I hope to see some of you at @historians.org this week! I'll be listening to all of your fab talks about #spatialhistory #DH, #worldhistory, #environmentalhistory, #chinesehistory and sitting in the exhibit hall at tables for @thewha.bsky.social and @whgazetteer.org. Find me there!

Linked Pasts 11 programme (December 1–5 and some 8–12) linkedpasts.hcommons.org/2025/11/09/l...

(4) Linking Knowledge Through Place: ISHI, WHG, and the Future of Gazetteer Collaboration, with @rmostern.bsky.social @docuracy.co.uk, Alexandra Loranna, Palak Vashist. Look at Institute for Spatial History Innovation & World Historical Gazetteer. Register to participate at forms.gle/dzSq2GibT17n...

Zohran holding his first press conference in front of the 1964 world's fair globe at Flushing Meadow Park is everything to me. I just did a spontaneous lesson about it in my History of Cartography class.

Rewind! As we rethink the names of streets, landmarks, etc this ep w/ @rmostern.bsky.social from last year feels very relevant. Ruth shares how mapping the past thru the World Historical Gazetteer can transform how we understand our shared histories. Tune in: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/r...

#OTD 2 yrs ago A guest post by @rmostern.bsky.social on the integration of #digitalhumanities in one's research "What does it mean to assert that a project represents scholarship in the digital humanities?" check it out 👇 #tbt #dhinpractice digitalorientalist.com/2023/10/06/q...

The WHA is excited to announce the Call for Papers for our next conference in Incheon, Korea, June 25-27, 2026. Find the full CFP and submission information on our conference website: thewha.org/conferences/... [Image: Incheon Grand Bridge, by Cameron Henderson via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0]

We are so excited about the @thewha.bsky.social conference in Incheon Korea next June! If you are interested in any aspect of teaching and research about the transnational and global human past, you should submit a paper or panel proposal and come join us! #worldhistory thewha.org/conferences/...

I just read an op-ed in the New York Times by @dwallacewells.bsky.social that introduced me to the term "charismatic megatraumas." So good, wow.

The National Humanities Center welcomes fellowship applications from scholars engaged in the study of China in the Ming dynasty or of regions and periods connected to the Ming dynasty. Applications are due October 2, 2025. #AsianStudies cc: @asianstudies.org

Dear colleagues at #dh2025 and members of @adho, I would deeply appreciate an official stance from our professional association(s) towards the #scholasticide and wilful destruction of material and immaterial cultural heritage of predominantly Arabic-speaking societies committed by Israel in […]

Congratulations to all the superstar @whcpitt.bsky.social Digital Atlas interns! Check out the project portal, which includes 82 projects spanning eight years of student work.

Boosting my Digital Data Specialist position at the Institute for Spatial History Innovation. Applications due this week!

Friends who are members of the American Historical Association (or wish to join), please vote by July 15 for the slate that is committed to democratizing our profession and holding itself accountable to the membership during these perilous times.

I am hearing news today about website content coming down.

The Pitt University Times profiled me as someone whose grant got cancelled. I talked about what @nehgov.bsky.social @altnehgov.altgov.info @neh-odh.bsky.social @nehafge3403.bsky.social means for my research, for the humanities, and for institutions in Pittsburgh; and my student who fled the US.

The Institute for Spatial History Innovation (ISHI) is so new that we don't even have a website yet, but we're official! We'll be the new home for @whgazetteer.org and other work in digital methods, ethics, and projects for spatial history. Here's a little article about our work. Stay tuned!

Area Studies scholars take note, a new macro regional toponym has been sighted.

So very thrilled and honored to be spending next week with @vierth.bsky.social and other smart people at the China-Princeton Digital Humanities Workshop and introducing the spatial humanities to some fabulous participants. chinesedh2025.eas.princeton.edu

#ThanksBrett from me as well.

I don't have the grimmest story, the biggest cardboard, or the best kerning, but I made a little something for Saturday #nokings.

📣Job Klaxon! A good #DH #spatialhistory position at the University of Pittsburgh with me and the @whgazetteer.org at the fab new (doesn't even have a website yet) Institute for Spatial History Innovation (ISHI).

Thank you @sheilaabrennan.bsky.social, @nehgov.bsky.social & @neh-odh.bsky.social: not just funders but helpful & steadfast supporters of @whgazetteer.org and so much else in our fields. The NEH selection committees I joined over the years were a source of camaraderie, the staff was the best part.

