On History, Historians Reflect on As- Isessment—How They Determine Whether They and Their Students ◆ Frank T

erspectives on PThe Newsmagazine of the American Historical Association | 53: 1 | January 2015 History

From the President 5

A Quest for Balance By Vicki L. Ruiz

From the Executive Director 7

History Exams and the High School Curriculum By James Grossman

News 9 FEATURES

Ex(-)Libris ex Oriente: New Database to Track the Transmission of Middle Eastern Assessment Forum 19 Confessions from the Field: Building Assessments with the Books By Shatha Almutawa 9 Jami’s Haft History Discipline Core Awrang Undergoes Conservation at the By Anne Hyde 19 Smithsonian By Shatha Almutawa 10 The The Benefits of Self-Assessment: Measuring Historical Thinking Face of the Nation: George Washington, Skills at UMass Boston Art, and America By Stephanie Kingsley 11 By Jonathan Chu 24 Creating and Administering a Primary Source Analysis By John Buchkoski, Mikal B. Eckstrom, Advocacy 13 Holly Kizewski, and Courtney Pixler 26 SLO Curve Ball: What I Really Want for My Students Records Bills Move Forward as Congress By Josh Ashenmiller 28 Wraps Up for the Year By Lee White Teaching 30 AHA Activities 14 Teaching and Researching Roe v. Wade: Responding to Linda Kerber’s Call for Historical Report of the 2014 AHA Nominating Action Through a Service-Learning Undergraduate Committee By Dane Kennedy 14 2015 Project By Nicola Foote, Frances Davey, Nominating Committee Reiterates and Kristine De Welde 30 Call for Nominations 16 The Medium Is the Message: Teaching about Globalization in a Global Classroom Digital Dispatches 17 By Kris Manjapra 32

Ghosts and Monsters: Human-Scale Career Paths 34 Digital History at #RRCHNM20 A Historian in a Professional School of Politics By Seth Denbo By Matthew Dallek

Letter to the Editor 36 On the Cover In Memoriam 37 n this issue of Perspectives on History, historians reflect on as- Isessment—how they determine whether they and their students ◆ Frank T. Reuter By Kirk Bane 37 Victor met their goals for a course or program. R. Greene By Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks and Al-Khidr, depicted on the cover, appears as a teacher in a Qur’anic Michael Gordon 37 parable. His student, Moses, fails all three of his teacher’s tests. Iconography portraying Al-Khidr often shows him traveling on the river of life on the back of a fish. See this month’s Endnote for more Endnote 38 about Khidr iconography. The image is from the album Miniatures, portraits et modèles The Man Who Floats on a Fish d’écriture des Indes, published in 1760 and held by Bibliothèque nationale de France, département des Estampes et de la Photographie, Réserve OD-60 By Shatha Almutawa PET FOL, f. 19. {{PD-US}}

Job Center 39 Perspectives on History (ISSN 1940-8048) is published nine times a year, monthly September through May, by the American Historical Association, 400 A St., SE, Washington, DC 20003-3889. (202) 544- 2422. Fax (202) 544-8307. World Wide Web: www.historians.org/ perspectives. E-mail: [email protected] (editorial issues) Newsmagazine of the or [email protected] (membership and subscription issues). Perspectives on History is distributed to members of the Association. Individual membership subscriptions include an amount of $7.04 to cover the cost of Perspectives on History. Institutional subscriptions 400 A Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003-3889 are also available. For details, contact the membership department of 202.544.2422 • Fax 202.544.8307 the AHA. Single copies of Perspectives on History—if available—can E-mail: [email protected] be obtained for $8 each. Material from Perspectives on History may Web page: www.historians.org/perspectives be published in Perspectives Online (ISSN: 1556-8563), published by the American Historical Association at www.historians.org/ perspectives. For information about institutional subscriptions, see www.historians.org/members/subscriptions.htm. Staff Articles, letters to the editor, and other items intended for publication Perspectives on History should preferably be submitted online at www.historians.org/ Associate Editor perspectives/upload. They may also be sent as attachments to e-mail Shatha Almutawa messages addressed to [email protected], or by regular mail (in Coordinator, Professional Data and Job Center which case, the hard copy text should be double-spaced). Manuscripts Liz Townsend accepted for publication will be edited to conform to Perspectives on Associate Editor, Web Content and Social Media History style, space limitations, and other requirements. Prospective Stephanie Kingsley authors should consult the guidelines available at www.historians. Editorial Assistant org/perspectives/submissions.htm. Accuracy in editorial material is Jacob Ingram the responsibility of the author(s) and contributor(s). Perspectives on American Historical Association History and the American Historical Association disclaim responsibility for statements made by contributors. Executive Director James R. Grossman Individual articles in Perspectives on History for which the American Director, Meetings and Administration Historical Association holds the copyright may be reproduced for Sharon K. Tune noncommercial use under Creative Commons license CC-BY- Director of Scholarly Communication and Digital Initiatives NC-ND 4.0. Attribution must include author name, article title, Seth Denbo Perspectives on History, issue date, and a link to the online version of Coordinator, Committees and Meetings the article (which can be found at www.historians.org/perspectives). Debbie Ann Doyle For more on the Creative Commons license, please visit Membership Manager http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0. This license does Pamela Scott-Pinkney not apply to text or images reproduced here for which the AHA does Assistant Membership Manager not hold the copyright. Michelle Hewitt Periodicals class postage paid at Washington, DC, and at additional Controller Randy Norell mailing offices. Associate Director ©2015 American Historical Association. Dana Schaffer Postmaster: Send change of address to Perspectives on History, Special Projects Coordinator Julia Brookins Membership Department, AHA, 400 A St., SE, Washington, DC Programs Manager 20003-3889. Emily Swafford Publisher’s Statement Staff Accountant Phu Pham The American Historical Association is a nonprofit membership Administrative Office Assistant corporation founded in 1884 for the promotion of historical research, Matthew Keough study, and education. The Association reserves the right to reject Program Assistant editorial material sent in for publication that is not consonant with Elizabeth Elliott the goals and purposes of the organization. The Association also assumes the right to judge the acceptability of all advertising copy Editorial Advisory Board and illustrations in advertisements published in Perspectives on History. Prasenjit Duara (National Univ. of Singapore) Advertisers and advertising agencies assume all liability for advertising Elise Lipkowitz (Northwestern Univ.) content and representation and will also be responsible for all claims Aaron W. Marrs (US Department of State) against said publisher. Trudy H. Peterson (Archival Consultant) John D. Rogers (Independent Scholar) Abby Smith (Cultural Heritage Resources Consultant) Emily Sohmer Tai (Queensborough Community Coll.) Robert Brent Toplin (Univ. of North Carolina at Wilmington)

4 Perspectives on History January 2015 From the President A Quest for Balance

Vicki L. Ruiz

or many of us, the quest for balance gentle, resolute way, explain why I could and reclaiming experiences earlier ignored. in our professional and personal lives not serve. Indeed, celebrated historian Darlene Clark seems as elusive as the Holy Grail or Of course, platitudes abound for work- Hine speaks of “getting new knowledge out evenF a good night’s sleep. In 1982, I arrived at life balance, especially for women. Rather to as many layers of the American popu- my first academic position at the University than leaning in, out, or sideways, we can set lation as possible.”2 Making the case for of Texas at El Paso with a baby on the hip boundaries that work for us. There should be history and historical thinking is a shared and one on the way. In reflecting on the no shame in telling colleagues, “Oh, the com- goal across temporal, thematic, and regional days when I had two boys in diapers, taught mittee plans to meet on alternate Wednes- affinities. Our research demands what writer two to three classes per semester, directed an days from four to six? I would love to partic- Ron Carlson calls “staying in the room,”3 institute for oral history (supervising a staff ipate, but that time does not work with my but, in the practice of history, we also of six), began revising my dissertation, and schedule. Could we meet earlier in the day?” expand the room to engage with students, commenced new research projects, I think (No confessions necessary.) As educators, our colleagues, and communities. of how young, energetic, and brashly naïve work follows us home, with lecture prepara- Despite our overscheduled lives (by I must have been. Exhausted, I sported tion, classroom blogs, blue books, letters of choice, necessity, or both), we should step a perennially red, runny nose as a badge recommendation, and e-mail all competing back from all of our digital distractions to of fatigue. My dependence on tissues was for our attention, not to mention that won- reflect on why we chose a path in history. so noticeable that during my panel at the derful (sometimes guilty) pleasure known as We should think about our mentors and 1986 Social Science History Association research. Though the subject line read “fall our own role in mentoring others. Mentor- conference, I was introduced as “Professor blizzard of work,” the e-mail message sent by ship involves more than a vertical relation- Ruiz and her cold.” my comadre Valerie Matsumoto contained ship along the axis of senior-junior, profes- This sojourn down memory lane introduces the hopeful reminder to “have fun—there’s sor-student. Observing undergraduates as serious conversations about boundaries and a revolutionary idea!” they develop an appreciation for historical obligations. The first step involves recogniz- Joli Jensen’s recent piece in the Chronicle of inquiry or PhD students as they find their ing “the nibblers.” If we take a moment and Higher Education, “Face It: Your Decks Will intellectual footing renews the sense of look at our calendars, there is probably a com- Never Be Clear,” sets out the importance of wonder and enthusiasm I had when I entered mittee meeting, task force, report, or group taking responsibility for one’s time: “This is graduate school. Working with commu- that nibbles away time better spent elsewhere. the life you have worked so hard to be part nity groups and public historians can also Indeed, we did not enter graduate school with of. Prioritizing and protecting time for your provide insight into your own research. My aspirations of serving on the parking com- scholarly work is how you honor your com- public talks on Mexican American teenag- mittee or the human subjects review board mitment to it.”1 This stratagem applies with ers during the 1920s and 1930s have always (though historians need to be at the table for equal force to our personal relationships and generated lively audience responses from in- the latter). Taking stock of current commit- families. And honoring the two areas simul- dividuals eager to share family stories. After ments and weighing one’s investment in a taneously is an improvisation at its best (or one presentation at the Riverside Historical new project provide a time-out for prioritiz- worst). One of my colleagues finds time to Museum, a woman informed me that her ing and thinking twice before uttering that write at the local library near her children’s parents had eloped, and in order to do so ever-reflexive “Yes.” gym and, years ago, I scribbled on notepads they had locked her grandmother in the For untenured colleagues, especially the at Little League, taking a book light to night outhouse. These talks helped me realize overcommitted, a proactive chair can be a games. the depth of generational tensions over the godsend. The late Roland Marchand helped Even with all of the demands and negotia- surveillance of young women’s bodies and by inviting me to vet all committee requests tions I have experienced over the last 30-plus behavior. Of course, community engage- with him. At least once a quarter, I sat in years of academic life, I acknowledge my ex- ment can have surprising consequences. A his office as we sorted out the latest batch— traordinary privilege. For many, part of our talk to Arizona senior citizens about Span- ever mindful of my progress toward tenure. work as historians involves opening up the ish-speaking women on the frontier took an He would then call colleagues and, in his profession to people previously excluded unexpected turn after I quoted a priest who

January 2015 Perspectives on History 5 believed votes for women would lead to the and Stefan Tanaka) has cultivated philosoph- students? The Tuning project has fall of civilization. “Damn right!” shouted a ical conversations and teaching resources, now compiled dozens of examples man in the front row, his declaration pro- as well as markers of student competencies. of departmental and course level voking both laughter and glares. In spite of Rather than approaching assessment reports expectations for students and challenges like these, community talks offer with dread, “tuners” seize the opportunity curricular maps to guide students the general public a better sense of what we to reflect on our craft. I encourage you to in building knowledge and skills, do in the archives and in the classroom. explore the Tuning project on the AHA’s all designed to clarify what we do 4 Making history count also involves close website: bit.ly/12noS9W. In “Tuning and and why. collaborations with our colleagues. As an Teaching History as an Ethical Way of Being The Tuning project serves as a powerful example, the AHA’s Tuning project forges in the World,” Anne Hyde beautifully artic- model of how mentoring each other as strategic partnerships within and across ulates the Tuning mission: peers is a healthy alternative to competi- departments. With over 60 institutional tion. As a former academic dean, I recog- partners, the Tuning project encompasses This might be crazy, but imagine a nize that colleagues will in all probability much more than assessment and frame- first meeting of the academic year not join hands and sing “Blowing in the works; it also includes dynamic discussions where no one talked about budgets, Wind,” but a healthy respect for our dif- of the value of our discipline to students assessment, course assignments, or ferences and a shared mission should not and society. With vision and corazón, parking. What if we all started the prove that difficult. (Okay, so I don’t know Tuning’s leadership core (Anne Hyde, year discussing what disciplinary your department.) Those of us who came of Patricia Limerick, John Bezis-Selfa, Eliza- ideals link us as historians and how academic age in the 1980s or earlier have beth Lehfeld, Gregory Nobles, Kevin Reilly, we might best introduce those to our seen remarkable changes—family leave, gender equity programs, and diversity initiatives. I doubt that an expectant colleague in Join the Conversation at her last trimester would now encounter an earnest question about whether she planned to have more children. Yet, with few excep- AHA Communities tions, I remember with great fondness the kindness and consideration of colleagues as well as the enormous bouquet sent to the hospital by my students in the US survey. Many challenges remain, but finding some semblance of balance is an important step. If you have made it this far in my inaugural column, I hope you will pause to reflect on our multiple identities and responsibilities. Let us continue these conversations as we research the past, live in the present, and mentor for the future.

Vicki L. Ruiz is president of the AHA.

Notes 1. Joli Jensen, “Face It: Your Decks Will Never Be Clear,” Chronicle of Higher Education (Sep- tember 12, 2014): A33. 2. Chad L. Williams, “Awards and Honors: 2013 National Humanities Medalist, Dar- communities.historians.org lene Clark Hine,” National Endowment for the Humanities, http://www.neh.gov/about/ AHA Communities is an online platform for communication and awards/national-humanities-medals/darlene- collaboration. Historians can join ongoing discussions on teaching clark-hine. and learning, remaking graduate education, and the annual meet- 3. Ron Carlson, Ron Carlson Writes a Story (St. ing, or launch their own forum, blog, or project space. Paul, MN: Graywolf Press, 2007), 24. 4. Anne Hyde, “Tuning and Teaching History as an Ethical Way of Being in the World,” AHA Today, http://blog.historians.org/2014/07/ tuning-teaching-history-ethical-way-world/.

6 Perspectives on History January 2015 From the Executive Director History Exams and the High School Curriculum The AHA Council Responds to New York State’s Proposed Changes to High School Exams

James Grossman

he American Historical Association I am not a fan of the testing regime that has protecting academic turf, or diminishing has submitted to the New York State come to dominate far too much of secondary the significance of either other disciplines Board of Regents a statement of education. High school teachers and parents or career preparation. As the AHA’s Tuning T of children who have passed through grades concern (see next page) regarding proposed project suggests, we consider history educa- changes to the requirements for a Regents 10–12 over the past decade are well aware that tion an essential aspect of such preparation high school diploma in that state. Currently far too much time is spent preparing for tests, and even believe that it is a good idea for students are required to take statewide as opposed to student learning. These overlap, history teachers to be thinking about how examinations in global history and geography but they are not necessarily the same. Yes, a historical thinking prepares our students for well-designed “assessment tool” can provide and in US history and government, along with workplaces. The AHA’s statement emphasiz- useful—indeed often essential—evaluation of tests in English, mathematics, and science. es the necessity of history education in pre- student learning. But many of us wonder how paring students for many career options and The proposed modification would reduce many such tools are necessary. for lives as part of an engaged citizenry. the social studies requirement by allowing That said, it is also clear that in the current a student to substitute a “comparatively environment what is tested tends to be what James Grossman is the executive director of the rigorous” form of assessment in areas more gets priority in the classroom and in the American Historical Association and tweets directly related to careers. broader curriculum. This is not a matter of @JimGrossmanAHA.

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AHAAd.indd 1 12/11/14 5:11 PM January 2015 Perspectives on History 7 reasoning. These essential aspects of history education are skills necessary in any profession. In a rapidly changing world, global history and geography are essential to business, science, technology, and industry as well as the humanities and social sciences because these fields encourage students to study changing re- December 2, 2014 lationships and understand diverse perspectives. For example, knowledge of global markets— whether their physical locations, The New York State Board of Regents recently proposed a mod- their demands for new technologies, or their supply capabili- ification to the Regents Examinations to allow for greater flexi- ties— is currently integral to an educated workforce. In a state bility in order to improve graduation rates and focus on career with a large immigrant population, Global History and Geog- training. Since 1988, students seeking a Regents diploma have raphy also teaches intercultural understanding and geographic had to pass end-of-the-year exams in math, English, science, a reasoning; these are skills and traits desired by employers. language other than English, and two social studies subjects, The AHA is also concerned that the revised global history test which are Global History and Geography and U.S. History and now limits its scope to the period after 1750, setting aside, for Government. With the proposed revised exams, students will example the rise of great religions, and the early development of choose between Global History and Geography or U.S. History world-wide trade, the circulation of ideas, and even Christopher and Government, and they will select a fifth exam in accounting, Columbus. advertising, carpentry, culinary arts, hospitality management, or The U.S. History and Government curriculum is key to the some other career-focused subject. development of civic participation for all New Yorkers. The cur- The American Historical Association, the world’s largest orga- riculum seeks to develop engaged citizens who demonstrate their nization of professional historians, recognizes that the Regents understanding of the history of their nation, and for example, Exams have changed many times since their first administration the significance of voting, the Constitution, how laws are created in 1865 to respond to shifts in ideas about education and the and passed, and how people interact with governmental institu- imperatives of employment. The halving of the social studies tions. The preparation to pass the U.S. History and Government requirement in the proposed revision, however, is out of tune exam ensures that students are exposed to the ideals, practices, with the circumstances of today’s world. These two exams have principles, and history of the United States, its government, and distinctive goals that are essential to an engaged citizenry and an its civil society. educated global workforce. The American Historical Association encourages the Board of The two social studies courses and exams emphasize critical Regents to consider a method by which both Global History reading, acquisition of knowledge, and the creation of logical and Geography and U.S. History and Government remain vital and analytical arguments that employ evidence to demonstrate components of the curriculum and the Regents Exam.

