The Oral History Review, the official journal of the Oral History Association, is accepting applications for two positions on the editorial team, the Pedagogy Editor and the Book Review Editor.
The successful applicants will join the six-member editorial team of the Review and will participate actively in the development of the journal. The editorial team—a creative and dedicated band of editors/oral historians—is motivated by a commitment to the journal and its place in the life of the Oral History Association and the broader oral history community. Together, we seek to make the Review a lively site in which to experience, discuss, and debate oral history.
These positions are wonderful opportunities for national visibility and service to a well-established scholarly journal. Each provides a chance to network with well-known and emerging scholars in the field and to stay abreast of the latest oral history scholarship.
Applicants for either position should, first and foremost, be familiar with the literature on oral history. Specific duties for each position can be found after the end of this announcement.
Candidates should also possess:
- strong writing and editing skills (although no formal editorial training is required);
- solid organizational abilities to manage the volume of articles or reviews;
- interpersonal skills to work with authors from many backgrounds and fields;
- technological flexibility in order to learn and use both computer software applications (such as Word and Excel) and emerging web-based applications.
Deadline for applications is 1 November 2017.
Interviews will be conducted in early November, with an expectation that the new editors will be selected no later than 15 December 2017. The official start date for the position will be 1 January 2018; however, the incoming editors will work with, and be trained by, the outgoing editors (working together as co-editors) to deliver the issue of the journal that is due to the publisher in February 2018.
The incoming editorial team will be in Minneapolis for the annual Oral History Association meeting and available to answer questions and discuss the positions in greater detail. Also, for more information about the positions and the editorial board, or to submit an application, please contact:
David Caruso
Editor, Oral History Review
Director, Center for Oral History
The Chemical Heritage Foundation
315 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 873-8236
dcaruso@chemheritage.org
To apply, please provide the following:
- Letter of application, stating interest in one of the positions and describing relevant experience.
- CV. or resume.
- Optional, but recommended: a short writing and/or editing sample, roughly 1,000 to 1,500 words in length.
Pedagogy Editor
The Pedagogy Section is published once annually, in the journal’s fall issue. It aims to highlight not only innovative pedagogical practice, but also sound analysis of the use of oral history in the classroom, in both secondary and higher education settings. Applicants should have experience doing oral history work in a classroom setting, an eye for innovative teaching practices, and an ability to distinguish process from analysis. Interested candidates are encouraged to read through the Pedagogy Section in recent issues of the Review in order to get a feel for the section’s offerings.
The Pedagogy Editor:
- Solicits articles for the journal’s Pedagogy Section.
- Works with authors during the initial development of their work.
- Manages the peer review process for submissions.
Book Review Editor
Each issue of the Review contains roughly thirty book reviews, as well as longer pieces meant to elicit deeper reflections on the role a book or a collection of books has played, is playing, or may play in oral history.
The Book Review Editor:
- Identifies oral history based books to review using publishers’ catalogues.
- Finds reviewers for identified books.
- Evaluates and edits submitted reviews both for substance and for adherence to stylistic guidelines.
- Maintains a database of books accepted for review, reviewers selected for reviews, and the expertise of reviewers.
- Develops ways to highlight specific works in the field.
- Works with the book review assistant (position already filled) to accomplish the above tasks.
