American Council of Learned Societies
Encyclopedia
The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), founded in 1919, is a private nonprofit federation of seventy scholarly organizations.

ACLS is best known as a funder of humanities research through fellowships and grants awards. ACLS Fellowships are designed to permit scholars holding the Ph.D. or equivalent to devote a full year to research and writing in such fields as Literatures and Languages, History, Anthropology, Political Theory, Philosophy, Classics, Religion, Biblical Studies, Archeology, the History of Art, Linguistics, Musicology.

The group holds a congressional charter
Congressional charter
A congressional charter is a law passed by the United States Congress that states the mission, authority and activities of a group. Congress issued federal charters from 1791 until 1992 under Title 36 of the United States Code....

 under Title 36 of the United States Code
Title 36 of the United States Code
Title 36 of the United States Code outlines the role of Patriotic Societies and Observances in the United States Code.*Subtitle I—Patriotic and National Observances and Ceremonies*Subtitle II—Patriotic and National Organizations...

.

Background

Among the Council’s publications is the American National Biography
American National Biography
The American National Biography is a 24 volume biographical encyclopedia set containing approximately 17,400 entries and 20 million words, first published in 1999 by Oxford University Press under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies. A 400-entry supplement appeared in 2002...

, published in early 1999; it consists of a 24-volume collection of approximately 17,500 biographies of significant individuals in American history. An online version was released in 2000. The Dictionary of Scientific Biography
Dictionary of Scientific Biography
The Dictionary of Scientific Biography is a scholarly reference work that was published from 1970 through 1980. It is supplemented by the New Dictionary of Scientific Biography and an electronic version that includes both publications....

has articles on significant scientists from antiquity to modern times. The Dictionary of the Middle Ages
Dictionary of the Middle Ages
The Dictionary of the Middle Ages is a 13-volume encyclopedia of the Middle Ages published by the American Council of Learned Societies between 1982 and 1989. It was first conceived and started in 1975 with American medieval historian Joseph Strayer of Princeton University as editor-in-chief...

, completed in 1989, consists of 13 volumes covering the years 500-1500 and examines the Latin West, Slavic, Byzantium, and Islam.

During the late 1950s, the Council greatly encouraged Hans Wehr
Hans Wehr
Hans Wehr was a German Arabist. A professor at the University of Münster from 1957-1974, he published the Arabisches Wörterbuch , which was later published in an English edition as A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, edited by J Milton Cowan. For the dictionary Wehr created a transliteration...

 in his writing of the first English edition of his Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic
Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic
The Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic is an Arabic-English dictionary compiled by Hans Wehr and edited by J Milton Cowan.First published in 1961 by Otto Harrassowitz in Wiesbaden, Germany, it was an enlarged and revised English version of Wehr's German Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache...

 (1962).

Since 2002 ACLS has also sponsored online an electronic e-book collection, ACLS Humanities E-Book (HEB). HEB is a collection of 1700 full-text, fully searchable, high-quality books in the humanities available online. These books are recommended and reviewed by scholars for their continuing value to students and scholars. This project was originally funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and is a collaboration of twelve learned societies, over 95 university presses, and almost 600 subscribing institutions.

Affiliates

  • Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA)
  • Association of Art Museum Curators
    Association of Art Museum Curators
    The Association of Art Museum Curators was founded in 2001 to support the role of curators in shaping the mission of art museums in North America...

  • Association of College and Research Libraries
    Association of College and Research Libraries
    The Association of College and Research Libraries , a division of the American Library Association , is a professional association of academic librarians and other interested individuals...

  • Association of Research Libraries
    Association of Research Libraries
    The Association of Research Libraries is an organization of the leading research libraries in North America. As of October 2006, it comprises 123 libraries at comprehensive, research-intensive institutions in the US and Canada that share similar missions, aspirations, and achievements...

  • Camargo Foundation
  • Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences
    Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences
    The Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences , known as the Federation, is a member based organization and the voice for the humanities and social science researchers in Canada...

  • Center for Research Libraries
  • Community College Humanities Association
  • Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes
  • Federation of State Humanities Councils
  • International Society for Third-Sector Research
  • National Coalition of Independent Scholars
  • Phi Beta Kappa
  • Research Libraries Group
    Research Libraries Group
    The Research Libraries Group was a U.S.-based library consortium which developed the Eureka interlibrary search engine, the RedLightGreen database of bibliographic descriptions and ArchiveGrid, a database containing descriptions of archival collections...


