We had congressional hearings when parents just suspected heavy metal was leading some kids to suicide.

225 years ago on Christmas Day 1800, Thomas Jefferson, learned of the first successful vaccination in the U. S., and wrote: "every friend of humanity must look with pleasure on this discovery, by which one evil the [more] is withdrawn from the condition of man." founders.archives.gov/documents/Je...

225 years ago on Christmas Day 1800, Thomas Jefferson, learned of the first successful vaccination in the U. S., and wrote: "every friend of humanity must look with pleasure on this discovery, by which one evil the [more] is withdrawn from the condition of man." founders.archives.gov/documents/Je...

I was researching 18th century records in a New England town’s city hall. Near the bathroom in the basement I spotted an old wooden storage box. I peaked inside and saw it was filled with old letters and I spotted one signed by Samuel Adams. I asked if I could review that material and was told “no”

Struggling as a teacher to keep up with changes to make sure my assignments use actual thinking/writing. Trying, but I'm tired. Not sure non-HS teachers truly get how kids are using ChatGPT for everything. EVERY.THING. As a search engine. To do questions on assignments. Almost all students/levels.

You have literally no understanding of what you and your ilk have unleashed in our world of teaching and scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. I have spent hundreds of hours over the last year dealing with problems generated by your "invention." Reinventing my classes.

Vaccines prevent lockdowns. The most anti-lockdown thing you can do is be pro-vaccine. Do you get it yet?

One of my students drew me on the whiteboard before our final exam today. Pretty good dry-erase likeness!

"We have...to wonder [why] it is not universal, or that there is a single person...who can think of opposing or neglecting to call in its aid to himself and family, when the disorder appears, and whilst the means of inoculation are in his power." Dr. John Morgan, U.S. Surgeon General, April 1776.

We could have eliminated Hepatitis B infection in the US… …instead we are going to let newborn babies risk 90% chance of chronic infection that cause liver failure and cancer so that a few incredibly stupid adults - who are all vaccinated btw - can force their selfish science denial on other people

My vague sense (based on a question I got from a recent graduate) is also that alumni of my institution eventually lose access to whatever university provided cloud storage they had while enrolled. They can end up losing a lot of their work because of it

I showed my students a term paper that I had saved with my professor’s comments on it from my freshman year 25 years ago. I asked them if they ever thought about keeping assignments they had written, and they looked at me like I had 3 heads.

Good news! Sprite’s brother Milo (right) is coming to visit us this weekend.

Someone needs to point at that copy of the Declaration of Independence he put up on the wall of the Oval Office and ask if he agrees "all men are created equal," or if he thinks that people from Somalia are inferior to people from Europe. Just make the racism plain.

Good morning from Sprite who has decided to take on some light carpentry jobs for extra treats.

Fantastic! I hope you enjoyed it. I hope that some readers do pair it with Fenn’s Pox Americana, the book that helped inspire me to write The Contagion of Liberty.

I just read the most impressive undergraduate paper that I have ever seen, and it’s an absolute tragedy that I have to wonder if it’s AI wizardry or the genuine hard work of a brilliant student. 99% sure it’s brilliance, very different from the AI slop I usually get.

I just read the most impressive undergraduate paper that I have ever seen, and it’s an absolute tragedy that I have to wonder if it’s AI wizardry or the genuine hard work of a brilliant student. 99% sure it’s brilliance, very different from the AI slop I usually get.

“Gen. Washington did not have to convince fearful colonists to protect themselves against #smallpox — they were the ones demanding it… violent insistence for freedom from disease ultimately helped American colonists achieve independence from Great Britain.” #vaxed

My book The Contagion of Liberty, which, among other things, explains the enthusiasm early Americans had for public health and inoculations. Is coming soon to paperback and can be preordered for 40% off with code HHOL25 www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/...

OPINION: " There was a reason pro-slavery businessmen and thinkers were energized by the prospect of an American Egypt: Many Southern planters imagined themselves as guardians of a hierarchical and aristocratic system, one grounded in landownership, tradition and honor," Charles Vanthournout writes.

Ken Burns’ documentary did mention Washington’s decision to inoculate the troops, but it missed a tremendous opportunity to talk about how inoculation, and public health generally, was being discussed as both a duty of government and a right of the people. It wasn’t just a smart tactical move.

Ah, Burns does mention Washington’s inoculation of the Army, but the documentary made the odd claim that new recruits were carrying smallpox into the Army. That’s new true. New recruits were demanding to be inoculated because smallpox was already in the Army. #HATM

Overall I thought episode two of The American Revolution was better than episode one, which tried to cover 20 years of events. He could have spent less time on Bunker Hill though.

