Distinctions of Excellence
Notorious Knowledge Distinction
An ASHAL distinction recognizing acknowledged expertise, mature intellectual contribution, cultural authority, professional mastery, or public knowledge through application and in…
Established in 2025 · Orlando, Florida
Preserving memory, advancing knowledge, honoring achievement in History, Arts and Letters
An international academic and cultural society based in Orlando, Florida, bringing together writers, historians, researchers, educators, scientists and artists across borders.
2025Founding Year
10Established Seats
2Countries
4Honors & Competitions
The Academy
An international house of History, Arts and Letters
The Academy promotes knowledge, encourages intellectual and creative production, and works to preserve memory as a legacy for future generations.
It brings together writers, historians, researchers, educators, scientists, artists and intellectuals dedicated to the study, preservation, and international dissemination of knowledge.
When an intellectual or professional path matures, a question arises: where will this trajectory be formally recorded? The Academy answers through seats, honors, calls and a community of prestige.
ASHAL belongs to a global family of sister academies, founded by members united by a shared mission — ABHL in Brazil, ASHAL in the United States, with expansion envisioned for Europe. Each academy has its own identity and governance; the bond between them is a declared partnership.
Institutional identity
An institution grounded in purpose and governance
Established in 2025, the American Society of History, Arts and Letters is a Florida not-for-profit corporation based in Orlando, bringing together people dedicated to History, the Arts, Literature, and cultural exchange.
Our bylaws define the Society’s purposes, organization, and responsibilities. Our published governance policies address conflicts of interest, financial controls, recordkeeping, reporting concerns, and respectful conduct. These documents explain how ASHAL is governed and how its institutional decisions are made.
Distinctions of Excellence
Notorious Knowledge Distinction
An ASHAL distinction recognizing acknowledged expertise, mature intellectual contribution, cultural authority, professional mastery, or public knowledge through application and institutional review.
Calls & Applications
Open opportunities
Collections, decorations and distinctions with current applications and nominations.
Distinctions of Excellence
Academic Excellence Distinction
An ASHAL distinction recognizing documented academic, intellectual, cultural, educational, professional, or civic excellence through application and institutional review.
Intellectual Merit Award
Intellectual Merit Award
A nomination-based ASHAL honor recognizing distinguished intellectual contribution, authorship, research, cultural production, public thought, and service to knowledge.
Academic Body
Recent investitures
Each seat honors a patron and welcomes a trajectory dedicated to culture and knowledge.
Anapuena Havena
Founding MemberSince: August 31, 2026Seat 1
Chair patron 1C. S. Lewis
Lincoln Chaves
- Founding MemberSince: August 31, 2026Seat 2
Chair patron 2Abraham Lincoln
Leôncio de Aguiar Vasconcellos Filho
- Founding MemberSince: August 31, 2026Seat 3
Chair patron 3João Guimarães Rosa
Formal Recognition
Granted honors
Decorations and distinctions that celebrate contributions to language, science and culture.
No published submissions at the moment.
Public records will be displayed after institutional validation.
Publications
Academic articles
Studies on heritage, history and memory signed by Academy members.
The Reader of Time: "Midnight Mass", by Machado de Assis
Rio, May 1894: a reader opens the magazine and finds a new story by Machado. It is printed here in full — a conversation the narrator never understood.
The Reader of Time: News of the Drought in Ceará, July 1877
Letters from the interior of Ceará, printed in Rio in July 1877: 4,619 migrants counted on a single road, families eating wild plants, children left behind on the way.
The Personalities of the Military Dictators After 1964 and the Country That Emerged from Them
Five men, twenty-one years, and a machine of repression that outgrew each of them. A study of character, and of what character does when it holds absolute power.
News
Academy life
Events, inductions, and recognition involving the Academy and its members.
The American Society of History, Arts and Letters Is Established in Orlando, Florida
ASHAL has been established in Orlando, Florida, as an international academic and cultural society devoted to History, Literature, the Arts, Culture, and Science.
The Founding Chapter: ASHAL Opens Its Founding Member Applications
The Founding Member distinction is granted once, at the beginning of an institution's life. Applications are under review.
Sister Academies: ASHAL and the Brazilian Academy of History and Literature
Two independent institutions, one intellectual tradition — and why readers will find studies here that were originally written in Portuguese.
Associates
Associate Members
Associates who take part in and support the institutional life of the Society.
Americas Handy Test
Patron AssociateSince: October 02, 2026
Cultural AssociateSince: September 30, 2026
Benefactor AssociateSince: October 01, 2026
AHAnapuena Havena
☆ Finalist · Best of Brazil in the World
The Presidency
Anapuena Havena
Founder and President · Writer, historian and genealogist
Born in Fortaleza, Brazil, Anapuena Havena built a trajectory that unites literature, history and preservation — founding the Brazilian academy ABHL in 2021 and, from that experience, establishing ASHAL in the United States.
Based in the United States, she leads The American Society of History, Arts and Letters and conducts editorial projects, anthologies and study cycles.
BA in HistoryPostgraduate in Brazilian HistoryMA in PsychologyDoctor Honoris Causa
Read about the award nomination →Newsletter
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Contact
Talk to the Secretariat
Questions about membership, calls, honors or partnerships? Write to us.