This letter randomly came to mind this morning. Still unbelievable. (And just one archival find in a great book.)

Learned about the depressing trend of describing books as TL;DR (Too Long, Didn't Read) at a conference last weekend. Instead, I propose LR;WI (Long Read and Worth It). What are some long books that you read recently and enjoyed? I'll start: 🗃️ www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...

Everything is really hard right now, like REALLY hard, on a daily basis. But @ietonat.bsky.social made us breakfast tacos for lunch and my day is a little better. The videos of the NYC kids at the mini podium are helping too.

New from #HistoryInFocus — More on the Doctoral Futures initiative, which aims to rethink graduate education in History and beyond. Plus, I recap my time at #AHA26; spoiler alert: it was mostly podcast-related sessions. 😀 🎙️ @historians.org www.historians.org/podcast/doct...

“The world is a hunter of the monsters of girls, bent on filing sharp edges and shattering teeth and silencing wants and stifling impulses.” maudlinhouse.net/when-we-haun...

In #AHAPerspectives, @drkyliesmith.bsky.social shares how she approaches teaching history to her nursing students. “Students need to learn a broad conception of history that explores the economic and political forces that shape their patients’ lives, as well as their own profession.” 🗃️

Really looking forward to this one, after it was postponed due to the fall federal shutdown.

In #AHAPerspectives, we have two paired pieces this week about the value of teaching history to students outside history departments. First up is Kelly Schrum, who teaches history of higher education to graduate students in a higher education and student affairs program. 🗃️

In #AHAPerspectives, historian Kelly Shrum writes about teaching student affair professionals the history of higher education. 🗃️

Cokie Roberts fellowship application is open for anyone researching women's history at the U.S. National Archives -- due April 15 archivesfoundation.org/news/sixth-a...

I am looking for a part-time research assistant in the Cambridge (Mass.) area to help with a history of the Academy. Details at bit.ly/4asu0Pr and feel free to DM or email me with questions.

Hi, academics on here! I have room in my schedule for one new developmental-editing project this month & one in March. If you or a scholar you know is looking for an experienced developmental editor, please visit my website (link in bio) and/or DM me. References available.Thanks!

In @authormsbev.bsky.social’s Rebel, set in 1867 New Orleans, the protagonist describes when she was a child in NYC and the Fugitive Slave Act (1850) put her community on high alert to protect each other from being captured and sent south. Resonates with today—whistles and all.

My favorite of the Christopher Guest films (though nearly tied with Best in Show). But O’Hara was incredible in all of them.

Hi #skystorians i’m preparing to teach a lower level undergraduate course on the history of 20th century American consumerism. Please send me your secondary reading recs. Thank you!

Attention Teachers! Join NHD’s BRAND NEW Revolutionary Ideals webinar series in partnership with the AHA to learn with top historians in the field. Two teachers will be selected to participate in this opportunity and can earn graduate credits or professional development hours. Apply by February 27!🗃️

It's January, which means a new president of @historians.org has recently begun her term. For #AHAPerspectives, I had the pleasure of interview Suzanne Marchand about her life and career. You don't want to miss the explanation for this porcelain, from her previous research on that industry.

My @historians.org colleague @drwhit.bsky.social will be reporting on the Texas State Board of Education meeting today and their social studies standards revision discussion. Follow along 👇🏻🗃️

Happy book birthday to a brilliant historian and one of the smartest writers on music!

Please help spread the word about our open position for a history editor in the @uncpress.bsky.social acquisitions department! This person will be overseeing exciting, key lists for the publishing program.

EMERGENCY FUNDING REQUEST: We have a $15,500 funding gap and roughly 24 hours to fill it. Our caller has an appointment scheduled for Wednesday, giving us until EOD Tuesday to close the gap. Help us close the gap, here: secure.everyaction.com/aJJmFWffI0qB...

Almost 256 years ago, when British soldiers were occupying a city that was restless in their presence but still firmly part of the empire, a confrontation ended in the shooting death of five people, with 6 more wounded. This offset image of the Boston Massacre is so evocative. 1/

Dave Matthews and Tim Ryenolds playing Neil Young’s Ohio last night and ends with some Rage Against the Machine.

