ANNUAL APPEAL to benefit the Institute of Historical Research

From the Membership Secretary

Prof. Nancy W. Ellenberger
Department of History
U. S. Naval Academy
Annapolis, MD 21402-5044

• Please consider making an annual tax-deductible (U.S.A.) contribution for the benefit of the Institute of Historical Research.
• A contribution of $45.00 or more provides standing as a regular individual member of the Institute to U.S.-resident donors.
  • A contribution of $30.00 annually provides similar standing for graduate students
  • And, as an option open only to American Friends of the IHR, for an additional $30.00, members may opt to have full access to the rich array of resources of the IHR's British History Online (as explained on the contribution form).
  • For every new Friend introduced by 31st December 2011, we will offer you a discount of $10 on your subscription to British History Online (see the President's Report below)
• Checks and forms should be returned to Prof. Ellenberger (use address on tax deductible contribution form) in order to maintain an updated list of contributors and addresses (checks will be sent on to our treasurer).

From the President of the AFIHR

President's Report to the Membership

June 2011

Sears McGee
President, AFIHR,
Department of History,
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9410

Previous Reports

Next month, the Institute of Historical Research has its 90th birthday, and celebrations began earlier this year with a series of birthday tie-in events featuring other notable personalities and events of 1921 (including Asa Briggs, Marie Stopes and the first birth control clinic, the first PhDs in history). Still to come in December is a conference on Princes Consort in History (marking the 90th birthday of the Duke of Edinburgh and the 150th anniversary of the death of Prince Albert). The IHR is also looking to the future. The Institute is undergoing an extensive refurbishment which requires a temporary relocation in 2011-2013 while the space occupied since 1948 receives a facelift. The result will be new meeting and teaching rooms, a modernized library, and more space for academic and research staff – an IHR fit for the 21st century.

Since 1989, the American Friends of the IHR have played a valuable role in supporting the HIR library and postgraduate training, and the AFIHR board wants to continue this work and also to help lay the foundations of financial sustainability by increasing the institute’s endowment. Professor Miles Taylor, the IHR’s director, has written that “the American Friends already do so much for the Institute, now we are asking you to do a little more: by making our birthday year an opportunity to introduce a new American Friend. For every new Friend introduced by 31st December 2011, we will offer you a discount of $10 on your subscription to British History Online.” Many of us have friends, colleagues, and students who would enjoy the benefits of membership, and we can now save money on our subscriptions by bringing new members into the fold. You can download and print our contribution form. Please indicate the name(s) of any new member(s) you recruit on the form and mail it to Prof. Nancy Ellenberger, our membership secretary.

I also take pleasure in announcing know that, with the help of Jason Kelly, I have organized a panel on research libraries that hold sources for British Studies at  the upcoming NACBS meeting in Denver (Nov. 18-20). We will hear brief remarks by representatives from the following institutions – IHR (Miles Taylor), Huntington (Steve Hindle), Folger (Kathleen Lynch), Walpole (Maggie Powell), Beinecke (Kathryn James), Clark (Rebecca Fenning), and the Ransom Center (Rich Oram) – followed by questions from the audience. The goal is to enable graduate students and younger faculty members who are planning research trips to meet and talk to our speakers. Those of us who are not young and have already worked in some of these collections might also benefit from updating our knowledge of their collections and procedures. The session will occur on the Friday afternoon (Nov. 18), and the IHR is planning a reception which will follow it and allow the conversations to continue. If you are planning to be in Denver, please join us (and maybe bring your new AFIHR members along as well).

I also want to take this opportunity to remind you that AFIHR members can obtain a discounted access to the BHO’s “premium content” feature BHO which now provides keyword access to over 500 volumes of valuable materials (including the Commons and Lords Journals, Victoria County History, Statutes of the Realm, Treasury Books and Papers 155717540 Calendars and Close Rolls and the Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, and many others). This is a substantial discount on the rate charged to individual subscribers to BHO. The most recent addition to the BHO material is the first half (A-K) of Foster’s Alumni Oxoniensis, and we expect that the rest will be added soon.  This option is available for $30 (in addition to the $45 annual membership) in the AFIHR. Also, if you know of any graduate students who might benefit from this resource, please let them know that the AFIHR Board has recently created a new category of membership for graduate students ($30 instead of $45 per annum). This form of BHO access operates for a calendar year beginning January 1, and more details can be found on our renewal form.

Please renew your membership in the AFIHR so we can continue to support the work of the IHR from this side of the Atlantic. More information is available elsewhere on this website, and we remain grateful to Newton Key for his excellent work as our webmaster. A contribution $45 or more annually to the American Friends of the IHR ($30 for graduate students) confers membership in the Institute and facilitates the creation or updating of a personal "swipe" card at the reception desk. All officers and board members of the AFIHR serve without compensation. Administrative costs are minimal, consisting of mailing expenses, occasional technical services, and accounting fees. Therefore nearly every dollar contributed is forwarded to the Institute in order to help pay for some aspect of its work. As you may observe on the stub below, checks are to be sent to Professor Nancy Ellenberger, so that she can keep our membership list up to date. She will forward all checks to our treasurer, Bill Lubenow. Thank you for your past support.

Sincerely yours,

Sears McGee