The Civil War Centennial is

remembered as a painful turning point in the North-South cultural divide and the quest for American civil rights. For most historians, this crucible is also generally rec-ognized as giving birth to modern social, race, and women’s history. Although now almost forgotten, the Civil War Centennial also served as a milestone in the history of mili-tary history, providing a vehicle for the reemergence the Society for Military History’s predecessor, the American Military Institute (AMI), as a vibrant, versatile, and growing scholarly organization. Since the end of the Second World War, AMI had suffered a steady decline in prowess and di-rection as a byproduct of both the postwar peace dividend and a se-ries of seemingly-never-ending administrative problems. With the United States Army overseeing the occupation and rebuilding of Europe and Japan, the organization’s leading government boosters were hard-pressed to find time and opportuni-ties for the organization, which had aided the war effort. At the same time, rapid changes afoot in the War Department heavily impact-ed the organization’s flagship military history jour-nal and twice nearly resulted in the de facto elimi-nation of Military Affairs (MA). Membership and funding were also fluctuated wildly between 1945 and 1960. In fact, the organization barely managed to survive these lean years through the combined efforts of dedicated members, a few surprise outside donations, dedicated officers, and a few instrumental mainstream politicians. Hence, by 1961, the AMI was in no condition to play a leading role in the national, state, or even private level event centennial plans. While the SMH Records reveal the AMI of-ficers ’ initial frustrations with their period limita