Into the OAH's Second Century

From the OAH President
Nell Irvin Painter

Painter

Let’s congratulate ourselves: the Organization of American Historians celebrated its one hundredth anniversary at its spring 2007 annual meeting in Minneapolis with Richard White as president. The OAH and its predecessor, the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, together have served the needs and defended the interests of historians of the United States for a century. Our membership is international. Our scholarship continually evolves. We encompass a more diverse range of historians than ever before.

Though we have many reasons to celebrate as we enter our second century, I want to call us to the task of thinking about our aspirations and our means toward reaching our goals. Here I need to tread a fine line between complacency and alarm. On the one hand, we are nicely solvent, with a financial cushion set aside for the inevitable rainy day. On the other hand, we have in the last couple of years overspent our income to the tune of $179,000 in fiscal year 2005-2006 and an additional $44,000 in 2006-2007. We have covered these shortfalls from our General Reserve Fund. If we continue along the present path, we may well exhaust our savings.

Let me try to clarify. These recent deficits are not related to the annual meetings of 2000 and 2005. Moving the annual meeting between two venues in St. Louis in 2000 and between San Francisco and San Jose in 2005 did not create enduring deficits, because the OAH Executive Board covered those extraordinary expenses by drawing on the OAH’s General Endowment. In the end, the St. Louis move cost about $15,000, because members made generous contributions to cover the costs of the move. The San Francisco move proved much more costly, but it was paid from the General Reserve Fund. Our settlement with Hilton Hotels prohibits our publicly discussing the dollar amount. Thanks to the financial savvy of the managers of the OAH funds deposited with the Indiana University Foundation (IU is the OAH’s host institution), the growth of the endowment has somewhat offset these uncommon expenses. But given the usual volatility of investment income, we cannot count on a rising stock market always to increase our worth so markedly.

As we look back on the costs of moving the meetings in 2000 and 2005 and at the more recent deficits, our elected officers and our members must face the reality that we cannot continue to generate these shortfalls without threatening our ability to fund our work as a professional organization encompassing people with a wide range of convictions, as set forth in our mission statement.

The OAH mission statement says, “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.” In 2002-2003 the OAH Executive Board construed this mission broadly in a Strategic Plan, which you can see at <http://www.oah.org/pubs/nl/2003may/strategicplan.html>. You have received letters from OAH presidents, most recently from me, asking you to contribute to the organization above and beyond your annual dues in order to further the goals of the strategic plan, which I embrace completely, at least ideally. The OAH has successfully implemented some of the Strategic Plan, but much has fallen by the wayside. Drawn up before the OAH began running annual five- and six-figure deficits, the Strategic Plan no longer represents reality. Rather than expanding its activities, the OAH has had to make economies.

We need to think again about how best to serve the interests of our 9,000 members. We are a varied group: professors, teachers, writers, independent scholars, and lovers of the history of the United States whose needs as historians the OAH seeks to serve. At the same time, we operate in a context of financial stringency. I come to you now to ask what’s most important to you, our members. Do you see the OAH as a professional organization, one whose dues mainly support an annual meeting and the publication of a scholarly journal, a newsletter, and a magazine for teachers of U.S. history? To what parts of the Strategic Plan do you give higher priority than to others? How broadly do you interpret the OAH’s mission, in terms of activities and in terms of fundraising?

Speaking personally, I would love the OAH to be able to serve every teacher and writer of the history of the United States. I treasure our interpretations of this history as deeper and sounder than what prevails in popular culture, and I value our diversity. However, I want the OAH always to found its mission on the basic fundamentals of its role as a professional organization: the Journal of American History and the annual meeting. Obviously we need to do more than just those two activities. But those two, I think, need to come first.

Which activities should come next? I think it’s up to you, the members, to help your elected representatives—the OAH Executive Board—decide as we rethink our fundraising activities. We’re not the only people in the OAH, which we share with nine thousand others of you. As a historian of the United States, how do you see the OAH’s furthering your interests? You can write to me at the OAH: P.O. Box 5457, Bloomington, IN 47407-5457 or online at: <http://www.oah.org/feedback/>. (Please select my name in the recipient pull down menu.) The other members of the OAH Executive Board will have access to your comments. You can find our names and photos on the OAH website: <http://www.oah.org/about/execbd/>. We will be discussing the Strategic Plan at the October meeting of the OAH Executive Board.