I have a question about how you all handle despair around your career... because of financial circumstances, because of institutional failures, because of all the crises in the world that demand our attention. How do you do it?

Pulled out something really goofy to offset all the horrible stuff:

HAPPENING NOW: A massive crowd is gathered in freezing temperatures outside ICE headquarters in DC to demand ICE OUT OF ALL COMMUNITIES NOW.

The removal of the slavery exhibit from the President's House site might feel unprecedented, but nothing could be further from the truth. We've been fighting over slavery's place in George Washington's legacy for 250 years. I wrote about it for @time.com. Book info here time.com/7357382/geor...

What a fabulous way to support businesses that are closed today in the Twin Cities for the general strike. I commit to buying a book from Tropes & Trifles tomorrow when their online sales reopen. I hope you too will find a way to support a local business in Minneapolis–St. Paul.

If you want to submit a proposal for #AHA27 in New Orleans but don't have a full session/panel, check out the form/spreadsheet to help folks find each other!

PSA: The Marshall Foundation in Lexington, VA is hiring. You would not believe what they have in their archives. networks.h-net.org/jobs/69739/g...

Hey colonial Latin Americanists, anyone putting together a panel proposal for AHA in NOLA next year? I would love to join!

Less than two weeks since this year’s op-ed workshop, and we have a published article from an attendee! Congrats to @ogewilliams.bsky.social on placing this great piece.

hey #edusky and #historians on here, say I was wanting to teach a short course (~3 weeks) on either world war or even both. is there a book accessible for motivated high schoolers you'd recommend? I know the Big Ones but nothing that fits this description.

In #AHAPerspectives, Trishula Patel writes about the history of South Asian immigration to East Africa, examined through the story of New York City mayor @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social. 🗃️

Trish Patel pitches me an article approximately yearly, and every time it's completely different and totally fascinating. This time, she has written in #AHAPerspectives about the history of Indian migration to Africa in the context of @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social's and her own family histories. 🗃️

AHA members: The AHA is accepting applications for the 2026-27 research grants until February 15, 2026. Preference will be given to advanced doctoral students, nontenured faculty, and unaffiliated scholars and to those with specific research needs. 🗃️

We've got a new program at the AHA, which @historianhope.bsky.social designed and today introduces in #AHAPerspectives. 🗃️

AHA stopped posting on X in Jan 2025, but the account still exists and our social media software checks our mentions there. So most days, we staff see Grok arguing about Jewish people's involvement in transatlantic slavery (using AHA sources to correct racists). Deplorable.

Looking forward to publishing this one online, so everyone can read it. But for now, AHA members should check it out in their print #AHAPerspectives!

The fact that not a single one of Tamora Pierce's series has ever been adapted is baffling, especially given media trends over the last few decades.

This year is my 11th annual @bookriot.bsky.social #ReadHarder Challenge. In this thread, I'll share the books I read to complete each of the 24 tasks. 💙📚 bookriot.com/read-harder-...

Giving a talk today about Martin Luther King, Jr's Poor People's Campaign for WVU's Americorps. Probably don't need to say why MLK Day this year feels a little more urgent--just a little more. The work of transformation is always urgent.

I went to Minneapolis last week. What I saw was horrifying and inspiring in equal measure. Gift link to my latest column: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/o...

What can I say, we were fired up after the 2016 election. It felt like urgent work for our editors to share these histories, in accessible form, to show just what ordinary citizens can do. (And we started publishing the series even before the Women’s March happened.)

"Back in DC, one museum director told me they were feeling calm – readier, than in the spring, for assaults by the administration. They knew what they would do...They had scenarios mapped out, “like a crime board”.

New Publication, by @sarahbelle721.bsky.social (2026).”Love Is a Battlefield: Civil War Memory in Modern Romance Novels.” They Are Dead and Yet They Live: Civil War Memories in a Polarized America. Ed. John M. Kinder and Jennifer M. Murray. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 152-169.

Virginia’s first woman governor with a Democratic trifecta. Ready for better days here in the commonwealth!

The Virginia legislature today passed four constitutional amendments, all by day 3 of 2026 session: —protect abortion rights —repeal the same-sex marriage ban —allow mid-decade redistricting —greatly expand voting rights restoration. These will all go to 2026 referendums.