Last week’s “What We’re Reading” compiled an number of articles and posts on the inauguration of President Barack Obama, and he’s wasted no time since taking the oath of office (twice). Read about his revoking of Executive Order 13233, new transparency policies, and take another look at his inauguration address. Then, we link to quite a range of digital history related items, including a recent conference at the Smithsonian, more on Google Books, engaging students in new ways, and web sites covering a number of historical topics. Finally, catch up with some past AHA staff and contributors.

• President Obama Revokes Bush Presidential Records Executive Order
  President Obama has wasted no time in getting to work. As mentioned on the AHA Today blog last Friday, one of his first official acts as president has been to overturn the Bush administration’s Executive Order 13233, which limited the public’s access to presidential records. See also the Chronicle’s coverage, read the executive order in its entirety, and check out the National History Coalition’s post on this administration’s new transparency policies.
• Historians’ roundup: Barack Obama’s inaugural address
  The Milestone Documents blog looks to a group of historians for their thoughts on President Obama’s inaugural address.
• Smithsonian 1.1 and 2.9
  Dan Cohen writes about attending the Smithsonian 2.0 meeting in D.C. Attendees also twittered about their experiences.
• Google & the Future of Books
  Robert Darnton looks forward to the future of Google Books, while looking back to the Enlightenment in “Google & the Future of Books.” See also the recent New York Times article, “Google Hopes to Open a Trove of Little-Seen Books.” Hat tips to bookn3rd and Early Modern Notes.
• A Vision for History at Community Colleges
  Scott Jaschik, at Inside Higher Ed, discusses ways in which history professors at community colleges are working to better engage their students with the discipline and hopefully encourage further study at a four-year institution.
• The Texas Slavery Project 
  Step back in time to see and experience slavery in Texas between 1837 and 1845. Digital tools include maps, search engines, and a list of primary sources.  
• History "Teacher of the Future"
  Kevin Brookhouser, a high school history teacher, discusses the perks he has found in implementing digital history into his classroom, strengthening the argument to further such implementation in history classrooms across the country.
• Digital Archaeological Atlas of the Holy Land
  Delve archaeologically into the regions that played such pivotal roles in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Explore interactive activities from archaeological periods to online virtual museums.  
• The Virginia Experiment: A Teaching American History Grant Program
  Listen to podcasts of lectures given by guest speakers as a part of “The Virginia Experiment,” which “provides intensive professional development opportunities” on numerous topics to American history teachers from five Virginia counties.

Past AHA Staff and Contributors

• Progressive Historians Under New Management
  The AHA’s first webmaster, Andrew McMichael, now an associate professor at Western Kentucky University, will be taking over as "new management" of the Progressive Historians blog.
• Policed Academy
  Another AHA alum, John Summers, who is the former contributing editor of Perspectives’ column on Graduate Student Issues, just published a collection of his articles. Summers is now a lecturer at Columbia University and a visiting scholar at Boston College’s Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life. The reviewer at bookforum.com assures us that his new book contains the same "elegant pugnacity" that he brought to Perspectives.

Contributors: Elisabeth Grant, Jessica Pritchard, and Robert B. Townsend

This post first appeared on AHA Today.