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Previous Constitution and Bylaws of the Organization
of American Historians (1)
Contents

Constitution

Article I :Name
Article II :Object
Article III :
Membership
Article IV :Officers
Article V :Elections
Article VI :Powers
and Duties
Article VII :Quorums
 Article VIII :
Amendments,
Bylaws, and
Business
Resolutions

Revision History

Committees Abolished by Action of the Executive Board

Bylaws

1. Meetings
2. Duties of
Officers
3. Business
Operations
4. Committees
a. Executive
b. Service
c. Award/Prize
d. Joint Standing
and Advisory

Index of Committees

Revised May, 2005

Article I-Name

The name of this Organization shall be the Organization of American Historians.

Article II-Object

The object of the Organization shall be to promote historical study and research in the field of American history, and to do all things necessary and proper to accomplish this purpose.

Article III-Membership

Section 1. Membership in the Organization is open to anyone interested in American history. There shall be the following classes of membership in the Organization: Regular, Primary and Secondary School Teacher, Associate, Emeritus, Over 50 Year, Dual, Life, Patron, and Student, at such dues and rates as shall be recommended by the Executive Board and approved by the membership at the annual Business Meeting. All classes of membership are eligible to participate in all affairs of the Organization.2

Section 2. Institutions may subscribe to the publications of the Organization, but they are not eligible for membership.

Article IV-Officers and Terms of Office

Section 1. The officers of the Organization shall be a President, a President-Elect, who shall succeed to the presidency, an Editor, an Executive Director 3, and a Treasurer.

Section 2. The officers, together with former Presidents who continue to serve for three years immediately succeeding their presidency, and nine elected members shall constitute the Executive Board. Officers and other members of the Board must be members of the Organization.

Section 3. The President and President-Elect shall serve one-year terms. Members elected to the Executive Board shall be elected for three-year terms.

Section 4. In the case of death, disability, or resignation of the President, the President-Elect shall succeed as President. In the case of the death, disability, or resignation of both the President and President-Elect, the most recent past President shall serve as President Pro Tempore.

Section 5. The Editor, the Executive Director, and the Treasurer shall be appointed by the Executive Board for such terms as the Board shall from time to time report to the membership.

Section 6. The term of office of elected officers shall begin with the adjournment of the annual Business Meeting.

Article V-Elections

Section 1. There shall be an annual election by mail or e-mail ballot.4

Section 2. Nominations. Nominations shall be made by a Nominating Board of nine persons elected by the membership. Members of this board shall serve three-year terms, three being elected each year.5 The President-Elect shall designate a chair from Board members serving in their second year. The Nominating Board shall report to the Business Meeting its nomination of a candidate for President-Elect. Each year the Nominating Board will nominate a slate of at least six candidates for the Executive Board. The Nominating Board may choose to pair any or all candidates on the ballot. Voting members of the Organization will be asked to vote for not more than three candidates. In addition the Nominating Board will select two or more candidates for each vacancy on the Nominating Board. These nominations shall be communicated to the Executive Director before July 1 and to the membership before October 1 in an appropriate publication of the Organization. One hundred voting members of the Organization may present a petition for an additional candidate for any office open for election, such petition to be presented to the Executive Director by October 15. The names of persons so nominated shall be placed on the official ballot, being identified as "candidate by petition." The ballot shall also contain a space where members may suggest candidates for the following year.

Section 3. Voting. The Executive Director shall prepare and mail by paper and e-mail the official ballot to the membership at least six weeks before the annual meeting. Ballots, to be valid, must be cast electronically or returned by regular mail at least two weeks before the Annual Meeting to the Nominating Board Chair at the address of the OAH Executive Office. The Executive Director shall report the results to the Chair of the Nominating Board at least one week before the annual meeting. In case of a tie vote in the mail ballot, or in order to fill an emergency vacancy, the election in question shall be determined by ballot at the annual Business Meeting. When a vacancy occurs in the Executive Board with two or more meetings left in their term, the Executive Board candidate who received the next highest number of votes cast in the most recent election shall serve for the remainder of the term. The election results shall be announced at the annual Business Meeting and in the September issue of the Journal of American History.6

Article VI-Powers and Duties

The Executive Board shall have general charge of the affairs of the Organization including the call and the conducting of the annual and special meetings, supervision of business affairs, the publications program, and any other programs adopted by the Organization. It may authorize the establishment of branches or affiliates in other countries or regional branches in the United States. It shall be presided over by the President.

Article VII-Quorums

A quorum of the membership for the Business Meetings shall consist of fifty members. A quorum of the Executive Board shall be seven members.

