This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream
media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously
biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in
each source note. Quotation marks are not used.
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Jul 5, 2011
Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero recently announced the appointment of Debra Steidel Wall as Deputy Archivist of the United States, effective July 3, 2011.Ms. Wall is a twenty-year veteran of the National Archives. For the past four years she has served as Chief of Staff, providing exceptional leadership and effective management for the agency. She has been actively involved in creating and implementing the “Charter for Change,” the roadmap for the transformation of the National Archives.As Deputy Archivist, Ms. Wall will be instrumental in achieving the goals of the transformation. An early priority will be helping to build new leadership into effective executive and management teams. She will also assist the Archivist in achieving an open and inclusive work environment; encouraging creativity and investing in innovation.
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Jul 5, 2011
On June 13, the Advisory Committee on the Records of Congress (ACRC) met at the U.S Capitol Visitor Center.The Advisory Committee is comprised of the officials in Congress responsible for its records (Clerk of the House, Secretary of the Senate, Senate Historian, and House Historian) and the Archivist of the United States, who is responsible for the administration of the archived records of Congress. House and Senate leadership appoint public members of the committee, who represent historians, political scientists, congressional archivists, and other users and caretakers of legislative records.Secretary of the Senate Nancy Erickson began the meeting by noting that eight Senators had already announced their retirements following the 2012 election and her office was working with them to identify repositories for their records. She announced that 200+ boxes of Senate records from the 99th Congress, and 36 boxes more than 50 years old, had been entered into the declassification process. These records come mainly from the files of the Armed Services, Foreign Relations and Judiciary Committee.
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Jul 5, 2011
Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero has announced the appointment of Dr. Peter Shulman as the recipient of the 2011 Legislative Archives Research Fellowship.“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Shulman to the National Archives as the first recipient of this generous fellowship funded by the Foundation for the National Archives. His appointment grows out of our commitment on many different levels to foster research and inquiry into the historical records of Congress housed in the National Archives Center for Legislative Archives. We look forward to having him share the results of his research with the community at large,” said Mr. Ferriero.
Source: Chronicle of Higher Ed
Jul 5, 2011
The Middle East Studies Association has asked Yale University to investigate whether alleged government spying on the scholar Juan Cole played a role in Yale’s decision to deny him a faculty position. In a letter sent Tuesday to campus officials, MESA said it was making the request in response to a recent New York Times report accusing the Bush administration of illegally spying on Mr. Cole, a critic of its policies, to try to discredit him....
Source: BBC News
Jul 5, 2011
Andrew Boyd was a prolific journalist and popular historian who for decades enlivened the Belfast writing scene with his trenchant opinions and researches into the city's history and politics.A highly independent individual who delighted in argument and relished controversy, he was a man of the left throughout his life.From that standpoint he was outspokenly critical of practically all political groupings, left, right and centre.Although he abhorred partition and the creation of the Northern Ireland state, Boyd was contemptuous of modern republicanism.He declared scornfully that the IRA had decided "to kill thousands of decent, inoffensive people and innocent children, destroy commercial and private property to the value of billions of pounds, and incite the bloodlust of the most brutal loyalists".He was also highly critical of the unionist party, accusing it of maintaining power "by exploiting the ignorance and fears of the Protestants, thriving on recurring violence, the inflaming of hatreds and the continuance of divisions".His most striking work was his book Holy War in Belfast, which detailed the violent outbreaks other historians had tended to play down....
Source: IFC
Jul 4, 2011
Details are sketchy at this point, but I just received the very sad news that Robert Sklar, film historian, author, and long-time professor of cinema studies at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts passed away over the weekend in Spain, apparently of injuries suffered in a cycling accident. Professor Sklar -- Bob to his friends, but always Prof. Sklar to me -- was my faculty adviser for my two years at NYU and one of the best teachers I ever had, on the subject of film or anything else.
Source: Star Tribune
Jul 4, 2011
Do Minnesota students know their U.S. history?Despite a recent report showing a limited grasp of U.S. history by the nation's students, Minnesota educators generally give fair marks to the students here. Young people often have a pretty good sense of dates, places, names and basic trends, the educators say.But the teachers say that improvement is needed, and worry that the emphasis on math, reading and the sciences may detract from learning about history, which they say is crucial to becoming solid citizens with a sense of national identity."I think you're really trying to address one of the fundamentals of the human experience: Who are we, what have we done, and where are we going?" said Tim Hoogland, director of education outreach programs for the Minnesota Historical Society.
