Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations

Last updated
Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations
AbbreviationSHAFR
Formation1967
Executive Director
Amy Sayward
President
Mary Ann Heiss
Website shafr.org

The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) was founded in 1967 in order to "promote excellence in research and teaching of American foreign relations history and to facilitate professional collaboration among scholars and students in this field around the world." [1] SHAFR organizes an annual conference, and publishes the quarterly Diplomatic History . It also publishes a triennial newsletter, Passport. [1] SHAFR has increasingly fostered connections with international historians and organizations.

Contents

History

SHAFR was founded in April 1967, as a result of the efforts of Joseph O'Grady, Betty Miller Unterbeger, Armin Rappaport, and David Trask. The first meeting took place during the meeting of the Organization of American Historians in Chicago, Illinois, and was attended by around 75 scholars in the field. [2] Its first stand-alone national conference was held at Georgetown University in 1975. A volume that included some of the papers presented at that conference included an all-male cast of authors and papers focused on male foreign-policy actors such as George F. Kennan, Charles E. Bohlen, and James G. Blaine. [3]

Founded in the midst of tremendous social and political change, the Society sought to support new understandings of the U.S. role in the world, and to attract attention to the study with foreign relations of other countries. Finding an audience interested in such an approach, the Society grew. In 1976, it announced that, after a debate lasting since the beginning of SHAFR, the organization would publish a journal; this journal would be Diplomatic History, the first issue of which was published in January 1978. [2]

SHAFR has benefitted from the benevolence of Gerald and Myrna Bernath, who donated money to the organization in memory of their son Stuart L. Bernath. These funds are used to support graduate students and new scholars.

Besides its own official activities, SHAFR cooperates with other academic and public history organizations. For example, SHAFR is a member of the National Coalition for History and has representatives on the Historical Advisory Committee of the U.S. Department of State's Office of the Historian. Notably, SHAFR also hosted events at the meeting of the American Historical Association until 2024. [4]

In 1986, Betty Miller Unterberger of Texas A&M University became the first woman president of the organization, then 99 percent male in membership. Since then, the organization has had seven more women presidents: Emily Rosenberg (Macalester College, 1997), Marilyn B. Young (New York University, 2011), Mary L. Dudziak (Emory University, 2017), Barbara Keys (University of Melbourne, 2019), Kristin Hoganson (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2020), Laura Belmonte (Virginia Tech, 2022), and Mary Ann Heiss (Kent State University, 2023). Keys was the first president in the organization's history to be based at a university outside the United States. Cambridge University historian Andrew Preston was elected vice president/president-elect in 2019; in 2021 he became the first SHAFR president not to hold U.S. citizenship. [5]

Leadership

SHAFR Officers

The SHAFR Business Office is located at Middle Tennessee State University, where Executive Director Amy Sayward is a history professor. The president is Mitchell Lerner, The Ohio State University. [6]

Past Presidents

Committees

Publications

Diplomatic History

Diplomatic History is "devoted to U.S. international history and foreign relations, broadly defined, including grand strategy, diplomacy, and issues involving gender, culture, ethnicity, and ideology." [9] The journal was first published in 1977.

Current Editors: Anne Foster, Indiana State University, and Petra Goedde, Temple University [10]

Passport

"Passport publishes reviews, historiographical essays, articles on pedagogical issues relating to the teaching of U.S. foreign relations, and research notes, and explores other issues of interest to SHAFR members." [11] It started as the organization's newsletter but is now published on SHAFR's behalf by Oxford University Press. It has three issues per year.

Passport Editor: Andrew Johns, Brigham Young University [12]

Past Editors: Mitchell Lerner, Ohio State University; Peter Hahn, Ohio State University; William Brinker, Tennessee Technological University

The SHAFR Guide

"The SHAFR Guide Online: An Annotated Bibliography of U.S. Foreign Relations since 1600 is a near-comprehensive, 2.1 million-word online annotated bibliography of historical work covering the entire span of U.S. foreign relations." [13] The publication was originally put together by Robert L. Beisner, and then a second edition was edited by Thomas W. Zeiler. The third edition, The SHAFR Guide, is edited by Alan McPherson, and is available online. It "cover[s] all eras in U.S. history from colonial days through the Barack Obama presidency as well as all geographical areas of the world." [14] These publications are meant to be a helpful starting point for researchers of all ages who are creating a bibliography about diplomatic studies.

Annual Meetings

SHAFR annually hosts an academic conference in June. Every other year, the conference is held in the Washington, D.C. area; in even-numbered years locations vary, and have recently included Philadelphia, PA and New Orleans, LA. The organization also hosted two virtual conferences in 2020 and 2021. [15]

In addition to a variety of discussion panels, the conference feature addresses by experts in foreign relations, including those outside of academia. Recent speakers have included General David Petraeus (KKR Global Institute, 2018), Hoda Hawa (Director of Policy and Advocacy, Muslim Public Affairs Council, 2019), Barbara D. Savage (University of Pennsylvania, 2021), Gry Tina Tinde (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent, Newspeak and Sexual Misconduct, 2022), and Thomas S. Blanton (National Security Archive, 2023). Starting in 2024, the annual Bernath Lecture and the annual SHAFR Presidential Address will be the primary addresses at the conference.

Awards, Fellowships, and Grants

Awards [16]

Fellowships and Grants [18]

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References

  1. 1 2 "AHA Affiliated Societies".
  2. 1 2 Crean, Jeffrey. From 'Interest Group' to Institution: The Formative Years of SHAFR.
  3. ↑ Perspectives in American Diplomacy: Essays on Europe, Latin America, China, and the Cold War, ed. Jules Davids (New York: Arno Press, 1976).
  4. ↑ "June 2023 Council Minutes" (PDF). June 2023.
  5. ↑ "SHAFR Election Results | the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations".
  6. ↑ "SHAFR Leadership". shafr.memberclicks.net. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Past Presidents". shafr.memberclicks.net. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
  8. ↑ "SHAFR Committees". shafr.memberclicks.net. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
  9. ↑ "Diplomatic History". shafr.memberclicks.net. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  10. ↑ "SHAFR Leadership". shafr.memberclicks.net. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Passport". shafr.memberclicks.net. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  12. ↑ "SHAFR Leadership". shafr.memberclicks.net. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
  13. ↑ "The SHAFR Guide". shafr.memberclicks.net. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  14. ↑ Ibid.
  15. ↑ "Annual Meetings". shafr.memberclicks.net. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Prizes". shafr.memberclicks.net. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  17. ↑ Ibid.
  18. ↑ "Fellowships & Grants". shafr.memberclicks.net. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  1. ↑ The index has been recommended by The Washington Post, Oct. 8, 1998
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