Article VIII-Amendments, Bylaws, and Business Resolutions

Section 1. Amendments to the Constitution may be proposed by the Executive Board, by the annual Business Meeting through a motion adopted by a simple majority, or by a petition signed by 100 members and submitted to the Executive Director. All proposed amendments, along with clarifying information and pro and con arguments, must be submitted to the total membership through a mail ballot, and for ratification require a favorable vote by two-thirds of the members voting.7

Section 2. The Organization must adopt bylaws to specify any added conditions of membership, procedures for holding annual meetings, duties or terms of officers, and requirements for fiscal responsibility, to constitute and empower permanent or recurring committees, and to make other changes in operational procedures as necessary, so long as they remain consistent with the objectives of this Organization as stated in Article II. New bylaws, or amendments to existing bylaws, may be proposed by the Executive Board, by the annual Business Meeting through a motion adopted by a simple majority, or by a petition signed by 100 members and submitted to the Executive Director. However originated, such bylaw proposals shall be voted on at the next annual Business Meeting. If approved by a majority of the members present and voting, and then agreed to by the Executive Board, the bylaw changes take immediate effect. If the Executive Board does not concur at this stage, it must submit the proposed changes to mail ballot in the OAH Newsletter within four months, and for adoption requires a favorable majority of those voting. If the Business Meeting does not concur with a bylaw proposed by the Executive Board, then the Executive Board may, at its discretion, submit the issue to mail ballot, and for adoption requires a favorable majority of the returned votes. At its discretion, the Executive Board may add to such mail ballots clarifying information or pro and con arguments. The national headquarters office shall count the ballots.8

Section 3. Proposals for action by the Organization, consistent with Article II of this Constitution, which do not involve changes in the Constitution or Bylaws shall be made in the form of ordinary motions or resolutions to be submitted to the annual Business Meeting. Motions or resolutions presented by the Executive Board become effective when carried by a simple majority vote of the meeting. Motions or resolutions originated by members and adopted by a majority of the meeting and Executive Board motions or resolutions amended on the floor may be reviewed by the Executive Board at its next meeting, but if rejected by the Executive Board must be submitted to the full membership in a mail ballot accompanied by a summary of the pro and con positions as developed in the debates within the Business Meeting and within the Executive Board. Such a motion or resolution is adopted by a favorable majority vote of the members voting.

