Active History Mandate
ActiveHistory.ca is a website that connects the work of historians with the wider public and the importance of the past to current events. It developed from the conference “Active History: History for the Future” at Glendon College in September 2008. We define active history variously as history that listens and is responsive; history that will make a tangible difference in people’s lives; history that makes an intervention and is transformative to both practitioners and communities. We seek a practice of history that emphasizes collegiality, builds community among active historians and other members of communities, and recognizes the public responsibilities of the historian.
Active History is a project open to contributions from all historians seeking to publish short essays that align with our mandate. As an entirely volunteer-run organization, we have a loose editorial structure, whereby copyright and ownership of published material remains with the author under a Creative Commons CC-BY-ND license (for more information, see the space at the very bottom of each page).
Our project has always embraced multiple definitions of active history. Authors are responsible for ensuring that their contributions are factually correct and ethically sound. Members of our editorial collective work with authors to revise pieces, where necessary, for tone, clarity and focus, and they are empowered to make decisions about publication independent of the whole, adhering to the editorial guidelines below.
We are always looking for people to contribute to the project. If you have a general inquiry about partnerships, or are interested in contributing to the blog, please contact Alex Gagné (Site Manager) at activehistoryinfo@gmail.com. If you have any questions or comments about the What’s Old is News podcast, please contact Sean Graham (What’s Old is News Podcast Editor) at whatsoldisnews@gmail.com.
Interested in publishing a blog post or series with us? Please review our Author Guidelines.
To learn more about the project, meet our Editorial Collective, Contributing Editors, and Staff.
We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who has contributed to Active History. This project wouldn’t be possible without the hard work and passion of our volunteers. You can also learn more about our Former Editors here.
Most of the work that goes into Active History is unpaid. Recognizing the systemic nature of precarious employment for many historians, the editorial collective is working to provide small annual honoraria for regular contributors and editors working in unstable labour conditions. For more information on how to support our project, please visit our Support Us page
Please also visit our French-language partner site, HistoireEngagee.ca.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Blog posts published before October 28, 2018 are licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada License.