Reading the Archive by Machine: An OCR Benchmark for Historians, 1612–1921 Here is version 1 of a working paper on the new OCR tools that are transforming digital history. working-papers-in-critical-search.github.io/paper-004-oc...

Give it to the orcas, let see what happens.

Breaking News: The Trump administration moved to open the habitats of imperiled animals to farming, drilling, mining and other development. Environmentalists characterized it as the most severe erosion of protections for wildlife in half a century. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/c...

Public conversation about the OMB proposal has focused on science, but make no mistake: this is about ALL research and humanities are just as vulnerable. I'm back @scholarlykitchen.bsky.social w historian & @historians.org exec director Sarah Weicksel. scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/07/10/t...

As the one responsible for all tech in a state library/archive that's about the size & with the same remit as some national libraries, let me amplify: libraries need more funding. Tell your politicians & administrators. We are getting crushed by the fact that "digital" is more expensive than books.

Earlier this week @tedlieu.bsky.social introduced a bill to establish a “21st Century Federal Writers’ Project” to document American history and culture in commemoration of the 250th anniversary. www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...

My favourite thing about Haaland is that he spent 1.3 million ​Norwegian kroner of his football money on a rare 1594 edition of Viking chronicles - a record book sale for Norway - and then donated it to his regional library. www.reuters.com/lifestyle/ha...

On the one hand, we got over two inches of rain last night. That's great! On the other hand, it's now wildly humid despite being cooler.

For more #envhist inspiration, don’t miss @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social talking about how she writes history with @katecarp.bsky.social on @draftingthepast.bsky.social This new book sounds wonderful! 📗🗃️ podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...

Moved everybody to fresh pasture.

Happy 250th, America.

The best way we know to spend 1776? On history books 📚 https://uncpress.org/250-2/

I visited Walmarts and airport giftshops, talked to tourists in DC and Philly, navigated an endless stream of AI retail slop, and got banned from Etsy in my quest to find the quintessential piece of 250th anniversary merch. I wrote about it for @defector.com. defector.com/we-hold-thes...

this video from the bbc about texas bbq is frying me

On the long American tradition of buying sovereignty, Greenland, colonialism, an AI penguin, and the grimy history of the president’s grandfather in the far north www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...

Finished reading: Gilead: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson 📚

This is my lane. I went through the 194 Trump v Barbara opinion from yesterday section by section, noting what they got right about US migration and citizenship history, and what the dissents get wrong. Please share if you think it is helpful to others.

Stopped by Carhenge on our trip in western Nebraska.

What a treat to talk to @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social, one of my longtime faves! We talked her (many) projects, quirks of academia in Scandanavia, and how history is the family business. I loved her new book GHOSTS UNDER GLASS @uchicagopress.bsky.social. Listen: draftingthepast.com/podcast-epis... 🗃️

We visited Toadstool Geologic Park on the Oglala National Grasslands in western Nebraska over the weekend. Really incredible place.

An open letter, to readers, about Charity and Sylvia. I am very pained to feel the need to write this. #queerhistory #pride

Horizontal yellow.

Currently reading: The Crazies: The Cattleman, the Wind Prospector, and a War Out West by Amy Gamerman 📚

The LC Discord cooked up some thoughts on the scandal naming convention

A Virginian in 1775:

I have worked at NARA Chicago on S. Pulaski. The reading room is very small; the facility itself is not all that large. It's in an industrial park. It cannot possibly cost a significant amount to operate that facility. Closing it will deny people in the midwest access to their own records.

A Virginian in 1775:

A reminder on Father's Day that the history of the American Revolution is about more than Founding Fathers. IOW Dad Books can be about moms, daughters, sisters, aunts, wives, friends, and compatriots.

This should concern all of us. What is your institution doing to preserve collective memory?

IF YOU SEE THIS CLOSE THE TAB IMMEDIATELY this is a trick to install malware on your machine. it is not a real captcha system.

This Juneteenth, we’re spotlighting two books that explore how Black Americans fought to define freedom after emancipation and how those struggles still shape our present 👇 📖 Read this Q&A with the authors 📚 Enjoy 50% off both titles (today only!) with code 01JUNETEENTH50 https://ow.ly/iBJT50Ze11L

Vulture pose.

A Virginian in 1774:

A Virginian in 1774:

L'historien Carlo Ginzburg est mort à 87 ans. Pionnier de la micro-histoire, il a fait de la rencontre avec l’inattendu le moteur de sa méthode et de son écriture. Pour (re)découvrir son parcours et sa pensée, écoutez l'entretien qu’il nous avait accordé en 2025. ➡️ https://l.franceculture.fr/cPy

Sad news that Carlo Ginsburg, an important figure in microhistory research, has passed: lavocedinewyork.com/en/people/20...

Finally, a piece on Bad Bunny + botany / environment / empire! This whole @edgeeffectsmag.bsky.social Botanical Imaginations series is fantastic, and this is no exception. edgeeffects.net/bad-bunny/

Up at sunrise for some last minute birding and wildlife spotting.

Really grateful for the time I’ve gotten to spend in Montana for our writers retreat. Thankful for Will Thomas and Tiya Miles in organizing the event, and excited to have created a new community of fellow writers.

Babes, Syed, my 105k word manuscript went off to the reviewers earlier this year and I can guarantee you I typed in every single citation in there. I think I have several hundred footnotes, but yes.

Hercules and Nessus, by Giambologna, 1599

I’m rarely at a loss for words but today I don’t have many for the enormity and the complexity of Gordon Wood’s legacy - I was inspired by his work even as I agreed with about 1/2 and was often irritated by the rest. RIP. A real one. www.brown.edu/news/2026-06...

Gordon S. Wood, the scholar who forged an influential and sharply debated narrative of the country's early years of independence through such works as "The Creation of the American Republic" and "The Radicalism of the American Revolution," has died. He was 92. https://to.pbs.org/4vvI1n9

I just received the terribly distressing news that Gordon Wood was hit by a car and killed yesterday. We were together with other Founding era scholars at the 2nd Judicial Circuit conference last week at Lake George, and he was as usual in fine fettle and as always enjoyable to talk to.

I just heard the truly terrible news about Gordon Wood. This last fall I was able to spend some time with him and an undergraduate student conducting an oral history about 1976, part of a Brown 2026 project. At the end, Wood told me how much he loves his family and being in his 90s.

Once again, a simply false claim. There is plenty of military history; there is in fact plenty of "great man" history - another chunky tome on Ike every few years, e.g. - but they don't do it in a way that makes reactionaries feel comfortable. And that's a national crisis. Allegedly.

Congratulations to @joshuanygren.bsky.social on winning the Agricultural History Society’s Saloutos best book award for The State of Conservation! You can watch/listen to our @greenhouseuis.net conversation w him on the book here: 🎥 newnatures.org/greenhouse/e... 🎧 newnatures.org/greenhouse/p...

Put wind or solar on the land that grows ethanol corn. Run electric vehicles off the power. Use 99% less land per mile driven, at far lower cost. Let farmers use the freed-up land to do actual farmer stuff, like growing real food for humans and being good custodians of land for future generations.

Currently reading: Taking America Back: The Conservative Movement and the Far Right by David Austin Walsh 📚

wow