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8 Perspectives on History January 2015 News Ex(-)Libris ex Oriente New Database to Track the Transmission of Middle Eastern Books Shatha Almutawa

lise Franssen, a Belgian postdoctoral The database will include the price of the death in 1363 and decided to keep at least researcher, and Frédéric Bauden, manuscript, if it is mentioned on the man- some of his father’s books in his library. This a professor at the University of uscript’s pages, as well as photographs of information was gleaned from the owner- ÉLiège, are creating an online database of autographs, author handwriting, and any ship marks the son inscribed into the man- paratextual elements in Arabic, Turkish, other marginal notes. It will complement uscripts. and Persian manuscripts in order to track the information found in the Islamic seals According to Nelly Hanna, distinguished the transmission of Middle Eastern books. database of the Chester Beatty Library, university professor and chair of the Depart- By doing so they aim to learn about the which is also accessible online (www.cbl.ie/ ment of Arab and Islamic Civilizations at the histories of public and private libraries, islamicseals/Home.aspx). American University in Cairo, the history patrons of manuscripts, the geographic Franssen provided examples of what re- of the book is an underdeveloped area in circulation of books, and the reading searchers might find through a systematic the field of Middle East studies. Whereas practices of individuals and communities. study of paratextual elements in Islamic books have been studied as art—especially Paratextual elements include marks that manuscripts. In the case of 450 Mamluk- when they contain calligraphy and illumina- owners wrote into the manuscript (includ- period manuscripts held at the Süleymaniye tions—there has been limited work on the ing their names and the dates of purchase) Library in Istanbul, a particular book col- Middle Eastern book’s history. Most librar- and waqf statements, which indicate that lector, Al-Shirwani, emerges as a prominent ies have not even cataloged their collections the owner of the book donated it to a re- name. Al-Shirwani, who died in 1723, was a of Arabic manuscripts, she said. Therefore, ligious charitable endowment. Some books civil servant of the Ottoman state. Franssen this new methodology and approach will contain notes from the authors stating that also discovered that the son of the famous allow scholars to use sources differently; in they had reviewed the copy of the book and author Al-Safadi, who is said to have written published books, the language is often “cor- approved it, while some book owners make about 50 books, among them the important rected,” and therefore lost. The size and shape notes about those who read or borrowed the biographical dictionary Al-Wafi bil-wafayat, of a manuscript, which can tell the scholar a manuscript as well. inherited his father’s collection after his great deal about the uses of the book, are also In a talk at the Middle East Studies As- sociation annual meeting in Washington, DC, Franssen stated that studying the paratextual elements in manuscripts provides information about scholars’ collections and the practice of selling entire libraries in the medieval period. Additionally, “Having samples of scholars’ handwriting would help researchers in paleography and assist in the identification of autograph or holograph manuscripts,” Franssen said. The project, funded by the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique, is in the process of being developed at the University of Liège with the help of two computer specialists who also have backgrounds in literary studies. Other scholars, specialists in Persian and Ottoman manuscripts, will verify the readings of marks and participate in their entry into the database. Others, especially curators of important collections of Arabic In a manuscript from the Süleymaniye Library (Ms Ayasofya 4732), in the hand of Al-Safadi, various manuscripts, will serve as consultants. ownership marks, stamp impressions, a waqf statement, and an autograph sama¯  can be found.

January 2015 Perspectives on History 9 lost when a book is studied in its published readers, as well as the scribes who copied the on the University of Liège Department of form rather than in manuscript. Additionally, manuscripts. Arabic Language and Islamic Studies website (web.philo.ulg.ac.be/islamo/portfolio-item/ many editors and scholars skip the marginal Franssen called on other scholars of Middle ex-libris-ex-oriente). notes in manuscripts when they prepare a East history to contribute information and text for publication, but these notes provide photographs of paratextual materials to the Shatha Almutawa is associate editor of valuable information about the authors and database, which will be online in the spring, Perspectives on History. Jami’s Haft Awrang Undergoes Conservation at the Smithsonian

Shatha Almutawa

manda Malkin, a Hagop Kevorkian Fund fellow at the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. ASackler Galleries, is currently performing conservation work on the museum’s manuscript of Persian poet and scholar Jami’s Haft Awrang (Seven Thrones), which is dated 1556–66 and contains 304 bifolios and many illuminations. Another illuminated manuscript of two books from the Haft Awrang from around 1570 sold for over $95,000 in a Sotheby’s auction in 2009. This manuscript is important not only because of its beautiful illuminations but also because of its author. “Anyone who studies classical Persian literature would have to read Jami’s works. Not just selections from the Haft Awrang but also his ghazals [love poetry],” Sunil Sharma, associate professor of Persi- anate and comparative literature at Boston A detail from the Smithsonian’s illuminated manuscript of Jami’s Haft Awrang University, said in a phone interview. In fact, Jami’s work became so popular that his manuscripts were translated centuries ago into other the Qur’an and builds a beautiful romantic scripts before the use of microscopes. Malkin languages, including Chinese and Russian. tale around it with a sufi subtext,” Sharma is also reducing accretions on this manuscript According to Yiming Shen, who wrote her dis- said. The romances that he wrote “are philo- with a scalpel. sertation at the School of Oriental and African sophical and ethical, about correct behavior Preservation of this manuscript began in Studies at the University of London on Jami’s for human beings, rulers, Sufis.” 2013, at a time when interest in Jami’s work reception in China, these texts were taught in At the Smithsonian, manuscript conserva- has been revived. Jami’s work and influence mosques in the original Persian and explained tion began around the 1930s. Manuscripts have been the subject of international con- in colloquial Chinese. Shen examined trans- such as the Haft Awrang that are hundreds of ferences, first at the University of Chicago lations of Jami’s work that were made by Liu years old typically suffer staining, small tears in 2012, then in Paris in 2013, and later at Zhi (c. 1670–1745) and She Qiling (1638– and flaking pigment. Malkin is conserving another University of Chicago symposium 1703), who transformed the Persian texts cracked and flaking paint in the Haft Awrang into Chinese texts, replacing most Arabic and using a technique called consolidation, in in 2014. Persian technical terms with Chinese terms; which an adhesive made of seaweed is careful- Although the entire collection of works in these translations, even the word Allah was ly used to re-adhere the pigment to the page. in the Haft Awrang has not been trans- replaced with its Chinese equivalent: zhen. Accretions—foreign material that stick to the lated into English, there have been trans- Jami, who died in 1492, wrote his Haft surface of the paper—are another problem. lations of two of the books: Salaman and Awrang as a collection of seven works. “His Some accretions are remains from previous Absal, by Edward FitzGerald, and Yusuf and work Yusuf and Zulaikha takes a figure from conservation work that was done on manu- Zulaikha, by David Pendlebury.

10 Perspectives on History January 2015 News The Face of the Nation: George Washington, Art, and America The Annual George Washington Symposium at Mount Vernon, November 7 and 8, 2014 Stephanie Kingsley

s I entered the busy Smith purchasing the original, Washington allowed Auditorium at Mount Vernon for Stuart to keep the original of this portrait so the first evening of the George that the artist could use it to paint replicas. AWashington Symposium, I wasn’t sure what Stuart took full advantage of this privilege, sort of lectures I would hear. The conference, eventually producing 75 replicas,1 one of held on Friday and Saturday, November 7 the latest of which was painted in 1820. and 8, and entitled “The Face of the Nation: Miles noted that later in life Stuart never George Washington, Art, and America,” painted Washington the same way: “Each promised several lectures about George one is different . . . so freshly painted,” Washington in art, delivered by noted his- Miles marveled. The Athenaeum face would torians, art historians, and curators. I an- be taken up by various copyists, ultimate- ticipated visually stimulating presentations ly finding its way onto the one-dollar bill. and well-constructed scholarship. But what Stuart himself would appropriate this face new could there be to learn about George for another famous work of his: the full- Washington, one of American historians’ length Lansdowne portrait, which shows the oldest subjects? exact same head but with the eyes turned. In Historian Hugh Howard kicked off the this portrait the general stands in a drawing Friday evening sessions by tracing the room, a document on the table next to him, story of America’s budding art scene in with storm clouds and a rainbow showing National Portrait Gallery through a window in the background. Stuart the portraits of George Washington. Over This print was designed by John James Barralet painted this portrait only two years after the the course of Washington’s career, portrai- after a miniature of Washington by Walter signing of the Jay Treaty, which Washington ture in America developed from an ama- Robertson, then engraved by Robert Field. In supported; perhaps the rainbow signified teur’s field to an established art form and addition to the eagle, other patriotic symbols populate this print. In her talk, Wendy Wick the promise of peace the treaty might bring profession; many of the period’s major Reaves pointed out how this eagle carries “a amid tenuous US–British relations and the portraitists painted the famous general. baton, the scales of Justice, and an ‘E Pluribus French Revolution. Among the most prominent of these were Unum’ ribbon.” Other emblems include “military It was not just portrait artists who took Charles Willson Peale, Edward Savage, banners, the palm branches of victory, the liberty cap on a sword, [and] the word ‘libertas’ Washington’s image and repurposed it. Gilbert Stuart, and John Trumbull, all of in a laurel wreath,” which “aim upwards towards New technologies brought new reproduc- whom studied in London under the older the encircling clouds.” Reaves noted that such tion possibilities. Wendy Wick Reaves of American painter Benjamin West. Washing- symbols would have been universally understood in the 18th century; thus, their use in prints would the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery ton sat for Peale seven times in the course of have been an effective mode of communicating vividly demonstrated how Washington’s his life, and the symposium dramatized the political messages to a wide audience. image became popularized via the print relationship between painter and sitter in a medium, swiftly adorning the pages of fictional theatrical dialogue between Wash- a very different Washington—a result of the “books, magazines, almanacs, broadsides, ington and Peale (portrayed by historical changing man and the developing artist. children’s primers, and song sheets.” The reenactors Dean Malissa and Bob Gleason, Gilbert Stuart was a similarly important visually reproduced Washington became an respectively). This dialogue featured the two portraitist of Washington; according to indicator not so much of the man himself men reminiscing about events that occurred Ellen Miles of the National Portrait Gallery, but of the cultures that consumed him, and in their lives at the time of each sitting, and Stuart made it his mission as a young artist the contexts in which he appeared in these suggested that Peale, as well as Washington, to paint Washington. Stuart would produce reproductions indicated the ideological may have approached the portrayal of the several famous portraits, including the un- purposes he was meant to serve. Accord- general from an altered perspective each finished Athenaeum portrait, begun in ing to Reaves, allegorical figures populating time. Indeed, each of Peale’s portraits shows 1796. Contrary to the custom of the sitter’s 19th-century prints of Washington quickly

January 2015 Perspectives on History 11 communicated such purposes to audienc- portrait was the most accurate. Howard es; figures such as the “Genius of Liberty,” replied that they had not, and then he Fame, Nature, and Justice reassured the suggested finding the portrait that “speaks to public that Washington promised prosperity you the most” and imagining that likeness as for the young nation. Patriotic symbols also the real Washington. Scholars at the sympo- frequented these works. One 1795 print by sium demonstrated how early Americans did John James Barralet (see the previous page) just that in their portraits, prints, sculpture, depicts a portrait of the general on the back and even 18th-century silk embroideries of of a majestic eagle against the backdrop of American schoolgirls (the subject of a talk “a radiating sun and clouds.” This deific rep- by Mount Vernon’s senior curator, Susan P. resentation of Washington came at a time Schoelwer). University of Maryland profes- during his second term when events such sor Scott Casper gave the final lecture (on as the Whiskey Rebellion and the signing 20th-century appropriations), concluding, of Jay’s Treaty had weakened the public’s “It is through this reimagination that George support of his administration; the depiction Washington remains for us a fresh and vibrant was meant to inspire people’s shaken confi- figure.” Indeed, this statement encapsulates dence in their president. the spirit of the symposium overall. The variability found in the painted por- Just as Washington became a symbol of the trayals of Washington is mirrored in the Albert Herring, CC BY-3.0 values Americans chose to ascribe to him at sculptures that were made of him. Two Jean-Antoine Houdon’s George Washington their given historical moments, I would like was commissioned in 1794 by the Virginia striking examples were the subject of Uni- General Assembly and completed in 1796. to appropriate him for another purpose. By versity of Virginia professor Maurie McIn- Thomas Jefferson corresponded with Houdon, the time I arrived at Mount Vernon, I had nis’s talk: Jean Antoine Houdon’s marble occasionally consulting Washington on matters just finished my first week working at the statue George Washington (1789) and the concerning the sculpture’s design. Washington requested that he be dressed in contemporary AHA, and I began to see George Washing- bronze Virginia Washington Monument clothing, not ancient Roman garb, as was ton as an emblem of the historical subject by Thomas Crawford (1858–69), both traditional with such statues. Many of the classical in general. We can never learn all there is to located in Richmond. The Houdon features features in this work were likely the result of know about a person, time, or event; even if a Neoclassical-style Washington standing Jefferson’s involvement. The original is housed in the Virginia State Capitol. we could, the fascination surrounding that in civilian dress with a plow and sheathed topic should remain fresh because of the sword; this depiction drew on the compari- manifold angles and lights in which histori- son often made between Washington and the ans can view it. As one with a background in Roman statesman Cincinnatus after Wash- English literature, I am used to thinking of a ington retired from public service following given literary work’s meaning as inscrutable: the Revolution. This Washington could lead all we can ever really analyze are the interpre- an army into battle but longed for the peace tations of it, as with Ralph Waldo Emerson’s and tranquility of domestic life. Converse- “moods like a string of beads,” which “paint ly, the Virginia Washington Monument the world their own hue” and prohibit man features a bronze equestrian statue of Wash- from seeing anything as it truly is.2 Unlike ington riding triumphantly to war. In sharp Emerson, however, I see this metaphor as contrast to Houdon’s Cincinnatus-inspired profoundly positive: it means that history Washington, Crawford’s equestrian design will be forever fresh; scholars will always associated Washington with the Roman have something to discover; and there will emperor Marcus Aurelius, well known always be a new George Washington to meet for his military prowess. The Confedera- around every corner. cy selected this statue as the subject of its seal: a show of strength to the hostile North. Stephanie Kingsley is the AHA’s web and social McInnis remarked that “statues tell us more media editor. Follow her @KingsleySteph. about the men who chose them than about Washington himself”; as with painting and prints, a multitude of sculpted Washingtons Notes Tabor Andrew Bain, CC BY-2.0. served a variety of political and sociocultural Thomas Crawford cast the bronze statue of 1. “Gilbert Stuart,” National Gallery of Art, purposes. Washington with the intention of portraying http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2005/stuart/ Following Hugh Howard’s presentation him as “the great Virginian.” The statue was philadelphia.shtm. completed in 1858; the base was not finished on portraits at the beginning of the confer- until 10 years later. The monument is located 2. Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Experience,” in ence, an audience member asked if George outside the Virginia State Capitol in Capitol Essays: Second Series, 1844, Ralph Waldo Em- or Martha Washington had indicated which Square. erson Texts, http://www.emersoncentral.com.

