The Committee on American History in the Schools and Colleges was an outgrowth of the World War II re-examination of the purposes, extent, and quality of American history instruction at all levels. Public interest and controversy were especially stimulated by a report in the New York Times by Hugh Russell Fraser critical of American history knowledge and teaching methods. In response, through resolutions of the American Historical Association (AHA) and the Mississippi Valley Historical Association (MVHA), a committee was organized to work in conjunction with the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS).
President Theodore C. Blegen of MVHA, Executive Secretary Guy Stanton Ford of AHA, and President Allen Y. King of the board of directors of NCSS appointed a committee headed by Edgar B. Wesley to conduct the study. The committee's work included consultations and correspondence with professional educators at different levels, studies of course offerings, and a standardized test administered to prominent individuals and student groups in an attempt to discover weaknesses in American history knowledge, and construct guidelines for teaching students. The report was released in December 1943 and published in book form the next year by the MacMillan Company under the title American History in the Schools.
