The FRUS Status of the Series page has been updated for 2026 (checking it is an early-year ritual of mine). Two big volumes await: the Carter-era Japan/Korea, and China 1981-83. Plus I suspect – for some reason – there will be interest in the Reagan-era Venezuela chapter scheduled for release.

Indeed, history.state.gov has transformed these FRUS microfiche supplements from the "least accessible" to the "most accessible," by some measures. The digital edition offers not only transcriptions of the archival documents, but also the facsimiles—PDFs & zoomable IIIF images of the microfiche.

My congratulations to the Canvas design team for turning a process that once required four clicks into one requiring six.

The FRUS microfiche supplements were a great addition to the collection in their time, but are now the least accessible volumes in the series. It's good to see the American Republics 1958-60 documents are now online. history.state.gov/historicaldo...

Is it worth my while to tell people that "post" isn't a preposition?

I'm happy to announce the publication of my article about a curious early episode in the U.S.-Afghan relationship: the Inland oil concession. In 1936, the Afghan government offered the Inland Exploration Company – the local arm of a mid-sized domestic U.S. firm – an exclusive concession across 🇦🇫.

So the Obama administration oral history project went live today. An extraordinary resource for historians and teachers, and a great credit to the team of folks who compiled them all, including Evan McCormick, @pastpunditry.bsky.social and many others.

but the NYT told me she was worried about the children

From @bytimreynolds.bsky.social - Ukraine's Vladyslav Heraskevych out of Winter Olympics over banned helmet honoring war dead #olympics apnews.com/article/hera...

Recalling this for no particular reason

Over 28 years, 140 people died at the Berlin Wall from all causes (intentional shooting, drowning, accidents, etc.). #comparativeborderregimes

Comparing FDR and Trump because they both had disdain for extant liberal constitutional norms is akin to comparing a brain surgeon to Norman Bates in Psycho because they both use knives to do their work. nilsgilman.substack.com/p/the-execut...

It's so weird they keep showing the Golden Gate as placesetting scenery for a game in Santa Clara instead of 101.

Really, the embarrassing part of all this is that the NYT doesn't recognize they're proudly reporting on a con game. They're so caught up in the "ooooooooooooooooooooooo it's ai" wonder of it. Which is doubly funny because they reported on this exact thing a few years ago and called it a scam then.

Bad bunnies from long ago www.bl.uk/stories/blog...

It is the height of credulity to believe that there's a staffer specifically tasked with early morning posts.

The voice mails won't hack themselves.

Maybe we've been unfair to Clark Griswold.

The Post leaves a huge void, while the Times continues to wallow in its own nonsense.

Recalling, for no particular reason, how Post reporting was instrumental in revealing Jayson Blair's fabrications. He'd ventured into writing about the 2002 DC sniper, and the Graham-era Post didn't brook rivals in its local coverage.

I used to be sad about what was happening to the newspaper I took great pride in for the 48 years I worked there. Now I'm just furious. Bezos did to The Washington Post what Trump did to America.

A student referred to "British music" today and I was somewhat taken aback.

In response to the deluge of messages on casting in The Odyssey: Helen was born from an 🥚 Don’t talk to me about historical veracity.

Team Bezos is comically brittle

Well, another government shutdown means another day the archives are closed. Plenty of appropriations to terrorize civilians on American streets, but not a dime to pay the librarians, archivists, or keep their lights on.

Extras ended with an extended lecture about celebrity culture by this guy.

The idea that the Court should operate entirely in secret is a modern phenomenon. The idea that the Court should be separated from the public is a modern phenomenon. Earlier generations did not accept a powerful, isolated & secretive Court and we shouldn't either 1/6 www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/u...

Rest in peace. One of the greats!

The parallels to the Washington Post are unsettlingly close - almost as if someone drew up a template.

Too late to bring in Alan Smithee?

Weiss cannot conceive of journalism outside of the op-ed page.

Some kind of dismal sack race between the Post and CBS News is underway.

Spoke to folks in Kharkiv and Kyiv - people are freezing to death while being bombed daily for hours. It’s a humanitarian crisis. Tweets of “how incredibly strong Ukrainians are” and “prayers” aren’t enough. They need help. Now.

Bezos would rather burn the Post to the ground and make a dozen Melania documentaries to keep his other businesses in good graces.

Europe + Brazil could put an impressive ⚽️ tournament together.

The next episode of our SECOLAS audiodocumentary on the Cuban Missile Crisis is live! In this episode, Dustin Walcher and I dive into the Bay of Pigs Invasion, speaking with experts including... (1/2)🗃️ soundcloud.com/historiaspod...

The US granted visas to Jews but only allowed 30,000 in from Germany a year. You had to wait for your number to come up. Meet Robert Smallbones. An unassuming British diplomat who 'hacked' this system so effectively (saving 48 THOUSAND Jews) the UK government kept his scheme secret for decades /1 🧵

I bought a Blue Jays cap as a souvenir in Toronto a couple of summers ago. This has led to a lot of direct questioning when I wear it abroad.

Iceland is the new Eastasia

It's not a great sign that the publication timetable for the FRUS series hasn't been updated since January 1. history.state.gov/historicaldo...

If you listen very carefully, you can hear Charles de Gaulle screaming I BLOODY TOLD YOU SO from some rural French cemetery.

Absolutely clean house. Send the bums packing. Erect a parody statue of Bert Ellis on the South Lawn for good measure.

Bayou Kissinger says what?

Alfred wept

For a point of reference, in East Germany there were 90,000 full time employees of the Stasi at its peak for a country of 17 million people. The equivalent ratio in the US with its population of more than 340 million would be a secret police force employing more than 1.8 million people.

From a good friend in Minneapolis: "Target is allowing ICE to stage in their parking lots, use their restrooms, and abduct people from inside their stores - so if you weren’t boycotting already, now is the time." They were staging in Chicago as well.

wahoowa

"Dokoupil has already achieved his dream of outdoing Cronkite in one specific way: Cronkite reported the news. Dokoupil’s approach has been to become the news. It’s an unappealing display of vanity and a misunderstanding of what news is and does."

RIP Dan Howe, a great historian of the antebellum United States 🗃️