduate Student Travel Grants * David Montgomery Award *Mary Nickliss Prize in U.S. Women’s and/or Gender History *OAH Presidents’ Travel Fund for Emerging Historians * Louis Pelzer Memorial Award * James A. Rawley Prize * Roy Rosenzweig Distinguished Service Award *Stanton-Horton Award for Excellence in National Park Service History * Tachau Teacher of the Year Award * David Thelen Award * Frederick Jackson Turner Award

References

External links

*
OAH Conference on American History''Journal of American History'' website''OAH Magazine of History'' websiteOAH Distinguished Lectureship ProgramOAH Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Organization Of American Historians History organizations based in the United States Organizations established in 1907 Professional associations based in the United States 1907 establishments in the United States