Constitution and Bylaws of the Organization of American Historians

Revised March 2007

NOTE: The most recent amendments to the OAH constitution were made by the membership in a vote completed on September 1, 2007. The most recent bylaw changes were approved by the OAH executive board in September 2007.

Article I - Name

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

Article II - Mission

The Organization of American Historians promotes excellence in the scholarship, teaching, and presentation of American history, and encourages wide discussion of historical questions and equitable treatment of all practitioners of history.

Article III-Membership

Section 1. Membership in the Organization is open to anyone interested in American history. The Executive Board shall have the power to create, alter, or eliminate classes of membership and to establish the dues for each membership class. All classes of membership are eligible to participate in all affairs of the Organization.

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 at the end of his/her term, a Vice President, who shall become President-elect at the end of his/her term, an Editor of the Journal of American History, an Executive Director, and a Treasurer. The Editor and Executive Director shall serve as nonvoting members of the Executive Board.

Section 2. The officers, together with former Presidents who continue to serve for two 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 and will exercise the fiduciary, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities of a nonprofit board.

Section 3. The President, President-Elect, and Vice President 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 Vice President shall succeed as President. In the case of the death, disability or resignation of the President, President-Elect, and Vice President, the most recent past President shall serve as President Pro Tempore.

Section 5. The Editor of the Journal of American History, the Executive Director, and the Treasurer shall be appointed by the Executive Board for a term of five years. The Executive Director shall be reviewed annually, the Editor biennially, and the Treasurer near the end of his/her fourth year. Reviews will be the responsibility of the Executive Board.

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 email ballot.

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. The Vice President 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 Vice President. 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 email 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.

Article VI - Powers and Duties

The Executive Board shall have the final and legal responsibility for the well-being of the Organization. It 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 and development, including the hiring of a certified public accountant to audit the Organization's books, the publications program, and any other programs adopted by the Organization. The Executive Board in consultation with the Executive Director shall have the authority to develop appropriate personnel procedures. The Executive Board shall be presided over by the President. It shall establish such committees from among its members as necessary to carry out its responsibilities in an efficient manner. A quorum of the Executive Board shall be seven voting members.

Article VII - Annual Business Meeting

1. The annual business meeting of the Organization shall take place during the Organization's annual meeting held each spring.
2. A parliamentarian shall be appointed by the president and shall advise the president on conducting the annual business meeting. Robert's Rules of Order shall govern the meeting's conduct.
3. A quorum of the membership for the Business Meetings shall consist of twenty-five 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 and/or email ballot, and for ratification require a favorable vote by two-thirds of the members voting.

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 mission 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 by the Executive Board. If approved by a majority of the Board members the bylaw changes take immediate effect.