12 Perspectives on History January 2015 Advocacy Records Bills Move Forward as Congress Wraps Up for the Year

Lee White

s Congress wraps up for the year, withholding of presidential records or delay Archives, while legal custody remains one bill favorable to the history their release indefinitely. with the agency or the president. community has been passed, and In the past, extension requests by former ◆ Clarifying the responsibilities of federal anotherA has been marked up and prepared presidents for additional time in which to government officials when using for further debate. review records have been routinely granted nongovernment e-mail systems. by the incumbent. For example, a recent Presidential and Federal report by Politico found that the Obama ◆ Empowering the National Archives to administration has provided President safeguard original and classified records Records Reform Bill 2 Clinton with numerous extensions for from unauthorized removal. resident Obama has signed into law the records related to a variety of controversial In responding to the enactment of the new Presidential and Federal Records Act issues from his administration.1 P law, Archivist of the United States David Amendments of 2014 (PL 113-187). This is The new law will end that practice. For the Ferriero stated in the press release, “We a major victory for the National Coalition for first time, the former and incumbent presidents, welcome this bipartisan effort to update the History and the community of historians who after receiving notice from the National nation’s records laws for the 21st century.” have been advocating for the passage of Pres- Archives of its intent to release a record, will idential Records Act (PRA) reform legislation be subject to specific time limitations as they FOIA Reform Bill since the issuance of President George W. Bush’s review records for constitutionally based 2001 Executive Order (EO) 13233 restricting privilege against disclosure. The current and n November 20, the Senate Judiciary public access to presidential records. former president would have an initial 60 days OCommittee marked up legislation to re- The fact that there was nothing in the PRA to review the records and would be allowed form the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). that set forth a constitutional privilege review one 30-day extension. S. 2520, the FOIA Improvement Act of 2014, procedure has proved vexing for historians, The law also clarifies that if the president, seeks to reduce the often broad interpretation archivists, political scientists, journalists, and vice president, or their “immediate staff” use a of FOIA’s exemptions by federal agencies. It is others. The process for restricting access has nonofficial e-mail account to create a record, similar to a bill passed by the House of Rep- created delays and uncertainty as to when they must either make a copy of the record resentatives earlier this year. The bill faces an records would be released. The Presidential or forward it to their official e-mail account uncertain future since it must be passed not Records Act allows the public to make Freedom within 20 days of creation of the record. only by the Senate, but by the House as well of Information Act requests beginning five The new law also makes important changes due to amendments made to the bill. to the way federal records are treated. years after a president leaves office; however, it NCH signed on to a letter with over 70 According to a National Archives press release, allows the former president to claim six FOIA other organizations urging the passage of the updates to the Federal Records Act include: restrictions for up to 12 years. S. 2520. OpenTheGovernment.org, a non- The PRA did not, however, provide a ◆ Strengthening the Federal Records Act partisan advocacy group, has prepared a procedure allowing former presidents to by expanding the definition of federal summary of the bill, explaining what it does. request continued restricted access. This records to clearly include electronic To read their summary, visit bit.ly/11UPsqR. flaw in the statute in effect has left it up records. This is the first change to the Lee White is the executive director of the to each president to interpret the law and definition of a federal record since the National Coalition for History. to impose restrictions as they have seen fit enactment of the act in 1950. through the issuance of executive orders. ◆ Confirming that federal electronic © 2015 The National Coalition for History This situation has led to abuses, such as records will be transferred to the President George W. Bush’s attempt to National Archives in electronic form. broaden the authority of those able to Notes ◆ Granting the Archivist of the United make a privilege claim and potentially 1. Josh Gerstein, “Secrets of the Clinton Li- restrict public access indefinitely beyond States final determination as to what brary,” Politico (August 25, 2014), http:// the 12-year period in the law. For example, constitutes a federal record. www.politico.com/story/2014/08/secrets-of- the Bush executive order for the first time ◆ Authorizing the early transfer of the-clinton-library-110289.html. gave the heirs or a representative of a former permanent electronic federal and 2. To read the full press release, please visit president the opportunity to request the presidential records to the National http://1.usa.gov/1ycEidR.

January 2015 Perspectives on History 13 AHA Activities Report of the 2014 AHA Nominating Committee

n behalf of the Nominating Valerie Paley, New-York Historical Society Committee on Committee, I am pleased to (US social and cultural history, public report the results of the 2014 history, urban history) Committees O (3-year term) election for AHA offices. The committee is extremely grateful to all the candidates Councilor Research who agreed to stand for Association elective (3-year term) Position 2 office and committee positions despite their David A. Bell, Princeton Univ. (early Daniel Bornstein, many other obligations. The Association Washington Univ. modern and modern France, Atlantic depends for its continued well-being on the in St. Louis (medieval and early modern world in the age of revolution, nationalism, willingness of its members to serve. Elected Europe, Renaissance Italy, history of Chris- military history) candidates are indicated in boldface. tianity) Ethan H. Shagan, Univ. of California, Craig Harline, Brigham Young Univ. Berkeley (early modern European history, President (early modern European religion and (1-year term) British history, history of religion, history of political thought) culture, especially the tension between ideals Vicki L. Ruiz, Univ. of California, Irvine and practice; the Low Countries; microhis- (Chicano/Latino history, US women’s Councilor Teaching tory and creative nonfiction) history, immigration, labor, US West) (3-year term) Nominating Committee Craig Perrier, Fairfax County (VA) Public President-elect (3-year term) (1-year term) Schools and Northeastern Univ. (K–16 history education, teacher preparation and Carol Gluck, Columbia Univ. (modern development: curriculum and instruction, Position 1 Japan, World War II, history writing and globalizing the US history survey, 20th-cen- Jana K. Lipman, Tulane Univ. (US public memory in Asia and the world) tury world history, historical thinking skills, foreign relations, labor history, US empire, Patrick Manning, Univ. of Pittsburgh online and blended learning: using technol- 20th-century US political history, US immi- (world history, Africa and African diaspora, ogy in education) migration history and theory, interdisciplin- Brenda Santos, Achievement First gration and refugee history) ary and digital history) Amistad High School, New Haven, CT Nayan Shah, Univ. of Southern Califor- (20th-century US history; race and racial nia (US and Canadian history, gender and Vice President, Research formation; histories of public health, educa- sexuality studies, legal and medical history, Division tion, and welfare; women and gender; civil Asian American) (3-year term) rights; secondary and postsecondary history instruction) Fred Anderson, Univ. of Colorado Boulder Nominating Committee (3-year term) (early modern North America, revolution- Committee on ary and early national US) Edmund Russell, Univ. of Kansas (envi- Committees Position 2 ronmental, American, global, technology, (3-year term) Paula Alonso, George Washington Univ. science) Position 1 (Latin American history, 19th and 20th cen- Councilor Profession turies, Argentine history, political history, Sarah Knott, Indiana Univ. (early America; (3-year term) cultural history, women and gender, history Atlantic World; age of revolutions; women, of the press, history of ideas) Paul Gardullo, National Museum of gender, and sexuality; history of maternity) African American History & Culture, Michele Mitchell, New York Univ. William Kelleher Storey, Millsaps Coll. Smithsonian Institution (African American (United States; African diaspora, including (British Empire, southern Africa, environ- history and culture, US cultural and social West/East/South Africa; gender and mental history, history of technology, world history, public history) sexuality; feminist theory) history)

14 Perspectives on History January 2015 Nominating Committee logged in, members could read the election the membership at large. These appeals (3-year term) rules and link to the ballot, which was also also stress the committee’s commitment linked to candidate biographies. to diversity of all kinds. In addition, the Members who lacked a valid e-mail committee solicited nominees in an open Position 3 address, or who requested the paper ballot, letter published in the January 2014 issue David N. Myers, UCLA (Jewish intel- were mailed a paper ballot. The procedures of Perspectives on History. A number of AHA lectual and cultural history, European in- for paper ballots were essentially the same as members responded to the open letter with tellectual history, history of historiography, in previous years: after filling out the ballot, suggestions; others replied with expressions history of religion) members returned it to SBS, which entered of willingness to serve. The committee also Leila Fawaz, Tufts Univ. (social and po- the information into the system. In theory, retained and reviewed suggestions and CVs litical history of the modern Middle East, a member could receive both an e-mail and of people who had been considered over late Ottoman Arab history, Europe and the a paper ballot. Since the system tracked the previous five years. The nominations Middle East, wars and civil wars, relations whether someone voted, separate from we received reflected the diversity of our of city and state, culture and society from specific votes, the system accepted the first organization with respect to gender, race, the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean vote received and entered into the system type of institution, field, and rank. In our circa 1890–1920) from that voter (but without identifying the deliberations, however, the committee specific voter). expressed a special need for assistance in Election Process and Individuals who renewed their membership identifying candidates at the secondary- Results or joined the AHA for the first time after the school level and those engaged in museum initial mailing of ballots were also allowed to work. As in the past, we would also like or 2014, the election cycle was adjusted vote in the election. Anyone who renewed or to remind our colleagues to renew their Ffrom fall to spring/summer, with bal- joined was able to vote online or to request membership in the organization before the lots mailed to members on June 1, with a a paper ballot. end of the calendar year if they would like to return date of July 15. Ballots were e-mailed be considered for nomination. In addition, to 13,762 members, with 2,905 casting bal- Committee Deliberations we urge members to provide the AHA with lots before the AHA constitution deadline. multiple means of contacting them (home This was 21.11 percent of the total receiv- he Nominating Committee met in and office phone numbers, e-mail addresses, ing ballots, compared to the 21.63 percent TWashington, DC, on February 8 and 9. etc.). This is very helpful to the committee casting ballots in 2013. With the advent of Present were Dane Kennedy, George Wash- when it seeks to get in touch with potential e-voting, there have been higher levels of ington Univ., chair; Takashi Fujitani, Univ. of nominees during its deliberations. participation in AHA elections than in the Toronto; Francois Furstenberg, Johns Hop- Fulfilling its constitutional responsibility, preceding two decades. The rate of return kins Univ.; Thavolia Glymph, Duke Univ.; the committee selected two nominees corresponds closely with the median range Sandra E. Greene, Cornell Univ.; Moon-Ho for each Association office and elective of voter participation in major associations, Jung, Univ. of Washington; Edward Muir, committee position to be filled by election which is 24 percent. Northwestern Univ.; Sophia Rosenfeld, in 2014, with terms to begin in January The 2014 election marked the 10th year Univ. of Virginia; and Pamela Scully, Emory 2015. The committee sought to identify that AHA members had the opportunity to Univ. Also attending the meeting were James able and energetic members who could vote online to elect the Association’s officers. Grossman, executive director, and Sharon K. work well with colleagues, and who Survey & Ballot Systems of Eden Prairie, Tune, director, administration. were, where relevant, familiar with broad Minnesota, distributed election ballots to Deliberations began at 9:00 a.m. on sections of the profession beyond their AHA members and received, validated, and Saturday and continued through late immediate fields of expertise. In the case of tallied the votes. Members who furnished morning on Sunday. Members also the president and other top positions, the valid e-mail addresses and agreed to receive circulated names and CVs of potential committee recognized the importance of messages from the Association were asked nominees via e-mail prior to the meeting. selecting nominees who could represent the via e-mail about their preference for an The committee’s next meeting is scheduled interests of historians to the public at large, online or paper ballot. For the second for February 6 and 7, 2015 (Friday and and who had demonstrated some degree of year, all members who voted elected to do Saturday rather than the usual Saturday administrative skill. In all its selections, the so online; no paper ballots were returned. and Sunday). The chair of the 2015 committee was anxious to reflect the broad Members were also invited to rate the Nominating Committee will be Takashi diversity of the historical profession in terms voting process. Slightly more than 90 Fujitani. of type of institution served, geographic percent rated their response to the process The Nominating Committee moved to location, subdiscipline, interests, gender, as “very satisfied” or “satisfied.” its principal task: nominating candidates and cultural background. All AHA members who opted to vote for office. As in the past, the committee The committee wishes to thank the staff electronically received an e-mail message was very concerned that all AHA members of the Association for their support of our with a unique, computer-generated user should have input into the process. efforts. We also want to express our gratitude name and password, good only for the Every year the Nominating Committee to our executive director, Jim Grossman, online balloting system. Once successfully issues several appeals for nominees to whose sage advice, positive energy, and

January 2015 Perspectives on History 15 hands-on assistance were invaluable to not least, I personally would like to thank swiftly and effectively. It was a great pleasure our deliberations this year. As always, we the other members of the committee and to have served with them. are especially grateful to Sharon K. Tune, the members of the past two Nominating director, administration, for her consistently Committees. Their good humor, hard work, Respectfully submitted, outstanding guidance and advice, as well keen judgment, and broad knowledge of the Dane Kennedy, George Washington University as her patience and good cheer. Last but profession made it possible for us to work Chair, 2014 AHA Nominating Committee

2015 Nominating Committee Reiterates Call for Nominations Dear AHA Members, Recommending nominees to the Nominat- good citizens in the profession who The Nominating Committee will meet in ing Committee is one of the most significant you hope will serve the AHA at February to recommend two candidates for ways members can affect AHA policy and some point, encourage them to join. each of the following positions: administration. The process is open. When You need not check on a potential candidate’s membership yourself; the 1. President-elect (by rotation, Europe). making nominations, the committee tries to secure representation of all viewpoints, back- committee can do that. 2. Vice President, Teaching Division. grounds, and academic interests; all kinds of 2. The AHA wants to avoid con- 3. Councilor Profession, serving institutional affiliations; as well as unaffiliat- centrating leadership positions in a on the AHA Council and on the ed historians and teachers at all levels of the few institutions. Therefore, for all Professional Division, which deals educational system. In short, the committee open positions—with the exception with the rights and responsibilities of aspires to have the Association governed by of the president-elect—we will not historians, professional conduct, the job nominate candidates from institu- market, data collection, membership, members as diverse as our profession. tions that are already represented and professional service prizes. To accomplish this goal, we need your help. Please propose yourself or any friends and col- among officers and on elective com- 4. Councilor Research, serving leagues who you believe can serve the Associ- mittees. However, we maintain files on the AHA Council and on the of potential candidates recommend- Research Division, which promotes ation in any of these positions. If you think ed to us, so don’t let this stand in the research and new research tools, the AHA has not adequately represented a way of your recommending someone governs relationships with fellow constituency—as defined by type of insti- for future consideration. professional organizations, establish- tution, a type of history studies, or personal es and awards research grants and characteristics—then please make a special Please forward your suggestions as soon as fellowships, oversees the American effort to bring potential candidates who will possible (and no later than January 21), with Historical Review and the annual do so to our attention. If possible, submit a any supporting material you can provide, meeting, including appointing the potential candidate’s CV and ask others to chair of the Program Committee. write in support. Even if you cannot find to the AHA Nominating Committee, c/o 5. Councilor Teaching, serving time to do so, the committee will take every Sharon K. Tune, 400 A Street SE, Washing- on the AHA Council and on the recommendation very seriously and secure ton, DC, 20003-3889; you may fax to the Teaching Division, which supervises information itself. To help us do so, please same addressee at 202-544-8307; or send an AHA educational activities and the send us the recommended person’s e-mail e-mail, with supporting material as attach- Association’s educational publica- address if you can. Since the Nominating ments, to any of the committee members. tions, promotes history education, and Committee (listed below) consists entirely Since the Nominating Committee meets encourages new methods of instruc- of faculty from four-year institutions, we are partially over a weekend (Saturday), please tion and cooperation in the develop- particularly grateful for recommendations of provide home and/or cell phone numbers, ment of curricula and other teaching activities. people in parts of the profession where we if possible. All contact information will be have fewer connections of our own: public considered strictly confidential and will be 6. One member of the Committee historians, community college teachers, K–12 on Committees, which names used for the sole purpose of reaching the po- teachers, etc. The same is true of recommen- members to appointive committees, tential candidate over the weekend. Please including book prize committees, dations for the graduate student slot on the feel free to send general comments and standing committees, and grant and AHA Council, since the grad students we make general recommendations about the fellowship committees. know best—those at our own institutions— Nominating Committee’s responsibilities to cannot serve as long as we ourselves do so. 7. Three members on theNomi any of its members. nating Committee, which nomi The only restrictions are these: nates candidates for all the elective 1. A nominee must be a mem- Sincerely, offices and elective committee positions. ber of the Association. If you know 2015 AHA Nominating Committee

16 Perspectives on History January 2015 Digital Dispatches Ghosts and Monsters Human-Scale Digital History at #RRCHNM20

Seth Denbo

everal years ago I was small cog in “scalable reading,” or a form of engagement to the entire archive of that newspaper for a large digital humanities project with texts that combines reading with the a given period presents significant meth- distributed across three continents. contextual overviews at which computers odological and theoretical challenges and TheS project had the admirable goal of excel. In Mueller’s words: historical opportunities. On his blog, Tim breaking down barriers to digital scholarship Hitchcock, professor of digital history, has Scalable reading, then, does not in the humanities. Doing so, at least in referred to the information scientist Katy promise the transcendence of this case, meant integrating digital tools Börner’s concept of a “macroscope” to call reading—close or otherwise—by that would allow scholars to do textual for tools that “provide a ‘vision of the whole,’ bigger or better things. Rather it analysis and publish and share the results helping us ‘synthesize’ the related elements draws attention to the fact that of their research. A lot of the intellectual and detect patterns, trends, and outliers texts in digital form enable new inspiration that drove the project forward while granting access to myriad details.”2 and powerful ways of shuttling came from the early modern and classical Digital historians’ perspectives on this between “text” and “context.” Who textual scholar Martin Mueller. Digital dichotomy—big versus small, close versus could complain about tools that textual scholarship in the humanities makes distant—were a central topic during a session let you rapidly expand or contract possible the analysis of large-scale corpora called “The Future of Digital History” held your angle of vision?1 by tools designed to give a continent-level at George Mason University in October. view (Franco Moretti’s much-talked-about Working between text and context is at the The session was part of a two-day conference “distant reading”), but this can also have core of the historical discovery process, and celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Roy the effect of obscuring the small stories questions about how to do this are a central Rosenzweig Center for History and New and local matters that are at the heart of concern for many historians using digital Media (RRCHNM) and included presen- the human cultural experience. Mueller’s tools and methods. Moving from the par- tations by Hitchcock and Spencer Roberts reformulation of this idea was to call for ticular, such as a trial report in a newspaper, (a fellow at the center), as well as prominent

Digitized map showing how counties in all 48 states voted in the 1912 presidential election. Clicking on the map brings up the results for that county, including details in relation to the larger context. From the Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States, Digital Scholarship Lab, University of Richmond, dsl.richmond.edu/historicalatlas/110/b/.

