Obama's Secret Meeting With Historians

The president held a dinner at the White House for leading presidential scholars

By Kenneth T. Walsh

Posted July 10, 2009

President Obama has found another way to break out of the White House "bubble"—holding private discussions with eminent historians who have studied the successes and failures of his predecessors. His goal is to better understand what has worked and what has failed in the past as he makes policy today.

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Obama held a dinner at the White House residence with nine such scholars on June 30, and it turned out to be what one participant described as a "history book club, with the president as the inquisitor." Among those attending were Michael Beschloss, H. W. Brands, Douglas Brinkley, Robert Dallek, and Doris Kearns Goodwin. Obama asked the guests to discuss the presidencies that they were most familiar with and to give him insights into what remains relevant to the problems of today.
At one point, the discussion turned to whether Obama was trying to do too much too fast and whether he might overload the political circuits of Congress.

Read more here. 

Labels: historians, history, Obama

We arrived in New York for New Year's Eve given the great rate the AHA was able to secure for those of us able to fly to the city early. The snow was beautiful and we survived New Year's Eve.

More historians filtered in on Thursday, but it wasn't until Friday that the historians dominated the lobby, including the lobby bar. The atmosphere was that of running into old friends and colleagues mixed with the uncertainly facing not only those seeking new or their first faculty positions but those with positions hoping they would not be cut due to budget constraints before a suitable candidate accepted their positions.

The email information for registration ensured a much faster and smoother registration process - especially for those of us with last names beginning with one of the last letters of the normal groupings. Keep up the great work, AHA staff! We know what a major headache registration glitches can be for everyone involved.

The ever-anticipated Exhibit Hall opened at 3pm and stayed open until 7. My duties at OAH prevented me from spending any real time there so I looked forward to not having rushed time among the books during this convention. Additionally, it's always a good place to run into the people you want to make sure to see, even if just to briefly touch base.

Presidential Professor Carol Berkin was her usual dynamo self running around the convention and checking on her books. She is always surprised by her enthusiastic fans but her fans certainly aren't. Great scholarship that is actually fun to read is not all that common. And her dedication to the profession and her acknowledgment of the importance of teaching despite her scholarly status is most effectively demonstrated by her editorship of History Now.

A member of our Teaching American History grants Teacher Leadership Team was able to fit the meeting into his busy schedule although he has to leave early to return for an in-service on Monday. It's great to see one of our program's graduates take in the complexity of offerings at a professional conference such as the AHA. My first "mentoring" duty was helping him dissect the diverse program.

Spending some time with my major professor/continuing mentor was also enjoyable.

Labels: AHA, Berkin, historians, history

A financial article this morning takes a retrospective look at 9/11 seven years ago. I'm sitting where I was sitting then. Earlier in the morning, NPR had reported something about the World Trade Center and, I thought, why are they talking about 1993?

A little later, watching CNBC, I watched the second plane hit. Only then did we even surmise that it might be something more than a small plane that hit the first tower. I was away from everything but the radio news most of the day and people panicking about gas prices and gas shortages made me wish I hadn't left town with less than half a tank of gas earlier that day. I was with my best friend that day and she headed home with a sense of disbelief of what had happened on what we thought was just another normal day.

Those lost and their families and friends are still in our thoughts and prayers. I thank God that there hasn't been another similar attack since that fateful day. Only much later from now will we actually find out how many attempts were actually made - both big and small - and how they were thwarted. That's the part of history that can't be revealed until much later, if ever at all.

I grew up during the Cold War and was a high school history teacher when the Berlin Wall came crumbling down as the physical symbol of the end of the Cold War. The students in my classes today are barely old enough to remember 9/11 except that they talked about it in school. The world has changed so much. I grew up knowing who the enemy was and that they were over "there" (Soviet Union). After 9/11, we know they can be anywhere. Living in a rural area and not anywhere near a major population center provides some sense of safety but none of us ever knows.

Tears came to my eyes as they just had a moment of silence on the stock exchange and in Washington DC to remember the time the first plane hit. We are so lucky to be living in America.