Member Learned Societies

  • African Studies Association
    African Studies Association
    The African Studies Association is an association of scholars and professionals in the United States and Canada with an interest in the continent of Africa. Started in 1957, the ASA is the leading organization of African Studies in North America. The associations headquarters are Rutgers...

  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences
    American Academy of Arts and Sciences
    The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...

  • American Academy of Religion
    American Academy of Religion
    The American Academy of Religion is the world's largest association of scholars in the field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association,...

  • American Anthropological Association
    American Anthropological Association
    The American Anthropological Association is a professional organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 11,000 members, the Arlington, Virginia based association includes archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, biological anthropologists, linguistic...

  • American Antiquarian Society
    American Antiquarian Society
    The American Antiquarian Society , located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and national research library of pre-twentieth century American History and culture. Its main building, known also as Antiquarian Hall, is a U.S. National Historic Landmark...

  • American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies
    American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies
    The Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies is a scholarly society dedicated to the advancement of knowledge about the former Soviet Union and Eastern and Central Europe...

  • American Association for the History of Medicine
  • American Comparative Literature Association
    American Comparative Literature Association
    The American Comparative Literature Association is the principal learned society in the United States for scholars whose work connects several different literary traditions and cultures or that examines the premises of cross-cultural literary study...

  • American Dialect Society
    American Dialect Society
    The American Dialect Society, founded in 1889, is a learned society "dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, and of other languages, or dialects of other languages, influencing it or influenced by it." The Society publishes the academic journal, American Speech...

  • American Economic Association
    American Economic Association
    The American Economic Association, or AEA, is a learned society in the field of economics, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. It publishes one of the most prestigious academic journals in economics: the American Economic Review...

  • American Folklore Society
    American Folklore Society
    The American Folklore Society is the US-based professional association for folklorists, with members from the US, Canada, and around the world. It was founded in 1888 by William Wells Newell, who stood at the center of a diverse group of university-based scholars, museum anthropologists, and men...

  • American Historical Association
    American Historical Association
    The American Historical Association is the oldest and largest society of historians and professors of history in the United States. Founded in 1884, the association promotes historical studies, the teaching of history, and the preservation of and access to historical materials...

  • American Musicological Society
    American Musicological Society
    The American Musicological Society is a membership-based musicological organization founded in 1934 to advance scholarly research in the various fields of music as a branch of learning and scholarship; it grew out of a small contingent of the Music Teachers National Association and, more directly,...

  • American Numismatic Society
    American Numismatic Society
    The American Numismatic Society is a New York City-based organization dedicated to the study of coins and medals.-Introduction:...

  • American Oriental Society
    American Oriental Society
    The American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. It is one of the oldest learned societies in America, and is the oldest devoted to a particular field of scholarship....

  • American Philological Association
    American Philological Association
    The American Philological Association , founded in 1869, is a non-profit North American scholarly organization devoted to all aspects of Greek and Roman civilization...

  • American Philosophical Association
    American Philosophical Association
    The American Philosophical Association is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarly activity in philosophy, to facilitate the professional work...

  • American Philosophical Society
    American Philosophical Society
    The American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...

  • American Political Science Association
    American Political Science Association
    The American Political Science Association is a professional association of political science students and scholars in the United States. Founded in 1903, it publishes three academic journals...

  • American Psychological Association
    American Psychological Association
    The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...

  • American Schools of Oriental Research
    American Schools of Oriental Research
    The American Schools of Oriental Research, founded in 1900, supports and encourages the study of the peoples and cultures of the Near East, from the earliest times to the present. It is apolitical and has no religious affiliation...

  • American Society for Aesthetics
    American Society for Aesthetics
    American Society for Aesthetics is a philosophical organization founded in 1942 to promote the study of aesthetics. The ASA sponsors national and regional conferences, and publishes the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, the American Society for Aesthetics Graduate Ejournal, and the ASA...

  • American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies
    American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies
    The American Society for 18th-century Studies is an interdisciplinary group, established in 1969, dedicated to the advancement of scholarship in all aspects of the period from the later 17th through the early 19th centuries...

