The U.S. Naval Institute announced in January that, with the decommissioning of the Naval Historical Foundation (NHF) at the end of 2022, NHF’s legacy and mission will continue within the Naval Institute fold.
The two organizations had shared history from the very beginning: It was an article by Curator of the Navy Dudley W. Knox, “Our Vanishing History and Traditions,” published in the January 1926 issue of the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, that led to the establishment of NHF; in May 1926, the Naval Institute made the initial contribution to NHF’s trust fund.
In his December 1947 Proceedings article “The Naval Historical Foundation,” Commodore (retired) Knox updated his 1926 call for a society to preserve the Navy’s history. In the first sentence to his 1947 article, he writes: “It might be fairly said that the Naval Historical Foundation was mothered by necessity and fathered by the U.S. Naval Institute.” Now, nearly a century after NHF’s founding, the Institute is welcoming all NHF members.
The Naval Institute assumes several naval history programs and activities from NHF and will enhance the depth and breadth of its history offerings, providing greater visibility and stature to the subject. An example of an assumed responsibility is the annual Dudley Knox Award recognition for lifetime achievement in the field of naval history. The Naval Institute will offer increased presence and prominence for history-related content in addition to the Institute’s already well-established history emphasis in its Oral History Program, Naval History magazine, annual Naval History conferences, and the numerous history books published annually by the Naval Institute Press since 1898.
As part of the agreement between the two organizations, the Institute will fulfill the term of former NHF members. Anyone who was a one-year member of NHF will be a one-year member of the Institute; life members of NHF will be life members of the Institute. Whereas NHF members had received print and/or digital access to its Pull Together publication, they now will receive Naval History magazine.
Members also will enjoy up to 40 percent off Naval Institute Press books; digital access to the Institute’s historical archives and all previous issues of Naval History magazine; and invitations to, and registration discounts for, various conferences and events throughout the year.
Meanwhile, the NHF website is still active and will remain so until further notice. For more information, contact 1-800-233-8764.