I just did a photoshoot for a new institutional headshot. Naturally, the backdrop was a big wall map (Pitt Global Hub) and the whole time I was posing, I was thinking AND IT'S A GALL-PETERS PROJECTION!

We have an interactive map of Equiano's astonishing travels, compiled by @rmostern.bsky.social: whgazetteer.org/collections/...

"After Mahmoud Khalil was abducted, I locked myself inside my home for a month." Why @elgendy95.bsky.social, a former political prisoner in Egypt, decided he had no choice but to flee Donald Trump's America.

I began this semester supporting the eloquent and talented @elgendy95.bsky.social [email protected] for what would have been an amazing critical archive project. Instead, he has fled into exile. Please read his powerful story here, with rage and grief. www.instagram.com/p/DJJwpXfsoj...

Congratulations to Ruth Mostern @rmostern.bsky.social‬ on winning our contest for best image for teaching the world of the steppe! The image will be featured in a gallery on the MAFE website with any commentary Ruth would like to append. What conclusions could students draw from this image?

Anna Shields and I have organized the first China-Princeton Digital Humanities workshop! This week-long workshop on the digital humanities for Chinese studies will be held in person at Princeton University, June 16th to 20th! chinesedh2025.eas.princeton.edu

Curious about DH for Chinese studies? Apply to this great workshop that @annamshields.bsky.social and @vierth.bsky.social have organized! I'll be there talking about @whgazetteer.org and other spatial things!

Catalan Atlas! www.cresquesproject.net/home

This afternoon, hundreds of people joined Rep. Summer Lee, local professors, USW and the Pitt Graduate Workers Union to stand up for the protection of higher education at Schenley Plaza:

A sunny and empowering day at the #nationalhighereddayofaction with the Union of Pitt Faculty and AAUP Pittsburgh, with fierce and urgent speeches by colleagues, students, and Representative Summer Lee @summerlee.bsky.social

Today!

I stand with the ACLU and with SJP.

The @aclu.org has sued the University of Pittsburgh for violating the First and Fourteenth Amendments by placing Students for Justice in Palestine on an indefinite suspension despite no obvious violation of Pitt's policies. www.aclupa.org/en/sjp-pitt.

You don't want to miss this! Preorder Robert Macfarlane's IS A RIVER ALIVE? from a participating US independent bookstore by April 25 to get a signed book plus a 48-page notebook made in collaboration with Field Notes. isariveralive.com

Pittsburgh! Come to the Union of Pitt Faculty @steelworkers.bsky.social and AAUP Pitt @aaup.bsky.social rally next Thursday for the #nationaldayofactionforhighered. We have so many reasons to be in solidarity and community with one another right now.

This is incredibly powerful: "Make no mistake: when the University of Illinois and other campuses decided to be complicit with racist agendas and leave behind their academic freedom ideals they empowered even greater forces to harm our students."

Keep in mind: the NEH’s budget is 0.01% of the entire federal budget. This is not about savings - it is about the destruction of the Humanities and the critical thinking abilities that they teach. 🗃️

Yay! Happy to see @whgazetteer.org an option, along with Pleiades and Wikidata. Hoping #WHG endpoints are in shape for it!

A few tips for NEH grantees: 1) if you've spent money on an awarded grant but have not yet drawn down the funds, make sure to submit the paperwork to drawn down funds ASAP. 2) the NYTimes article suggests that "DOGE" might cancel awards. If you receive an email from DOGE cancelling your NEH award,

To all my science (🧪) followers: I hope you can take a few minutes to read this necessary essay by historian Karin Wulf (@kawulf.bsky.social). The crisis in the Humanities was not as sudden & explicit as the devastation we're now seeing of the sciences, but it was visible all the same.

AAS members in the United States: please add your voice to those urging Congress to save the National Endowment for the Humanities! The NEH has funded research, programs, and more for decades—and should continue to do so for many more.

This is exciting! Principles include: all history is political, be suspicious of positivism, all history is global history, all history is historiography, do justice-focused history, boycott colonial occupiers, solidarity with the oppressed is a core concern of the historian.

AAS is proud to join the Middle East Studies Association and African Studies Association in this letter to the Columbia University leadership urging it to stand strong for academic freedom. buff.ly/l1bXTlr

In the spirit of more humanities, libraries, responsible data sharing, and international collaboration, I am delighted to share the call for proposals for the "Sustainable Databases in the Humanities" online conference. I'm honored to be one of the plenary speakers. scientoconference.com/sdh-2025/