Hungarian Studies Association

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The HSA was formed in 1970 as The American Association for the Study of Hungarian History by 12 scholars: Janos Bak, George Barany, Stephen Borsody, Laszlo Deme, Tibor Halasi-Kun, Samuel Goldberger, Andrew Gyorgy, Bela Kiraly, Peter Pastor, John Rath, Steven B. Vardy, and Peter Sugar. They charged their new organization with the following mission:

1. to act as a forum for historians interested in Hungarian history, and 
2. to establish contacts and cooperate with colleagues in Hungary. 

By 1973 it had 74 members and was successful in organizing and sponsoring panels at the annual national conventions of the American Historical Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies. This organization was never an exclusionary one, but was open to cooperation with scholar in other fields. This openness has encouraged scholars from other social sciences to join. 

Today

In 2003 the decision was made to change the Association's name to reflect the academic diversity of its membership. Since 2004 the new name of the association is Hungarian Studies Association. The membership has doubled to about 140, representing not only scholars in the United States, but also in ten countries; Australia, Canada, Israel, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Germany, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The association is an affiliate of both the American Historical Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies and its business meetings are held concurrently with the annual conventions of these national organizations. Contact with members is maintained with our Newsletter, which between 1970 and 1984 was published three times a year, and since then, it is published four or five times annually. The Association also presents an article prize and a book prize in alternate years for the best Hungary related article or monograph. The biennial article prize is funded by the Association, while the book award is given jointly with the Hungarian Chair of Indiana University, Bloomington. A quick count shows that members have published over 100 books and innumerable articles in various scholarly and popular journals.