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James R. Grossman served as executive director of the American Historical Association from 2010 until 2025. He was previously vice president for research and education at the Newberry Library and has taught at University of Chicago and University of California, San Diego.

The author of Land of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration and A Chance to Make Good: African-Americans,1900–1929, Grossman was project director and co-editor of the print and digital Encyclopedia of Chicago and is editor emeritus of the series Historical Studies of Urban America. His articles and short essays have focused on various aspects of American urban history, African American history, ethnicity, higher education, and the place of history in public culture. Short pieces have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Time, The Hill, New York Daily News, Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Education, and elsewhere.

Grossman’s consulting experience includes history-related projects generated by the BBC, Smithsonian, and various theater companies, film makers, museums, libraries, and foundations. He has served on the governing boards of the National Humanities Alliance (immediate past president), American Council of Learned Societies, Association of American Colleges and Universities, and Center for Research Libraries.