January 2015 Perspectives on History 17 digital historians Will Thomas and Kathryn In order to achieve this democratiza- history offers, speakers were wary of the Tomasek. tion, speakers throughout the day saw monsters that technology might produce. Founded by Rosenzweig in 1994, digital history as transformative, as having Hitchcock invoked “the hubris and sick RRCHNM was one of the earliest centers to the potential to allow a reshaping of the imagination” of Victor Frankenstein, whose develop and promote the use of computers discipline. While Hitchcock sees the trans- creature he used in a cautionary metaphor by humanists. Over the years since, the formation as a product of the new historical for the journey of digital history from a hu- Rosenzweig Center has been responsible for narratives that can evolve in the interplay bristic embrace of technology for its own developing widely used tools such as Zotero between big and small data, for Will sake to a sense of humanity. Historians who and Omeka, for launching and fostering the Thomas, chair of the history department are enamored of digital tools must remember THATCamp movement, and for numerous at the University of Nebraska, transforma- to ground their work in an attempt to gain a digital-history projects, including the Sep- tion comes from the engagement between better understanding of the past. tember 11 Digital Archive, the Hurricane the past and the present. As Thomas stated What is the future of digital history? En- Digital Memory Bank, and the Papers of the in his talk, a “fully complex social reality gagement with digital tools can be a route War Department 1784–1800. of the present meets a fully complex social to a reinvention of historical narrative that enhances the role of history in our society In addition to a room bursting with reality of the past” when there is more direct and culture. The key to this is remembering, scholars of digital history, both venerated engagement with both sources and audi- in Wheaton College historian Kathryn To- and nascent, ghosts and monsters were ences, and when barriers between historians masek’s words, the “value of the granular.” prominent guests at the conference. The inside and outside the academy are broken Tomasek’s comment that “big data is made benevolent ghost of the center’s much- down. Thomas argues that, to make this a up of the granular” concisely captures this. missed founder was present throughout reality, we need better mechanisms for peer For historians, digital engagement should the conference as a number of speakers review of digital history, greater critical mean being able to move from the vast invoked Rosenzweig’s generosity toward engagement with the interpretive maneu- realms of big data to the smallest component other scholars, especially those at the vers of digital historians, and better means parts of the larger whole. In some sense, this beginning of their careers, and his humane to engage in dialogues with our audiences. is what good historical writing has always vision for a democratization of history Contrasting with the paeans to Rosenz- been, a deeply integrated narrative that through digital engagement. This vision weig’s humanitas were the monsters that moves from the particular to the general and has been at the core of the center’s mission occasionally joined the festivities. Along with back again. The promise of the digital, then, from its inception. a celebration of the possibilities that digital is threefold: that it allows for engagement with far more sources than ever before, that it makes possible a much more dynamic interaction with those sources when moving between text and context, and finally, that it enables a dialogic approach to engaging audiences. With these things in mind, we can banish the monsters and move toward the humane and democratic history we should all strive for. Videos of all of the talks and notes on the sessions, as well as more information about the projects mentioned, are available on the #RRCHNM20 conference site (chnm.gmu. edu/20th).

Seth Denbo is the AHA’s director of scholarly J. Theodore Johnson: Chicago Interior, 1934 communication and digital initiatives. Follow – Smithsonian American Art Museum CC-BY-NC-ND him on Twitter @seth_denbo.

Inspired by something Notes 1. Martin Mueller, “Scalable Reading,” you've read here? Scalable Reading, May 12, 2012, https:// Have you ever connected with another scholar because of something you read in scalablereading.northwestern.edu/scalable- Perspectives? Has an article inspired you to try a new teaching technique? Has an essay reading. sent your research off in an unanticipated direction? If so, we’d like to hear about it. 2. Tim Hitchcock, “Big Data, Small Data and Please email us at Meaning,” Historyonics, November 9, 2014, [email protected] http://historyonics.blogspot.com/2014/11/ big-data-small-data-and-meaning_9.html.

18 Perspectives on History January 2015 Assessment Confessions from the Field Building Assessments with the History Discipline Core Anne Hyde

s the faculty chair of the AHA rooms without appearing judgmental. And moving toward “mapping” the major so Tuning project, I feel somewhat ob- because of the structure the Discipline Core that we have a sense of where various skills ligated to figure out ways to use the provides, either for us to push against or for and kinds of knowledge are presented to HistoryA Discipline Core (bit.ly/1w22aC2). us to push for, we had useful conversations. students and where they can practice them The project solicited contributions and re- We found out that, in the process, we’ve more intensely. visions from a large number of historians, learned something important about our As we’ve begun this process, the Discipline and the result is a text that combines our students, our discipline, and ourselves. Core gives us common language to describe core values as professional historians with The Department of History at Colorado skills and habits of mind. However, it isn’t our practical ambitions for our students. College had its first foray into departmental particularly helpful as we think through The idea was to enable historians teaching assessment with our required senior essays. when to teach what. What do we want anywhere to use the broad framework as a How could we read them more critically students to be able to do and know at the starting point for developing goals or out- and develop consistent standards for grading end of their first history course? At the end comes that are useful for their own insti- them? How could we see patterns in what of their careers as majors? This challeng- tutions. Great idea, but harder to put into students were doing well and what they es us because at Colorado College, as with practice. weren’t? We needed a rubric, but since no many history programs, we offer a very un- I teach at a place that has pushed pretty one really wanted to start from scratch and structured major, and we have students at hard against “measuring things” and assess- write one, we borrowed a rubric created by all levels in most of our classes. Mostly, we ment in general; discussing outcomes never a less lazy department down the hall. It had want them all to get a taste for history, what works there. Though I have great optimism phrases that looked familiar like “effective it does, and why it is essential to under- about the valuable synergy that comes from writing,” “appropriate analysis,” and “suitable standing the present. How do you “assess” such disjuncture, wearing two hats—one citations,” and we just added a few things when they get there? We want students at from the Tuning project and another from about primary sources. Bad idea. We were the beginning level to know the difference my quirky liberal arts college—is often assessing things we didn’t care about and that between investigating historical problems tricky. Even though we genuinely want to didn’t reflect the most creative and valuable versus sociological ones. Beginners probably know if students are learning anything of part of doing history: building narratives out don’t need advanced research skills, but value in our classes, having “experts” telling of materials from the past. Using a poorly maybe they need to practice interpretation us how to assess student learning is a hard conceived rubric meant that we read a lot and of materials and contextualization. We’re sell. Being independently minded and sus- didn’t find out anything useful. But we did still sorting that out. picious of ideas that come from across the figure out that we care about different things Finally, history faculty have been asked to quad, from the legislature, or honestly, from than other social scientists and humanists. provide career counseling to students and help the AHA, we get crabby. So we started over. The language in the them imagine next steps in their lives, and the However, these days, when refusing to Discipline Core helped us design rubrics Discipline Core can help start those conversa- assess has actual consequences and when we enabling us to see what our students can do tions as well. It works as a nice set of talking have to explain to students and their parents successfully as seniors writing article-length points in a range of settings to help students why a history course or major is worth un- research essays and presenting research to assess their own developing professional skills. dertaking, we need a better alternative than their peers and the department. Now the Because we’ve been using common language digging in our heels. Because it’s easy and it rubric used words like multiple perspectives, to explain to students what they’re doing in presents itself as a starting point rather than contextualize, and revision (see sidebar). What various courses, they are much better at de- a done deal, the History Discipline Core has we found was both interesting and predict- scribing what they can do and why it matters. proved useful at the departmental, course, able: our students wrote pretty well, but they Our students become wonderful advocates for and individual student levels. It has saved us had little idea about developing research- history, regardless of what they end up doing. from blowing off administrative demands able questions and the research strategies to That outcome makes me happy no matter that we resented but needed to take serious- answer them, and didn’t seem to know how which hat I’m wearing. ly (like writing learning outcomes and as- to enter into a historiographic debate. sessing our senior majors). It has provided Now that we have a clearer sense of where Anne Hyde is the faculty director of the AHA’s us with language for starting conversations our students seem to be faltering in their Tuning project and professor of history at about what people are doing in their class- senior essays, we are carefully and gently Colorado College.

January 2015 Perspectives on History 19 History Capstone Rubric This rubric has been modified by John Williams and Jane Murphy. Argument

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

Rationale/Motivation No clear rationale or a Some rationale Provides and discuss- Persuasive and weak rationale for the presented, begins to es a suitable rationale creative rationale project motivate the work

Scope/Dealing with Frames complex Invests questions Reasonable balance Frames the topic with Complexity in Framing questions as simple with some complex- between focus and a full appreciation of a Topic ones ity; may oversimplify complexity its complexity while or overextend retaining appropriate focus

Approach Not clear what was Approach is gener- Well chosen and Creative and sophisti- done or why, or an ally appropriate and appropriate, and well cated methods inappropriate method properly executed executed

Historiographic/ Author does not Author demonstrates Author demonstrates Author is aware of Theoretical Context demonstrate aware- a reasonable aware- broad awareness and scholarly literature, ness of the schol- ness of the literature situates own work situates own work arly literature, may within the literature within the field, and overrely on too few makes a contribution sources to the field, or iden- tifies a new direction for investigation

Position/Thesis Does not take a clear States and/or cri- Thoroughly and effec- Develops a clear and or defensible position tiques a position that tively supports, tests, defensible position of or draw a clear con- may already exist in extends, or critiques his/her own; draws a clusion the literature a position that may significant conclusion already exist in the literature

Argumentation Weak, invalid, or no Some arguments Main arguments Arguments both well argument, perhaps a valid and well sup- valid, systematic, and supported and in simple assertion ported, some not well supported conversation with conflicting explanations

Sources/Research

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

Location Sources located too Sources located of Source base wide Source base complex few or inappropriate reasonable range, ranging and thorough; and extensive, and for stated project but may be limited in demonstrates ef- compiled using number or kind fective use of bib- creative and sophisti- liographic tools cated methods

20 Perspectives on History January 2015 Selection Selected sources Some sources address Sources selected are Creative and so- inappropriate for stated problem but appropriately relevant phisticated source investigation of stated others are inappropri- and extensive enough selection that brings problem ate; source base may to allow exploration of new sources to bear lack key or relevant stated problem on question, or brings sources new questions to better-known sources

Analysis and Draws on little or Some appropriate Feasible evidence Fully exploits the Interpretation no evidence, treats use of evidence, but appropriately selected richness of the related evidence as uneven; begins to and not overinterpret- sources and is suf- unrelated, or draws establish connections ed; brings together ficiently persuasive weak or simplistic and implications of related sources in in analysis; develops connections source material productive ways; insightful connections thoroughly discuss- and patterns that es implications of require intellectual sources creativity

Writing Mechanics

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

Grammar and Significantly impairs Frequent or serious Some minor errors Virtually no errors Spelling, Usage readability errors

Organization Needs significant Structure is of incon- Structure supports Structure enhances improvement sistent quality; may the argument; clearly the argument; strong be choppy and/or ordered sections fit sections and seamless have redundancies or together well flow disconnections

Clarity, Style, Gets in the way of Beginning to be com- Effective prose style; Mastery of the genre, Readability (as reading for content fortable with appro- follows relevant including elegant Appropriate to priate conventions, scholarly conventions; style, established Genre and though style is incon- emergence of voice voice Discipline) sistent or uneven

January 2015 Perspectives on History 21 AHA History Tuning Project: History Discipline Core

istory is a set of evolving rules and tools that allows us to interpret the past with clarity, rigor, and an appreciation for in- Hterpretative debate. It requires evidence, sophisticated use of information, and a deliberative stance to explain change and continuity over time. As a profoundly public pursuit, history is essential to active and empathetic citizenship and requires effective communication to make the past accessible to multiple audiences. As a discipline, history entails a set of professional ethics and standards that demand peer review, citation, and toleration for the provisional nature of knowledge. Core competencies are numbered and learning outcomes are listed as bullet points below.

History students can:

1. Engage in historical inquiry, research, and analysis. ◆ Develop a disciplined, skeptical stance and outlook on the world that demands evidence and sophisticated use of information. ◆ Understand the dynamics of change over time. ◆ Explore the complexity of the human experience, across time and space. ◆ Evaluate a variety of historical sources for their credibility, position, and perspective. ◆ Read and contextualize materials from the past with appropriate precision and detail.

2. Practice historical empathy. ◆ Value the study of the past for its contribution to lifelong learning and critical habits of mind that are essential for effective and engaged citizenship. ◆ Develop a body of historical knowledge with range and depth. ◆ Recognize the ongoing provisional nature of knowledge. ◆ Interpret the past in context; contextualize the past on its own terms. ◆ Explore multiple historical and theoretical viewpoints that provide perspective on the past. ◆ Recognize where they are in history.

3. Understand the complex nature of the historical record. ◆ Distinguish between primary and secondary materials and decide when to use each. ◆ Choose among multiple tools, methods, and perspectives to investigate and interpret materials from the past. ◆ Recognize the value of conflicting narratives and evidence.

4. Generate significant, open-ended questions about the past and devise research strategies to answer them. ◆ Seek a variety of sources that provide evidence to support an argument about the past. ◆ Develop a methodological practice of gathering, sifting, analyzing, ordering, synthesizing, and interpreting evidence. ◆ Identify and summarize other scholars’ historical arguments.

5. Craft historical narrative and argument. ◆ Generate a historical argument that is reasoned and based on historical evidence selected, arranged, and analyzed. ◆ Write effective narrative that describes and analyzes the past for its use in the present. ◆ Understand that the ethics and practice of history mean recognizing and building on other scholars’ work, peer review, and citation. ◆ Defend a position publicly and revise this position when new evidence requires it.

22 Perspectives on History January 2015 6. Practice historical thinking as central to engaged citizenship. ◆ Engage a diversity of viewpoints in a civil and constructive fashion. ◆ Work cooperatively with others to develop positions that reflect deliberation and differing perspectives. ◆ Apply historical knowledge and analysis to contribute to contemporary social dialogue.

Sample Tasks for Demonstrating Competencies: This broad list is intended to give instructors, programs, and departments a wide range of items through which the competencies above might be demonstrated. ◆ Describe your own position in history in written, oral, or other forms. ◆ Generate class discussion questions from primary and secondary sources. ◆ Engage the ideas of others constructively in oral or written conversation/dialogue/discussion. ◆ Explain in written or oral presentation the difference between primary and secondary sources. ◆ Explain in written or oral presentation the different perspectives (such as author, audience, and agenda) between two or more primary sources. ◆ Explain in written or oral presentation the different perspectives (such as author, audience, and agenda) between two or more secondary sources. ◆ Demonstrate how various sources may be synthesized. ◆ Find appropriate materials online, in a library, or in the community and know how to cite them. ◆ Demonstrate the relationship between primary and secondary materials by assessing a historian’s work and recognizing the tools used to construct that historical argument. ◆ Contextualize a source; demonstrate in written or oral presentation what historical detail a source needs to be understood. ◆ Narrate, in written or oral presentation, an event from the past. ◆ Present and analyze, in written or oral presentation, different perspectives on an event from the past. ◆ Have a transcript that shows courses whose content ranges over time, space, culture, and methods. ◆ Use specific primary and secondary sources in examinations, discussions, and oral presentations. ◆ Select appropriate primary source(s) as evidence. ◆ Select appropriate secondary source(s) as evidence or in support of a position or argument. ◆ Identify existing and compelling questions about the subject. ◆ Pose appropriate research questions and assess the range of materials necessary to answer them. ◆ Write a proposal for the development of a work of history in any medium. ◆ Identify and cite sources and points of evidence appropriate in number and type for exercises such as an annotated bibliography, paper proposals, a semester paper, or a capstone exercise. ◆ Write a successful capstone research paper with appropriate citations. ◆ Participate in internship and/or field experience, and also the creation of an e-portfolio/blog/website that demonstrates the creation of a historical narrative and an argument for public use. ◆ Complete a substantial historical project autonomously.