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. All such motions or resolutions submitted at the Business Meeting must first be submitted at least thirty days prior to the meeting to the OAH Executive Director and the OAH Parliamentarian. 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 and/or email 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 1 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.
2. Duties of Officers.
   1. The President shall preside at the official meetings of the Organization and the Executive Board and shall perform all duties of the presiding officer, including the appointment of ad hoc committees. The President-Elect shall appoint the Committee on Committees, including its chair, and serve in the absence of the President. The Vice President shall appoint the Program Committee and the Convention Local Resource Committee.
   2. The Executive Director shall be responsible for the Executive Office of the Organization and shall keep the records, with the Editor of the Journal of American History and Treasurer shall create the annual budget for the Finance Committee's and Executive Board's approval, hire and fire executive office staff in accordance with governing procedures, arrange agendas 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, publish the OAH Newsletter and the OAH Magazine of History, grant permission for reprinting of materials published in the Journal of American History and other OAH publications, make arrangements for meetings of the Organization, and develop and put into effect programs under the direction of the Executive Board. The Executive Director shall direct the business operations of the Organization. The books and accounts of the Organization shall be audited by a certified public accountant. All payments of funds of the Organization shall be numbered serially, approved by the Executive Director, and reviewed quarterly by the Treasurer.
   3. The Editor shall be responsible for the publication of the Journal of American History, and shall be advised by an Editorial Board of between nine and twelve members, who may serve terms of one, two, or three years. The Editorial Board shall be appointed by the Executive Board on recommendation of the Editor in writing prior to the Executive Board meeting. The Editor shall create the Journal of American History budget for submission as part of the OAH annual budget to the Finance Committee and the Executive Board for their approval.
   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 of the Journal of American History prepare a proposed budget each spring for submission to the Finance Committee, shall serve on the Finance Committee, and shall serve as financial adviser and consultant to the Organization.
3. Committees. Committees of the Organization shall be appointed by the Executive Board upon recommendation of the Committee on Committees unless otherwise provided for in these bylaws. The Committee on Committees shall also designate the chair unless otherwise provided for in these bylaws. All 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. To the extent possible and appropriate, committee members should reflect the diverse constituencies of the profession.
   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. Committee on Committees. The eight-member Committee on Committees will fill all regular vacancies on the service and awards committees of the Organization subject to the approval of the Executive Board. Committee members shall serve for two years. The first year the committee is appointed the President-Elect will appoint four members for one year and four members for two years. Each subsequent year, the President-elect will appoint four new members for two-year terms.
   3. Service Committees. Service Committees will report to committees of the Executive Board created under Article VI of the Constitution. The Executive Board will assign specific service committees to report to the appropriate executive board committees.
      1. Finance. This committee shall consist of the incumbent president, president-elect, immediate past president, and treasurer as voting members, and the Executive Director, Editor of the Journal of American History 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 the 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.
      2. Community Colleges. This committee shall have between five and nine appointed members, one of whom is a representative of and designated by the Community College Humanities Association. This representative shall be a nonvoting, ex officio member of the committee. Normally all members serve four-year terms. This committee's goals are to integrate community college historians into the Organization and address the professional issues and concerns that relate specifically to historians in two-year institutions.
      3. Convention Local Resource. The size of the committee is determined by the Vice President in consultation with the person who chairs the committee. The committee is appointed by the Vice President who also names its presiding officer. The function of the committee is to work with the Program Committee and assist the Executive Office in drawing on local resources to enhance the annual meeting with local tours, special events, offsite locations for sessions, etc. The committee also provides materials for adequate publicity of the meeting in OAH publications and in the host city's and state's media.
      4. International. This committee shall have five appointed members. Normally all members serve four-year terms. This committee shall assist in carrying out the commitment of the Organization to international perspectives, collaborations, exchanges, and members.
      5. OAH Magazine of History Advisory Board. This board shall advise the Editor of the OAH Magazine of History and shall have between nine and twelve members, who may serve terms of one, two, or three years. The Editorial Board shall be appointed by the Executive Board on recommendation of the Executive Director and the Editor in writing prior to the Executive Board meeting.¹
      6. Membership. This committee shall have five members representing the Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic, the South, the Midwest, and the West. These five members, who will choose the chair from amongst themselves, will be chosen by the various state chairs in their region. State chairs, appointed by the Executive Office on behalf of the president, will act as subcommittee members of the Membership Committee. The purpose of the Membership Committee shall be to encourage all persons interested in American history to join and become active members of the Organization of American Historians. It shall seek to enhance the availability of the Journal of American History to the public by encouraging institutional subscriptions, and to spread the Magazine of History as widely as possible among educators.
      7. Committee on the Status of African American, Latino/a, Asian American, and Native American (ALANA) Historians and ALANA Histories. This committee shall have five appointed members. Normally all members 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 histories.
