To the Editor:

I agree with the ideas put forth in the November 1999 Perspectives by James M. Banner Jr. It is time for this country to establish a National Center for History, perhaps patterned after the institutions in Italy, Greece, Germany, and Austria to which he refers.

Banner notes that this would have to be a cooperative effort between several universities, which is a distinct possibility. Maybe such a center could be similar to the American Academy in Rome in that it would have member institutions supporting it with the equivalent of dues. Such an idea should be discussed at a future annual meeting of the AHA.

—C. Wade Meade
Louisiana Tech University