The existence and growth of these local and general societies show that there is a strengthening of interest in history, and that the work of the history teacher is becoming more conscious and more highly organized. They indicate also that under new standards the comparison of ideas and the stimulus of personal intercourse are needed to hold the history teacher to his work. There is no excuse for back-sliding with these associations in the field; and if local organization has not yet been perfected in any district, the success of the local conferences already organized should lead to the founding of many more.
In another column of this number of the Magazine will be found a partial list of history associations and conferences, together with the names and addresses of their secretaries. This list will be printed each month; and it is hoped to make it a complete directory of history teachers’ associations in the country. Readers who are interested in joining any of these organizations should correspond with the respective secretaries.
Shall not the school year 1909-1910 be made notable by increased usefulness and enlarged membership of all these associations?
The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Meetings
In commemoration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the societies, the joint meetings of the American Historical Association and the American Economic Association, to be held in New York, December 27 to 31, will be the occasion for a more elaborate program than has been arranged for previous meetings, and the participants will include not only the officers and members of the Associations, but many other persons of local, national or international standing. New York, in many respects an ideal convention city, and accustomed to entertaining associations of all kinds, is outdoing its record in order to make this meeting of the historical and economic bodies memorable in their history.
In addition to the American Historical Association and the American Economic Association, a number of allied societies will hold meetings at the same time and place. Among these bodies are the American Political Science Association, the American Statistical Association, the American Sociological Society, the American Association for Labor Legislation, the American Social Science Association, the American Society of Church History, the Bibliographical Society of America, and the Mississippi Valley Historical Association. There will be a Conference of Local and State Historical Societies and a meeting of the Public Archives Commission. The New York State Teachers’ Association will also be in session at Columbia University on these days, and will hold at least one joint meeting with the American Historical Association. There will be meetings of the working committees and boards of the several societies, and a conference of the editors and correspondents of The History Teacher’s Magazine.
Such an association of active organizations is a worthy tribute to the work of the two parent societies during the past twenty-five years; but it is not the members of these societies alone which will join in celebrating the anniversary. Public-spirited citizens of New York, national officials, including the President of the United States, and many representatives from foreign states and learned societies abroad will have a part in the general or special programs.
It is not possible here to give in detail all the announcements already issued concerning the meetings. For convenience it is necessary to group them into three divisions: Meetings of a general nature, arranged by New York citizens as a recognition of the worth of the associations, and joint public meetings of several societies; meetings of the several societies in which matters of special interest to their own members are discussed; and social meetings and events prepared by the local committees of arrangements in which the liberal hospitality of the city is well shown.