Historians in the News

This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in each source note. Quotation marks are not used.

Source: NYT
9-19-12

Biblical historian says papyrus refers to Jesus's wife

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A historian of early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School has identified a scrap of papyrus that she says was written in Coptic in the fourth century and contains a phrase never seen in any piece of Scripture: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife ...’ ”The faded papyrus fragment is smaller than a business card, with eight lines on one side, in black ink legible under a magnifying glass. Just below the line about Jesus having a wife, the papyrus includes a second provocative clause that purportedly says, “she will be able to be my disciple.”

Source: NYT
9-17-12

From Justice Thomas, a Little Talk About Race, Faith and the Court with Akhil Reed Amar

WASHINGTON — Justice Clarence Thomas has not asked a question from the bench in more than six years, and he seldom appears in public in Washington, a city he says is full of cynics, smart alecks and people who have agendas rather than convictions....The occasion for the interview was the Constitution’s 225th anniversary and the publication of a new book called “America’s Unwritten Constitution.” Its author, Akhil Reed Amar, a law professor at Yale, questioned Justice Thomas for more than an hour.When Professor Amar mentioned that there are, for the first time in history, no Protestants on the Supreme Court, Justice Thomas changed the subject.

Source: NYT
9-17-12

Israeli Diplomat Is [Historian] in Middle

WASHINGTON — With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel engaged in an unusually public dispute with the Obama administration over Iran, Mr. Netanyahu’s man in Washington, Michael B. Oren, has been working rooms all over town.

Source: BostInno
9-18-12

Harvard President Drew Faust Keeps Her Cool on The Colbert Report [Video]

Editor's Note: President Faust's recent book has been made into a documentary by Ric Burns:  "Death and the Civil War."  It will be shown on PBS stations this week.Harvard President Drew Faust is the latest local academic to make an appearance onThe Colbert Report. She visited Colbert to discuss her book This Republic of Suffering: Death and the Civil War, which six-time Emmy award-winning filmmaker Ric Burns has turned into a documentary that will air tonight on PBS from 8 p.m. – 10 p.m.Of course, Colbert had to point out her Harvard ties, telling Faust, “You’re one of those smart people who Rick Santorum says that the GOP is never going to attract. Why are you so prejudiced against people who do not value education?”Faust kept her composure, giggling the question off, even as Colbert jokingly accuses her of kicking all the conservatives off Harvard’s campus. When asked, “Is Harvard for dumb people?” All Faust says is, “It’s never dumb to get an education,” to which the audience responds by breaking out in applause.

Source: AHA Today
9-18-12

AHA Responds to Georgia State Archives Closure

The following is a letter sent by AHA Executive Director James Grossman to the Governor of Georgia, Nathan Deal, in response to the recent announcement that the state plans to close the Georgia Archives to the public. Dear Governor Deal:I write on behalf of the American Historical Association—the leading organization of historians in the United States—to express our grave concern about plans to effectively close the Georgia Archives.An early and active proponent of state archives laws in the United States, the AHA remains committed to the preservation of our heritage, and to its accessibility. We understand that a shortage of financial resources has forced the state to make some difficult financial choices, and that in such situations, everyone claims that their particular activity is sacrosanct. The Georgia Archives, however, tells the story of all Georgians. Genealogists, students, historians, journalists: all require access to these vital records to participate in the preservation of the state’s heritage and the practical use of its past.

Source: WaPo
9-16-12

Smithsonian names David Allison as acting head of American history museum

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has named David Allison, associate director of curatorial affairs, as acting director, said a museum spokeswoman.The appointment came after Director John Gray, who had headed the museum since July, had a heart attack Tuesday morning and was taken to George Washington University Hospital, where he was reported in stable condition as of Friday evening....

Source: NYT
9-15-12

Michael Wreszin, Biographer of American Radicals, Dies at 85

Michael Wreszin, a biographer of radical 20th-century American intellectuals who were prominent antiwar activists, among them the social critic Dwight Macdonald, died on Aug. 12 in Manhattan. He was 85....Mr. Wreszin, a history professor at Queens College and an antiwar activist himself, was a student of the American left and the many ideological movements competing for dominance of it between the 1920s and 1960s, including socialism, communism, libertarianism and anarchism.His subjects were cosmopolitan, humanist thinkers who saw a growing militarism in American political culture but whose scrupulous habits of mind could make them misfits in the ideological camps they joined....

Source: NYT
9-12-12

Eli Zborowski, 86, Leader in Holocaust Remembrance, Dies

Eli Zborowski, a survivor of the Holocaust who made it his mission to ensure that it would never be forgotten, founded an American organization to support Israel’s official Holocaust memorial and raised more than $100 million for it, died on Monday in Queens. He was 86.The cause was cardiac arrest, said Rochel Berman, who, with her husband, George, published a biography of Mr. Zborowski last year.Mr. Zborowski (pronounced zbor-AHV-skee) started the American and International Societies for Yad Vashem, the Israeli memorial, in 1953, a year after he arrived in the United States as a penniless Jewish immigrant from Poland with little knowledge of English. He was the founding and only chairman of what was — in fact, if not in name — a single organization. Under him, it grew to 50,000 members.Mr. Zborowski served on the board of the memorial and helped come up with the idea, which it adopted, of remembering communities, not just individuals, lost in the Holocaust....

