News of the Organization

Spring/Summer 2008 Action Items
of the OAH Executive Board

The following actions were taken by email by the OAH executive board subsequent to its spring 2008 meeting in New York City:

By e-mail on April 24, 2008, the executive board voted to pay Carol Berkin an honorarium of $3,000 for her presentation to the TAH symposium at the OAH Annual Meeting in New York.

By e-mail on May 17, 2008, the executive board voted to have a joint meeting with the National Council for Public History in 2012 in Milwaukee and that a joint ten-member program committee for the 2012 meeting should be appointed by OAH Vice President Alice Kessler-Harris and NCPH President Martin Blatt.

By e-mail on May 17, 2008, the executive board voted to approve the following new bylaw:

Darlene Clark Hine Award. This committee is composed of three members appointed annually. The award is given annually for the best book in African American women's and gender history.

By e-mail on July 24, 2008, the executive board authorized the president and president-elect to appoint and cochair a search committee for a new executive director whose term would begin in 2009.

By e-mail on August 2, 2008, the executive committee voted to have OAH join as a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) against Vice President Richard Cheney and the National Archives to ensure the preservation of Cheney’s vice presidential records after January 20, 2009.

Fall 2008 Action Items of the OAH Executive Board

At its October 2008 meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, the OAH Executive Board took the following actions:

Approved the minutes from the March 27-30, 2008 executive board meeting in New York City as well as the minutes of actions taken subsequent to the meeting.

Approved the appointments to OAH service and award committees made by the OAH Committee on Committees.

Approved the Executive Office's recommendation for appointment of the following individuals to the new OAH Magazine of History Editorial Board: Keith Berry, Kevin Byrne, Billie Jean Clemens, Kimberly Gilmore, Cathy Gorn, Lisa Kapp, Rita G. Koman, Stephanie Rossi, Gideon Sanders, Cynthia Stout, Laura Westhoff, and Linda Sargent Wood.

Thanked the ninety-eight OAH members who graciously gave their time to deliver more than one hundred OAH Distinguished Lectures from July 2007 through June 2008; and especially Fred W. Anderson, Eric Arnesen, Stephen A. Aron, David W. Blight, Timothy H. Breen, Paul Finkelman, Stanley N. Katz, Wilma King, Chana Kai Lee, James W. Loewen, Sally McMillen, Lisa A. Norling, Neal Salisbury, and Bruce J. Schulman who delivered more than one lecture.

Selected the recipients of the 2009 OAH Distinguished Service Award who will be announced at the annual meeting in Seattle on March 28, 2009.

Selected the recipient of the 2009 OAH Friend of History Award who will be announced at the annual meeting in Seattle on March 28, 2009.

Approved Journal of American History Editor Edward T. Linenthal’s recommendation for appointment of the following to the Journal of American History Editorial Board: Ann Fabian, Kristin Hoganson, Karen Leong, and Jonathan M. Schoenwald.

Approved the replacement of the OAH Executive Board subcommittees with the appointment of an executive board liaison to each OAH service committee.

Approved a bylaw replacing the Joint OAH/AHA Committee on Part-time and Adjunct Employment with a regular OAH service committee devoted to that issue.

Approved replacing the OAH Ethics and Professional Standards Committee with an ad hoc committee on Ethics and Professional Standards as needed.

Approved a revised e-mail protocol for the OAH Executive Board.

Accepted the FY 2008 OAH audit prepared by Crowe Horwath of Indianapolis.

Approved the FY 2009 Revised Budget including a revision to the Fund for American History policy that FAH proceeds be used solely for new projects or initiatives for up to three years, so that new projects could continue to receive FAH funding after their third year.

Voted to suspend publishing the Palgrave Macmillan/OAH Best American History Essays series until an evaluation is made of the 2009 volume, The Best American History Essays on Lincoln, edited by Sean Wilentz.                                    

2008 OAH Membership Survey

The Executive Board of the Organization of American Historians is developing a new Five-Year Strategic Plan. We are seeking information about your experience with the activities of the OAH as well as your overall ideas about the organization and your work as a historian. We believe this survey will take about fifteen minutes to complete. It involves both multiple choice and open ended responses. If you did not receive an e-mail containing a link to the survey, please contact the membership office to receive your copy.