From Means to Meaning: Historicizing Nonprofit Studies

History matters to nonprofit studies, ontologically as a sequence of past events and epistemologically as the study of past events. Contributing to the growing interest in methods, this study (1) evaluates the uses of historical methods in nonprofit studies by systematically reviewing articles published in NVSQ , Voluntas , and NML ; (2) details archival research practices, highlighting identification of sources, criteria for inclusion/exclusion of sources, and analytical strategies; and (3) proposes uses of history in refining our approach to scholarship in nonprofit studies. Recognizing the field’s focus on quantitative methods, we argue that the humanities, of which history’s unique form of qualitative methods is a good example, are needed in the field as it wrestles with the future direction of the field and the impact of nonprofits and philanthropy on society.