Source: Voice of Russia
9-11-12

U.S. cover-up of Katyn massacre revealed in released files - interview with Patrick Kenney

It's been more than seventy years since a brutal massacre of 22,000 Polish officers and other prisoners by Soviet secret police during WWII in the Katyn forest on the western edge of Russia. A large swath of American intelligence related to this has been just released today and reveals disturbing details as well as evidence of the US cover-up.Patrick Kenney is here to talk more about the event, he is a Professor of History at Indiana University as well as the director of the School of Russian and Eastern European Institute and the Polish Studies Centre. Professor Kenney, welcome.Thank youSo, first, tell us about what happened in Katyn, in the forest and what were the events that led up to the massacre?

Source: Rutgers Focus
8-28-12

Rutgers historian: Was Lindbergh kidnapping an inside job?

Eight decades after the crime that transfixed the world, a Rutgers professor has added a thrilling new chapter – evidence that Charles Lindbergh may have been involved in the kidnapping and murder of his son.Lloyd C. Gardner, professor of history emeritus, points to Lindbergh’s fascination with Social Darwinism and evidence that health problems plaguing his 20-month-old son Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. suggested the child was far from perfect.Gardner had painstakingly researched the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the “Little Eaglet,” son of the American hero-aviator and his socially prominent wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh. His research included the subsequent arrest, trial, conviction and execution of Bruno Richard Hauptmann for Gardner’s 2004 book The Case that Never Dies: The Lindbergh Kidnapping, published by Rutgers University Press.Now, after almost another decade of research, Gardner has added a dramatic afterward to his work – the theory that Lindbergh, the “Lone Eagle,” was somehow involved with little Charlie’s abduction. The author also believes the child’s death could have resulted from an accident during the kidnapping, which, to this day, is still considered the crime of the century....

Source: The Pine Log
9-10-12

Archie McDonald, Texas historian, dies at 76

Dr. Archie McDonald, a longtime SFA professor of history and  executive director of the East Texas Historical Association, died Thursday, Aug. 16, after a long battle with cancer. A memorial service attended by hundreds from East Texas and the SFA community was held in the University’s Grand Ballroom Monday, Aug. 20. McDonald most recently served SFA as a community liaison, representing the University in many venues and at many public events. He served in this position after retiring as executive director of the East Texas Historical Association, headquartered at SFA, in 2008. Dr. Troy David, former history department chair, said McDonald’s death is an “immeasurable loss” for SFA and the history department. Not only was he a pillar of excellence at SFA, he was well known across the country for his contributions to Texas history, as well as being active in the East Texas community, Davis said....

Source: CNN.com
9-7-12

We're in for a heck of a ride: CNN asks historians for opinions on DNC

Robert Dallek: Expect to see a clear uptickThe Democratic convention was notable for the stirring speeches, especially by Bill Clinton, President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Elizabeth Warren. The speeches underscored two fundamental truths about current and recent American politics.First, that winning elections and commanding public backing for a national agenda are dependent on a president's personal appeal or, perhaps better stated, likability. It was a compelling feature of these convention talks. The most successful presidents of the last century were those who created personal connections to the public: Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman in 1948, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. "I miss the way your husband used to speak to me about my government," someone told Eleanor Roosevelt after FDR died. In a recent poll, JFK and Reagan had approval ratings of 85% and 74%, respectively....Alonzo Hamby: Soaring rhetoric, but short of details on economic recovery

Source: Daily Tar Heel
9-12-12

Historian Richard Immerman: CIA is flawed

The CIA has a flaw — it has abandoned its original mission as an intelligence analysis agency, a historian and former government employee said Tuesday in a speech to about 50 people.Richard Immerman, a former assistant deputy director of national intelligence at the U.S. State Department, gave a lecture in Hamilton Hall as part of a lecture series put on by UNC’s history department.He said he is critical of the CIA’s transition from an intelligence analysis agency to one that predominately directs covert operations.“The CIA’s architecture was flawed from design and flawed by design,” Immerman said....

Source: New Eastern Europe
9-13-12

A Historian of the Present: A conversation with Timothy Garton Ash, British historian and expert on Central and Eastern Europe.