Labels: 9/11, CNBC, history, New York City, rural, September 11, stock market, students, teachers, terror, terrorism, terrorists

Ralph at Cliopatria points out this recent article about how Web 2.0 is dramatically changing the nature of historical research:

UNTIL RECENTLY, IF you were a historian and you wanted to write a fresh account of, say, the Battle of Leyte Gulf in World War II, research was a pretty straightforward business. You would pack your bags and head to the National Archives, and spend months looking for something new in the official combat reports.
more stories like this

Today, however, you might first do something very different: Get online and pull up any of the unofficial websites of the ships that participated in the battle - the USS Pennsylvania, for example, or the USS Washington. Lovingly maintained by former crew members and their descendants, these sites are sprawling, loosely organized repositories of photographs, personal recollections, transcribed log books, and miniature biographies of virtually every person who served on board the ship. Some of these sites even include contact information for surviving crew members and their relatives - perfect for tracking down new diaries, photographs, and letters.

Online gathering spots like these represent a potentially radical change to historical research, a craft that has changed little for decades, if not centuries. By aggregating the grass-roots knowledge and recollections of hundreds, even thousands of people, "crowdsourcing," as it's increasingly called, may transform a discipline that has long been defined and limited by the labors of a single historian toiling in the dusty archives.

Labels: crowdsourcing, historical research, history, National Archives, research, Web 2.0

Here's my contribution to the debate. Hat tip to Cliopatria.

One of the critical points here is that Wineburg and others were interviewed for the USA Today article whereas they are the authors of the article that will appear soon in the Journal of American History. One of Wiineburg’s main arguments is that history needs context and we only have surface context for the USA Today article as a preview and should view it as such.

Historical memory and reverence for historical and current figures is an interesting phenomenon to study and leads to much debate, sometimes heated. Wineburg’s historical analogy traveling across time was simply an attempt to cross some cultural patterns and to go beyond the surface reading of “the leaders” will always identify with “the leaders” in another time with his Franklin analogy. Harry Truman wouldn’t identify with either one given that he went home to live with his mother-in-law when he had to leave the White House. But there are personality traits and features to more closely examine to also better understand why people view history in the various ways that they do.

More importantly, this is a good tool to examine how people understand history and themselves. This is quite different from the “greatest presidents” polls conducted among scholars for decades now. History belongs to the people, not just those who research it but also those who read it and think about it in quite diverse ways. We can all learn something here.

Labels: Cliopatria, historical thinking, history, polls, students, Wineburg

Education Historian Sherm Dorn has tagged me to discuss why I do what I do so I am snagging his post title and running with it. Finally meeting Sherm in person was one of the highlights of going to the Social Science History Association meeting last November. Sherm discusses how his work allows him the opportunity to "navel gaze" and puts his teaching into the larger context of his students' higher education.

I've taught at five distinct types of state institutions and now teach at a former normal school in a rural area. Many of our students are first generation college and are still learning what it takes to do well in school. As with students everywhere, many are still doing more work to try to avoid doing the consistent and thorough work usually required to be a successful student. In many cases, students are so busy with their jobs and/or families, that most studying takes place late at night right before the exam or paper is due. The change I've noticed in the last few years is that students are more willing to overtly to assign outside blame when they do not do well - missing a deadline or not fulfilling the minimum requirements is somehow irrelevant. On the other hand, there are numerous students working really hard and trying to fit quite a bit into their busy, overscheduled lives.

Working with pre-service and in-service teachers allows me some unique opportunities to explore a wider variety of topics than my stated doctoral fields (20th century US political, diplomatic, Borderlands, oral, and local history, and teacher education) and explore new research options that overlap into my scholarship. Our 12-hour teaching load means that teaching dominates our lives and finding research and focus time is especially critical. One of the ways I've managed this is by teaching online and teaching 3-hour classes instead of a 3-hour class one-hour slice at a time. I find we get much more done and students have plenty of time to fit in the reading given the week between classes or the usual two weeks between online assignment due dates.

My primary mission is helping my students - many of whom are already teachers themselves or will soon be - become lifelong learners and enhance their quest for new knowledge. And, as with most other humans, those who are the busiest are the most likely to find time to do this. There's always something new to learn around the next corner and hopefully I inspire students to keep finding their own paths to discover their own learning.

Another important facet of what I hope to instill in students is the ability to trasncend the facts and dates of history (not ignore or forget but actually build on them as a foundation) to develop their own theories and analysis of the history of the world aroudn them to better inform them about their world and what part in it they want to play.