      8. National Park Service Collaboration. The committee is composed of a total of five appointed members. In addition, the chair of the OAH Committee on Public History will serve as a nonvoting member. The chief historian of the National Park Service will also be invited to serve as a nonvoting member. The committee assists with the cooperative agreement between OAH and the National Park Service, by consulting on the selection of projects and project participants, advising the Executive Board and OAH staff on NPS issues, and advocating for NPS within the organization. If at some point in the future the Cooperative Agreement with NPS expires, the committee will cease to exist.
      9. OAH Newsletter Advisory Board. This board shall have five appointed members. Normally all members 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.
      10. Program. This committee shall have eight appointed members, one member serving as liaison with the Convention Local Resource Committee. The Program Committee is appointed by the Vice President to develop the program for the year of his/her presidency. The committee is responsible for the program of the Annual Meeting and such other related activities as the President may designate. The Committee shall work closely with the Meetings staff of the Executive Office which is responsible for insuring that professional sessions for graduate students and other constituency groups are included in each program.
      11. Public History. This committee shall have five appointed members. Normally all members serve four-year terms. It will maintain liaison with public history organizations and institutions, including those in both public and private sectors and persons in the field of 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.
      12. 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 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, issues relating to Institutional Review Boards, and matters 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.
      13. Teaching. The committee is composed of five to seven members. Normally all members serve four-year terms. At least two members should be precollegiate teachers and at least one member should teach at a community college. The committee works to improve the teaching and understanding of history at all levels of training and in diverse venues.
      14. Status of Women in the Historical Profession. The committee is composed of five members. Normally all members serve four-year terms. The committee considers all professional concerns bearing upon women in the historical profession.
      15. Ethics and Professional Standards. The committee is composed of five appointed members who normally serve for four years. The committee considers issues of professional ethics, integrity, and standards; alerts the Executive Board to problems as they arise; and recommends 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.
      16. 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.
      17. Joint OAH/American Historical Association (AHA) Committee on Part-Time and Adjunct Employment. This committee shall have 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 serve four-year terms. The joint committee meets twice a year. Its purpose is to examine the proliferation of part-time and adjunct employment in higher education, provide "best practices" for both employers and employees, and to advocate on behalf of part-timers and adjuncts within the profession.
   4. Award and Prize Committees.
      1. EBSCOhost America: History and Life Award. The committee is composed of five members appointed for a two-year term. The committee determines a winner for the biennial EBSCOhost 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. 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.
      3. Erik Barnouw Award. The committee is composed of three members, one appointed each year for a three-year term. One or two awards are given annually in recognition of outstanding programming on network or cable television, or in documentary film, concerned with American history, the study of American history, and/or the promotion of history.
      4. 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.
      5. 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 of American History during the preceding calendar year.
      6. Avery O. Craven Award. The committee is composed of three members appointed annually. 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 Craven's Quaker convictions.
      7. Merle Curti Award. The committee is composed of five members appointed annually 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 and/or intellectual history. The committee may decide to present the award to two books, one in social history and one in intellectual history.
      8. Ellis W. Hawley Prize. The committee is composed of three members appointed annually. 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.
      9. 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 Histories. One award of $2,000 or two awards of $1,000 each, are given annually to graduate students of color to assist them with expenses related to travel to research collections for the completion of the Ph.D. dissertation. These awards were established to promote greater diversity in the historical profession.
      10. 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.
      11. 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.
      12. Lawrence W. Levine Award. This committee is composed of five members appointed annually. The award is given annually for the best book in American cultural history.
      13. Liberty Legacy Foundation Award. The committee is composed of three members appointed annually. 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.
      14. 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 of the Journal of American History. The Editor acts as ex officio chair of the committee. The committee selects the best essay in American history written by a graduate student.
      15. 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.
      16. Mary K. Bonsteel Tachau Teacher of the Year 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.
      17. 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.
      18. Frederick Jackson Turner Award. The committee is composed of the Immediate Past President and two other members chosen annually. The award is given annually for an author's first book on some significant phase of American history.
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          Footnotes:
          ¹At the Spring 2008 Executive Board meeting, Bylaw 3c5 was changed by the Executive Board from "OAH Magazine of History Advisory Board. This board shall have five to ten appointed members. Normally all members serve four-year terms.  The board provides advise to Magazine staff on editorial policies and on selection of Magazine themes and guest editors" to "OAH Magazine of History Editorial Board.  This board shall advise the Editor of the OAH Magazine of History and shall have between nine and twelve members, who may serve terms of one, two, or three years. The Editorial Board shall be appointed by the Executive Board on recommendation of the Executive Director and the Editor in writing prior to the Executive Board meeting.