  • American Society for Environmental History
    American Society for Environmental History
    The American Society for Environmental History is a professional society for the field of environmental history. It publishes Environmental History. The ASEH was founded in 1977....

  • American Society for Legal History
  • American Society for Theatre Research
  • American Society of Church History
    American Society of Church History
    The American Society of Church History was founded in 1888 with the disciplines of Christian denominational and ecclesiastical history as its focus. Today the society's interests include the broad range of the critical scholarly perspectives, as applied to the history of Christianity and its...

  • American Society of Comparative Law
    American Society of Comparative Law
    The American Society of Comparative Law , formerly the American Association for the Comparative Study of Law, is a society dedicated to the study of comparative law, foreign law, and private international law. It was founded in 1951, and was admitted to American Council of Learned Societies in...

  • American Society of International Law
    American Society of International Law
    The American Society of International Law is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, educational membership organization, based in Washington, D.C.. It was founded in 1906, and was chartered by the United States Congress in 1950...

  • American Sociological Association
    American Sociological Association
    The American Sociological Association , founded in 1905 as the American Sociological Society , is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology by serving sociologists in their work and promoting their contributions to serve society.The ASA holds its...

  • American Studies Association
  • Archaeological Institute of America
    Archaeological Institute of America
    The Archaeological Institute of America is a North American nonprofit organization devoted to the promotion of public interest in archaeology, and the preservation of archaeological sites. It has offices on the campus of Boston University and in New York City.The institute was founded in 1879,...

  • Association for Asian Studies
    Association for Asian Studies
    The Association for Asian Studies is a U.S. society focused on facilitating contact and information exchange among scholars of Asian fields. It is the self-proclaimed largest society of its kind. The Association consists of eminent Asianists, and is a non-profit organization...

  • Association for Jewish Studies
  • Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies
  • Association of American Geographers
    Association of American Geographers
    The Association of American Geographers is a non-profit scientific and educational society founded in 1904 and aimed at advancing the understanding, study, and importance of geography and related fields...

  • Association of American Law Schools
    Association of American Law Schools
    The Association of American Law Schools is a non-profit organization of 170 law schools in the United States. Another 25 schools are "non-member fee paid" schools, which are not members but choose to pay AALS dues. Its purpose is to improve the legal profession through the improvement of legal...

  • Bibliographical Society of America
    Bibliographical Society of America
    The Bibliographical Society of America is the oldest learned society in North America that studies books and manuscripts as physical objects. Established in 1904, the society promotes bibliographical research and issues bibliographical publications...

  • College Art Association
    College Art Association
    The College Art Association of America is the principal professional association in the United States for practitioners and scholars of art, art history, and art criticism...

  • College Forum of the National Council of Teachers of English
    National Council of Teachers of English
    The National Council of Teachers of English is an American professional organization dedicated to "improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education...

  • Dictionary Society of North America
    Dictionary society of north america
    The Dictionary Society of North America was founded in 1975 to encourage scholarly and professional activities that have to do with dictionaries and lexicography...

  • Economic History Association
    Economic History Association
    Economic History Association is an organization founded in 1940, dedicated to "encourage and promote teaching, research, and publication on every phase of economic history, broadly defined"....

  • German Studies Association
    German Studies Association
    The German Studies Association is an international organization of scholars in history, literature, economics, culture studies, and political science who study Germany, Austria, and Switzerland...

  • Hispanic Society of America
  • History of Science Society
    History of Science Society
    The History of Science Society is the primary professional society for the academic study of the history of science.It was founded in 1924 by George Sarton and Lawrence Joseph Henderson, primarily to support the publication of Isis, a journal of the history of science Sarton had started in 1912....

  • International Center of Medieval Art
  • Latin American Studies Association
    Latin American Studies Association
    The Latin American Studies Association is the largest association for scholars of Latin American studies. Founded in 1966, it has over 6,000 members, forty-five percent of whom reside outside the United States, LASA brings together experts on Latin America from all disciplines and diverse...

  • Law and Society Association
    Law and Society Association
    The Law and Society Association is an association founded in 1964. Its members come from many fields and countries and are interested in "the place of law in social, political, economic and cultural life". The association publishes the academic journal Law & Society Review.The LSA's executive...