Bylaws

  1. Meetings. The Executive Board shall set a date between March 15 and May 15 or whenever the Executive Board approves another appropriate time and a place of Annual Meeting at least two years in advance of said meeting. The Annual Meeting should be scheduled so as not to interfere with either the Easter Holiday or the Passover Holiday.9
  2. Duties of Officers.
    1. The President shall preside at the official meetings of the Organization and the Executive Board and shall appoint committees and perform all duties of the chief executive officer. The President-Elect shall serve in the absence of the President.
    2. The Executive Director shall be responsible for the Business Office of the Organization and shall keep the records, arrange dockets for meetings, notify members concerned, inform persons of their appointment to committees and advise them of their duties, send minutes of meetings to members concerned, publish transactions that require publication, make arrangements for meetings of the Organization, and develop and put into effect programs under direction of the Executive Board.
    3. The Editor shall be responsible for the publication of the Journal of American History, shall grant permission for reprinting of materials published therein, and shall be advised by an Editorial Board of between nine and twelve members, who may serve terms of one, two, or three years.10 The Editorial Board shall be appointed by the Executive Board on recommendation of the Editor.
    4. The Treasurer shall review all disbursements of funds, shall report to the membership annually on the financial status of the Organization, shall together with the Executive Director and Editor prepare a proposed budget each spring for submission to the Finance Committee, shall serve without a vote on the Finance Committee, and shall serve as financial adviser and consultant to the Organization.11
  3. Business Operations.
    1. The books and accounts of the Organization shall be audited by a certified public accountant.12
    2. All payments of funds of the Organization shall be numbered serially, approved by the Executive Director, and reviewed quarterly by the Treasurer.13
  4. Committees. Committees of the Organization shall be appointed by the President unless otherwise provided for in these bylaws. The appointing authority shall also designate the chair unless otherwise provided for in these bylaws. Unless otherwise noted, all award committee members must be members of the Organization by April 1 of the year in which they are appointed. All other committee members must be members of the Organization by January 1 of the year in which their term begins. All committee members must remain members of the Organization throughout their terms.14
    1. Executive. The committee is composed of the officers of the Organization and the immediate past President. The committee acts as necessary between board meetings.
    2. Service Committees. One of the members of the Magazine of History Advisory Board, OAH Newsletter Advisory Board, Committee on Community Colleges, International Committee, Committee on the Status of African American, Latino/a, Asian American, and Native American (ALANA) Historians and ALANA History, National Park Service Committee, Committee on Public History, Committee on Research and Access to Historical Documentation, Committee on Teaching and Committee on the Status of Women in the Historical Profession should be an Executive Board Liaison appointed by the President from one of the Executive Board members in their second or third year of service.15
      1. Finance. This committee shall consist of the incumbent president, president-elect, and immediate past president as voting members, and the treasurer, executive director, editor and chair of the Leadership Advisory Council or designee as nonvoting members. The committee shall receive and review quarterly reports on the financial situation of the Organization, such reports to be provided by the Executive Director. The committee shall meet each fall to review the budget and overall financial situation of the Organization including investments, to develop any necessary budget adjustments for proposal to the Executive Board, and to develop recommendations for ongoing operations and investments. The committee shall meet each spring to review, modify, and approve the proposed budget prior to its presentation to thte Executive Board, and to consider other matters within its responsibility. The committee shall also project long-range needs and probable constraints--budgetary and otherwise--with regard to future years. The committee shall meet at all other times when called by the President, Executive Director, or Treasurer. Committee meetings may be conducted in person or through an electronic medium.16
      2. Community Colleges. This committee shall have nine appointed members, one of whom is a representative of and designated by the Community College Humanities Association. This representative shall be a non-voting, ex officio member of the committee. Normally all members except the Executive Board Liaison serve four-year terms. This committee will continue the functions of the Ad Hoc Task Force on Community Colleges, in existence since 1992, especially to integrate community college historians into the Organization and address the professional issues and concerns that relate specifically to historians in two year institutions.17
      3. Convention Local Resource. The size of the committee is determined by the President in consultation with the person who chairs the committee. The committee is appointed by the President who also names its presiding officer. The function of the committee is to assist the Executive Director in whatever is deemed necessary to provide adequate publicity for the annual meeting. The committee may also be designated by the President to develop tours and special events to enhance the annual meeting.18
      4. Educational Policy. This committee shall consist of the incumbent President, President-Elect and Executive Director as ex officio members and three members of the Executive Board, one from each of the three calendar categories, and the chairs of the Committee on Teaching and the Magazine of History Advisory Board. This committee is responsible for reviewing OAH proposals, initiatives, endorsements and undertakings concerning the teaching and dissemination of American history and joint or shared efforts with other associations in such matters.19
      5. Electronic Advisory. This committee shall have a minimum of three and maximum of five appointed members and normally serve four-year terms. The committee advises the executive office and the Journal of American History editorial office on matters relating to the use of electronic technology.20
      6. International. This committee shall have five appointed members. Normally all members except the Executive Board Liaison serve four-year terms. This committee will serve as a standing committee on international issues to continue the function of the Ad Hoc International Committee, in existence for three years, to reflect the commitment of the Organization to international perspectives, collaborations, exchanges, and members.21
      7. Magazine of History Advisory Board. This board shall have five appointed members. Normally all members except the Executive Board Liaison serve four-year terms. The board provides advice to Magazine staff on editorial policies and on selection of Magazine themes and guest editors. Members also work with guest editors as reviewer/referee for one issue of the Magazine per year.22
