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: CHE
6-30-10
A new review of the arrest of a prominent scholar in black studies at his own home last July blames the incident on "failed communications" between the police officer and the scholar.
The arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr., a professor at Harvard University, triggered a national controversy about race relations because Mr. Gates, is African-American and the arresting officer is white. The review panel, convened by the police department of Cambridge, Mass., and made up of expe
Source: Penn State Live
6-30-10
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, caused by the April explosion of British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that killed 11 crew members, has poured about 100 million gallons of oil into the water and caused significant damage to ecology and industry. It is already considered the largest offshore spill in U.S. history and may be among the largest spills in the world. It may also be among the worst industrial disasters in modern history."At this point we're just going to b
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for history
6-28-10
National Park Service (NPS) Director Jonathan Jarvis recently named Stephanie Smith Toothman, Ph.D., as the Service’s new Associate Director for Cultural Resources. Toothman will be responsible for history, historic preservation, and cultural programs in 392 national parks and a host of community programs that make-up the NPS role in a national preservation partnership among federal, Tribal, state and local governments and nonprofits. She will begin her job in mid July.
From the Was
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
6-28-10
Claudine K. Brown has been named director of education for the Smithsonian Institution, effective June 20. Brown, 60, has been the director of the arts and culture program at the Nathan Cummings Foundation in New York since 1995.
As the director of education, Brown will be responsible for defining the Smithsonian’s education program and will report directly to Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough. She will develop an Institution-wide plan for educational initiatives, assessment strate
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
6-28-10
Historian William Roger Louis will survey the differences and similarities in European colonial empires from the 19th century to the post-World-War-II era, in a lecture July 12 at the Library of Congress.Louis will present “The European Colonial Empires in Asia and Africa” at 4 p.m. on Monday, July 12, in Room 119 of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. The lecture is free and open to the public; no tic
Source: Cambridge News (UK)
6-28-10
A famous Cambridge art historian has died at the age of 68.
Carola Hicks died at her home in the city last Wednesday after contracting cancer.
She was the author of several historical biographies, and is probably best known for her most recent book, The King’s Glass: a Story of Tudor Power and Secret Art. It detailed the history of the stained glass of King’s College chapel....
Source: Leagle.com
6-28-10
Editor's note: This is an excerpt from the dissenting opinion from McDonald v. Chicago, noteworthy for its engagement with the historical community.JUSTICE BREYER, with whom JUSTICE GINSBURG and JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR join, dissenting....Since Heller, historians, scholars, and judges have continued to express the view that the Court's historical account was flawed. See, e.g., Konig, Why the Second Amendment Has a Preamble: Original Public Meaning and the Political
Source: CBC.ca
6-21-10
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and journalist Rick Atkinson has won a $100,000 US prize for his military writing.
Atkinson, a journalist who earned Pulitzer Prizes both for his reporting as well as his historical tomes, was named on Monday the 2010 recipient of the Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing.
James N. Pritzker, the prize's founder and president of the Pritzker Military Library and Tawani Foundation, praised
Source: University of Manchester
6-28-10
A science historian at The University of Manchester has cracked “The Plato Code” – the long disputed secret messages hidden in the great philosopher’s writings.
Plato was the Einstein of Greece’s Golden Age and his work founded Western culture and science. Dr Jay Kennedy’s findings are set to revolutionise the history of the origins of Western thought.
Dr Kennedy, whose findings are published in the leading US journal Apeiron, reveals that Plato used a regular pattern o
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
6-25-10
On July 1, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and the National Archives will be holding a business meeting to mark up legislation (H.R. 1556) to reauthorize the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) at a $20 million level through fiscal year 2014. Since FY 1991, the NHPRC’s aut
Source: Organization of American Historians
6-28-10
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is offering grants of up to $25,000 for faculty to develop a new undergraduate course that fosters intellectual community through the study of an enduring question. The application deadline is September 15, 2010. For more information, please visit www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/EnduringQuestions.html.
Source: George Miles at H-NET Western History
6-29-10
Archibald Hanna, Jr., the first curator of the Yale Collection of
Western Americana, died last Thursday after a short illness. Archie
was 93 years old.
Archie joined the staff of the Yale University Library in 1949, when
he was hired to help catalog the books and manuscripts given to Yale
by William Robertson Coe. In 1952, he was named the inaugural William
Robertson Coe Curator of Western Americana. He served in that capacity
until his retirement in 1981. Famous fo
Source: Press Release
6-28-10
OutHistory.org, the award-winning website on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer U.S. history, announced the winners of its “Since Stonewall Local Histories Contest” on Monday, June 28, exactly 41 years after the start of the rebellion that marks the beginning of the modern movement for LGBTQ rights and liberation.
The contest—the first of its kind—invited people from acros
Source: University of New Mexico
6-21-10
University of New Mexico Regents’ Professor of History Ferenc “Frank” Szasz died Sunday, June 20, at the age of 70. A small service for family and university friends is set for Wednesday, June 30 at 1 p.m. at First Congregational United Church of Christ, 2801 Lomas Blvd. NE (corner of Lomas and Girard).
A celebration of life service will take place at the Alumni Memorial Chapel on Friday, Aug. 27 at 2 p.m.
Szasz joined the UNM Department of His
Source: Robert B. Townsend at the AHA Blog
6-21-10
[Robert B. Townsend is Assistant Director, Research and Publications of the American Historical Association.]
The economic hard times rocking the discipline took their toll on the AHA this past year, as membership in the Association fell 7.4 percent from the year before. This erased gains made over the previous five years and dropped membership down to 13,946 active members.
We are pleased to note, however, that eight history departments now have 100 percent membership
Source: Robert Townsend at the AHA Blog
6-21-10
[Robert B. Townsend is Assistant Director, Research and Publications of the American Historical Association.]
A sense of optimism pervaded the annual meeting of Association of American University Presses (AAUP) this past weekend, even as the staff at those presses grappled with budget cuts and rapid changes in the way scholarship is disseminated.
As in years past, history was described as a vital part of the work and catalogs of most university presses. A number of the
Source: University of Chicago
6-9-10
Angela Gugliotta, a beloved teacher of environmental history whose research challenged the categorical distinction between natural and social knowledge, died June 1 after a ten-year battle with breast cancer. She was 47.
Funeral services were held Monday at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Hyde Park before an assembly of over two-hundred and fifty, including many students and faculty members from departments across the University.
Gugliotta served as Lecturer in the Col
Source: Salon.com
6-23-10
Should Gen. McChrystal have been fired?I believe this matter has already been settled. My view is that he should not have been fired.Can you discuss what may have been frustrating McChrystal?It’s completely speculative, but I would think there’s ample reason for the guy to be frustrated in the sense that he’s been engaged in wars for about the last six years. He’s constantly deployed. He never gets to see
Source: Jonathan Gelbart at Campus Watch
6-23-10
[Jonathan Gelbart is a senior at Stanford University majoring in International Relations. He is the president of Students for an Open Society and former world news editor of the Stanford Review, an independent publication. He wrote this article for Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum.]
Stanford University history professor Joel Beinin joined colleague Steven Zipperstein, a professor of Jewish culture and history, for an event on June 2, 2010 titled "Israel and Pale
Source: Inside Higher Ed
6-22-10
Three national groups of historians -- the American Historical Association, the National Council on Public History and the Organization of American Historians -- have now all endorsed guidelines that suggest a new, broader approach to tenure when considering public historians. The joint guidelines are part of a growing movement in disciplines that have tended to base tenure decisions on traditional forms of scholarship (in this case the monograph) to broaden the way they judge contributions to a
