 A founding member of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association (today the Organization of American Historians), Shambaugh edited its proceedings from 1909 to 1914 and served as its president in 1909-1910.In 1912, Shambaugh, then superintendent of the State Historical Society of Iowa, launched the publication "Applied History", a series that ran until 1930.Shambaugh defined applied history as "the use of the scientific knowledge of history and experience in efforts to solve present problems of human betterment."