Resources for Environmental Historians
and
Initiatives Supporting Environmental History
Spring 2025
Compiled by
Nancy J. Jacobs
Department of History, Brown University
Higher Education News Sources
Inside Higher Ed offers a free subscription to its news service. Their website includes links to additional information.
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) publishes an open-access online magazine Academe.
The Chronicle of Higher Education offers free access to a very limited number of articles. Their website includes links to additional information, but unless you subscribe, most is behind a paywall.
The Position of US Nonprofits
US nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status must remain non-partisan; they cannot support or oppose candidates for office. They can, however, support or oppose government policies. If opposing the administration makes them a target, these strategies are recommended.
Advocacy for Scholars and Scholarly Work in the US
The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) has a new Advocacy in Action focus.
The American Historical Association (AHA) has an ongoing Advocacy Effort. It features volunteer opportunities as well as communications and action alerts. It is also offering Resources for Federal Historians who have been affected by recent cuts. Look for updates in Perspectives and the Fortnightly News mailings.
The Organization of American History (OAH) also undertakes Advocacy for historians. They are also holding listening sessions, for example on March 24: “Historians in a Time of Turmoil: An International Member Forum and Listening Session.” Historians in all fields might be interested in further conversations in this series. Also of note: OAH membership benefits include a liability insurance discount.
The National Humanities Alliance undertakes advocacy and offers ways to get involved. They are collecting information and planning action on cancelled NEH grants. They have launched a Save the NEH campaign.
The AAUP offers resources to individual members. These include educational webinars and guidebooks for negotiating with administrations and working with media. They also produce a podcast called “AAUP Presents” on issues related to academic freedom, shared governance, and higher education. Its new series is called “Academic Freedom on the Line.” The AAUP also organizes “National Days of Action for Higher Education.”
The American Council on Education (ACE) is made up of institutions and associations, not individual members. However, it offers relevant policy and advocacy programs, for example on Labor and Employment. For more information see their website.
The American Society for Environmental History (ASEH) has an advocacy policy that states “The ASEH is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit scholarly organization. Our central mission is promoting environmental history. We adopt positions only on issues directly related to scholarship. Our objective is to provide a scholarly forum for discussion of a diversity of issues and to encourage individual members to consider how their historical analysis might be useful in informing policy.” The advocacy page on the ASEH website informs members of positions taken by the leadership, for example a statement criticizing the April 2025 closure of the EPA museum as “a suppression of historical knowledge.”
Information for International Scholars in the US
The AHA has compiled a set of Resources for Foreign Scholars.
The National Immigration Law Center is frequently updating its list of resources, including a Know Your Rights primer.
The National Immigration Project offers resources for attorneys and community advocates.
The National Immigrant Justice Center provides information on Know Your Rights: If You Encounter ICE.
The American Bar Association (ABA) has summarized the civil rights of non-citizens.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has published a primer on the rights of noncitizens when questioned by authorities.
The American Council on Education (ACE) offers some information on Immigration and International Students.
The AAUP has highlighted immigration matters in the past. Recently, they offered a webinar on “What to Know” about new challenges to scholars’ visas. Watch their website for more information.
Resources for Interacting with the Media and Public
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) offers periodic webinars on how to engage the media. Register as an expert and signup for announcements about upcoming sessions here.
Faculty First Responders offers peer-to-peer support and advice, mutual aid, and connection with other organizations working against online harassment. However, they cannot and do not provide legal advice. Other advice is available from the AHA, the AAUP, and the American Sociological Association.
Support for Scholars Beyond the US
The Institute of International Education (IIE) has a Crisis Response Program that sponsors scholars and artists facing political repression.
Initiatives Supporting the Practice of History
The Network in Canadian History & Environment (NiCHE) is soliciting submissions for Tracking the Effects: Environmental History and the Current United States Federal Administration, a new series of blog posts to help document the effects of the current United States federal administration on the discipline of environmental history and the practices of environmental historians. Prospective authors are encouraged to submit proposals to the series editors, though fully drafted posts are also welcomed. Proposals would typically involve a roughly 200-word description of the intended post.
The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative is a research collaborative and network of diverse professionals, mostly academic volunteers, that promotes evidence-based policy-making, public interest science and data provision, and the environmental right-to-know. Having long monitored changes to policy, language, and public information in government agencies, this group currently offer multiple avenues for environmental historians to directly engage with the present historical moment in federal environmental governance: through monitoring of websites, agencies, and policies; oral history-taking of environmental and health staff; and sustaining or restoring access to environmental and health data (in conjunction with Public Environmental Data Partners; see below). Follow these links for information on volunteering or to donate.
The Data Rescue Project serves as a clearinghouse for data rescue-related efforts for public US governmental data that are currently at risk. For more information, including how to support the effort, see its FAQs.
The Federal Employees and Contractors Oral History Project (FECOHP) is an OAH oral history initiative to document the experiences of federal workers and contractors affected by recent cuts to the workforce. This non-partisan project is currently in its first phase: gathering potential participants. For more information and to volunteer see this page. (To volunteer, add a note under “comments.”)
Public Environmental Data Partners is a volunteer coalition of environmental, justice, and policy organizations, and researchers working to save and restore federal datasets and tools. Compiling those considered most vulnerable, the partners are distributing the work of archiving and have also begun to restore public access to high-priority tools such as EJScreen and the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool. Fill out their form to nominate data for preservation. To get involved, click here.
The Journal of the Early Republic has created an Early Republic Tracker to maintain a record of what is changing and where in early U.S. history (1765-1865).
Private Research Funding for US Based Scholars
For comprehensive lists of funding opportunities, check out these sites compiled by the Mann Humanities Center at the University of Florida and William and Mary.
Support for Health, Wellness, and Financial Security
Open Path Psychotherapy Collective is a nonprofit nationwide network of mental health professionals dedicated to providing in-office and online mental health care—at a steeply reduced rate—to clients in need. See their website for more information.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that offers support for individuals in crisis. See their website for more information.
UCLA Health (among other organizations) offers free mindfulness exercises.
The Financial Planners Association (FPA) has a program for pro bono financial planning.
Public Education on the Rule of US Law
While no one should rely on the internet for legal advice, for general and reliable information about the law and legal issues, see the ABA website, including the Division for Public Education page. The ABA conveys, for example, that police cannot force you to unlock your phone. Also see the ABA Rule of Law Resource Page.
Lessons from the Twentieth Century
Timothy Snyder of the Yale History Department (soon to be of Toronto’s Munk School) published his modern classic On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century in 2017. It’s a short book, written at a level suitable for high school readers, yet offering stimulating lessons for any reader. If you need a pick-me-up or want to share a heroic rendering of his admonitions, condensed down to ten and a half minutes, here’s a reading by John Lithgow. Also, here’s Snyder’s recent commentary on truth, ideology, and politics in the history wars.. If you’d like updates from Snyder, consider subscribing to his Substack.
Feature Image: “Food in the Garden: Cultural Connections: The Chesapeake” by national museum of american history is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