January 2015 Perspectives on History 23 Assessment The Benefits of Self-Assessment Measuring Historical Thinking Skills at UMass Boston Jonathan Chu

hen the history department at the University of Massachusetts Boston became aware of ac- Wcreditation agencies’ growing pressure for documenting teaching effectiveness, it de- termined to assert its prerogative as the only body on campus qualified to measure students’ learning in history. In 2011, in antici- pation of the 2015 New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) accreditation review, the provost instructed departments to develop an assessment plan as they came up for regularly scheduled self-studies. Because we had been wrestling with this problem for some time, we were prepared when it was announced we would be the first department in the College of Liberal Arts to undergo a review and to present an assessment plan. The timing was also useful because we had just completed the first significant revision of the major in 50 years and were in the midst of rebuilding the ten- Credit: Harry Brett ure-stream faculty from 12 to 21. Panoramic view, University of Massachusetts Boston. In the process of aligning the department’s new research strengths to a diverse, courses. The central problem for our assess- and secondary sources, and the capacity urban, nonresidential student body and its ment plan was the translation of qualitative for well-organized and clear writing. When postgraduation plans, we moved beyond a criteria for measurement into quantifiable coupled with gradations of performance, broad-spectrum content major to one that terms—a problem social historians fre- our designated skills led to the creation of a focused on the historical research, analyti- quently encounter when they distinguish matrix (see sidebar). cal, and writing skills expected of students the boundaries of significance between few, Having developed the matrix, we found for either the 400-level Research and some, and most. We knew there was general that the actual process of data collection 1 Methods seminar or the honors thesis. To agreement about what students should and review was not terribly onerous. Each focus more explicitly upon instruction in know and be able to do, but we found faculty member takes about 15 minutes historical thinking skills, an approach con- that, when we tried to articulate that into at the end of a term to assess and tabulate sistent with work previously reported in concrete criteria, we needed to develop a student performance and to add any explan- Perspectives on History,2 we developed a new shared understanding of how we converted atory notes. A rotating assessment commit- introductory course—History 101: Histori- letter grades into levels of mastery in skills tee of two spends less than a day at the end cal Thinking—and organized it as a begin- or learning objectives. Our conversations of the academic year collecting the results ner’s version of the research seminar. We helped us to define more precisely the levels and drafting a report to the department. agreed that the faculty member teaching the of performance in specific skills that were We conducted a trial run for academic course had the discretion to select the course being summarized by letter grades. We ar- year 2011–12, collecting data for one content, but the explicit learning objectives ticulated five essential skills: the understand- section each of two courses—Historical were to be skills unique to history; these ing of change over time, the knowledge of Thinking, and Research and Methods—and became the foci of our assessments. specific historical content and its context, using this data to establish the feasibility of Our next step was to ensure agreement the ability to use content and sources our approach. The next year, the assessment among faculty that their evaluations of effectively in historical analysis, the recog- committee conducted a full-scale review of student work were consistent across our nition of the distinctions between primary all of the Historical Thinking and Research

24 Perspectives on History January 2015 and Methods sections, and entered the We are fully aware of the flaws in our former associate and interim dean of its College data onto an Excel spreadsheet. The use statistics and methods. We cannot, for of Education and Human Development. of Excel eased data collection and report- example, measure improvement among He is the author of Stumbling toward the ing while providing expanded capabilities the same students; the scheduling and Constitution: The Economic Consequences for analysis. After analyzing the 2012–13 nature of students’ lives precludes knowing of Freedom in the Atlantic World (2012). data, the committee recommended the which ones take Historical Thinking their addition of another category addressing freshman year and appear three years later historiography and noted that there had in the Research and Methods seminar. At- Notes been little improvement in writing skills. tempting to obtain that information would Both recommendations reflect the central require extensive cross-checking of student 1. Our revisions reflect the issues and con- objectives of assessment: the demonstra- records for a small number of students, and cerns discussed in Joel M. Sipress and David tion of an ongoing process of review and could trigger institutional research review J. Voelker, “The End of the History Survey 3 action—or, if the review does not warrant while yielding little additional information. Course: The Rise and Fall of the Coverage it, nonaction. Our pool of students is small; our time, Model,” Journal of American History 97 (2011): limited; our assignment of skill levels by In response to our assessment of writing, 1050–66. faculty, subject to variation. We cannot the department instituted guidelines for audit our faculty’s assessments without in- 2. See also Thomas Andrews and Flannery minimum amounts of required writing terfering with their prerogatives and incur- Burke, “What Does It Mean to Think His- assignments calibrated for each level of ring costs that the university is not willing to instruction, made requests to Academic torically?” Perspectives (January 2007), bit. undertake. We cannot assess what happens Support for dedicated history tutors, and ly/1ttzURm and AHA Staff, “Benchmarks to students who are not majors. used data to support recommendations for for Professional Development in Teaching of limits on class size in Historical Thinking We are, however, confident in our assess- History as a Discipline” (May 2003): 43, bit. ment because it has revealed unanticipated (in opposition to university pressures for ly/1ttzYQR. information, suggested reasonable change, larger introductory sections). The review of and given us a window into how our curric- 3. The data collected from 101 and Research data from Historical Thinking also helped ulum functions as a unit. The primary goal and Methods is summative. That is, an esti- identify potential honors students early of our plan is to keep the process of assessing mate is made from students’ course work of in their academic careers and supported history learning in the hands of historians, further recommendations for action to the the appropriate level of achievement and tal- giving us an opportunity to reflect on how Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. lied on the matrix, thereby separating students’ well we do, not merely as individual faculty identity from the data. It is possible to link this It is not a complicated plan, and may members but as a department. have taken longer to write this essay than data, but this would greatly escalate the com- it took to design and implement the Jonathan M. Chu is professor of history at plexity of data collection and run potentially recommendations. the University of Massachusetts Boston and a afoul of student privacy issues.

Measuring Historical Thinking Skills

Met Learning Objectives Mastery Strength Expectations Needs Work Understands the nature of change over time Knows course content and can place it in historical context Understands the distinction between primary and secondary sources Uses content and sources effectively in historical analysis Understands how scholars’ time and place influence how they ask questions or interpret past events [added after trial run] Writes well-organized, clear sentences

January 2015 Perspectives on History 25 Assessment Creating and Administering a Primary Source Analysis

John Buchkoski, Mikal B. Eckstrom, Holly Kizewski, and Courtney Pixler

undreds of students pass through the eight classrooms that focused on how to evidence. For the first half of the survey, we the introductory history courses of use primary sources. By working through asked, “Did all Americans benefit equally the University of Nebraska–Lincoln a sample question and documents in the from the American Revolution?” and used Heach semester with various backgrounds and classroom, we modeled the best strategies sources covering women, Native Americans, skill levels. Although some of them have for succeeding on the exam. We focused on and African Americans to provide a wide faced a primary source assessment, perhaps how to write an effective essay, with a strong range of evidence. Likewise, for the second in the Advanced Placement Document Based thesis statement and a cohesive structure half of the survey, we asked, “Did all Amer- Question Exam, our department had no guided by topic sentences. To ensure that icans benefit equally from the New Deal of universal assessment tool to evaluate student online or absent students could review the the 1930s?”; we provided sources on African learning and skill development. In January information covered, the project team used Americans, Native Americans, Mexican 2014, William G. Thomas, our chair, and Camtasia, a digital audio-recording tool, to Americans, and working-class individuals. Margaret Jacobs, the chancellor’s professor record a podcast of the workshop, which we In order to remain objective in grading, we of history, asked us to write and administer provided online along with a PowerPoint designed a rubric. We graded some of the an exam for all introductory American presentation. exams together and frequently communi- history courses. Our goal was to construct The primary source assessment (PSA) cated about the grading process to ensure new pedagogical tools that integrated more team realized that the students’ teachers consistency. primary source analysis into our survey used a wide variety of teaching styles and The PSA team assessed the exams using courses. presented very different course content. four categories—thesis, sources, analysis, Collaboration was key to our success, and Each team member served as a liaison and organization—and tracked the results our different backgrounds and teaching between two US history instructors and the on a rubric (see sidebar). We then extrap- experiences were vitally important in iden- PSA team. Faculty reaction to the PSA was olated various data sets from over four tifying the most significant components varied; some instructors were enthusiastic, hundred exams. The HIST 110 (American of history writing. We agreed that these while others were initially skeptical. Two history to 1877) classes averaged 83% for components were a clear thesis statement, factors—clearly discussing the goals of the every category except the analysis category the number of sources used, organization, project and being available for further dis- (77%). HIST 111 courses averaged higher and analysis. We worked together to ensure cussions—helped allay many of the faculty’s (82%) in three categories (thesis, sources, that primary sources were similar for the concerns. The instructors often found ways and organization), but the analysis was pre- and post-1877 US exams in that they to adapt our lecture to fit the themes of the still lower (79%). The averages for both presented issues dealing with race, class, and class and their teaching styles. Feedback American survey courses were as follows: gender. For example, we incorporated the from the instructors was particularly essen- thesis (83.4%), sources (83%), analysis Utmost Good Faith Clause from the North- tial to the success of our workshops, as we (79%), and organization (82.2%). west Ordinance on the pre-1877 test and were able to incorporate their suggestions We were pleased to discover that students the Burton-Wheeler Act on the post-1877 over the course of eight lectures. This flex- taking the courses online scored comparably test to demonstrate legal decisions regard- ibility on our part helped us to adapt to the to those in traditional classrooms, leading us ing Native Americans and land. We chose challenges that come with stepping into to believe that the PSA is effective in both sources that students were unlikely to have someone else’s classroom. environments. We were also pleased that seen before and worked with the instruc- Because the members of the PSA team the students focused on creating precise, ar- tors to make sure the students would know had varied historical interests and special- gumentative theses and that almost every the context in which the source had been izations, each contributed a different per- student provided a thesis statement. Addi- created. spective to the exam. After choosing the tionally, most used at least six or seven of It is impossible to design a “one size fits all” American Revolution and the New Deal the documents we provided as evidence in exam that caters to the learning style of each as the exam topics for each half of the support of their arguments. In the category student, but our mix of textual and visual survey, we eventually selected seven or eight of organization, a majority of students used sources helped make our exam more accessi- sources. We decided to keep our questions a five-paragraph structure with topic sentenc- ble. In order to prepare the students for the somewhat simple in order to encourage ar- es, which showed ability to effectively group exam, the team led a workshop in each of gumentative thesis writing and broad use of evidence within a fluent argument. The PSA

26 Perspectives on History January 2015 also indicated to our department the areas in which students could most improve. The analysis portion resulted in the lowest scores. Grading the Primary Source Assessment We found that students referred to the sources in their essays but struggled to connect the Thesis: 25% context of the documents to their argument. 22.5–25 A: Makes a strong, precise argument. On the question about the American 20–22 B: Makes a strong argument but speaks broadly. Revolution, in particular, we noted that 17.5–19.5 C: Makes a weak argument; recapitulates the question. students’ arguments often did not match the sources. Some students were reluctant 15–17 D: Has an introduction but has no argument. to state that the Revolution did not result Under 15 F: No thesis statement. in total equality, incorrectly arguing that slaves and women became full members of Number of Sources: 25% the new Republic. Although students were 22.5–25 A: All sources more willing to be critical of the New Deal 20–22 B: Six–seven sources policies, we nevertheless encountered essays that argued for the fairness of repatriation 17.5–19.5 C: Four–five sources and Indian removal. Many students relied 15–17 D: Two–three sources on a predetermined narrative that was some Under 15 F: Zero–one sources variation of American exceptionalism and that clouded their ability to judiciously Analysis of Evidence: 25% examine the sources we provided. 22.5–25 A: Analyzes sources in a sophisticated manner The exam also unexpectedly revealed that 20–22 B: Analyzes sources in a somewhat sophisticated manner. some students lacked a historical context 17.5–19.5 C: Analyzes sources in a general manner. for understanding race in American history. Documents and questions provided to 15–17 D: Analyzes sources poorly. students highlighted the entanglement of Under 15 F: Lacks analysis. race with US history. During the workshops, the team discussed the interplay of race, Organization: 25% class, and gender as a primary analytical tool 22.5–25 A: Clearly structured essay guided by thesis and topic sentences. for assessing the sources. Still, some students 20–22 B: Somewhat clearly structured essay guided by thesis and topic wrote that when African Americans are sentences. unable to receive Social Security, it is due to laziness, rather than to the historical legacy 17.5–19.5 C: Essay is somewhat structured but lacks effective topic sentences. of the Jim Crow South and the institution- 15–17 D: Essay is poorly structured. al discrimination of the New Deal. When Under 15 F: Essay lacks cohesive structure. describing Native Americans in the New Deal Era, students adopted the “lazy Indian” trope. Others argued that the government not malicious. Rather, they seemed to be Our department-wide efforts to bring should have taken Indian lands to boost the based on current political issues and a re- a primary source assessment to our intro- struggling economy. A few students also luctance to criticize celebrated American ductory classes produced mostly positive grafted current racialized debates onto the policies. Although these problems were few results. We were excited to discover that our documents. For example, when analyzing in number, the department developed strat- survey-level students effectively produced documents on 1930s Mexican repatriados, egies to help students think about race as a structured, argumentative responses to one student wrote, “I think the New Deal construction, in and out of the classroom. primary sources. We also learned that, going was a little too fair for Mexicans wishing One faculty member had advised against forward, our focus should be on promoting to return back [sic] to Mexico and take all using the term negro in his syllabus and in critical analysis. The PSA team learned how their goods back. I don’t think illegal im- class, and students from his class consistent- to navigate the complexities of large-scale as- migrants deserve this.” By couching their ly used culturally appropriate language for sessments and set the groundwork within our arguments in current issues of citizenship African Americans in their essays. In spring department for similar examinations in the and migration, this student disregarded his- 2014, the department discussed teaching future. Based on our results, the department torical context. Finally, some students used about race in a previously planned workshop is considering extending this assessment to problematic language found within the doc- for faculty and graduate students. We were other introductory surveys in the future. uments, such as the word negro. able to use our findings at this workshop to As troubling as this was, the team agreed demonstrate the continuing need for critical The authors are graduate students in history at that the problematic essays were clearly race analysis in our classrooms. the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

January 2015 Perspectives on History 27 Assessment SLO Curve Ball What I Really Want for My Students Josh Ashenmiller

t this point in the history of higher thinking we can measure the immeasur- (played by Susan Sarandon) asks veteran education in America, it is probably able; they help turn campuses into assembly minor-league baseball player Crash Davis too late to argue against student lines). The reason they bother me now is that (played by Kevin Costner), “What do you Alearning outcomes (SLOs). Whenever it was they reduce the definition of good teaching believe in, then?” Crash Davis answers: that they first evolved from the primordial to a small number of canned, anodyne, zom- I believe in the soul . . . the hanging ooze, they are now fully evolved organisms bified phrases. “The student will be able to curveball, high fiber, good scotch, at the top of the food chain. As a species distinguish reliable sources from unreliable inhabiting the same ecosystem, we college sources. The student will be able to synthe- that the novels of Susan Sontag instructors may hope for an SLO extinction size primary and secondary sources in order are self-indulgent, overrated crap. event, but it is probably wiser for us to adapt to construct a historical narrative that makes I believe Lee Harvey Oswald and move on. an argument or offers an interpretation. The acted alone. I believe there oughta There are as many critiques of SLOs as student will be able to identify historical be a constitutional amendment there are academic disciplines. Psychologists forces that have shaped the present day.” outlawing AstroTurf and the and mathematicians each have their own Are these admirable goals? Absolutely. Do designated hitter! I believe in the reasons for disliking them. In this critique, I I strive to realize these outcomes for each of sweet spot, soft-core pornography, speak for the historians, or at least as one his- my students? Every semester. All kidding opening your presents Christmas torian who teaches at a community college aside—and please excuse the sarcasm that morning rather than Christmas in southern California. To be clear, I am ended the paragraph before the previous Eve. And I believe in long, slow, not picketing on the sidewalks in front of one—most SLOs I have read are thought- deep, soft, wet kisses that last three my college’s administration building. SLOs ful, rigorous, and laudatory. In all sincerity, days. Good night. I think my colleagues have done an excel- have appeared on my course syllabi for at He responded to the question by saying, lent job. The process of writing and imple- least seven years, and I have participated in “Well, now that you asked and while we’re menting SLOs has required many historians good faith in my college’s efforts to follow on the subject,” then gave an answer that to articulate their answers to the question the rules regarding the care and feeding of was both unexpected and revealing. “What do we want our students to learn?” SLOs. To shift the metaphor, if some future Administrators who demand that we society decides SLOs are a crime, I will be Some SLOs answer this question with the write and assess SLOs are asking historians guilty of aiding and abetting. wisdom of the ages, while others show new the same question that Annie asked Crash. The spoonful of sugar that helped the thinking and fresh ideas. As a profession, we What do you historians really believe in? SLOs go down was the fact that faculty have acquitted ourselves well. Instead of reaching into the larder for the members could write SLOs themselves. The But what is still missing from SLOs, and same canned responses and old chestnuts, opportunity to write SLOs did not defeat what I wager can never be captured by them, which have their place and can be useful, every argument against them, but it did is what I really want—in my heart of hearts— let me for once answer that question in the help convince a critical mass of instructors my students to learn. A few years ago, I asked manner of Crash Davis. to play ball, at least for the sake of maintain- an administrator what I should put into the I want my students to stumble out of the ing their institution’s accreditation. We are SLOs I was writing, and he said, “What classroom in a daze, wobbling at the knees, now entering a golden age of measurement, do you want your students to learn in your because all of a sudden the world looks un- assessment, and continuous improvement. class?” On the outside, I nodded and retreat- familiar and strange. Loops are closing all over the place. Our ed to my writer’s garret. On the inside, a tiny I want them to read something so teaching gets better every term. O brave voice asked my interrogator, “Do you really new world, that has such metrics in’t! want to know the answer to that question?” mind-blowing that it makes them lie awake in bed for hours. SLO Doubts What Would Crash I want them to wonder, perhaps for the Davis Do? first time, why anyone celebrates Columbus nd yet, SLOs still bother me. They Day and Thanksgiving. Adon’t bother me for the reasons they hat administrator’s question reminded I want them to sit in front of a keyboard bothered me five years ago (there is no proof Tme of the scene in Ron Shelton’s 1988 paralyzed by doubt, struggling with the they improve instruction; they fool us into film Bull Durham, in which Annie Savoy epistemological questions “How do I really

28 Perspectives on History January 2015 know what happened?” and “What exactly I want them to catch themselves every assessed or reported in a self-study, but they is a fact?” time they habitually refer to a monograph are possibly the most important things that I want them to read, hear, or see some- author as “they.” I do. The fact that none of them will ever thing that—at least for a moment—makes I want them to do the same thing when appear in an SLO does not, in my opinion, cast the entire SLO enterprise into worth- them think that every teacher they ever had, they talk about a film—to acknowledge that there was a director, a screenwriter, less oblivion. But they do render SLO as- and maybe even every parent and guardian, an editor, a production designer, a dialect sessment an ineffably impoverished way to was lying to them. coach, a hundred others, not just a “they.” evaluate our efforts as educators. We are in I want them to sense the depths of I want them to whisper a silent thank- the business of mind expansion, not just history—the feeling that we are just floating you to our forbears who devised electricity, skills dissemination. on the surface of a dark, mysterious ocean. indoor plumbing, antibiotics, and vaccina- All that we know about the shipwrecks on tions. Josh Ashenmiller teaches US history at the ocean floor are the deductions we can I want them to realize that people in the Fullerton College. He has served on several make from pieces of flotsam and the reports past were not always dead.1 campus committees overseeing SLO implemen- of deep-sea divers. I want them always to look for the date. tation and is part of the AHA’s Tuning project. I want them to hesitate for the rest of their I want them to think I am one of the lives before ever using the word inevitable. craziest people they ever met. Note I want them to think I am one of the most Same goes for permanent. 1. I lifted this phrase from Professor Virginia reasonable people they ever met. I want them to treat the passive voice the Scharff of the University of New Mexico, who This list of outcomes is idiosyncratic same way a lab scientist treats an infected used it in her “Teaching the American His- and personal. I’m sure that other histori- tissue sample—with extreme caution. tory Survey in the Twenty-First Century: A ans would come up with a different list of Roundtable Discussion,” in Gary J. Kornblith I want them to wonder why they always the outcomes they felt most passionately and Carol Lasser, eds., Teaching American His- heard so much about Rosa Parks, but next about. But like the credo of Crash Davis, tory: Essays Adapted from the Journal of Ameri- to nothing about Ida B. Wells and Homer these are the animating principles that drive can History, 2001–2007 (Boston: Bedford/St. Plessy. my teaching. They cannot be measured or Martin’s, 2009), 9.