Labels: education, history, learning, Sher Dorn, teaching

As I work more to have actual weekends (note the verb) where I can choose what I want to do without feeling overwhelmed by pending/looming deadlines, I'm going to start celebrating Fridays more - a way to compartmentalize my life a bit s that work doesn't control everything else.

The TAH Project Directors conference was the best they ever had along with extensive collaboration time with colleagues both in the hotel and in the Quarter. They separated out the first year grantees which was a great thing for those of us who have had several grants. Meetings that offer engaging content are worth it - those that are introductions to the experienced just frustate everyone involved. Carol Berkin's talk on colonial female spies and Lee Ann Potter's "mystery" were some of the highlights - history and teaching history are great combinations.

Now we're all busy writing up our annual and/or final reports that are due next week. And that's on top of writing our TAH 2008 proposals!

I'm also excited about being asked to join the TWG (Technical Working Group) for the TAH Clearinghouse Project proposed by George Mason University/Stanford University/AHA, among others. This should be another engaging experience and I'm anxious to see more of the inner workings of CHNM. My friend Paula that is there has given me some clues but being involved in the development of a project with such great personnel and resources available to it will be such a fun and engaging experience. The anticipated launch date is February 1, 2008. Thomas Thurston (also of H-TAH with me) and I had a nice chat with Kelly Schrum (someone else who spells their first name correctly ;-) ) in New Orleans about how the existing community can work to enhance the work of this community that will have the technology and manpower to do what we have only dreamed of doing.

TGIF!

Labels: AHA, Berkin, CHNM, clearinghouse, George Mason University, H-TAH, history, Potter, Revolutionary Mothers, Schrum, spies, Stanford, Teaching American History, Thurston

We'll miss him. He's one of the reasons that history integrated with technology is taken seriously.

Here's his section from the GMU website:

Roy Rosenzweig
Mark and Barbara Fried Professor of History & New Media

Roy Rosenzweig is Mark and Barbara Fried Professor of History & New Media at George Mason University, where he also heads the Center for History and New Media (CHNM). He is the co-author, with Elizabeth Blackmar, of The Park and the People: A History of Central Park, which won several awards including the 1993 Historic Preservation Book Award and the 1993 Urban History Association Prize for Best Book on North American Urban History. He also co-authored (with David Thelen) The Presence of the Past: Popular Uses of History in American Life, which has won prizes from the Center for Historic Preservation and the American Association for State and Local History. He was co-author of the CD-ROM, Who Built America?, which won James Harvey Robinson Prize of American Historical Association for its “outstanding contribution to the teaching and learning of history.” His other books include Eight Hours for What We Will: Workers and Leisure in an Industrial City, 1870-1920 (Cambridge University Press) and edited volumes on history museums (History Museums in the United States: A Critical Assessment), history and the public (Presenting the Past: Essays on History and the Public), history teaching (Experiments in History Teaching), oral history (Government and the Arts in 1930s America), and recent history (A Companion to Post- 1945 America). He has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and has lectured in Australia as a Fulbright Professor. He recently served as as Vice-President for Research of the American Historical Association. In 2007, the
Organization of American Historians gave him its Distinguished Service Award for “an individual whose contributions have enriched our understanding and appreciation of American history.”

As founder and director of CHNM, he is involved in a number of different digital history projects including History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web as well as projects on the French Revolution (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution), the history of science and technology (ECHO: Exploring and Collecting History Online), world history (World History Matters), and the September 11 Digital Archive. His work in digital history was recognized in 2003 with the Richard W. Lyman Award (awarded by the National Humanities Center and the Rockefeller Foundation) for “outstanding achievement in the use of information technology to advance scholarship and teaching in the humanities.”

Labels: history, Rosenzweig, technology

Here's my reply to a discussion over at Edwired by Dan Cohen.

Ditto to many of Sage comments in support of your analysis. We’re often missing the broad strokes and then wonder why our own students cannot put history into its broader context. I think one of the SUNY schools has developed a “broad-field” doctoral program that teaches future historians how to not over-specialize so that no one else understands you except for a few, select fellow specialists in your particular field.

There are so many topics and connects to explore in history and wiping away the broad themes as being only in support of the dead, white males is just ridiculous.

Carol Berkin at Baruch is one of the “traditionally” trained historians who "broke out" to write for popular audiences and has been criticized for same. Yet, thousands of people will know more about women in the American Revolution thanks largely to her book, Revolutionary Mothers. It’s a manageable work for those people who don’t get paid to read for a living and tells some great stories. Who could ask for more from anything they read?

