Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional standards, and support scholarship and innovative teaching.

[10] The early leaders of the association were mostly gentlemen with the leisure and means to write many of the great 19th-century works of history, such as George Bancroft, Justin Winsor, and James Ford Rhodes.

However, as former AHA president James J. Sheehan points out,[12] the association always tried to serve multiple constituencies, "including archivists, members of state and local historical societies, teachers, and amateur historians, who looked to it – and not always with success or satisfaction – for representation and support."

Much of the early work of the association focused on establishing a common sense of purpose and gathering the materials of research through its Historical Manuscripts and Public Archives Commissions.

Similarly, only 15 women served on the AHA Council before 1971 (out of over 186 members), and in the Association’s first 100 years only one woman, Nellie Neilson, had been elected to the presidency [in 1943].

[14][15] From its founding, the association was largely managed by historians employed at colleges and universities, and served a critical role in defining their interests as a profession.

Each issue also reviewed a number of history books for their conformity to the new professional norms and scholarly standards that were taught at leading graduate schools to Ph.D. candidates.

[17] Their report largely defined the way history would be taught at the high school level as a preparation for college, and wrestled with issues about how the field should relate to the other social studies.

After extensive lobbying by AHA Secretary Waldo Leland and Jameson, Congress established the National Archives and Records Administration in 1934.

"[20] The association historically avoided addressing contemporary politics and made no statements on the Vietnam War or South African apartheid.

Since then, the association has passed resolutions against the Rohingya genocide, persecution of Uyghurs in China, Russian invasion of Ukraine, and political backlash to Diversity, equity, and inclusion, race and gender studies.