January 2015 Perspectives on History 29 Teaching Teaching and Researching Roe v. Wade Responding to Linda Kerber’s Call for Historical Action Through a Service-Learning Undergraduate Project

Nicola Foote, Frances Davey, and Kristine De Welde

n the October 2012 issue of Perspectives on History, in the run-up to the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, distinguished Iwomen’s historian Linda Kerber offered historians a challenge. Lamenting the paucity of knowledge on what the critical 1973 Supreme Court decision meant at the local level, she called on historians to engage our students with resources available in our communities to explore several aspects of the decision: activism for and against the legalization of abortion in the states; the consequences of the pre-Roe criminalization of abortion (such as women admitted to hospitals with consequences of botched abortions, or doctors jailed for abortion provisions); and post-Roe family planning and reproductive health care. In particular, Kerber noted that time was running out to interview those who had experienced illegal abortions as well as those active in the movement for the legalization of the procedure in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. As professors at Florida Gulf Coast Uni- versity (located between Fort Myers and Naples), we were profoundly inspired by Kerber’s call. Antiabortion demonstrators frequently visit our campus, often with displays that have historically problematic overtones. The Genocide Awareness Project, for example, equates abortion with the Holocaust and seeks to define the medical procedure as genocide, and Created Equal compares abortion to lynching and anti- Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division abortionists to civil rights activists. Thus, Activist Margaret Sanger (1879–1966) worked to legalize birth control and nursed women who had we are aware of the contemporary threat to abortions. Her work came to fruition in 1965 when the Supreme Court ruled that contraceptive use is Roe v. Wade, as well as the way in which a a constitutional right. warped understanding of history and historical concepts is used to sway the debate on reproductive realities prior to Roe v. Wade Gulf Coast University or at another safe and abortion rights. The demographics of our than would be typical in most college towns. accessible repository. Our goal was to collect community also lend themselves to address- Working with our university’s service- testimonies of women who had abortions ing Kerber’s mandate. Because southwestern centered mission, we created a service-learning pre-Roe because these are the stories that are in Florida has a large population of retirees and project in response to Kerber’s call. We focused most imminent danger of being lost through seasonal residents, we have access to a larger on collecting oral histories, which we plan to age, and cannot be captured in any other way. number of people with direct experience of archive in the Special Collections at Florida In the written and archival record, with the

30 Perspectives on History January 2015 odd exception of women whose stories appear Interviewees were offered the choice of traumas that someone has dealt with, and for as part of legal proceedings and hearings on either coming to campus for their interview that, I believe I have become a better person.” illegal abortion, women’s experiences of illegal or having students travel to their homes or The project also strengthened our ties to the abortion are told by others—in newspaper to meeting places of their choice. Students local community and built bridges across gen- accounts of a death, or the arrest of a back-alley were assigned to interviews in groups erations. We have spoken with our students at abortion provider, for example. We sought to according to their individual schedules and Planned Parenthood and ACLU events across collect and preserve women’s voices and honor levels of expertise. We always ensured that southwestern Florida, and students from the their representation of their own experiences. interviews were conducted with at least two project have co-organized on-campus events Though we continue to emphasize the pre-Roe students and that an experienced interviewer with the local chapter of the National Or- stories, we have since expanded the project was always paired with a novice. In this way ganization of Women (composed mainly of to focus also on women and men who have we minimized the chances of students being retirees). We have received overwhelming had abortions or been involved in the repro- late, ill-prepared, or emotionally ill-equipped encouragement from our community and an ductive rights movement in the post-Roe era. for the interviews. We have worked with the outpouring of women and men wishing to This allows us to track how changing legislative FGCU archivist, our Institutional Review share their stories with us. One recent event climates impacted these experiences. Board, and university counsel to ensure that attendee has planned to hire a minivan to the identities of respondents who wish to The project was embedded in directly bring people from a city more than 100 miles remain anonymous are fully protected. relevant courses as one of multiple ser- away to be interviewed by our students. Com- vice-learning options. We also offered The response to the project has been over- munity members have reflected on how much freestanding service-learning hours to whelmingly positive. Respondents have ex- they gained from working with our students. students who were not enrolled in these pressed gratitude for being able to tell their One wrote: “Working on FGCU’s Histories courses but who wished to be involved in stories; students have reflected on this as a of Choice Project brought together several of the project. We made sure that the projects life-changing experience. Upon finishing my passions: support for women’s and men’s his first interview, one student wrote: “We were optional, and that alternative ser- reproductive health choices. . . ; community got done with our interview this morning, vice-learning options were provided, so that and academic engagement; friendship and and wow. What an amazing experience to be students who did not wish to participate student mentoring. I eagerly volunteered to able to hear such a story first hand. We were because of personal beliefs would not be participate in the project never imagining that laughing, we were crying, and it definitely unfairly disadvantaged. it would lead to such wonderful outcomes. allowed us to grasp a better understanding In March 2013 a trio of students came well We began the project by reaching out to of what women and men had to go through. prepared to interview me—a meeting that our contacts at Planned Parenthood, the You know, I can read all this history and I lasted for three hours. The lead interview- Unitarian Universalist Church, and the can watch documentaries, but hearing it er and I developed a strong bond: we are in local Coalition of Progressive Religious directly from someone who went through regular contact. . . . It has provided a ‘teaching Voices. Supporters passed along the names it. . . just brings it to a whole new level.” moment’ for everyone involved—faculty, of women who might have stories to share, Students reflected on how they gained students and participants.” while the UUC allowed us to place an ad a much deeper understanding of the his- Our experience with this Perspectives- for the project in their newsletter. torical issues by hearing about their emo- inspired project shows that even in a We collectively came up with a set of oral tional impact on living humans. They conservative area, work with students can be history questions, and trained students rig- moved beyond reading about something in conducted on politically contentious topics, orously in oral history methods through a books and got to create their own histori- and that this work has a profound experi- series of workshops in which we covered cal sources, creating a formal record of the ence on student learning and even on the practical interview techniques, oral history past to be preserved for others. Several of local community, encapsulating all the best ethics, technology usage, and transcribing. the students have since become involved in practices of academic work as a public good. We worked to familiarize students with other oral history projects, empowered by It is our hope that others will revisit Kerber’s the complexity and emotional nature of the possibilities of expanding the historical 2012 article and take up her call for action. In the subject matter by assigning readings record with their own work, while others are so doing, we can create a network of service on abortion, notably Linda Greenhouse seeking careers in public history. and scholarship, preserving critical stories that and Reva Siegel’s Before Roe v. Wade: Voices It wasn’t only students’ abilities in historical would otherwise have been lost. That Shaped the Abortion Debate Before the interpretation that were advanced. Students Supreme Court’s Ruling (available free online also developed empathy and compassion for Nicola Foote is associate professor of history at documents.law.yale.edu/before-roe) others. As one student told us: “I sat with and interim director of the Honors Program at and Leslie Reagan’s When Abortion Was a women for roughly three hours as they told Florida Gulf Coast University. Frances Davey Crime: Women, Medicine, and the Law in me their deepest and darkest secrets, and is assistant professor of history at Florida Gulf the United States 1867–1973 (University this led to endless amounts of compassion. Coast University. Kris De Welde is associate of California Press, 1997). Students also I could not sit while these women cried and dean of university-wide programs and watched the film When Abortion Was Illegal: not empathize with them. ... These women faculty engagement and associate professor of Untold Stories. taught me how to comprehend massive sociology at Florida Gulf Coast University.

January 2015 Perspectives on History 31 Teaching The Medium Is the Message Teaching about Globalization in a Global Classroom

Kris Manjapra

hile in Boston we were suffering under the prolonged winter of 2014, the students and Winstructors in our connected classroom in Dhaka were celebrating the arrival of a hotter-than-usual spring. Two mornings each week last semester, half of our class met in a videoconference room at Tufts, while the other half gathered in a classroom at BRAC University in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Via live video link, I co-taught a course called Bay of Bengal–Flows of Change with two colleagues in Dhaka, Perween Hasan and Iftekhar Iqbal. Although we were on different sides of the globe, we were in the same classroom. At Tufts we sat around a long seminar table that extended toward a large television screen, in which we saw another long seminar table of Dhaka students. At various points during each class, we felt we were sharing the same room. Ahron de Leeuw Our Bay of Bengal course explored the "The Buriganga has been Dhaka’s lifeline for more than a thousand years, as a source of livelihood and a Indian Ocean as a site of globalizing processes means of transportation for its residents," wrote Abu Bakar Siddique in the Dhaka Tribune on May 2, 2013. from the early modern to contemporary times. Paddle steamers have been navigating the river southwest of the capital of Bangladesh since 1928. We focused on changing modes of imperial statecraft and interregional trade, the expan- as Facebook, to share their academic, inter- We tried to emphasize to our Boston and sion and contraction of cultural ecumenes, personal, and cultural resources. We thought Dhaka students that any frictions, disconti- and the emerging circulations of laborers, com- this would create an interactive, self-reflective nuities, and differences would be a source of modities, and ideas within colonial capitalist long-distance classroom. practical, experiential learning about global- networks of extraction and accumulation. One student at BRACU, Risana Malik, ization. Both the content and the experience One teaching goal in this class was to commented, “Although the distance and of the class, we hoped, would illuminate explore how globalization simultaneously time difference affected our team building, the ways that globalization brings together creates conjuncture and divergence, through working on the video essay with my Tufts asymmetrical and juxtaposed communities reference to the students’ embodied loca- teammates didn’t seem to be too different and subjects into integral, interdependent, tions. We wanted to examine this theme not but also conflicting relationships. from group work I’ve done with students at only in theory, but in the very practice of The themes that students chose for BRACU. . . . We talked, we delegated, and study. In particular, we wanted the students their videos touched on religion, cultural we consolidated our work.”1 from Tufts and BRACU to weave themselves diaspora, early modern empires, labor dis- Neelum Sohail, a student at Tufts, noted, into each other’s worlds, so that they could placement, and migration. But it was the reflect on divergence-despite-conjuncture in “The cross-cultural exchange and learning actual practice of putting the videos together their embodied personal experience over the brought across different perspectives, and I across discontinuities of culture and political course of the semester. learned from my colleagues in Bangladesh. context that provided a great opportunity We assigned students a semester-long video . . . Creating a video project with one half for learning. Shehryar Nabi, a student in the assignment that they were to complete in small of your team living on a different continent Tufts classroom, remarked, “Given the huge groups that mixed students from Tufts and made it all the more challenging. But I think differences of culture and political affiliation, BRACU. We gave the students instructions that it helped us to articulate our ideas and I thought it would have been more contro- on how to curate and preserve their work in a to refine our research and our message for versial to talk about some very big issues video repository. They used social media, such the video essay.” such as religion and national identity.”

32 Perspectives on History January 2015 We set self-reflection, in particular meta- Students in both classrooms pointed out into us.” Students asked that instructors meet cognition, as a key learning objective for that one of the most important requirements over Skype with the small groups in order the class. Students wrote “work diaries” on for sustaining a long-distance connected to moderate the introductory phase of the a biweekly basis about the progress within classroom is the establishment of trust among video projects. We also have plans to assign their groups, including the interpersonal or students from the outset. A Tufts student more in-class metacognitive exercises that conceptual difficulties they were having, as insightfully reflected on the difficulties of will further cultivate self-reflection and at- well as unexpected things they learned as forming trust online: “The tone of a sentence tentive and careful listening to the voices and is completely lost in typing. . . . We found they worked with students in a distant class- experiences of others in class. We will need to it hard to build interpersonal trust. If such room. We found that, in their work diaries, schedule more class time for students to speak coherence forms, it makes group work easier. students often wrote about the great divide directly to each other in structured ways, using that separated the two classrooms in terms of After all, even in everyday life, we find our- online chat for short sessions of one-on-one interpersonal difficulties, conflicting cultural selves engaging in unnecessary quarrels with interchange between pairs of students across norms around group work and handling people we don’t know very well. That inter- the two class locations. deadlines, and different conceptions about personal connection is really hard.” Shehryar how family responsibilities affect school life. Nabi of Tufts noted, “In an international The global humanities classroom, as it collaboration, success or failure has more to addresses themes of globalization, needs to The dialectic of globalization, which do with your collaborators than the issue of bridge theory and practice. But to create the entails confrontation and juxtaposition of distance. . . . In order to make it work, every- concrete, embodied differences and the con- dynamic that makes it possible for students to body needs to care about the project and be effectively scale and weigh the conjunctures vergence of globe-straddling similarities, understanding of everyone’s situation.” was reflected in students’ subjective practical and the divergences at play in their specific And this is what is sending us back to experience within their small groups. embodied interactions with each other, we as the drawing board. For our experiment in instructors must think carefully about how At the end of the course, we carried out long-distance social learning to take the next to bring the living contexts of students, their two focus groups, one at Tufts and one at step, we have to find ways to more effective- stories, their cultural significations, and their BRACU, and also administered written ly build student trust and rapport across the personal meanings into the class setting. We evaluations. At both Tufts and BRACU, the “fifth wall” of the video screen, and across majority of students said that cross-cultural the cultural, historical, and political fault have to find better ways to cultivate a sense social learning “extremely or to a great extent” line it constitutes in the classroom. of trust and mutual responsibility among deepened their ability to reflect on their own Last semester, we tried to create rapport students separated by global distances and cultural context, their assumptions and values, by asking students to post bios about them- cultural and historical divides. Once that and their horizons for personal growth. selves, to speak about their extracurricular trust is created, the proper, grounded, experi- Students observed that many times it was the activities, and to take photos of their local ential study of globalization can begin. disconnections, difficulties, and tensions that environments and post these on a blog. arose within the small groups that provided Students responded positively, saying that Kris Manjapra is associate professor of history some of the main opportunities for learning these efforts facilitated “bonding.” and program director of colonialism studies at during the semester. Mariama Muarif, from But more was needed. Students wanted Tufts University. BRACU, noted that the long-distance small- instructors to play an early leading role in group interaction presented challenges, “but making the cultural and personal contexts Note we always tried to overlook the distance and around each student more visible to the helped each other with tremendous support small-group teams. A BRACU student com- 1. Special thanks to Judy Gelman, the editor as well as respect.” She added, “There were mented, “The instructor has to set the mood. of the Tufts Arts & Sciences website, for clashes of thoughts or opinions, as we were I think our approach [to learning] is part of interviewing students and for supplying from different backgrounds, but we managed our instructors’ enthusiasm. They drive it student quotations used in this article. to overcome those by being respectful and compromising.” Encounter across boundaries, with a reflective appreciation for the historical and contextual nature of those boundaries, The 130th Annual Meeting seemed to be of great value to students in both classes. In the focus group discussion, a Tufts “Global Migrations: Empires, Nations, student commented, “Despite all my frustra- and Neighbors” tions, at the end of the day it was a really wonderful experience, especially when we watched he Program Committee welcomes proposals from all members of the all our videos at the end. It doesn’t matter Association. Read the call for proposals at bit.ly/1wayqyK. For more who does a bit more work, so long as . . . T information on the theme, go to bit.ly/1nykzwU. I experienced a very positive thing—learning something about myself and others.”