Source: NewsMax
Jul 3, 2011
If America's Founding Fathers were clear on anything, it was that deficits could not be tolerated, says best-selling author and political historian Larry Schweikart. So what would the founders say about the current economy and crushing U.S. debt? “The founders were very clear on issues of debt,” Schweikart says, “so certainly they would want to see our fiscal house in order.” The debt crisis is only one symptom of a nation that is more divided now than “at the time of the Civil War,” Schweikart says. “It is very deeply divided. And it's more divided than, I think, at the time of the Civil War, though less likely to involve violence because it's not sectional in nature. But the divisions involve a large segment of people who became heavily dependent on the government, especially the federal government, for their daily existence,” he points out....
Source: The Browser
Jul 3, 2011
Please tell us about the document that preceded the Constitution.The Articles of Confederation formed America’s first federal constitution. It was framed in 1776 and 1777 but not ratified until 1781. The articles created a unicameral Continental Congress, which had no authority to legislate; it could not pass statutes. Its members generally served for only a few months at a time and went home often. The Continental Congress did much of its work by sending resolutions, recommendations and requisitions to the states. It assumed that the states would simply do the right thing for the United States. That assumption turned out to be terribly naive. Figuring out how to replace the articles was the challenge the framers faced in 1787.Although the United States is a relatively young country, we have the oldest written constitution still in use. What is uniquely enduring about the document?What’s uniquely enduring about the document is how deeply Americans are wedded to it. When Americans started writing constitutions in the 1770s, doing so was a new idea. The idea of having a written constitution as the original supreme fundamental source of law was an American invention. Now most nations around the world, with a few notable exceptions, have written constitutions.
Source: NYT
Jul 3, 2011
The events in “Star Wars,” the opening credits reveal, happened “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” But did similar events happen before?That is the question posed by “Star Wars and History,” a book planned for 2013 by the publisher John Wiley & Sons. In an e-mail posted in June, Nancy Reagin, a history professor at Pace University, and Janice Liedl, an associate professor of history at Laurentian University in Ontario, asked their peers to submit essays that explore the parallels between world history and Star Wars history.For example, their note to the historians of slavery sought essays “where historical examples of slavery are detailed to inform an exploration of how slavery was depicted in Star Wars (e.g., the persistence of slavery on Tatooine) and how these parallels provide historical models for the Star Wars universe.”...
Source: BBC News
Jul 2, 2011
Historians believe the Staffordshire Hoard could hold vital clues to explain the conversion of Mercia - England's last great pagan kingdom - to Christianity in the 7th Century.The hoard was found buried on a farm in Staffordshire in July 2009.The 1,500 pieces of gold are thought to be the spoils of an Anglo-Saxon battle.'Warring kingdoms'TV historian Dan Snow believes the find has the potential to rewrite the history books.Speaking on BBC1's The Staffordshire Hoard, he said the conversion of Mercia "marked the beginning of a new era in English history"....
Source: WaPo
Jul 2, 2011
Anne M. Broderick, 80, a retired history professor in North Carolina who settled in the Washington area in 1974 and became a volunteer, died June 16 at the Riderwood Village retirement community in Silver Spring. She had congestive heart failure.Mrs. Broderick volunteered at St. Peter’s Catholic Church on Capitol Hill and So Others Might Eat. In 2006, she moved to Riderwood Village from the District.Anne Maurine O’Hora was a Chicago native and a 1949 graduate of the old Good Counsel College in White Plains, N.Y. She received a master’s degree in history from Columbia University in 1952 and a master’s degree in library sciences from the University of Maryland in 1984.She taught at schools in White Plains and then at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., from 1966 to 1974....
Source: Guardian (UK)
Jul 1, 2011
Historian Norman Stone has been drawn into a battle of Amazon rankings after his latest outing was dismissed as "a farrago of errors, half-truths, fantasies, non sequiturs and irrelevancies" by a reviewer.
Source: Huffington Post
Jul 1, 2011
An industrious, semi-aquatic mammal with excellent engineering skills. A furry, monogamous creature that smacks its tail on the water when frightened. A buck-toothed rodent whose anal sacs contain castoreum, a substance used to make perfume.And an enduring symbol of our nation?The lowly beaver is an official symbol of the sovereignty of Canada, having received royal assent in 1975. But its presence on our communal cultural radar is spotty at best, limited to currency (the nickel), camping ailments (beaver fever) and sugary fried bread snacks in the nation's capitol (beaver tails).So is the beaver still a potent image of what it means to be Canadian? Or are we clearly due for a new and improved national symbol?
