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EDITOR'S LETTER

Announcing: The National Historical Society

March 2023
1min read

National Historical Society website
The National Historical Society has just launched its website, with information about the new organization and its programs.

We noticed something curious a few years ago. While every state in the U.S. had a historical society — as do most counties, cities, and towns —  there was no national society. 

So, we decided to do something about it. Last April 26, we created The National Historical Society, a new 501(c)3 incorporated in our Nation's Capital.

The mission of the new Society is simple: to help millions of Americans learn more about our nation’s story.

On the first anniversary of the Society's founding next month, the new National Historical Society will be assuming operation of American Heritage, the widely respected magazine of American history. For 73 years, it has connected Americans to their shared heritage with trusted, non-partisan writing by leading scholars. 

We are asking our subscribers and friends to join us as founders of this nonprofit, with the important mission of teaching people around the world about our nation and the people who built it.

Please consider joining us with a donation.

 

We hope you enjoy our work.

Please support this 72-year tradition of trusted historical writing and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to American Heritage.

Donate

Stories published from "Spring 2023"

Authored by: Linda Hirshman

As he later recounted in his memoirs, Frederick Douglass endured daily beatings and forced labor before taking his chances on the road to freedom.

Authored by: Kai Bird

Often thought to have been a weak President, Carter was strong-willed in doing what he thought was right, regardless of expediency or political fallout.

Authored by: Shane Manson

Paul Douglas was 50 years old when he left a career in politics to join the Marines at the outset of World War II, earning Purple Hearts at Peleliu and Okinawa.

Authored by: Edwin S. Grosvenor

Rarely has the full story been told how a famed botanist, a pioneering female journalist, and First Lady Helen Taft battled reluctant bureaucrats to bring Japanese cherry trees to Washington. 

Authored by: Holley Snaith

The world’s most prominent actress risked her career by standing up to one of Hollywood’s mega-studios, proving that behind the beauty was also very savvy. 

Authored by: John Steele Gordon

Why have thousands of U.S. banks failed over the years? The answers are in our history and politics.

Featured Articles

Rarely has the full story been told how a famed botanist, a pioneering female journalist, and First Lady Helen Taft battled reluctant bureaucrats to bring Japanese cherry trees to Washington. 

Why have thousands of U.S. banks failed over the years? The answers are in our history and politics.

Often thought to have been a weak President, Carter was strong-willed in doing what he thought was right, regardless of expediency or political fallout.

In his Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln embodied leading in a time of polarization, political disagreement, and differing understandings of reality.

Native American peoples and the lands they possessed loomed large for Washington, from his first trips westward as a surveyor to his years as President.

A hundred years ago, America was rocked by riots, repression, and racial violence.

During Pres. Washington’s first term, an epidemic killed one tenth of all the inhabitants of Philadelphia, then the capital of the young United States.

Now a popular state park, the unassuming geological feature along the Illinois River has served as the site of centuries of human habitation and discovery.  

The recent discovery of the hull of the battleship Nevada recalls her dramatic action at Pearl Harbor and ultimate revenge on D-Day as the first ship to fire on the Nazis.

Our research reveals that 19 artworks in the U.S. Capitol honor men who were Confederate officers or officials. What many of them said, and did, is truly despicable.

Here is probably the most wide-ranging look at Presidential misbehavior ever published in a magazine.

When Germany unleashed its blitzkreig in 1939, the U.S. Army was only the 17th largest in the world. FDR and Marshall had to build a fighting force able to take on the Nazis, against the wishes of many in Congress.