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OAH Co-Sponsors Survey of Precollegiate History Education
In order to improve history education by mobilizing historians at the state and local level, the Organization of American Historians (OAH), American Historical Association (AHA), and the National Council on the Social Studies (NCSS), have hired Sarah Drake, a graduate student in the Indiana University School of Education, to survey the status of precollegiate history instruction in the fifty states. The study will collect information about certification requirements for history teachers, history education standards for the K-12 curriculum, state assessment tests in history, and high school graduation requirements in history. The study also will compile and disseminate statewide resources for teachers and provide contact information for state social study/history specialists and state history associations.
The information will be made available to the public in a variety of ways. Drake will present preliminary findings and seek feedback at the annual meetings of NCSS in Phoenix (November 2002) and the AHA in Chicago (January 2003). The final report will be delivered at the OAH Annual Meeting in Memphis (April 2003) and at the joint OAH-AHA-NCSS conference, “Innovations in Collaboration: A School-University Model To Enhance History Teaching, K-16” in Washington, D.C. (June 2003). Data from the project will be distributed online and through the publications of OAH, AHA, NCSS, and the ERIC Clearinghouse.
The study will begin by looking at some of the largest states and will work cooperatively with other regional, state, and local organizations and agencies gathering related history education information.
Briefs Filed in Eldred Case
On 20 May 2002 several amici curiae briefs were filed on behalf of the Organization of American Historians and dozens of other groups in support of Eric Eldred, an online publisher who is challenging the constitutionality of the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. The case, Eldred v. Ashcroft is to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court this fall. The briefs will be used by the Court to help determine whether the new copyright act that grants protection of existing copyrights by an additional twenty years (to seventy years after a creator’s death) is constitutional. Eldred contends that Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution which provides that the purpose of copyright is to “promote the progress of science and useful arts” is undermined by the new law. In filing their briefs, intellectual property scholars, professors, as well as historical, archival and library groups assert that old books, songs and movies should flow continuously into the public domain and that the present law prevents that. In fact, the existing copyright law effectively prohibits non-copyright owners—mainly librarians, curators, archivists, historians and scholars—from republishing and disseminating older works, even though they may have no significant commercial value but may have strong historical interest or artistic merit.
The case is perhaps the most important copyright matter the Court has taken up in decades in part due to the ramifications that the decision will have on the distribution of creative and historical works in the digital age. The Court’s decision may have broad implications for historians and archivists as it could result in thousands of classic films, books, and music that first appeared in the 1920s and 1930s becoming freely available on the Internet and elsewhere.
To date, Congress’s right to extend the copyright law has been upheld in rulings by both a federal district and an appellate court. Most recently, in a two to one decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that Congress indeed had the authority to extend copyright protection and found that the law actually gave copyright holders “an incentive to preserve older works.” That court held that retroactive term extensions clearly are within congressional authority under the copyright clause and that the twenty-year term extension did not violate the First Amendment. When the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, many legal scholars were taken by surprise and some predict that now there may well be a different outcome.
Court insiders believe the Justices will decide the case by focusing narrowly on the question of whether Congress exceeded its authority when it passed the most recent copyright extension. Oral arguments before the Supreme Court are expected to take place in the fall.
For all the briefs and other background material, visit <http://eon.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/eldredvashcroft/legal.html>
Military Historians: OAH Wants YOU!
The Organization of American Historians is seeking military historians who are OAH members for a series of upcoming projects. Specialists in the American Revolution, Military-Indian conflicts, the Civil War, and nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century military history are needed. All work carries a stipend. If you are interested in being considered for these projects, please send a curriculum vita to Susan Ferentinos, Public History Coordinator, Organization of American Historians, 112 N. Bryan Ave., Bloomington IN 47408-4199, <nps@oah.org>; fax: (812) 855-0696.
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