“New media opens up all sorts of opportunities to explore the surprisingly fluid boundaries between historical time and space; the producers and consumers of history; and the professionals from various disciplines that contribute to new media products,” Dr. Martin noted.  “The broad and deep interest in the American Civil War—especially during the sesquicentennial—provides fertile ground for digital history innovation.”

Dr. Martin joined scholars from the University of Richmond, George Mason University, Dickinson College, the University of South Carolina, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, and Furman University in discussing the benefits and drawbacks of technological advances in the study of the Civil War, and in history more broadly.  The panel commented on the positive aspects of new media, including increased access to source material, the broadening of the audience for historical content, the ability to create new interactive tools for historic sites, and the opportunities to create new interpretive narratives and experiences.

The panel also addressed the challenges presented by new media, such as determining and reaching the intended audience and the issues associated with crowdsourcing—opening up content development to potentially anonymous volunteers.  The tensions between allowing consumers of history to choose their own interpretive path and the need for expert curatorial handling of historical and digital issues also received a great deal of attention.

The interest generated by the Civil War’s 150^th anniversary and the possibilities presented by new media have created opportunities to explore history in innovative ways.  Dr. Martin noted that History Associates is pleased to have worked with organizations like Gettysburg College, Gettysburg Foundation, and the National Park Service to bring fresh ideas to the interpretation of history adding, “With its expertise in historical content, interpretation, and production, History Associates will continue to be at the forefront of the development of history and new media.”

For more information about the conference, “The Future of Civil War History: Looking Beyond the 150^th,” visit http://www.cwfuture150.com.

About History Associates
For over thirty years the historians and archivists at History Associates have demonstrated that history is valuable in the market as well as the marketplace of ideas.  They provide professional historical research, histories, exhibit content, interpretive planning, archives, records management, and collections management to clients throughout the United States and around the world.  History Associates strives to be The Best Company in History®, serving corporate, government, legal, and nonprofit clients from its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, with an office in Brea, California.  For more information, call (301) 279-9697 or visit www.historyassociates.com.

“This book is a tribute to our employees, both current D&H co-owners and the greater D&H family that has sustained the company over the decades. Their commitment and dedication has cultivated a unique level of enduring success, and we’re grateful for that,” said CEO Izzy Schwab. “This history stands as a documentation of the customer-focused strategies that have allowed us to prosper, supporting our dealers and retailers across a wide span of market conditions and technological breakthroughs.”

Historian Andrew Simpson conducted oral histories with six of the company’s key leaders, including CEO Izzy Schwab, co-presidents Dan Schwab and Michael Schwab, senior vice presidents Jeff Davis and Bob Miller and president emeritus Gary Brothers. Mr. Simpson drew upon secondary publications and company archives to write the history and select the photographs and images included in the book.

The story begins with the company’s origins as the Williamsport Auto Wrecking Company in 1918, a realization of the American Dream for immigrant founder and entrepreneur David Schwab.  Mr. Schwab honed his skills in customer service and supply chain logistics, launching D&H Distributing in 1929 to capitalize on an emerging market for home radio sets.  This profitable venture instilled a corporate culture of adapting to new consumer technology trends, leading to successful diversification over the years into television, electronics, computers, and related IT products.

Looking Around the Corner is provided to employees of D&H Distributing and others at the discretion of management.

About History Associates
For over thirty years the historians and archivists at History Associates have demonstrated that history is valuable in the market as well as the marketplace of ideas. They provide professional historical research, corporate histories, exhibit content, interpretive planning, archival services, records management and collections management services to clients throughout the United States and around the world. History Associates strives to be The Best Company in History®, serving corporate, government, legal, and nonprofit clients from its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, with an office in Brea, California. For more information, call (301) 279-9697 or visit www.historyassociates.com.

Screen shots from the Appomattox Civil War Battle App.

“This is another great release in our Battle App lineup,” said Robert Shenk, Director of Internet Strategy & Development at Civil War Trust. “These free apps are effectively helping the Trust expand public awareness of Civil War battlefields. They offer a wealth of historical information which is especially helpful at sites where there is not much physical interpretive signage in place.”

History Associates worked closely with the Civil War Trust and the National Park Service in coordinating the content development, preparing the text, securing historical photos and imagery, and coordinating production of audio and video segments. History Associates also assisted with the HTML production and conducted onsite field-testing of the app during development.

