Organization of Educational Historians
Connecting the history of education to today’s classrooms, policies, and possibilities.
Who We Are
The Organization of Educational Historians (OEH) is an academic society and community of scholars who study how education has been shaped over time—and how those histories inform the choices we make today. Founded in 1965 as the Midwest History of Education Society, OEH now brings together researchers, educators, and graduate students from across the nation and beyond. Its members include historians of education, teacher educators, policy scholars, classroom teachers, and graduate students who research the history of education across local, national, and global contexts.
OEH IN PRACTICE
ESTABLISHED TRADITION
Since 1965, OEH has supported rigorous historical research on education and built connections among scholars across institutions, regions, and disciplines.
ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Each fall, OEH hosts an annual conference with paper sessions, symposia, roundtables, and mentoring opportunities designed to support both emerging and established scholars.
OFFICAL JOURNAL
OEH sponsors the American Educational History Journal, a biannual, peer-reviewed journal that welcomes historically grounded scholarship from diverse fields.
BLOG & GRADUATE WORKSHOPS
Through its blog and free virtual graduate workshops, OEH offers year-round spaces to share research in progress, explore teaching the history of education, and get practical support for proposals and publications.
WHAT WE DO
Educational history is not simply about what happened; it’s about how we interpret change, continuity, and possibility in schools and societies. Historical scholarship helps us understand why educational systems look the way they do—and how they might be reimagined.
ADVANCED HISTORICAL SCHOLARSHIP
OEH provides spaces—conferences, publications, and informal networks—for scholars to share archival work, oral histories, policy analyses, and theoretically grounded studies of education’s past.
SUPPORT EMERGENING SCHOLARS
Graduate students and early-career faculty present alongside established scholars, receive feedback on works in progress, and build professional networks that extend beyond a single institution or region.
CONNECT PAST TO PRESENT
OEH members use historical perspectives to illuminate contemporary debates about curriculum, equity, governance, assessment, technology, and teacher education.
VOICES FROM OUR PAGES
“To claim that the origins of [school] choice are not racist … is to conceal a problematic and paradoxical development of school choice over time.”
Jon N. Hale
American Educational History Journal, Vol. 51, No. 1 (2024)
“In St. Louis, during the early and mid-twentieth century, segregated education and housing were two major injustices endured by African Americans. However, two African American women, Ruth Harris and Ruth Porter, were instrumental in easing these prejudices through community engagement.”
Vanessa Garry
American Educational History Journal, Vol. 45, No. 2 (2019)
"The identification of ‘pragmatic progressivism’ as a variety of progressive education could indicate that Dewey had more influence on educational practice than previously thought."
William G. Wraga
American Educational History Journal, Vol. 46, No. 2 (2019)