January 2015 Perspectives on History 33 Career Paths A Historian in a Professional School of Politics

Matthew Dallek

y career path is one that I as a Clinton White House speechwriter. could never have envisioned Jeff had published a book on presiden- when I began graduate tial history (on Robert F. Kennedy and schoolM at Columbia in 1992. I could not Lyndon B. Johnson) and now he held a have known then that graduate school job that would help shape it. would circuitously lead me to a job as Suddenly, thanks to Jeff, a new path a political speechwriter, or that a think opened for me. My jobs as a speech- tank might support my research agenda writer—first for the Federal Commu- even if I wasn’t a professor of history. nications Commission chairman and Nor did I realize then that I might be then for House Democratic leader able to find a job in academia outside Richard Gephardt—were among the of a history department. None of these most rewarding positions I have held, options were on my radar in the early and my historian’s education was never nineties. But all three of these paths have far from my thoughts or work. My his- opened up for me in the 15 years since torical training had helped convince me I finished my academic training. It’s of the power of contingency in shaping hard for me to imagine having had any political affairs, and that was borne out of these opportunities without my PhD in my time with Gephardt. During the and, most importantly, the intellectual 2000 presidential election recount, I training and the development of research realized that the struggle for victory skills it provided. came down to bare-knuckled politics, Nine months after graduating from Credit: John Brandt rather than an abstract function of Berkeley with a BA in history, I moved Matthew Dallek the rule of law, and that the outcome to New York to begin my graduate studies. hinged on which side marshaled its forces My dad, a historian who has published more cup of tea, nor was I willing to relocate to most effectively amid the electoral chaos in than a dozen books, seemed to have a pretty anywhere I was lucky enough to find a ten- Florida. The ashen look on the faces of col- good career and was an inspiration to me ure-track job. leagues when we returned to work in the as I grew up. He taught his classes, wowed Graduate school opened horizons for Capitol Building on September 12, 2001, his students, lectured to audiences across me beyond the academy in ways I hardly and the fear that members of Congress and the country, and sat in his study surround- knew possible when I set foot in Morning- staff felt, showed the inability of political ed by books and documents as he wrote side Heights. My adviser, Alan Brinkley, a leaders to control forces much larger than award-winning presidential biographies model of scholarship and teaching, believed themselves. and studies of foreign policy. His job gave that his PhD students had options beyond My historian’s education taught me to him the Holy Grail of academia—flexibil- finding tenure-track jobs at research institu- observe and appreciate my surroundings ity, autonomy, stability, a solid middle-class tions. As a research assistant to journalists and made me, I hope, a more thoughtful income, and best of all, the creative space in writing books on historical and contem- speechwriter. I stood in the back of the which to publish books of original research porary affairs, I also had access in graduate House chamber as George W. Bush deliv- on topics about which he was passionate. school to nonacademic models of writing ered his September 20 address on the War When my dad finished graduate school and research that I admired. And like-mind- on Terror to a joint session of Congress. in 1964, he received five job offers; to state ed friends from my program showed me I got to watch Gephardt and Senator the obvious, that world is no more. When how to publish book reviews, essays, and Tom Daschle prepare to deliver the 2001 I entered graduate school at the age of 22, op-eds in newspapers and magazines—and response to Bush’s State of the Union I had never held a full-time job, but I also reach wider audiences. address in Senator Ted Kennedy’s Capitol was under few illusions. Despite my fasci- As I finished my dissertation and turned hideaway. nation with political history, I was not sure it into a book, I learned that my friend in My historical training helped me to that the traditional academic path was my Washington, Jeff Shesol, had landed a job look critically at all sides of complicated

34 Perspectives on History January 2015 issues, to inhabit a world filled with As an associate academic director at responsible campaign or communications shades of gray rather than one of clear the University of California Washington strategist, lobbyist, or political leader. prescriptions sometimes favored by the Center (UCDC) from 2010 until August, My new colleagues are receptive to his- most partisan of lawyers, policy experts, I had a full-time teaching load, directed torical research that has implications for and hard-charging regulators. My the summer school, and carved out time the practice of politics, and my historical training enabled me to step back from for my own writing. Both my Wilson fel- training, coupled with my political experi- the daily grind and gave me historical lowship and my job at UCDC provided ence, has allowed me to tackle contempo- new mentors—among them Philippa perspective on what I was seeing and rary issues with history and contemporary Strum, former director of the US Studies experiencing. The research skills I had politics in mind. gained in graduate school were invalu- Division at the Wilson Center, and Bruce If I have learned one thing since finishing able in writing speeches, and my histori- Cain, UCDC’s former director and now a an’s curiosity about ideas and issues lent political scientist at Stanford. Strum leads my PhD, it’s that the historical training I itself well to a job in which I got to draft a group of six alumni from the Wilson received has given me not just a creden- remarks on virtually every topic, from Center (named the “Red Line Group” tial but also an entrée into the world of taxes and spending to Social Security, im- because we all live near Washington’s red politics, think tanks, Washington-based migration reform, health reform, LGBT line metro); we meet monthly and read undergraduate programs, and profession- rights, and the war in Iraq, to name just each other’s chapters, provide construc- al schools in the academy in ways that I a few issues. tive feedback, and cheer each other on never could have predicted when I was a as we strive to finish our books. These These national debates—all of them with graduate student. History departments five women from a variety of disciplines deep roots—made me more sympathetic should encourage graduate students to have collectively imparted to me knowl- to the idea that politics was the study of acquire skills and consider paths beyond edge about scholarship, teaching, colle- human affairs—of emotion, psychology, tenure-track history jobs. And graduate giality, and publishing in ways that are students should seek part-time work while and personality, but also of broad forces hard to find in more traditional, less fluid in graduate school in fields that may be of in society that no person, no matter how academic settings. skilled or powerful, could single-handedly interest to them outside the academy—in The combination of political experience master. Politics also taught me things that case they opt for an alternate path, which, and academic historical training most graduate school couldn’t. For example, I I discovered, can be just as rewarding as the recently helped me land a job as an assis- gained an appreciation for the intelligence, traditional one. tant professor of political management in passion, and genuine conviction that many the Graduate School of Political Manage- of my colleagues possessed—something Matthew Dallek is an assistant professor in the ment at George Washington University. I that can be overlooked in the acidic per- Graduate School of Political Management at am confident that historical perspective, spective that most Americans seem to have knowledge, and research can be invalu- George Washington University. He is working adopted toward Congress in particular and able in the teaching of applied politics to on a book for Oxford University Press about Washington in general. master’s students. Some working knowl- Eleanor Roosevelt and Fiorello La Guardia’s My years as a speechwriter were some edge of how historical forces drive social efforts during World War II to establish a of my most rewarding professionally. and political change and a grasp of how wartime New Deal and defend America from But I concluded, in the end, that I was we have arrived at our current politi- enemy attacks through the Office of Civilian more suited to teaching, researching, and cal moment arguably make one a more Defense. writing about politics and history than I was to being an aide to an elected official. Returning to academia has been neither a simple nor a smooth transition, but it has had its share of rewards. While I knew that landing a traditional academic position in history would be unlikely after having worked in politics, other paths beckoned. I developed a second book project, began to teach as an adjunct, and consulted on the side, and when I won a fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson Internation- al Center for Scholars, I forged bonds with fellow scholars who have become close friends. My historical training was directly applicable while teaching subjects beyond history.

January 2015 Perspectives on History 35 Letter to the Editor On “Retirement as a Stage in the Academic Life Cycle”

To the Editor: some of whom seem to go on forever. At Tel mailing lists, and we are kept informed Aviv University, where I taught from 1971 about upcoming conferences, visiting lec- By law in Israel everyone employed in until my retirement in 2008, most retirees turers, campus events, department seminars, the public sector must retire at age 67. Of continue to have offices and secretarial help. and faculty meetings. And we have access course, this does not include politicians, All of us are on departmental and university to all the university’s libraries, archives, and research facilities. Those among us who continue to research and publish or deliver papers at conferences receive a generous study fund as a supplement to our pensions. Although I am retired, I continue to teach in the university’s international student program. This is something I have done since I came to the university. The international student program hires regular university faculty members to teach their specialties and pays them to do so. Teaching in this program keeps me in touch with the university as well as with students. It also motivates me to read new material and to incorporate what I learn into my lectures. This semester I have students from China, Japan, Italy, Denmark, Holland, Germany, Poland, the Ukraine, Belgium, the USA, and Canada in my class. While I now have more time for leisurely breakfasts in my favorite café, I also have the time to explore other fields of history. I have found my retirement to be more rewarding and fun than I imagined.

Robert Rockaway Tel Aviv University (emeritus)

36 Perspectives on History January 2015 In Memoriam

Frank T. Reuter R. David Edmunds maintained that Reuter Victor Greene authored many acclaimed “was a superb administrator, a very good books. His PhD dissertation on Slavic 1926–2014 scholar, and an excellent teacher. . . . He miners in Pennsylvania was published as enriched both TCU and the greater Fort The Slavic Community on Strike: Immi- Historian of US Foreign Policy Worth community” (Fort Worth Star-Tele- grant Labor in Pennsylvania Anthracite gram condolences website, September 21, (1968). Other notable books followed, rank T. Reuter, professor emeritus of 2014). including For God and Country: The Rise history at Texas Christian University, A true Renaissance man, Reuter enjoyed of Polish and Lithuanian Consciousness in died on September 6, 2014, at the a long, rich, and productive life. He will be America, 1860–1910 (1975) and American ageF of 88, in Fort Worth, Texas. deeply missed. Immigrant Leaders, 1800–1910: Marginal- Reuter was born in Kankakee, Illinois, ity and Identity (1987). His interests then on March 18, 1926. From 1944 to 1946, Kirk Bane turned to popular immigrant music; the he served in the United States Navy. After Blinn College—Bryan, Texas halls of the department were frequently earning his PhD at the University of filled with the sounds of accordions and Illinois, where he studied under Arthur E. Victor R. Greene violins as Victor listened to albums and Bestor Jr., Reuter taught at West Liberty 78 rpm recordings. From this came two State College in West Virginia. In 1962, he 1931–2014 began his long and distinguished teaching wonderful studies. A Passion for Polka: Old-Time Ethnic Music in America (1992) career at Texas Christian University spe- Historian of American Immigration cializing in the field of US foreign policy. and AHA Life Member explores the popularization and commer- A gifted and popular lecturer, Reuter was cialization of old-time ethnic music from named the TCU Honors Professor of the ictor R. Greene, emeritus professor the turn of the century to the 1960s, es- Year in 1967. Moreover, he was an able ad- of history at the University of pecially in the “polka belt” that extended ministrator, serving as chair of the history Wisconsin–Milwaukee, died on from Connecticut to Nebraska and from SeptemberV 5, 2014, at the age of 80. A noted department and dean of the graduate Texas up to Minnesota and the Dakotas. A school. scholar and teacher in the fields of American Singing Ambivalence: American Immigrants In addition to his teaching and adminis- immigration, labor, and popular culture, between Old World and New, 1830–1930 trative responsibilities, Reuter was an active Greene earned a BA cum laude in history (2004) examines what song lyrics can tell scholar. He directed theses and disserta- from Harvard University (1955), an MA us about immigrants’ hopes, fears, and tions and published numerous reviews and in history from the University of Rochester dreams as they left their homeland and articles, as well as four books: West Liberty (1960), and a PhD in history from the loved ones and adjusted to a new society. University of Pennsylvania (1963). Before State College: The First 125 Years (1963); He also co-edited, with UWM history Catholic Influence on American Colonial joining UWM in 1971, Greene taught at professor Margo Anderson, Perspectives Policies, 1898–1904 (1967); Trials and the University of Notre Dame and Kansas on Milwaukee’s Past (2009), a collection Triumphs: George Washington’s Foreign Policy State University. of essays that explore key themes in Mil- (1988); and, with Spencer Tucker, Injured Greene was active in many professional waukee’s history from settlement to the Honor: The Chesapeake-Leopard Affair, June and community history organizations. A present, among them immigration and the 22, 1807 (1996). former president and executive secretary Reuter relished travel. A fellow at the of the Immigration History Society, he ethnic diversity that followed. At UWM, University of Durham in England, he also received the society’s Lifetime Achieve- he was a generous donor to programs that taught at the Pázmány Péter Catholic Uni- ment Award in 2009. He also served on benefit students, establishing a fund in versity in Piliscsaba, Hungary. A man of the History Committee of the Statue of honor of his own hero, former Milwaukee faith, Reuter was extremely active in his Liberty/Ellis Island Centennial Commis- mayor Frank P. Zeidler, which presents an church, St. Andrew Catholic Parish, in Fort sion and was on the editorial board of the annual award to a history master’s student Worth. He loved classical music and garden- Journal of American Ethnic History and interested in American history. Recogniz- ing. Above all else, he cherished spending Polish American Studies. He was a member ing Greene’s long dedication to under- time with his family. of the executive boards of the Wisconsin graduate learning, the history department Students, both undergraduate and Society for Jewish Learning, the Ko-Thi named its award for the best paper written graduate, revered Reuter. While he African American Dance Troupe, the Wis- by a senior history major the Victor expected, and demanded, high-quality consin Labor History Society, and the Greene Award. work, students filled his classroom, attract- Milwaukee County Historical Society. He ed to his sense of humor, affable nature, also lectured and taught widely around the Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks and engaging lecture style. Furthermore, he United States, and in China, the Czech Michael Gordon was genuinely respected by his colleagues. Republic, England, and Poland. University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee

January 2015 Perspectives on History 37 Endnote The Man Who Floats on a Fish Or How to Interpret an 18th-Century Miniature of Al-Khidr

Shatha Almutawa llustrating a magazine—its covers, on a fish?” Even though a fish is part of the articles, and empty spaces—involves Khidr parable, the Qur’an does not mention hours and hours of searching through Al-Khidr as using it as a means for travel, images.I Since I joined the AHA in February, but this became a popular motif in 17th- and Jacob Ingram joined us in the summer, and 18th-century Mughal painting. Why? Allen Mikaelian, Jake, and I have routinely A. K. Coomaraswamy gives us some clues in spent hours looking for the right photos, his article “Khwājā Khadir and the Fountain drawings, or paintings; searching for license of Life, in the Tradition of Persian and Mughal information; requesting permissions; and Art,” published in 1934 (Ars Islamica, vol. 1, investigating copyright information. no. 2, pp. 172–82). Coomaraswamy illus- The theme of this issue is assessment. Our trates his article with an image of Al-Khidr forum on the subject contains four articles standing on a fish, but in that rendering he by historians who have thought about and is also carrying a sword. Al-Khidr, it turns experimented with evaluating their teaching out, became legendary not only in Muslim and their students’ learning. James Gross- communities; he was also worshipped by man’s column also deals with assessment; he Hindus and became the saint of a popular writes about the New York Board of Regents’ cult. Because al-khidr in Arabic literally means proposal to eliminate one history exam the color green, Al-Khidr is often portrayed as and retain one as required for high school A 17th-century Mughal miniature of Al-Khidr. It is dressed in green. students. But how would we illustrate the part of the Small Clive Album of Indian Miniatures Coomaraswamy writes about the folk concept of assessment without using unin- currently at the Victoria & Albert Museum in tale of Prince Mahjub, in which Al-Khidr London. {{PD-1923}} spired stock photography of paper exams? appears as a secondary character, providing The 18th-century miniature of Al-Khidr endless provisions for the main characters. In on the cover is inspired by Qur’an 18:60–82, happened must be their destination, and it is his analysis of such stories, Coomaraswamy where Moses asks Al-Khidr whether he may indeed there that they find Al-Khidr. comes to the conclusion that Al-Khidr is follow him and learn from his wisdom, to This parable became the inspiration for considered “master of the flowing River of which Al-Khidr responds that Moses would many more allegories, tales, and imaginative Life in the Land of Darkness; he is at once not have the patience for the learning he wants interpretations of Al-Khidr. Whether mythical the guardian and genius of vegetation and of to achieve. “You will find me patient,” Moses or historic, Al-Khidr became an iconic figure the Water of Life, and corresponds to Soma says. The first assignment Al-Khidr gives his among Muslims from the seventh century and Ghandarva in Vedic mythology, and in student is not to ask questions about matters onward. In fact, the name Al-Khidr on this many respects to Varuna himself, though it the teacher has not mentioned. But when portrait is preceded by the Persian honorific is evident that he cannot, either from the Al-Khidr performs three acts that shock Moses khwaja (meaning lord or master) and followed Islamic or from the later Hindu point of view (he damages a ship, kills a boy, and restores a by the honorifickhan , which signifies nobility. be openly identified with the supreme deity.” wall for a people who refuse him hospitality), But the image of Al-Khidr in this minia- Perhaps that is the key to interpreting the Moses exclaims that Al-Khidr’s actions are de- ture and the fables about him perplexed us. image on the cover. The spot where Moses plorable. “Did I not say that you would never Al-Khidr’s assessment of his student, Moses, found his destination in the Qur’anic parable be able to have patience?” Al-Khidr retorts, as one who would fail before he even began is where a fish is said to have come back to and proceeds to explain each of his actions. his journey with Al-Khidr turns out to be life and jumped into a river. This is the same The fish in the miniature painting represents accurate. But were the actions that led to river on whose banks Moses finds Al-Khidr, a miraculous event that occurs at the begin- the confirmation of that assessment actually whose wisdom seems to be eternal like the ning of the parable—on a journey in search of intended to be tests? Should assessments waters of the river. By portraying Al-Khidr “the junction of the two seas,” Moses and his always be intended as such? The Qur’anic standing on the fish and using it to travel, the servant forget their fish, and it jumps into the parable leaves Al-Khidr’s reasoning as a artists portray him as possessing eternal life nearby river. The next morning Moses asks mystery until the very end, when Moses finds and navigating its rivers. for his breakfast and the servant says that he out why his role model committed murder. had forgotten the fish, and it returned to the When Jake saw the image, he asked a dif- Shatha Almutawa is associate editor of sea. Moses declares that the spot where this ferent question: “Why is the man floating Perspectives on History.

38 Perspectives on History January 2015 Job Center

To locate an advertisement, go first to the regional section. Within each region, Ad Policy Statement schools are listed alphabetically: first by Job discrimination is illegal, and open hiring on the basis of merit depends on fair practice in state, then city, institution, department, recruitment, thereby ensuring that all professionally qualified persons may obtain appropriate and academic field. opportunities. The AHA will not accept a job listing that (1) contains wording that either directly or indirectly links sex, race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, ideology, political affiliation, age, disability, or marital status to a specific job offer; or (2) contains wording requiring applicants to submit special materials for the sole purpose of identifying the applicant’s sex, race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, ideology, political affiliation, veteran status, age, Northeast disability, or marital status.