The app uses “virtual signs” to tell the story of specific events and also includes points of interest, video and audio clips, orders of battle, fun facts and quizzes, historical photos, and battle maps.  Visitors can trace their position on the battlefield using the GPS-location function, but this feature is not required to use the app; it serves equally well as an educational resource for users not on-site.

Battle App™ guides are now available for ten different Civil War sites.  These apps are designed to work on Apple iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPad Mini, iPod touch) and most Android-powered smartphones.  They are a free of charge, thanks to the financial support of the Virginia Department of Transportation, and can be downloaded from the Apple iTunes store or at Google Play. For more information, please visit http://www.civilwar.org/battleapps/.

About the Civil War Trust
With 55,000 members, the Civil War Trust is the largest nonprofit battlefield preservation organization in the United   States.  Its goals are to preserve our nation’s endangered Civil War sites and to promote appreciation of these hallowed grounds through education and heritage tourism.  The Trust’s website is located at www.civilwar.org, the home of the Civil War sesquicentennial.

About History Associates
For over thirty years the historians and archivists at History Associates have demonstrated that history is valuable in the market as well as the marketplace of ideas.  They provide professional historical research, histories, exhibit content, interpretive planning, archives, records management, and collections management to clients throughout the United States and around the world.  History Associates strives to be The Best Company in History®, serving corporate, government, legal, and nonprofit clients from its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, with an office in Brea, California.  For more information, call (301) 279-9697 or visit www.historyassociates.com.

“Many museums and cultural institutions are facing the challenge of upgrading their CMS technologies,” noted Dr. Zenobia Kozak, lead author on the article and senior collections manager at History Associates.  “When the AAM indicated this was a huge topic of interest to their members, we were happy to share our expertise on how to manage the process.”  The article, entitled “How Do We Select a Collections Management System?”, covers recommended steps to take before contacting a vendor, advice on determining criteria for software selection, and suggestions on how to manage the data migration process.  The full magazine is available by subscription through the AAM, and the article can be downloaded from the History Associates website.

The article was prepared by the collections management team at History Associates.  The team advises clients on developing and implementing effective collections management programs and providing guidance and hands-on support for the standardization and development of collections management software.  Their work involves collections inventories, assessments of museum procedures, and developing collections management systems.

About History Associates
For over thirty years the historians and archivists at History Associates have demonstrated that history is valuable in the market as well as the marketplace of ideas. They provide professional collections management, historical research, corporate histories, exhibit content, interpretive planning, archival services, and records management to clients throughout the United States and around the world. History Associates strives to be The Best Company in History®, serving corporate, government, legal, and nonprofit clients from its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, with an office in Brea, California. For more information, call (301) 279-9697 or visit www.historyassociates.com.

“The Pointe du Hoc site on the cliffs of the English Channel is a very austere location, still bearing the scars of that fateful day in 1944, when U.S. Army Rangers scaled cliffs to defeat the Nazis on D-Day,” said Dr. James Lide, vice president at History Associates and lead historian on the project.  “The site lends itself well to a self-guided smartphone tour, which can bring historical events to life while leaving the battlefield essentially untouched.”  Although it is designed for a walking tour of the site, the detailed information on the app makes it an entertaining multimedia learning tool as well.  Most of the content is contained within the downloaded app so that it can be reviewed without cell service.

The app provides a tour map with eleven “tour stops” and seven additional points of interest.  At each stop, the app provides a summary of events, historical photos of the site, audio narration, videos, chronologies, biographies, facts, and more. “Historic tour apps are a tremendous way of making history more tangible,” noted Dr. Lide. “Even if you aren’t at the site, you can imagine standing next to the antiaircraft bunker that served as the ranger command post on D-Day, looking at pictures of the bunker during the battle and listening to a former Army Ranger describe what it felt like that day.”

Working in close collaboration with ABMC and the technical app development team at NeoTreks, historians at History Associates first researched and organized the multimedia narrative for the tour and then formatted the material for integration into the NeoTreks app platform.  The resulting app tells the rich story of the courage and sacrifice of the U.S. Army Rangers who fought that day. Many of whom gave their lives and are buried in the ABMC cemetery nearby.

Technology partner NeoTreks Inc. created the platform for the app, which can be used on the Apple iPhone^® and on GPS-enabled Android™ phones.  “We are excited to work with the ABMC and History Associates to develop this app, which so effectively teaches us the history of this important World War II event,” commented Michael Bullock, president of NeoTreks.

The application is currently available for download free of charge on iTunes and Google Play.  A French-language version is also in development.

