The Organization of American Historians and the Writing and Teaching of American History

The field of American history has undergone remarkable expansion in the past century, all of it reflecting a broadening of the historical enterprise and democratization of its coverage. Today, the shape of the field takes into account the interests, identities, and narratives of more Americans than at any time in its past. Much of this change can be seen through the history of the Organization of American Historians, which, as its mission statement says, "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." This book tells this history through the lens of the OAH (and its predecessor, the Mississippi Valley Historical Society) in its first century, bringing together essays by a wide range of historians from academia, teachers at a variety of institutions, public historians, and editors of the Journal of American History. Among its most useful parts is a reflection by subfields (economic history, political history, African American history, the history of sexuality, diplomatic history, environmental history, Native American history, and more) to discuss how and in what ways these fields have developed the discipline, as well as the ways in which a learned society consciously and deliberately expands to encompass the various and often conflicting interests of those who make history their life's work in different settings. . It also looks at the organization itself, at its founding and growth, the changing composition of its membership and leadership, the name change and the reasons for it, and the attention paid over the years to history teaching.

Richard S. Kirkendall, the Scott and Dorothy Bullitt Professor of American History Emeritus at the University of Washington, is a former Executive Secretary of the Organization of American Historians.