The AHA does make an exception to these criteria in three unique cases: (1) open listings for Massachusetts minority vita banks that are clearly not linked with specific jobs, fields, or specializations; (2) ads that require religious identification or affiliation for consideration for the position, a preference that Latin America. The Department of History and the is allowed to religious institutions under federal law; and (3) fellowship advertisements. Program in Latin American and Latino/a Studies at Smith College invite applications for a two-year, The AHA retains the right to refuse or edit all discriminatory statements from copy submitted non-tenure-track joint position as lecturer in Latin to the Association that is not consistent with these guidelines or with the principles of Title VII of American history. This is a full-time, benefits-eligi- the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The AHA accepts advertisements from academic institutions whose ble appointment with a five-course annual teaching administrations are under censure by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), load, beginning fall 2015. Period, region, and spe- but requires that this fact be clearly stated. Refer to www.aaup.org/our-programs/academic- cialization open. The successful candidate must freedom/censure-list for more information. be prepared to teach semester-long colonial and national history surveys that form the basis of the The AHA recommends that all employers adhere to the following guidelines: (1) All positions Latin American Studies major, but will also have for historians should be advertised in the job ads section of Perspectives or the AHA website. the opportunity to teach more specialized courses If hiring institutions intend to interview at the AHA annual meeting, they should make every related to her/his research interests. PhD or ABD effort to advertise in the Perspectives issues for the fall months. (2) Advertisements for status required. Located in Northampton, MA, positions should contain specific information regarding qualifications and clear indication as Smith College is the largest women’s college in the to whether a position has actually been authorized or is contingent upon budgetary or other country and is dedicated to excellence in teaching administrative considerations. (3) Candidates should seek interviews only for those jobs for and research across the liberal arts. A faculty of which they are qualified, and under no circumstances should they misrepresent their training outstanding scholars interact with students in small or their qualifications. To do otherwise is unprofessional and wastes the time and energy of classes, as advisors, and through student-faculty everyone concerned. (4) All applications and inquiries for a position should be acknowledged research projects. The Five College Consortium, promptly and courteously (within two weeks of receipt, if possible), and each applicant should be comprised of Smith, Amherst, Mount Holyoke, and informed as to the initial action on the application or inquiry. No final decision should be made Hampshire Colleges and the University of Mas- without considering all applications received before the closing date. (5) At all stages of a search, sachusetts, Amherst, provides a rich intellectual affirmative action/equal opportunity guidelines should be respected, as well as the professional and cultural life. Submit application at http://apply. and personal integrity of candidates and interviewers. (6) As candidates are eliminated, they interfolio.com/27981 with a letter of application, should be notified promptly and courteously. Some hiring institutions notify all candidates when CV, unofficial graduate transcripts, 2 syllabi (one their search is completed. Unsuccessful candidates may wish to ask how their chances might for either the colonial or national survey), a writing have been improved. Hiring institutions often respond helpfully to such inquiries but they are not obliged to disclose the reasoning leading to their ultimate choices.

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sample of approximately 40 pages (an article, dis- 2016–17 or 2017–18. This visiting professorship sertation chapter, or book chapter), and 3 confiden- was established as part of Princeton’s 250th An- tial letters of recommendation. Review of applica- niversary teaching initiatives, enabling the Univer- tions will begin February 1, 2015. Smith College sity Center each year to bring to campus one ex- is an AA/Vet/Disability/EOE. Women, minorities, cellent undergraduate teacher and scholar whose veterans and individuals with disabilities are en- teaching and research explicitly examine values in couraged to apply. public and private life. Candidates in all fields are eligible; recent holders of the chair have been ap- pointed in Comparative Literature, History, Politics, Philosophy, and Psychology. This 10-month Mid-Atlantic position brings a full salary. Since the successful candidate must demonstrate an established record of teaching excellence, applicants should normally New Jersey, Pennsylvania hold a tenured position in their home institution. The professorship is not intended for early-career Visiting Professorship/Distinguished Teaching. faculty and we do not generally consider applicants The University Center for Human Values at Princ- who have taught less than five years. Candidates eton University invites nominations and appli- who have received teaching awards will be given cations for the Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting especially serious consideration, but this is not a Professorship for Distinguished Teaching. Individ- necessary condition for selection if there is other uals will be considered for appointment in either evidence of outstanding teaching. We are keen

Find more job ads online in the AHA Career Center at historians.org/careers

January 2015 Perspectives on History 39 Job Center to consider applicants who have been innovative nominee’s record of teaching and scholarship. The Postdoctoral/Humanities and Social Sciences. in the classroom through their use of technology, nominee’s CV should be included. The selection The University of Pittsburgh Kenneth P. Dietrich although again this is not a necessary condition committee may invite nominees to provide further School of Arts and Sciences is offering approx- for selection. International applicants with a de- information if required. It would be helpful to us to imately five postdoctoral fellowships in the hu- monstrable record of distinguished teaching are receive the nomination by Monday, January 26, manities and social sciences for the academic encouraged to apply. Visiting professors normally 2015. Nomination letters may be sent by email year 2015–16. Fellows will teach one course each teach one undergraduate course, organize one or to [email protected]. Interested applicants semester, complete scholarly work, and partici- more teaching related events, and participate in should apply online at www.princeton.edu/jobs. pate in the academic and intellectual communi- seminars, colloquia, and other activities of the Uni- (The requisition number is 1400660.) The appli- ties of the departments with which they are affil- versity Center for Human Values. They also enjoy cation deadline is Friday, February 13, 2015. We iated and across the Dietrich School. Within the access to Firestone Library and to a wide range of anticipate concluding the selection process by Dietrich School, rich opportunities for interdisci- activities throughout the University. The University June 2015, at least for the appointment tenable in plinary exchange are available in the Humanities Center encourages department chairs, deans, col- 2016–17. For more information about the Universi- Center, the World History Center and in a number leagues, and students to nominate candidates for ty Center for Human Values, please visit our web of vibrant multidisciplinary programs. Applications consideration. Nomination letters should describe site at http://uchv.princeton.edu/index.php. This must be received by 5 p.m. EST on February 13, the nominee’s teaching and scholarly interests position is subject to the university’s background 2015. Letters of recommendation must be received and characterize the evidence as to quality of the check policy. by 5 p.m. EST on February 20, 2015. No exceptions to deadlines are granted. We expect to announce the awards by April 15, 2015. For application instructions, visit http://www.as.pitt.edu/ postdoctoral-fellowship-program/application-process. For answers to frequently asked questions, visit http://www.as.pitt.edu/right-sidebar/postdoctoral-fellowship-program/faq. The University of Pittsburgh is an AA/EOE. Women, minorities, and international candidates are especially encouraged to apply. We invite applications from qualified candidates in the humanities and social sciences who have completed the oral defense at the time of application and who will graduate with the PhD Experience quality and constructive by August 2015. Individuals who graduated before September 1, 2013 are not eligible; there will be no peer review when you publish your exceptions to these criteria. work open access with Cogent Arts & Humanities. Southeast Arkansas, South Carolina, Tennessee Submission is quick and simple and there are America. Henderson State University. Assistant or associate professor of history. Nine-month ten- no long waits for your article to be published. ure-track appointment. Teaching responsibilities include American history survey courses, the upper-level courses United States, 1900-1945, Recent For a limited time, Cogent Arts & Humanities America (since 1945), a graduate history seminar, and other assigned courses whose primary focus is is waiving all article publishing charges. in whole or in significant part the history of 20th- or 21st-century America. Further, the ability to teach additional courses in at least one of the following Submit your manuscript today: subject areas is required: African American history, history of Asian civilizations, Latin American or Latino history, or GBT history. The usual teaching http://bit.ly/CogentAandH load is 12 hours per semester. Teaching and instruc- tional skills include a willingness to utilize innovative approaches to classroom instruction and effective learning. Establishing a credible record of professional scholarship and research and of service to the University and to one’s profession are further expectations. Salary commensurate with education and experience. Generous benefits package including university-supplemented health insurance and TIAA-CREF. Henderson State University is an AA/ EOE with a significant commitment to the achievement of excellence and diversity among its faculty, staff, and students. Applicants should be ABD or possess a doctorate in history from a regionally accredited institution of higher education. Appli- cations should be directed to Dr. Angela Boswell, Chair of the Search Committee, via e-mail in PDF format to [email protected]. To be considered for this position, please submit a letter of application, current CV, a statement of higher education philosophy, three letters of recommendation, and the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of

40 Perspectives on History January 2015 Job Center the three individuals providing the letters of rec- Latin American issues are encouraged to apply. ommendation. Review of applications will begin on Great Lakes Relevant disciplines include sociology, political February 1, 2015, and will continue until the position science, anthropology, history, literature, and media is filled. The applicant selected for this position is studies. The successful candidate will teach an MA subject to background screening, including criminal Illinois, Ohio Proseminar (meets over two quarters), advise MA background check, pursuant to university policy. students, and will develop one graduate/undergrad- Postdoctoral/Center for Latin American Studies. The selected applicant will be required to submit uate course and two undergraduate-only courses in official transcripts. The University of Chicago Center for Latin American Studies invites applications for a postdoctoral their own specialty. This is a 12-month appointment. position as a lecturer in Latin American studies to The appointment is for one year, with the possibility of renewal for a second year dependent upon per- Department Chair. The Department of History begin in Autumn 2015. The Latin American Studies formance review. All requirements toward the PhD and Geography at Clemson University invites Program includes an interdisciplinary MA Program must be completed by August 31, 2015. Teaching applications for the position of Department in Latin American Studies serving students with Chair, beginning August 15, 2015. The success- research interests in social sciences and human- experience is required. The ideal candidate will be ful candidate will lead a department that includes ities, and a BA major in Latin American Studies able to give theoretical and methodological advice 25 historians and 3 geographers. The department that has a social sciences emphasis. Recent to master’s level students with a broad range of offers a BA (250 majors, 15 with an emphasis in PhDs (within the past six years) in the humanities, social science and humanities interests. To apply for public history) and MA (25 students) in history and social sciences, or area studies who deal with this position, please go to the University of Chicago a new major in Pan African Studies and a minor in geography. Clemson University, founded in 1889, now has over 20,000 students. US News and World Report ranks Clemson as a top 20 public research university. The city of Clemson, a small college town, is located in upstate South Carolina, on Lake Hartwell, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, near the metropolitan areas of Greenville, SC, Asheville and Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, GA. Candidates should have qualifications sufficient for appointment as a tenured full professor of history. We are seeking a senior scholar with a strong record of publication, a commitment to teaching excellence, and demonstrated administrative experience. The successful candidate for department chair will manage course scheduling, budgeting, hiring and evaluation of faculty, and assessment of programs, in addition to maintaining an active program of scholarship and service, and teaching one course each semester. Applicants should electronically submit a letter of application, curriculum vitae, three letters of reference, and a sample of scholarship to http://apply.interfolio.com/28067. Applications should be received by January 30, 2015, in order to receive full consideration.

Science. The Department of History at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville seeks to fill the following tenure-track assistant professor position: history of science. Appointment begins August 2015. Required qualifications: PhD in History from an accredited institution; recent experience teaching college-level history; ability to teach upper-division History of Science courses and the general education course Science and World Cultures. Preferred qualifications: Experience with educational technology and/or digital history; ability to offer courses on the history of England and/or the history of medicine, or otherwise to best augment existing departmental specialties. All applicants must apply online at http:// www.tntech.edu/jobs and will be required to electronically upload a cover letter including a description of interest and qualifications; copies of all college/university transcripts (official transcripts for all degrees conferred required upon hire); CV; and names and email addresses of three professional references who will be contacted by email to upload recommendation letters. Screening will begin January 15, 2015; position open until filled. Any applicant invited to TTU for an interview must be prepared to provide additional materials and to give an appropriate lecture to faculty, students and guests. Tennessee Tech University is an AA/EEO employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnic or national origin, sex, disability, age (40 and over), status as a protected veteran, genetic information or any other category protected by federal or state law. Inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies should be directed to [email protected].

January 2015 Perspectives on History 41 Job Center

Academic Career Opportunities website at https:// mentoring, academic advising, and advising student North America and the history of the American West. academiccareers.uchicago.edu and select requi- groups. Individuals with experience in working with The ability to support the department’s growing sition #02425. Applicants are required to upload high-risk students are highly preferred. Successful commitment to digital history is desirable. PhD the following materials—cover letter, CV, teaching candidates will be expected to collaborate with our required at time of employment. Teaching responsi- statement, dissertation abstract, reference contact interdisciplinary Upper Mississippi Studies Center, bilities include lower-division surveys, upper-division information, and up to three writing samples/pub- which guides undergraduates in working with local courses, and graduate seminars. The teaching load lications. Under separate cover, please have three organizations on environmental projects. The de- is 2/2. Research funding for new faculty is available. letters of recommendation sent to the Center for partment seeks candidates with dynamic teaching Preference will be given to candidates with teaching Latin American Studies, 5848 South University strategies and a successful record of developing experience and publications. Submit cover letter, Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637. To receive full consid- classroom pedagogies that foster historical thinking. CV, transcripts, and three letters of recommenda- eration, all application materials must be received In addition, candidates should have a strong tion via Interfolio at http://apply.interfolio.com/27993. by February 28, 2015. All qualified applicants will research agenda, including a record of publication To receive full consideration, complete applications receive consideration for employment without and proven recognition by academic peers in the should be received by January 30, 2015. Salary regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, field of history. To apply, please send a letter of ap- competitive. The filling of this position is contin- age, protected veteran status or status as an indi- plication, CV, a copy of graduate transcripts, state- gent upon availability of funding. Oklahoma State vidual with disability. The University of Chicago is ment of teaching philosophy, evidence of teaching University is an AA/ E-verify/EOE committed to di- an AA/Disabled/Veterans/EOE. effectiveness, syllabi, sample of scholarly writing, versity. All qualified applicants will receive consider- and three letters of recommendation to Search ation for employment and will not be discriminated #108-15 U.S. History, c/o Pareena Lawrence, against based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual America. Augustana College invites applications Dean of the College, Augustana College, 639-38th orientation, gender identity, national origin, disabil- for a tenure-track assistant professor in American St., Rock Island, IL 61201 or submit materials via ity or protected veteran status. OSU is a VEVRAA history to begin in the 2015–16 academic year. Can- e-mail to [email protected]. Review Federal Contractor and desires priority referrals of didates must have a PhD in history in hand at the of applications will begin January 12, 2015, and protected veterans for its openings. OSU-Stillwater time of appointment and at least three years of full- will continue until the position is filled. Questions is a tobacco-free campus. time experience teaching undergraduate students. may be directed to Jane Simonsen, Chair of the Candidate may be granted years towards tenure History Department, at janesimonsen@augustana. at appointment. We seek a candidate with exper- edu. Augustana College is an EOE and actively en- Rocky Mountains tise in environmental, western, and labor history courages applications from women and persons of who can teach both introductory and upper-level diverse ethnic backgrounds. We do not discriminate courses in US history, including public history and based on age, race, color, ethnic origin, gender, Idaho oral history. The successful candidate will also be sexual orientation, disability or creed. Global Environmental. The Department of History able to teach our gateway and capstone courses at Idaho State University seeks a tenure-track, for history majors and contribute to our innovative, Postdoctoral/African American Studies. The assistant professor in environmental history with interdisciplinary first-year liberal studies program. College of Arts and Sciences at Case Western a transnational perspective on any region outside Candidates must have demonstrated success in Reserve University is offering a postdoctoral fel- North America. To support our graduate program working with undergraduate populations, including lowship for historical research in African American in digital history, we seek applicants with an es- Studies. The fellowship is open to scholars com- tablished record of using geospatial technology or mitted to university-level research and teaching. other digital methods. A PhD in history, geography, Fellows must have their PhD at the time of appoint- or related field is required at appointment in August ment and not exceed the rank of assistant professor. 2015. Successful candidates will demonstrate a The one-year appointment in the History Depart- growing record of scholarship, commitment to Panzers, Landsers ment begins August 1, 2015, and carries a stipend teaching, including high-quality online courses, and of $45,000 plus medical benefits and up to $5,000 potential for successful grant funding. Review of ap- and Politics for relocation and research-related expenses. The plications begins December 15, 2014. Submit letter Fellow is expected to teach one history course (to of application, CV, and contact information for three be cross-listed with Ethnic Studies) in the spring references online at http://careers.isu.edu. Short Stories semester, give a public presentation, and submit a report to the director on the year’s activities. Com- and Epic Novels pleted applications must include a cover letter, CV, a sample of scholarly writing, and a project proposal (not to exceed five double-spaced pages) that outlines the applicant’s scholarship and research agenda for the fellowship year. Send three confidential letters of recommendation, including preferably one from the dissertation advisor, c/o Emily Sparks, Postdoctoral Fellowship in African American Studies, Department of History, CWRU, 10900 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH 44106-7107. Elec- Versailles to tronic applications accepted at HistoryPostDoc@ the Eastern Front case.edu. Deadline for receipt of all materials is Tuesday, March 17, 2015. Notification anticipated in early May. In employment, as in education, Case Western Reserve University is an equal opportunity employer committed to diverse faculty, staff, “ A great victory and student body. Women and underrepresented is groups are encouraged to apply. a great danger.” Southwest Friedrich Nietzsche 1870’s Oklahoma Visit our website Native North America. Oklahoma State Universi- ty. Tenure-track assistant professor to begin August www.panzerschlacht.us 2015. The successful candidate will contribute to established graduate programs in the history of Native

42 Perspectives on History January 2015

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