Ken Burns is definitely prepping us for Benedict Arnold’s traitor turn. He might have also mentioned that Arnold called for inoculating soldiers more than a year before Washington did and had his order rejected by General John Thomas (who died of smallpox).

Glad to see smallpox (finally) play a major part in the last half hour or so of episode two. I would have liked to have seen more on the soldiers’ demand for inoculation, but it was good that they mentioned Washington was initially against inoculation—that’s often left out

Inoculation was uncommon in Virginia, but Virginia’s enslavers often did not inoculate their slaves even when they inoculated themselves and their white family members.

Agreed. When I teach the Revolution we don’t get to Lexington for 5 or six weeks. The Declaration is about the midpoint for me, but it’s in episode 2 of 6 for Burns. I think 1774 to Lexington, à la Mary Beth Norton, could have had its own episode.

We had a pretty good turnout for night one of Ken Burns’ American Revolution at CMU. I showed it in an auditorium with a second big screen so that students in the room could participate in a live chat while we watched. It worked well!

I’ll be hosting a watch party on my campus every night this week. I’m glad to hear this from Karin. I haven’t seen it yet, but I have a small concern about the historians featured. The 6 essays in the companion book are by historians from U. C. London, Harvard, Harvard, Harvard, Virginia, Harvard

Starting tonight!

Anyone John Winthrop scholars out there? I'm trying to track down if he mentioned or wrote anything about the 1625 plague in London. I've tried looking in the various published works and letters I've found online but no luck yet. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

A person in Washington state is the first human known to have contracted the avian influenza subtype H5N5. They have been hospitalized since early November, and likely contracted it from their flock of backyard chickens. No increased risk to the public as of now.

Well, it's a little clearer now why billionaires are so invested in technology that produces better written emails.

George Washington’s surgeon general Dr. John Morgan wrote in his 1776 “Recommendation of Inoculation” that denying inoculation was a “violation of the natural rights of mankind” and every government has a duty to “provide for the safety of its members by rendering [it] as universal as possible.”

I’m hosting a watch party for all six nights of Ken Burns’ “American Revolution” at CMU. In all 12 hours how much smallpox will there be? My guess is not enough!

The place where I learned to love early American history is hiring! I’m sure they’ll have their pick of too many amazing candidates.

Our first Razorback game in over a decade! Go hogs!

sometimes an Oxford comma can make all the difference

Would anyone with access institutional access to Early American Imprints Series II (180-1819) be willing to send me a pdf copy of "An Account of Rose Butler: Aged Nineteen...whose execution I attended..." by Dorothy Ripley (New York, 1819)? It's for a student research assignment. Please and thanks!

The #1 lesson from yesterday’s blowout: Humanities majors killed on the job market 1) Mamdani- Africana Studies 2) Spanberger -French 3) Sherill - Global History

And John Adams (among many others) couldn't believe anyone was opposed to inoculation in 1764! He wrote to Abigail, "I should think my self, a deliberate self Murderer... if I should only stay in this Town and run the Chance of having it [smallpox] in the natural Way [rather than by inoculation].

My 11 year-old declared that he's going AImish (eschewing AI in the way that the Amish avoid certain technolgies). He was frustrated that some kids don't know how to use a calculator, even, because they're over-reliant on AI. To course correct, he's been teaching himself to use a slide rule.

This is a good start, but people should also be free to drive on whatever side of the highway feels appropriate to them.

A plate from “Engravings, Explaining the Anatomy of the Bones, Muscles, and Joints” by Scottish surgeon-anatomist John Bell FRCSEd, published in 1794. Bell illustrated his own works based on dissections he carried out in his Edinburgh anatomy school.

Bahahaha RFK: Tylenol causes autism. Tylenol: Do you have evidence? We can sue you. RFK: Tylenol doesn't cause autism. www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...

The real tell is that they never ever work with patient or provider groups on their plans. Obama spoke at the AMA annual conference and published in the NEJM. You can’t even imagine Republicans (let alone Trump) meeting with say the American Cancer Society to develop their plans.

5 years ago today Biden gave his best campaign speech at Warm Springs, GA. It has been wrongly forgotten. "The insidious virus. Economic anguish. Systemic discrimination. Any one of them could have rocked a nation. Yet. we've been hit by all three at once." www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/re...

In spite of the headline, there is the pesky legal matter that neither billionaires or anybody else can “give” money to “pay troops” or anything else. However, a great compromise would be for billionaires to pay more money into the general treasury through “taxes.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/u...