      8. Membership. The number of representatives per state is determined by the number of OAH members in the state. Normally, all members serve a five-year term. The President-Elect appoints the chair to a three-year term from a member in his or her second year on the committee. The function of the committee is to promote membership in all areas of the United States and other countries.23
      9. Committee on the Status of African American, Latino/a, Asian American, and Native American (ALANA) Historians and ALANA History. This committee shall have five appointed members. Normally all members except the Executive Board Liaison serve four-year terms. The committee considers all professional issues bearing upon ALANA historians in the historical profession as well as the study of ALANA history.24
      10. National Park Service. The committee is composed of a total of five members, one of whom is the chief historian of the National Park Service and another who is the chair of the Committee on Public History. The committee oversees the work of the Organization done in conjunction with the Memorandum of Agreement with the National Park Service signed in 1994. If at some point in the future the Memorandum of Agreement with NPS expires, the committee will cease to exist.25
      11. Newsletter Advisory Board. This board shall have five appointed members. Normally all members except the Executive Board Liaison serve four-year terms. The board advises the Newsletter production team, helps form basic policy for the Newsletter's operation, helps guide content matters, and explores new ideas and directions for the Newsletter.26
      12. Program. The membership of the committee may vary from five to eight, one member serving as liaison with the Convention Publicity Committee. The Program Committee is appointed by the President-Elect to serve during the year of his/her presidency. The committee is responsible for the program of the Annual Meeting and such other activities as the President may designate.27
      13. Public History. This committee shall have five appointed members. Normally all members except the Executive Board Liaison serve four-year terms. It will maintain liaison with private and public history, and generate such proposals relating to OAH policy and program as seem suitable to its membership. Appointments to the committee are to be widely representative of the various professional pursuits embraced within the field.28
      14. Research and Access to Historical Documentation. This committee shall have five appointed members. At least one member of the committee should be located in Washington, D.C. Normally all members except the Executive Board Liaison serve four-year terms. The committee shall deal with all issues relating to historical research; including access to public documents, freedom of information, issues of secrecy, censorship and declassification, corporate and state archives, the Library of Congress, National Archives, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, reference tools, monitoring of electronic archives and networks, research in graduate training, and issues relating to research funding from public and private granting agencies. When ad hoc committees dealing with research issues are formed, the chair of the Research Committee shall appoint one of its members to serve in an ex officio capacity on the ad hoc committee.29
      15. Teaching. The committee is composed of five members. Normally all members except the Executive Board Liaison serve four-year terms. The committee works to improve the teaching and understanding of history at all levels of training.30
      16. Status of Women in the Historical Profession. The committee is composed of five members. Normally all members except the Executive Board Liaison serve four-year terms. The committee considers all professional problems bearing upon women in the historical profession.
      17. Committee on Ethics and Professional Standards. The committee is composed of five appointed members who normally serve for four years. When initially appointed, two members will serve one year, one member will serve two years, one will serve three years, and one will serve four years. This standing committee will consider issues of professional ethics, integrity, and standards; alert the Executive Board to problems as they arise; and recommend action to the Executive Board in instances where the OAH is directly involved, such as the award of prizes. The committee will invite and organize public discussion of professional standards on a regular basis.31
      18. Leadership Advisory Council. The council is composed of ten to twenty appointed members who serve four-year terms. This council is composed mostly of history advocates, not necessarily professional historians, who advise the executive office and Executive Board on development matters and funding and implementation of the Organization's strategic plan. One of the cochairs of the Leadership Advisory Council will hold a nonvoting ex officio seat on the Executive Board.32
    3. Award and Prize Committees.
      1. ABC-CLIO America: History and Life Award. The President appoints a five-member committee for a two-year term. The committee determines a winner for the biennial ABC-CLIO America: History and Life Award which is given to recognize and encourage scholarship in American history in the journal literature advancing new perspectives on accepted interpretations or previously unconsidered topics.
      2. Erik Barnouw Award. The committee is composed of three members, one appointed each year for a three-year term. The award is given annually to one or two outstanding television or film programs dealing with American history.33
      3. Ray Allen Billington Prize. The committee is composed of three members, each appointed for a two-year term. The Ray Allen Billington prize is given each odd-numbered year for the best book about American frontier history, which is defined broadly to include the pioneer periods of all geographical areas, and comparisons between American frontiers and others.34
      4. Binkley-Stephenson Award. The committee is composed of three members, each appointed for a three-year term. The committee selects the best article that appeared in the Journal during the preceding calendar year for the Binkley-Stephenson Award.
      5. Avery O. Craven Award. The committee is composed of three members appointed annually by the President. The award is given annually to the most original book on the coming of the Civil War, the Civil War years, and the Era of Reconstruction with the exception of works of purely military history. The exception recognizes and reflects Professor Craven's Quaker convictions.35
      6. Merle Curti Award. The committee is composed of five members appointed annually by the President and representing the entire field of American history. Beginning in 2003, the Merle Curti Award will be given annually for the best book in social, intellectual, and/or cultural history. The committee may decide to present the award to two books, one in social and/or cultural history and one in intellectual and/or cultural history.36
      7. Ellis W. Hawley Prize. The committee is composed of three members appointed annually by the President. The prize is given annually for the best book-length historical study of the political economy, politics, or institutions of the United States, in its domestic or international affairs, from the Civil War to the present.37
      8. Huggins-Quarles Award. The award selection committee is composed of the members of the Committee on the Status of African American, Latino/a, Asian American, and Native American (ALANA) Historians and ALANA History. The awards, not to exceed $1,000 each, are given annually to minority graduate students to assist them with expenses related to travel to research collections for the completion of the Ph.D. dissertation. First awarded in 1994, the awards are named for Nathan I. Huggins and Benjamin Quarles, two outstanding historians of the African American past. These awards were established to promote greater diversity in the historical profession.38