Despite some of its challenges dealing with where to go next in technology, H-Net is one of the best examples of organizations who allow a broader membership within its larger context. While some individual communities believe gatekeeping is important to what they are doing, others explore areas traditionally ignored by the “authorities” in the profession. H-Net used to meet in conjunction with the AHA and this year is moving it’s more official meeting space to the Social Science History Association - a community that is more interested in technology and is more diverse in its active membership.

Blogs like yours, H-Net, and other social networking approaches in person and online make our profession much more rich and diverse.

Labels: AHA, Berkin, Cohen, Edwired, H-Net, historians, history, Revolutionary Mothers

I'm spending the last weekend of summer at the lake. Although I had planned to get here more often, it's been mid-late June since I was here. We went out on the boat for lunch and had some great crab rangoon at Backwater Jack's.

The energy of the lake has dispelled from summer since, although it's in the 80s today, we're outside the traditional summer window of Memorial Day to Labor Day. It also means fewer of the neighbors are down so there's not as much random noise. The newbies at the lake, for example, don't realize that playing their boat stereo is heard louder across the cove than where they are sitting on their dock. ;-)

Since TAH grants started, summers just zoom by - and this one even faster than ever. But that may also be a sign of getting older every year.

My students are bearing more of the responsibility of doing their work this semester and although it's taking some gradual condition on my part not to worry about them so much, it is a normal expectation that they can read directions and, more importantly, be expected to follow them instead of just "sorta" doing so. And this is especially true of graduate students. I am trying to redirect my psychic energy into worthwhile directions instead of directions over which I have no control.

My teaching methods class has self-selected down to 4 people - a very manageable group - and much more so who dropped because they sensed it was "too much work". We're expected to meet increasingly higher standards but students are still stretching to see how this connects back to them. My job is not to get them ready to student teach next semester but, instead, give them the opportunity to do so. In return, I am causing much less stress damage to my internal self - both physically and psychologically.

The dirt work at the farm also came into focus late last week which, in return, releases a large dose of psychic energy. Now I can turn to other issues that haven't been hanging over my head for years. I do much better with tasks I can just do myself - but operating dirt moving equipment is certainly NOT one of those. Next on the list is getting rid of the armadillos who have almost taken over both the area around the house and the fields.

Some longtime neighbors are moving. I haven't seen them to ask them to where - although it will still be in town. I will certainly miss them - I watched their kids go from pre-teen and early teenager to all grown up with jobs and families. The newer younger neighbors on the other side fill in somewhat of a gap - but a bit different now that I am the age of my neighbors who are moving when I first moved to the neighborhood. I guess it beats the alternative. And, I certainly appreciate my retired neighbors who always keep out a watchful eye over me - and, more importantly, my mail.

I notice Shadow has deteriorated a bit more since we were here in early summer - and maybe that is because I'm paying more attention. I can't take him on long walks anymore given that that will stress his little heart too much. He had an excitable evening the other night running around and playing with me - I just kept an eye on his breathing, etc., - and he reminded me he still as some "young pup" energy occasionally. He's never been much of a dog that wants to play either with people or other dogs. He sets his own course and I've tried to give him a good life. He has always been a great companion - occasionally needing his space but also understanding the need to "cuddle" and be petted.

Home is where I'll be for another week before I head off to a conference in Oklahoma City with some grant teachers and then, two weeks later, the grant directors' conference in New Orleans. . . disaster tour by a local included.

Labels: grant, history, neighbors, Shadow, stress, summer, teaching, vacation, work

These are two of our Project eHIKES graduates who are continuing to incorporate history into their classrooms:

Constitutional scholars
Constitutional scholars

By Colleen Surridge

Parsons Sun

Most people can tell you when Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter is, but many don't know what holiday occurred Monday.

Monday was the day the National Archives and Records Administration celebrated the 220th anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787.

Sept. 17 is known as Constitution Day. The law establishing the holiday was created in 2004 with the passage of an amendment by Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. The holiday also mandates that all publicly funded schools provide programming on the history of the Constitution on that day.

While some high school students may say their First Amendment rights are being infringed upon by schools not letting them say what they want or wear T-shirts that express what they want, Associated Press reported Monday, "A study being released Monday by a foundation that focuses on journalism and the First Amendment (John S. and James L. Knight Foundation) found that 51 percent of high school students questioned had not heard of the day when they are required by law to learn about the Constitution."