NEW EASTERN EUROPE: You not only reported, but participated in, the revolutions of 1989. How did you first travel to Central Europe?TIMOTHY GARTON ASH: Thomas Mann is really to blame. Through reading his novels, I first became interested in German history. What came to fascinate me in German history was the question of what makes one person a dissident and another a collaborator. Then I realised that people were facing that question behind the Iron Curtain every day. I went to live in Berlin in 1978 and began travelling behind the Iron Curtain, getting to know the opposition movements. Therefore, when 1989 happened, I knew all the main actors better than most people in the West. I had been what Raymond Aron called the spectateur engagé. I just consider myself incredibly privileged to have been such a close witness of that turning-point in world history. Now, more than 20 years on, the outcome is still overwhelmingly positive. I can imagine, in another life, I might have got excited about the revolution of 1789 or 1917, for example, and having somewhat more negative reflections 20 years on....

Source: The Atlantic Cities
9-12-12

New York State's Curious, Century-Old Law Requiring Every City and Town to Have a Historian

I grew up on Long Island, in the kind of town where students paint Halloween murals on local storefronts and dress up as wrapped gifts to march in the holiday parade. To me, our town historian, with his dress-like-your-favorite-Christmas-Carol-character parties, was just another marker on the small-town quaint-o-meter.As it turns out, Sayville, my hometown, has an official historian because it's the law.Back in 1919, the New York state legislature mandated that every "city, town, or village" must have an official historian. It's a regulation that's unique among the 50 states, and basically unenforceable. Towns are not required to pay these record-keepers, who are appointed by a town mayor or manager. Municipalities that fail to find a volunteer are sent a strongly worded letter, but little else can be done.Still, New York's cities have managed to fill the vast majority of these 1,600 positions, even tiny towns like Broome, population 204. The folks in these roles are an eclectic bunch, to say the least - the oldest town historian to serve was 103, the youngest is 13 - drawn to the gig by that crucial mix of obsession, pride, and boosterism....

Source: Inside Higher Ed
9-13-12

AHA pushes for full disclosure

A new policy statement by the American Historical Association suggests that history departments should publish records of where their graduate students end up working. And this means not just a few success stories, but details going back at least 10 years, while keeping current information on former students who move on to other jobs.The statement, many say, is a reflection of ongoing debates among historians on the state of the academic job market and the concerns of many graduate students and professors that those considering doctoral education may not be getting the full picture of their prospects for future employment. “The AHA strongly recommends that departments publish information regarding graduate placement. Complete and accurate information is invaluable to prospective students deciding whether or not to enter the historical profession,” part of the statement said. These records, the statement says, should be maintained for 8 to 10 years after the student leaves the department, and it is the department’s job to convince students to keep them posted on changes in their employment status or contact information....

Source: LA Times
9-12-12

UCLA history department gets $10-million donation

UCLA’s history department is making its own bit of history.Officials announced Wednesday that the department is receiving its largest donation ever: a $10-million gift from a British foundation. Most of the Arcadia Fund’s gift will be used to financially support graduate students in history, and the rest will provide funds for such things as lectures, seminars, conferences and outreach to the public....

Source: Focus Information Agency
9-8-12

Bulgaria will not allow any encroachment upon its history: historian Bozhidar Dimitrov

FOCUS: Mr Dimitrov, how would you comment on Macedonian media’s interpretations and commentaries on the statement of Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev about the relations with Macedonia, made on the Day of the Unification of Bulgaria? Most of the commentaries made yesterday and today are on the Dimitar Talev monument in the Macedonian town of Prilep?Bozhidar Dimitrov: In the case with the Dimitar Talev monument the media simply tried to shift the centre of the issue discussed by the two presidents. I do not think that they took up concrete issues but rather spoke more generally (at least on behalf of Bulgaria). This principle was stated clearly and unequivocally by Bulgaria’s president twice, and once by the minister of foreign affairs, and namely - that Bulgaria will not allow any encroachment upon its history....

Source: LA Times
9-9-12

Alexander Saxton dies; UCLA historian, author was 93

When Alexander Saxton dropped out of Harvard in 1939, his faculty adviser urged him to consult a psychiatrist. His parents were distraught. But Saxton's desire to set the terms of his life would take him far from the ivy-covered halls he found stifling.To appease his parents, he finished his undergraduate education at the University of Chicago. Then, the son of two professionals became a laborer and union organizer, working in railroad roundhouses, steel mills, shipyards and construction. He joined the Communist Party and wrote well-regarded works of 1940s proletarian literature.

Source: Cato Institute
9-9-12

Libertarian Historian Ronald Hamowy Dead at 75

The Cato Institute regrets to announce the passing of Ronald Hamowy, distinguished intellectual historian, Cato Fellow in Social Thought, and editor of The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism. Ronald died Saturday at the age of 75, after a long series of health problems. His friend Steve Cox, editor of Liberty magazine, has an informative and touching remembrance:He was one of the libertarian movement’s most important and vital scholars. An historian of the 18th century, he was known for his impeccable standards of research and writing. To discerning researchers of the Enlightenment — left, right, or center — his word was law. If there was a scholarly myth or illusion, he was the one who was trusted to puncture it. He was the person who meticulously set things straight. Many times, when I have mentioned his name in an academic conversation, the reply has been, “Ronald Hamowy! You know him?!”