        [La Pietra Dissertation Travel Fellowship in Transnational History. The fellowships provide financial assistance to graduate students whose dissertation topics deal with aspects of American history that extend beyond U.S. borders. The fellowships may be used for international travel to collections vital to dissertation research. Applicants must be currently enrolled in a U.S. or foreign graduate program. Fellowships were given 2002-2005.]
      9. Richard W. Leopold Prize. The committee is composed of three members, at least one connected with a government agency and none on any other prize committee of a historical association. The prize is given every two years for the best book on foreign policy, military affairs, the historical activities of the federal government or biography by a government historian.39
      10. Lerner-Scott Prize. The committee is composed of three members. The prize is given annually for the best doctoral dissertation in U.S. women's history. First awarded in 1992, the prize is named for Gerda Lerner and Anne Firor Scott, both pioneers in women's history and Presidents of the Organization.40
      11. Liberty Legacy Award. The committee is composed of three members appointed annually by the President. The award is given annually for the best book by a historian on the civil rights struggle from the beginnings of the nation to the present.41
      12. Horace Samuel and Marion Galbraith Merrill Travel Grants in Twentieth-Century American Political History. The committee is composed of three members. Grants are given annually to promote access of younger scholars to the Washington, DC, region's rich primary source collections in late nineteenth- and twentieth-century American political history. The grants also provide the opportunity for scholars to interview former and current public figures residing in the metropolitan Washington area. This program offers stipends to underwrite travel and lodging expenses for members of the Organization of American Historians who are working toward completion of a dissertation or first book.42
      13. Mary K. Bonsteel Tachau Precollegiate Teaching Award. The committee is composed of three members, two of whom are precollegiate teachers, one of whom serves as committee chair, and one collegiate teacher with a demonstrated interest in precollegiate education. Members of the committee will serve staggered two-year terms. The award is given annually to recognize the contributions made by precollegiate teachers to improve history education. The award, to be given for activities which enhance the intellectual development of other history teachers and/or students, memorializes the career of the late Mary K. Bonsteel Tachau, University of Louisville, and especially her path-breaking efforts to build bridges between university and precollegiate history teachers.
      14. David Thelen Award. The committee is composed of five or six members, one of whom will be the Editor of the Journal of American History, who will serve as ex officio chair of the committee, and will nominate committee members, subject to approval by the Executive Board. Two of the members must be historians living in the United States, and the others may be historians of the U.S. living abroad. The capacity to read books in at least one foreign language is desirable for members. The prize is given biennially in even-numbered years for the best article on American history published in a foreign language.43
      15. Willi Paul Adams Award. The committee is composed of five or six members. The chair of the committee and at least one other member must be historians living in the United States, and the others may be historians of the U.S. living abroad. The capacity to read books in at least one foreign language is desirable for members. The prize is given biennially in odd-numbered years for the best book on American history published in a foreign language.44
      16. Louis Pelzer Memorial Award. The committee is composed of four members, one appointed each year for a four-year term. The committee members are appointed by the Executive Board on the nomination of the Editor. The Editor acts as ex officio chair of the committee. The committee selects the best essay in American history written by a graduate student as the winner of the Pelzer Memorial Award.
      17. James A. Rawley Prize. This committee is composed of three members, one appointed each year for a three-year term. The prize is given annually for a book dealing with race relations in the United States.
      18. Elliott Rudwick Prize. The committee is composed of three members, each appointed for a two-year term. The prize will first be given in 1991 and thereafter biennially until the final prize is awarded in 2001. The prize is for a book on the experience of racial and ethnic minorities in the United States.45
      19. Frederick Jackson Turner Award. The committee is composed of the Immediate Past President and two other members chosen by the current President. The committee chooses for the Turner Award a book or a book-length manuscript on American history which has not previously been published.
    4. Joint Standing and Advisory Committees.
      1. Historical Diplomatic Documentation. The OAH has one representative on the committee, who is chosen from a slate of nominees chosen by the President-Elect and submitted by the OAH to the State Department.46
      2. American Council of Learned Societies. The Executive Director and one member representative will represent the OAH at meetings of the ACLS. The President appoints the OAH delegate to a four-year term.
      3. The Defense of the Rights of Historians under the First Amendment. The committee is composed of the Presidents, the Executive Secretaries, and one appointed member from the Organization of American Historians and one from the American Historical Association. Appointed members serve three-year terms. The committee acts to protect the rights of historians.47
      4. Joint OAH/AHA Committee on Part-Time and Adjunct Employment . This committee shall consist of six representatives from OAH and six from AHA in addition to each organization's executive director. Two of the OAH representatives are from two-year institutions; two are from four-year and/or research universities; and two are part-time or adjunct professors. Normally all members except the Executive Board Liaison serve four-year terms. The joint committee meets twice a year at the AHA and OAH annual meetings in January and in the spring. It is concerned with the problem of the growing reliance of colleges and universities on low-paid part-time and adjunct faculty to teach history courses. The establishment of this committee was approved by the Executive Board in 2000, and it met for the first time at the AHA annual meeting in Boston in 2001.48
      5. National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The Organizations' representatives work with the NHPRC to develop policy and promote its grants programs. The OAH has one representative serving a four-year term.
      6. National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History. The committee is composed of representatives from the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, the Southern Historical Association, and members from other organizations as circumstances dictate. Its purpose is to promote historical studies generally, in schools at all levels, to broaden historical knowledge among the general public, to restore confidence in our discipline throughout our society, and to educate employers about historians' special talents and the value of employing historians in non-teaching careers.49

