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The National Association for Humanities Education will advance humanities education, act as a national forum for interdisciplinary scholars and scholarship, and foster a vital intellectual community.
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About NAHE
So Far, So Good: A History of Three Decades of the National Association for Humanities Education
Fred E. H. Schroeder
Full article appeared in Interdisciplinary Humanities 15.2, 1998
October 25, 1968 marked the birth of The National Association for Humanities Education, and the Humanties Journal. Herb Safran edited the journal for a decade until the last issue of Humanities Journal (Spring/Summer 1979).
In 1981 Fred Schroeder, Gary D'Lamatar and Ferreira brought up the need for a new journal. Inez Wolins volunteered to write a National Endowment for the Humanities grant proposal with Schroeder to serve as editor. In 1982 Vasant Merchant, NAHE president, headed a discussion with the head of the Education Division of the National Endowment for the Humanities. NAHE hoped to gain support for a journal. Little interest and less encouragement came out of the meeting. But, Vasant did not give up causing Fred Schroeder to agree to take on the task of restoring a publication—a publication which Merchant always called a "magazine."
It was the word "magazine" that triggered some of the innovations for the new journal, Humanities Education. The journal was to be on 8 1/2 by 11 three-hole punched paper, offset printed (later xerox), and mailed in an envelope, which could allow for advertising inserts, and, it was hoped, multi-media materials. Estimates for printing and postage indicated that this was well within the means of NAHE's dues structure, but paying for professional type-setting, paste-up and graphic design was out of reach. More importantly, it wasn't worth doing for thirty-eight members. So, in January 1984 Humanities Education was launched as a triannual publication, printed by a university print shop. Sharon Scholl came on as Associate Editor, and continued on beyond Schroeder's editorship.
In 1987 Humanities Education continued to do well, going quarterly in 1987 and gradually improving its graphic appearance as new computer and quick-print technologies became available.
Humanities Education was retitled Interdisciplinary Humanities in 1992, and in 1995, Fred Schroeder announced him impending retirement. His successor, James Mehl was formally appointed as Editor of Interdisciplinary Humanities in 1996. By 1997 the NAHE Board approved changes in the publication format and the organization's dues structure. Memberships were changed to two years, with four issues of a perfect-bound journal and six newsletters a benefit of association. Unfortunately, the next year, Editor James Mehl died unexpectedly and issue 15.2 was the last to bear his name as Editor-in-Chief.
After Thirty Years
In 1999 Darrell Bourque was named Editor and Michael Phillips Associate Editor of Interdisciplinary Humanities with production activity housed at Brigham Young University. Michael Phillips sent the following when asked for information on how the journal was funded/supported: "I did not get any reduction in load but I generally got a student assistant for about five hours a week. [BYU] paid for the mailing of the newsletter and general correspondence but not printing and mailing of the journal...I managed to keep the organization afloat with membership and conference registrations, but we were always hanging on by our fingernails and when I transferred things from BYU, I made a $1000 donation to help get things restarted..."
From 2001 to 2003 Darrell Bourque continued as Editor and the production moved to University of Louisiana Lafayette; a double issue on Film (19.1 and 19.2) and the Interview issue (20.1) were published during this time. Dean David Barry of the College of Liberal Arts agreed to pay the printing costs. After the first issue, money was secured from The Friends of the Humanities of Lafayette as an underwriting donation.
Upon Darrell Bourque's retirement from the University of Louisiana Lafayette in 2003, Lisa Graley became Co-ordinator for Interdisciplinary Humanities Studies and Editor-in-Chief of Interdisciplinary Studies. Since she came to the position she has published IH editions entitled Landscapes and Rhythms (20.2), Dance (21.1), the Walter Inglis Anderson double issue (21.2 and 22.1), and Inspriations from the Cave (22.2).