  • Linguistic Society of America
    Linguistic Society of America
    The Linguistic Society of America is a professional society for linguists. It was founded in 1924 to advance linguistics, the scientific study of human language. The LSA has over 5,000 individual members and welcomes linguists of all kinds. It works to advance the discipline and to communicate...

  • Medieval Academy of America
    Medieval Academy of America
    The Medieval Academy of America is the largest organization in the United States promoting excellence in the field of medieval studies. It was founded in 1925 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts...

  • Metaphysical Society of America
    Metaphysical Society of America
    The Metaphysical Society of America is a philosophical organization founded by Paul Weiss in 1950 for promoting the study of metaphysics. The society is a member of the American Council of Learned Societies...

  • Middle East Studies Association of North America
    Middle East Studies Association of North America
    Middle East Studies Association of North America is a learned society, and according to its website, "a non-political association that fosters the study of the Middle East, promotes high standards of scholarship and teaching, and encourages public understanding of the region and its peoples...

  • Modern Language Association of America
  • National Communication Association
    National Communication Association
    The National Communication Association is the largest national organization to promote communication scholarship and education. A non-profit organization that has over 8,000 educators, practitioners, and students who work and reside in every state and more than 20 countries...

  • National Council on Public History
    National Council on Public History
    The National Council on Public History is a professional membership association established in 1979 to support a diverse group of people, institutions, agencies, businesses, and academic programs associated with the field of public history. The NCPH publishes a quarterly journal, The Public...

  • North American Conference on British Studies
  • Organization of American Historians
    Organization of American Historians
    The Organization of American Historians , formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. OAH's members in the U.S...

  • Renaissance Society of America
  • Rhetoric Society of America
    Rhetoric Society of America
    The Rhetoric Society of America is an academic organization for the study of rhetoric.The Society's constitution calls for it to research rhetoric in all relevant fields of study, identify new areas of study, encourage experimentation in teaching rhetoric, facilitate professional cooperation and...

  • Sixteenth Century Society and Conference
    Sixteenth Century Society and Conference
    The Sixteenth Century Society and Conference is a learned society that promotes research on the early modern period. The society is interdisciplinary in membership, welcoming scholars in history, art history, religion, history of science, musicology, dance history, and literary and cultural...

  • Society for American Music
    Society for American Music
    The Society for American Music was founded in 1975 and was first named the Sonneck Society in honor of Oscar George Theodore Sonneck, early Chief of the Music Division in the Library of Congress and pioneer scholar of American music...

  • Society for Cinema and Media Studies
    Society for Cinema and Media Studies
    The Society for Cinema and Media Studies is an organization of professors and scholars. Its home office is at the University of Oklahoma, but it has members throughout the world....

  • Society for Ethnomusicology
    Society for Ethnomusicology
    The Society for Ethnomusicology is, with the International Council for Traditional Music and the British Forum for Ethnomusicology, one of three major international associations ethnomusicology...

  • Society for French Historical Studies
    Society for French Historical Studies
    The Society for French Historical Studies is, along with the Western Society for French History , one of the two primary historical societies devoted to the study of French history headquartered in the United States....

  • Society for Music Theory
    Society for Music Theory
    The Society for Music Theory is an American organisation devoted to the promotion of music theory as a scholarly and pedagogical discipline...

  • Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study
    Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study
    Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study is a non-profit membership society with 400 members aiming to advance the study, teaching and research in America of the languages, literature, history, culture and society of the Scandinavian or Nordic countries and to foster closer relationships...

  • Society for the History of Technology
    Society for the History of Technology
    The Society for the History of Technology, or SHOT, is the primary professional society for historians of technology. Founded in 1958, its flagship publication is the journal Technology and Culture...

  • Society of Architectural Historians
    Society of Architectural Historians
    The Society of Architectural Historians is an international not-for-profit organization that promotes the study and preservation of the built environment worldwide....

  • Society of Biblical Literature
    Society of Biblical Literature
    The Society of Biblical Literature, founded 1880, is a constituent society of the American Council of Learned Societies , with the stated mission to "Foster Biblical Scholarship"...

  • Society of Dance History Scholars
    Society of Dance History Scholars
    The Society of Dance History Scholars is a professional organization for dance historians in the United States and worldwide. Founded in 1978, it became a non-profit organization in 1983...


External links

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