REVISION HISTORY: OAH CONSTITUTION

  1. The entire OAH Constitution was approved by mail ballot. See OAH Newsletter, November, 1988, Vol. 16, No. 4.
  2. The categories of emeritus and dual membership were approved at the April, 1982 Executive Board Meeting. The category of Primary and Secondary School Teacher was approved by the membership by a mail ballot which appeared in the May, 1990 issue of the OAH Newsletter. Abolition of Emeritus and Foreign categories was approved by the membership. See mail ballot August, 1993 OAH Newsletter. Reinstatement of the Emeritus category, effective July 1, 1996, was approved by mail ballot on February 22, 1996. Approval of the Over 50 Year category, effective July 1, 1997, was approved by mail ballot on March 6, 1997.
  3. In January, 1995, the membership approved by mail ballot changing the title "Executive Secretary" to "Executive Director."
  4. On August 1, 2003, the membership approved by mail ballot adding "e-mail."
  5. The election of seven persons to serve two-year terms, four being elected in odd-numbered years and three in even-numbered years, was changed to the election of nine persons to serve three year terms, three being elected each year, and was approved by mail ballot on April 5, 1999. In 1991, as a result of research on the issue of pairing candidates for the Executive Board, it was discovered that published versions of the constitution between 1978 and 1991 did not precisely or fully reflect changes to Article V, Section 2 passed by mail ballot in 1978. Specifically, the language, "the three [candidates] who receive the largest number of votes will be declared elected." was never included. It replaces the following sentence at the end of the section: "Whenever more than two candidates shall have been nominated for a single office, by whatever means, a preferential ballot shall be used, providing for indication of first, second, third, or more choices." This change was not made to the OAH constitution until June, 1992. The error resulted in a subsequent interpretation that the constitution did not preclude pairing of Executive Board candidates. From 1979 through 1984 a majority ballot was used in compliance with the 1978 change. From 1985 through 1989 Executive Board candidates were erroneously paired. The error was corrected on the 1990 and 1991 ballots. In November of 1991 the Executive Board voted to pair candidates for Executive Board vacancies and the issue was submitted to the membership (see mail ballot in February, 1992 OAH Newsletter ). Members voted not to pair Executive Board candidates. On April 5, 1999, the membership approved a mail ballot to replace the following sentence: "Voting members of the Organization will be asked to vote for not more than three candidates, and the three who receive the largest number of votes will be declared elected" with "The Nominating Board may choose to pair any or all candidates on the ballot. Voting members of the Organization will be asked to vote for not more than three candidates."
  6. On August 1, 2003, the membership approved by mail ballot adding "by paper and e-mail," "cast electronically or returned by regular mail," and "Nominating Board Chair." Sending ballots to the Business Office was approved by the membership by a mail ballot which appeared in the August, 1993 issue of the OAH Newsletter . On August 1, 2003 the membership approved by mail ballot adding "OAH Executive Office." The change for filling a vacancy on the Executive Board with two or more meetings left in their term was made in a ballot mailed February 10, 1982 along with the 1982 official ballot.
  7. The method for submitting mail ballots to the membership was changed by the Executive Board in 1993 [see Executive Board Minutes, October 30, 1993, page 5.] Previously, mail ballots were printed in the OAH Newsletter; after 1993 they were included with the election information and official ballot.
  8. This section was approved by mail ballot. See OAH Newsletter, February, 1989, Vol. 17, No. 1.
  9. This condition was approved by ballot. See OAH Newsletter, February, 1985, Vol. 13, No. 1. The Executive Board decided this at its November, 1986 meeting.
  10. Change from nine members each serving a three-year term on JAH Editorial Board to between nine and twelve members, who may serve terms of one, two, or three years, approved at the Annual Business Meeting, April 2, 2005.
  11. Changes in role of Treasurer approved at Business Meeting, April 22, 2006.
  12. A bylaw change approved by the membership in September, 1983 removed the requirement for an audit by a certified public accountant. See OAH Newsletter, May, 1983, Vol. 11, No. 2. A bylaw change approved at the Business Meeting, April 22, 2006, added the requirement for the audit's public accountant to be certified.
  13. Removed requirement that payments of funds be on vouchers; added that payments shall be approved by the Executive Director and reviewed quarterly by the Treasuer, Business Meeting, April 22, 2006.