About the American Battle Monuments Commission
Established by Congress in 1923, the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) commemorates the service, achievements, and sacrifice of U.S. armed forces. ABMC manages 24 overseas military cemeteries and 25 memorials, monuments, and markers. Nearly all the cemeteries and memorials specifically honor those who served in World War I or World War II. The sacrifice of more than 218,000 U.S. servicemen and women is memorialized at these locations. Nearly 125,000 American war dead are buried at ABMC cemeteries, with an additional 94,000 individuals commemorated on Tablets of the Missing. For more information on ABMC visit www.abmc.gov or find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/abmcpage.

About NeoTreks Inc.
NeoTreks is a leading producer of outdoor recreation and tourism apps using geospatial technologies. Since 2008, they have produced historical apps on iPhone and Android platforms for clients such as the National Park Service, Greenland Bureau of Tourism, and the Civil War Trust.  Many of their apps have been selected by Apple for special iTunes promotions, and their flagship app, AccuTerra, won Apple’s Best iPhone 3.0 Beta App Award in 2009.  For more information, visit http://neotreks.com/.

About History Associates
For over thirty years the historians and archivists at History Associates have demonstrated that history is valuable in the market as well as the marketplace of ideas. They provide professional historical research, corporate histories, exhibit content, interpretive planning, archival services, records management, and collections management to clients throughout the United States and around the world. History Associates strives to be The Best Company in History®, serving corporate, government, legal, and nonprofit clients from its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, with an office in Brea, California. For more information, call (301) 279-9697 or visit www.historyassociates.com.

“The Freedom Mosaic website brings the history of these human rights movements to life in a powerful, engaging way,” noted James Lide, vice president at History Associates and lead historian on the project. “These movements become all the more real and relatable when you watch everyday people involved in these pivotal moments tell their stories alongside supporting historical imagery and other related materials that provide a broader context.”

History Associates conducted historical research at repositories around the country, including archives in Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, GA, to collect images, newspaper headlines, video clips, and other historical sources that supplemented the contemporary interviews of these civil and human rights pioneers.  They also gathered data for developing infographics and caption copy, as well as obtaining selected quotes for use on the site.

The visually stunning website was developed through a grant from the Ford Foundation. The project team included CNN, which videotaped oral histories from the ten individuals selected for their work in human and civil rights, and Razorfish, a digital marketing firm that designed, developed, and launched the site. Visit the site at www.freedommosaic.com.

About The National Center for Civil and Human Rights
The National Center for Civil and Human Rights seeks to share knowledge about human rights struggles around the world in a way that inspires vigilance and leadership within current and future generations.  Their new world-class cultural institution is under construction in the heart of downtown Atlanta at Pemberton Place. When completed, the museum will display The Morehouse College Martin Luther King, Jr. Collection (King Papers) and serve as a hub for ongoing dialogue on a variety of human rights topics. For more information, visit www.civilandhumanrights.org.

About History Associates
For over thirty years the historians and archivists at History Associates have demonstrated that history is valuable in the market as well as the marketplace of ideas. They provide professional historical research, corporate histories, exhibit content, interpretive planning, archival services, records management, and collections management to clients throughout the United States and around the world. History Associates strives to be The Best Company in History®, serving corporate, government, legal, and nonprofit clients from its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, with an office in Brea, California. For more information, call (301) 279-9697 or visit www.historyassociates.com.

“A major point of contention in this year’s presidential race has been whether or not financial regulation has successfully responded to the financial crisis of 2008,” noted Robert Colby, panel moderator from History Associates and co-curator of an upcoming Gallery on financial scandals and the legislation they inspired. This Gallery will appear in the virtual museum and archive of the history of financial regulation at www.sechistorical.org. “By looking to past experiences, our panelists will provide a useful case study examination of how the legislative process responds to such crises, and what lessons we can draw for future application.”

Esteemed panelists include Daniel Goelzer, former Board Member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board; Peggy Peterson of Baker Hostetler LLP, former Deputy Chief of Staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee; Dean Shahinian, Senior Counsel of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; and Linda Chatman Thomsen of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and former Director, SEC Division of Enforcement. They will examine the context in which the Sarbanes-Oxley Act took shape, from the financial scandals of 2001-2002 and the resulting public outcry to the pressures exerted by market downturns and the impending election. 

The virtual museum and archive at www.sechistorical.org will permanently open the Gallery on financial scandals and the legislation they inspired on May 1, 2013.  The Gallery is curated by History Associates and will cover case studies of financial scandals and responsive legislation, from the Kansas Blue Sky Law of 1911 to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. 

