A Conversation With a 'Luddite' Who Championed New Scholarly Directions for History: CHE Interviews Anthony Grafton

"The most Luddite person you can imagine" is how Anthony T. Grafton describes himself. But it's in part thanks to Mr. Grafton, a professor of history at Princeton University, that the American Historical Association has finally put digital-humanities scholarship on its agenda.

Mr. Grafton just stepped down as president of the association, after a year of energetic public campaigning to get both the group and the discipline to broaden their horizons.

At the association's annual meeting, held this past Thursday through Sunday in Chicago, Mr. Grafton appeared to be everywhere, moderating panels and plenaries, delivering a typically engaging and erudite lecture on Francis Daniel Pastorius and "The Republic of Letters in the American Colonies," and praising colleagues' scholarship and professional contributions as "extraordinary" at every turn.

The Chronicle sat down with Mr. Grafton in Chicago to talk about his presidential year, scholarly directions in the field, the push to rethink graduate education and history careers, and the work that remains to be done.

"The association only matters insofar as it's vital to the profession and to the discipline—two separate things," he says. "Nobody's sure the annual meetings have much of a future." He would like to see the group become more of a communication hub for members, "a place of virtual discussion and dialogue."...