  14. The membership requirement was added by a ballot in the OAH Newsletter, July, 1980, Vol. 8, No. 1. It was amended by a majority vote of members present at the Business Meeting of the Organization on March 24, 1990 at the 1990 Annual Meeting.
  15. The length of term for members of the Committee on Research and Access to Historical Documentation, Committee on the Status of African American, Latino/a, Asian American, and Native American (ALANA) Historians and ALANA History, Committee on Public History, Committee on Teaching and Committee on the Status of Women in the Historical Profession was changed from three years to four years by a majority vote of members present at the Annual Business Meeting on March 24, 1990. A majority of members present at the Annual Business Meeting on April 13, 1991 voted to change Bylaw 4.b. to note that the five committees listed above have one member who serves as the Executive Board Liaison. The group also voted to change the listing for each of the service committees noted above to include the sentence, "Normally all members except the Executive Board Liaison serve four-year terms."
  16. The Budget Review Committee was added by mail ballot included in the OAH Newsletter, February, 1989, Vol. 17, No. 1. Designation of the Immediate Past President as a member of the committee was approved at the April 17, 1993 Annual Business Meeting. Changes approved, including name of committee from Budget Review to Finance, at the Business Meeting, April 22, 2006.
  17. Establishment of the standing Committee on Community Colleges was approved at the April 19, 1997 Annual Business Meeting. Change in composition of committee from five to nine members was approved at the April 29, 2001 Annual Business Meeting.
  18. The name of the committee was changed from the Convention Publicity Committee to the Convention Special Events and Publicity Committee by a majority vote of members present at the Annual Business Meeting on March 30, 1996. The name was further changed to Convention Local Resource Committee at the April 6, 2003 Annual Business Meeting.
  19. The addition of the chairs of the Committee on Teaching and the OAH Magazine of History Advisory Board to this committee was approved at the April 17, 1993 Annual Business Meeting.
  20. Establishment of the Electronic Advisory Committee was approved at the April 6, 2003 Annual Business Meeting
  21. Establishment of the standing International Committee was approved at the April 19, 1997 Annual Business Meeting.
  22. Establishment of the Magazine of History Advisory Board was officially approved at the April 6, 2003 Annual Business Meeting.
  23. Change of the description of the committee and specification of length of service as chair were approved at the April 17, 1993 Annual Business Meeting.
  24. At its November, 1986 meeting, the Executive Board abolished the Ad Hoc Committee on the Status of Minorities in the Historical Profession and replaced it with the standing committee on the Status of Minority Historians and Minority History. The name of the Committee on the Status of Minority Historians and Minority History was changed to Committee on the Status of African American, Latino/a, Asian American, and Native American (ALANA) Historians and ALANA History at the April 6, 2003 Annual Business Meeting. The word "problems" was changed to "issues" at the April 6, 2003 Annual Business Meeting. The words "minorities" and "minority" were changed to "ALANA historians" and "ALANA" at the April 6, 2003 Annual Business Meeting.
  25. Creation of the National Park Service Committee was approved at the April 1, 1995 annual Business Meeting. Change in composition of committee from seven members, including one past president and chair of the Committee on Public History, to five members, including the chief historian of the National Park Service and the chair of the Committee on Public History, was approved at the April 29, 2001 Annual Business Meeting.
  26. Establishment of the OAH Newsletter Advisory Board was officially approved at the April 6, 2003 Annual Business Meeting.
  27. Increasing the maximum number of members to eight was approved at the April 17, 1993 Annual Business Meeting.
  28. Originally the Historic Preservation Committee, the Organization changed this committee's charge by a ballot included in the OAH Newsletter, July, 1981, Vol. 9, No. 2.
  29. Originally the "Committee on Access to Documents and Open Information" this committee was added February 10, 1982 (ballot mailed with 1982 Official Ballot). The mandate of the committee and change of name were approved at the April 17, 1993 Annual Business Meeting.
  30. The name of the committee was changed from the Committee on History in the Schools and Colleges to the Committee on Teaching by a majority vote of members present at the Annual Business Meeting on March 24, 1990.
  31. Approved adding the Committee on Ethics and Professional Standards at Annual Business Meeting, April 2, 2005.
  32. Approved adding the Leadership Advisory Council at the Annual Business Meeting, April 2, 2005.