About the SEC Historical Society
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Historical Society is a nonprofit organization that shares, preserves and advances knowledge of the history of financial regulation through its virtual museum and archive at www.sechistorical.org, celebrating its 10^th anniversary in 2012.  It is independent of and separate from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and receives no funding from the public sector.  The virtual museum and archive is free and accessible worldwide at all times and has welcomed more than one million visitors since its founding a decade ago. 

About History Associates
For over thirty years the historians and archivists at History Associates have demonstrated that history is valuable in the market as well as the marketplace of ideas. They provide professional historical research, corporate histories, exhibit content, interpretive planning, archival services, records management, and collections management to clients throughout the United States and around the world. History Associates strives to be The Best Company in History®, serving corporate, government, legal, and nonprofit clients from its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, with an office in Brea, California. For more information, call (301) 279-9697 or visit www.historyassociates.com.

Written by Dr. Adrian Kinnane to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the National Safe Boating Council, The Modern History of Recreational Boating Safety spans the evolution of “pleasure boating” and details how a coalition of public and private organizations came together to make boating safer.

Dr. Kinnane researched the archives of many of the organizations involved, including the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Association of Safe Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA), United States Power Squadrons, and the National Safe Boating Council.  He also conducted twenty oral history interviews with key personnel.

Dr. Kinnane has written organizational histories for a variety of business, nonprofit, and government entities, including the history of BoatU.S, another major boating organization. Kinnane’s other books include the 200-year company history of DuPont, a pictorial history of Villa Julie College, and an illustrated history of DC-based law firm Hogan & Hartson.

The Modern History of Recreational Boating Safety was published in 2010 and is available for purchase through the National Safe Boating Council (www.safeboatingcouncil.org).

About History Associates
For over thirty years the historians and archivists at History Associates have demonstrated that history is valuable in the market as well as the marketplace of ideas. They provide professional historical research, corporate histories, exhibit content, interpretive planning, archival services, records management, and collections management to clients throughout the United States and around the world. History Associates strives to be The Best Company in History®, serving corporate, government, legal, and nonprofit clients from its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, with an office in Brea, California. For more information, call (301) 279-9697 or visit www.historyassociates.com.

The May 15, 2012, article covered Marana Aerospace Solutions, an Arizona-based company that occupies what was once Marana Army Air Field. Ms. Negroni consulted Dr. Gart regarding the history of the property, as Dr. Gart is an expert on World War II and Cold War-era military procurement and his doctoral dissertation examined the history of aerospace industries in Arizona. He provided Ms. Negroni with information about the airfield’s use during and after World War II.

The complete article is available online at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/16/realestate/commercial/the-business-of-retired-planes-attracts-investors.html

Dr. Gart has conducted a wide variety of research for History Associates’ clients, including topics related to business and institutional history, environmental history, and the history of science and technology. He is currently managing a historic resource study for the National Park Service.

About History Associates
For over thirty years the historians and archivists at History Associates have demonstrated that history is valuable in the market as well as the marketplace of ideas. Our more than seventy employees provide professional historical research, histories, exhibit content development, interpretive planning, and archives and records management to clients throughout the United States and around the world. History Associates serves corporate, government, legal, and nonprofit clients from its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, with an office in Brea, California. History Associates strives to be The Best Company in History®. For more information, call (301) 279-9697 or visit www.historyassociates.com.

There are many legal reasons why an attorney might need to document the past ownership and history of a company. Mr. Swisdak’s article, entitled “Researching Corporate Genealogy,” describes several sources for researching corporate genealogy and discusses how to trace a company’s history from incorporation, through merger and acquisition transactions, to bankruptcy or dissolution. It builds upon a previous article on historical research written by Mr. Swisdak entitled “The Value of Historical Research to In-House Counsel,” published in this newsletter in June 2009.

Mr. Swisdak manages and conducts a variety of historical research projects for litigation matters, including projects concerning former military and government industrial facilities; common knowledge cases; potentially responsible party (PRP) identification; and historical land-use cases. He has written various articles and given several presentations on using historical research in support of environmental litigation.

About History Associates
For over thirty years the historians and archivists at History Associates have demonstrated that history is valuable in the market as well as the marketplace of ideas. Our more than seventy employees provide professional historical research, histories, exhibit content development, interpretive planning, and archives and records management to clients throughout the United States and around the world. History Associates serves corporate, government, legal, and nonprofit clients from its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, with an office in Brea, California. History Associates strives to be The Best Company in History®. For more information, call (301) 279-9697 or visit www.historyassociates.com.