Throughout Parsons schools, no special activities were reported in classrooms to celebrate Constitution Day, except in Debbie Shaffer and Mary Colvin's fifth-grade classrooms at Guthridge Elementary School.

Students were given dice and paper clips and were asked to make a game with them.

The students were initially befuddled at what they could do with the two items, but after some time developed games with rules to play by.

"It was to represent the delegates of the 12 colonies when they gathered together and tried to figure out what they were supposed to do and how they had to come up with ideas that made up the Constitution," Shaffer said. "I think it is really important kids start to learn about community and government early, and this is just one step in their education. We keep it fairly basic, but we give them the understanding they can build on."

By afternoon the fifth-graders were learning about the Electoral College.

In fact, while Shaffer and Colvin start a weeklong study of the Constitution with Constitution Day, the two consider the Constitution so important it is incorporated into their students' lessons throughout the year.

Labels: constitution, Constitution Day, elemenary, history, Project eHIKES, Project Primary Sources, teaching

We finished a successful first week of our institute. Everyone is getting to know one another and they all worked really hard this past week. For the most part, they are diving right in and making the most of the opportunity.

We spent 3 days at the Liberty Memorial and then traded off days at the Eisenhower Library and the National Archives in Kansas City. I think this group will make the most of the online resources available from the National Archives. We'll also have more regular interaction with them online as we incorporate more group projects online via Google Docs and through other forms of social networking.

I enjoyed sleeping in my own bed last night. Most of all, I"m enjoying time with Shadow. I've structured the institute so that I'm not so overwhelmed for two solid weeks and yet we're getting the same type of measured responses we need for grant documentation to the federal government.

Next week, we'll primarily be in Topeka with a one-day visit to the 18th & Vine Museums and to see Eric Langhorst. Meanwhile, it's time to wash the car and mow the lawn once the dew dries off. I may even make it to the swimming pool later today.

Labels: history, Kansas City, Liberty Memorial, NARA-KC, Shadow, TAHPS, teachers, Topeka

We've just started our fourth Teaching American History grant with teachers that are primarily from northeast Kansas. We're at the Liberty Memorial for 3 days and the teachers are enjoying their Gilder Lehrman Institute on the Cold War with Professor Thomas Heinrich of Baruch College and Mike Fienga of the New York City Public Schools.

Labels: Gilder Lehrman Institute, history, Kansas, TAHPS, teachers

After deciding that I should not stay home just because there was work to do (there is always is), I drove down to the lake and stopped at some farmers' markets along the way. Our late winter freeze just decimated our berry crops and so it just doesn't seem the same. I did see some great pickling cucumbers but since I am not home to process them, I will do that next week. There are farmers markets in nearby towns on Tuesday and Friday, too (and they aren't at the crack of dawn!)

It's cloudy but the actual rain chances are only 30% to 40%.

I spent some time talking to the neighbors last evening and we're at least starting to figure out what is causing our lack of water drainage problems (my sump pump still hasn't stopped running) and the neighbor said that not only the 90% clogged storm drain but the land on the other side of the trees that they "re-arranged" when clearing out for a subdivision has served as a dam - especially to my property. The good news is that the city is apparently looking at how that drains all the way down to the larger drain about 1/2 mile down which is good - no since solving one problem and creating another. And, it shouldn't be up to use to go after a developer whom the city was supposed to make follow the guidelines. So, we're getting there.

I hope to spend some time at the farm this week - and especially to regain possession of the big weedeater with the blade. I'll head back here to the lake probably next Sunday for a few days and then make go back to spend the actual Fourth of July with Mom if she is not going to be able to come to the lake.

I have a newsletter article and a book chapter to finish this week as well as the grading of all the teacher projects from the last month and submitting grades. Also need to get books ordered for the grant teachers taking the fall class. I have a one-month free membership to Amazon Prime and I'll have to say I quite enjoyed seeing the books shipped out almost immediately and showing up at my doorstep too soon.

My colleague that just returned from Vietnam called yesterday and I can't wait to hear more details about the trip. That actually might be someplace that far away I would like to go. I do like Vietnamese food even and food is always a big part of any successful vacation that I take. :-)

Labels: grading, grant, history, home, home ownership, lake, Vietnam, water