  33. Added by ballot included in the OAH Newsletter, July 1981, Vol. 9, No. 2. Changed by ballot included in the OAH Newsletter, May, 1985, Vol. 13, No. 2. Change approved at the April 19, 1997 Annual Business Meeting.
  34. The OAH began to award this prize in 1981 by virtue of a contract with Billington's students who had raised the funds for it.
  35. Added by ballot in the OAH Newsletter, May, 1983, Vol. 11, No. 2.
  36. This new description of the Merle Curti Award was approved at the April 6, 2003 Annual Business Meeting. Previously, there were two committees each composed of three members representing the entire field of American history and serving for two years. The award was given each year, alternating between a book in American intellectual history and one in American social history published during the preceding two years.
  37. Creation of the Ellis W. Hawley Prize was approved at the Annual Business Meeting on April 1, 1995, contingent upon sufficient funds being raised to endow the prize.
  38. Creation of the Huggins-Quarles Award was approved at the April 17, 1993 Annual Business Meeting.
  39. Added by ballot included in the OAH Newsletter, July, 1981, Vol. 9, No. 2.
  40. The Lerner-Scott Prize Committee was approved by a majority vote of members present at the Annual Business Meeting on April 13, 1991.
  41. Creation of the Liberty Legacy Foundation Award was approved at the April 6, 2003 Annual Business Meeting.
  42. The Horace Samuel & Marion Galbraith Merrill Travel Grants in Twentieth-Century American Political History were established at the April 19, 1997 Annual Business Meeting. The final grants were given in 2005.
  43. The OAH International Prize for Best Article on American History Published in a Foreign Language was approved by a majority vote of members present at the annual Business Meeting on April 4, 1992. An increase in size of the committee to a maximum of six was approved at the April 17, 1993 annual Business Meeting. Arrangements with Cambridge University Press were terminated and approved by a majority vote of members present at the Annual Business Meeting on April 4, 1998. The Executive Board changed the name of the prize to the David Thelen Award in April 1999 and changed it from an annual to a biennial award on April 4, 2003. The latter two changes were approved at the April 6, 2003 Annual Business Meeting.
  44. The OAH International Prize for Best Book on American History Published in a Foreign Language was approved by a majority vote of members present at the annual Business Meeting on April 4, 1992. An increase in size of the committee to a maximum of six was approved at the April 17, 1993 Annual Business Meeting. The Executive Board changed the award from an annual to a biennial prize in 2000 and changed the name of the prize to the Willi Paul Adams Award in November 2002. The latter two changes were approved at the April 6, 2003 Annual Business Meeting.
  45. The Elliott Rudwick Prize Committee was approved by a majority vote of members present at the Annual Business Meeting on March 24, 1990.
  46. The composition of the committee is mandated by the State Department. The current committee description was approved at the April 17, 1993 Annual Business Meeting.
  47. In practice, this committee is formed only when needed. The last time this committee functioned was the Yale-Aptheker controversy, 1976-1978. The membership voted for the committee to investigate the matter in a mail ballot included in the July, 1976 issue of the OAH Newsletter.
  48. Establishment of the Joint AHA/OAH Committee on Part-time and Adjunct Employment was approved at the April 6, 2003 Annual Business Meeting.
  49. The NCC was defined and OAH participation formalized at the 1977 Annual Business Meeting. The Executive Board subsequently adopted a charter for the NCC at its November 11, 1981 meeting. The NCC's name was changed to the National Coalition for History in 2003.

COMMITTEES ABOLISHED
BY ACTION OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD

The Bibliographical and Research Needs Committee was abolished by the Executive Board in November, 1979. The committee requested that they be allowed to serve at their own expense rather than being phased out. The Executive Board agreed to this request; however, it was found at the November, 1981 meeting that the committee overlapped the activities of the Committee on Access to Documents and Open Information and therefore it no longer exists.

The Television, Film and Radio Media Committee was abolished by the Executive Board at the request of the committee in November, 1984.

The Charles Thompson Prize was abolished by the Executive Board at its November, 1986 meeting in agreement with the decision made by the co-sponsoring agency, the National Archives and Records Administration.

The Joint Committee on Historians and Archivists was abolished by the Executive Board at its March, 1996 meeting and approved by a majority vote of members present at the annual Business Meeting on March 30, 1996.

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