Source: Guardian (UK)
Jun 28, 2011
Media historian David Hendy has won an international prize for outstanding journalism for a BBC radio 3 series.Hendy was given the James W Carey Award in recognition of his work as writer and presenter of Rewiring the Mind, a series of five programmes that explored the way in which modern media have shaped mental life since 1900....
Source: Chronicle-Telegram (OH)
Jun 28, 2011
OBERLIN — A touching story of black and white comrades-in-arms who fought in the Spanish Civil War will be featured tonight at 8 on “History Detectives” on PBS, and Oberlin College assistant professor Sebastiaan Faber plays a major role.In the episode, Faber helps History Detective Tukufu Zuberi tell the story behind a dog-eared and yellowing tribute to an African-American soldier named Douglas Roach that belongs to Minneapolis resident David Harry Fellman.Roach, a young Communist and high school wrestler from Provincetown, Mass., was only 5 feet tall but was described as “an army by himself” in a newspaper clipping.Without giving away the secrets and surprises unveiled in tonight’s episode, Faber and Fellman said they were thrilled with the efforts of Zuberi and “History Detectives.”...The eulogy to Roach called “A Negro Hero Dies” was written by Fellman’s father, Sol, who fought in the war alongside Roach, who later died of injuries suffered in the war....
Source: Emory Wheel
Jun 28, 2011
President Obama appointed Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies Deborah Lipstadt, to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council on June 7. Lipstadt is a renowned historian who specializes in and writes about her opposition to Holocaust denial — the act of denying that the Holocaust happened. Additionally, she has published articles and books pertaining to specific Holocaust trials. She has been studying the Holocaust for over 30 years and has published four books related to the Holocaust. The council consists of 55 citizens appointed by the President, five members of the Senate, five members of the House of Representatives and three ex-officio members from the Departments of State, Education and Interior, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website. The U.S. President appoints those who are particularly accomplished in their respective fields. Lipstadt served two terms for the council under the Clinton administration and said the selection process for the current council was equally as lengthy and tough as the previous selection process she underwent years ago....
Source: CNN.com
Jun 27, 2011
ONLY ON THE BLOG: Answering today’s OFF-SET questions is Richard Bushman, the Howard W. Hunter Visiting Professor of Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University in California.He teaches courses on Mormonism in its broad social and cultural context and on the history of religion in America. Bushman has taken an active part in explaining Mormonism to a broad public and in negotiating the tensions between Mormonism and modern culture. An emeritus professor at Columbia University, he received his Ph.D. in the History of American Civilization from Harvard. Among his books is the biography, “Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling.” He also serves as one of three general editors of the Joseph Smith Papers....Prof. Bushman, the character of Elder Price, an American Mormon missionary in modern-day Uganda, questions his faith, but regains it while performing the song, “I Believe.” He sings, “I believe that God has a plan for all of us. / I believe that plan involves me getting my own planet.” Is that lyric based in Mormon belief?
Source: Daniel Drezner in Foreign Policy
Jun 27, 2011
...[Niall Ferguson's] latest essay for Newsweek contains the laziest paragraph I will read today. In this column, Ferguson strains to displace Tom Friedman as The Creator of Inane Metaphors. He coins "IOU-solationism" to descibe the instinct to retrench because of domestic difficulties. There's a pedestrian description of rising sentiment for retrenchment. Then we get to the lazy paragraph, which happen
Source: The Day (CT)
Jun 26, 2011
In the history of the United States, there have been only two occasions in which a president has suspended the writ of habeas corpus, a person's right to challenge in court the legality of his imprisonment.Most recently, on Oct. 17, 2006, President George W. Bush, with the approval of Congress, suspended the right of habeas corpus to persons "determined by the United States" to be terrorists.While Bush was widely criticized for breaching this fundamental constitutional right, he was not the first president to do so.The first was Abraham Lincoln....Perhaps it is too soon for history to judge Bush's action, but historians have reached a verdict on Lincoln's, says Michael Burlingame, the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield, and the author of "Abraham Lincoln: A Life," which is considered the definitive work on the 16th president.Historian Mark Neely, for example, "examined the records of thousands of military tribunals and concluded that the Lincoln administration did not abuse the power of suspension by arresting people simply because they criticized his policies," Burlingame says....
