U.VA. HISTORIAN JOSEPH C. MILLER TO BECOME
 PRESIDENT OF AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Dec. 24 -- History professor Joseph C.
Miller has been chosen president-elect of the American Historical
Association (AHA), the main professional organization of the
country's historians. 
	Miller, a noted authority on African history, slavery and
the slave trade worldwide, will help guide the 15,000-member
association for the next three years as it represents the discipline
of history during a period of significant change and challenges.
Taking office at the AHA annual meeting held Jan. 2-5 in New York,
he will serve on its leadership council as president-elect this
year, then as president in 1998 and past president in 1999.
	Miller, who holds the T. Cary Johnson Jr. professorship in
history at U.Va. and is author of a pathbreaking study of the
Portuguese slave trade, "Way of Death," has previously served on the
association's research division and on its committee on the future
of the profession. 
	The AHA, whose 1997 president is UCLA historian Joyce
Appleby, is the umbrella organization for U.S. historians of all
specialties and was incorporated by Congress in 1889 for the
promotion of historical studies, the collection and preservation of
documents, and dissemination of historical research. In addition to
faculty at colleges and universities, its members include history
teachers in secondary schools, independent historians and historians
in museums, libraries and other areas. 
	The field of history faces several important challenges
today, Miller said. These include:
	¥ being open to great cultural diversity in society through
inclusiveness in the association's service to the profession and its
membership and also in breadth of historical vision 
	¥ maintaining quality teaching in history and historical
research in the face of economic cuts
	¥ keeping abreast of technological opportunities to improve
teaching and research
	¥ and working to ensure historians' access to important
historical material, including computerized information, in U.S.
government and other archives around the world.
	"Historians, by definition, are supposed to be concerned
with change, and it is our job to deal with these challenges, which
simply reflect the many changes taking place in society today,"
Miller said. "It is our job to promote understanding of them." 
	With regard to diversity, U.S. historians "need to make sure
all voices in a diverse culture are heard in the profession" and
also to recognize that history has "a global context" and doesn't
center exclusively on one country or region, he said. 
	Miller also emphasized that financial cuts mean that
historians are called on to carry increased instructional duties,
meet heavy administrative and public service responsibilities and
still raise standards of historical scholarship in a time of rapid
technological and cultural change. The AHA "will continue to defend
the highest standards of professionalism," he said.
	A key issue for modern-era historians is gaining access to
research materials in government archives around the world,
including in the United States, Miller said. As more and more
information is generated and stored electronically, standards need
to be set for preservation of information and access to it.
"Historians should have a voice in these issues and how they are
decided, on the premise that the profession makes a valuable
contribution to society through recovery and study of historical
information," he said.
	Miller edited The Journal of African History from 1990 to
1996 and served as dean of U.Va.'s College of Arts and Sciences from
1990 to 1995. He joined the faculty in 1972 after receiving his
Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin.
###
December 23, 1996
	For additional information or interviews Joseph Miller may
be reached at (*04) 924-6395 or 924-7146.