Interesting essay, but I don't think it's correct to say "In 1950 the typical American would have had to spend 75 percent of his or her daily pay (after taxes) to buy a bottle of vodka." www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/o...

Tempted to write a little case-study of New World Screwworm eradication to push back against every lazy citation of Seeing Like A State. Good book and all but that bit in the preface where he says “I was originally going to include the TVA but ̶f̶o̶u̶n̶d̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶e̶d̶ the case was too complicated” 🤨

Caturday

Based.

NEW POST: How “Arlington House” Became “The Robert E. Lee Memorial.” Read more …

This. In public history settings we often synthesize secondary literature rather than conducting primary source research. And often consult with scholars who are often employed by universities. Few public history jobs include scholarly production. Public and academic history make up an ecosystem.

Friends, I am delighted to report that after several months, I have revised the John Doar manuscript -- originally a sprawling 212,000 words -- down to a lean, mean 139,000. Please clap.

The bill for this truly asinine war on universities is going to be astonishingly huge in both lost opportunities and lost knowledge.

Imagine a world where all the bots who claim to have book clubs actually had book clubs. ✨

The crazy thing about the article where these quotes are coming from is that it was *READ OUT LOUD* at a meeting of the Medical Society of Virginia in 1892. Oh to be a fly on the wall in that room!

Repost with the Russian agent who spies on your posts

Pope Leo, STS mode

David Rosner, a longtime public health professor at Columbia, did such important work documenting the terrible lung disease silicosis, a hazard for construction workers, miners, and stone cutters, leading to reforms. I recommend his classic book DEADLY DUST. press.umich.edu/Books/D/Dead...

Teaching students to avoid "bothering" their teachers stops learning in its tracks, undercuts essential social development, and trains kids not to seek help (from people) when they need it. Its sole function is to enable higher student-teacher ratios. @aft.org promoting this is sick and sickening.

"The tramway company . . . argued that it would be more sensible if the pram manufacturers adapted their devices to suit public transit rather than expecting transit vehicles to accommodate prams." Elise Perrault and Martin Emanuel. "Making Passengers Work," dx.doi.org/10.1353/tech...

New: “The evidence is now clear: History departments are shrinking.” bit.ly/3RhjGCY

My first call on my first newspaper story was to Barney Frank. His office took a message, my phone rang, I answered “Hello this is Michael Grun—“ and before I could finish he said “I know that, you called me, whaddya want.” RIP to an awesome no bullshit guy. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

Virginia Democrats demand return of Arlington House materials targeting Robert E. Lee

Historians - I'm looking for essays/articles that center on one primary source. Topic = US & the world (broadly conceived) 1890s-1950s. I love Ngai on 1924 immigration act, Costigliola on Kennan's long telegram. Recent & undergrad-accessible preferred. Thanks! @shafrhistorians.bsky.social 🗃️

As I try to shift into writing mode for the summer, I was delighted to encounter some of Mason alum Kate Fitzpatrick's "artists' books" on display in Fenwick Library. Books are so beautiful, so terrifying. And words keep slipping off the page. @katesfitzart.bsky.social

My colleague Sam Lebovic writes about Socialist leader Eugene Debs' arrest and sentencing to prison for criticizing WWI to introduce his new four-part teaching guide on free speech in America, offering close readings of primary sources, contextual essays, and classroom exercises.

"The rail comparison is even starker. Newark sits directly on the Northeast Corridor, the busiest intercity rail line in the Americas, connecting Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington." This is also why Washington's international airport should have been BWI, yes?

"the weight of his collection was so substantial that engineers were brought in to reinforce the flooring beneath it."

Recently, FamilySearch digitized and uploaded tons of microfilmed records, including many from 18th-century Massachsuetts. They're using some sort of AI to transcribe/summarize the handwritten documents. I've noticed that the AI strips out references to race and enslavement in 18thc documents.

Bike to Work Day is Friday, May 15! Register for one of seven event “pit stops” in Arlington, then bike there to enjoy free bike checks, refreshments, and a celebration of bicycling as one of the best ways to get around Arlington car-free. BikeArlington.com/BikeToWorkDay

"Acrobat’s tools have improved over the years, but they can still be cumbersome to use." See §6.75: Use of the Exclamation Point.

Good example here of how LA streetcars were getting subsumed by private automobile infrastructure by the 1950s. Their removal just doubled down on that dynamic, as the modern photo shows.

Congratulations to Kevin Brett on bringing a Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission marker to the site of the 1844 Kensington riots.

Infrastructure projects routinely spend billions of dollars to avoid difficult conversations. I wrote a new piece on Infrastory on how we need to be better at recognizing the problems that can be solved with a phone call rather than big infrastructure. open.substack.com/pub/infrasto...

We have Canvas back.

My statement on the Virginia Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn a free and fair constitutional amendment referendum to redraw congressional districts in Virginia:

@nytpitchbot.bsky.social : did you do this?

A federal judge granted the motion for a summary judgment on all counts in favor of the AHA, @acls1919.bsky.social, and @modernlanguage.bsky.social in our lawsuit to restore the NEH, ruling that the mass termination of grants was “unlawful, unconstitutional, ultra vires, and without legal effect." 🗃️

In some cases, at the same dinner table.

WE'VE GOT A COVER! Featuring Max Bond in 1995 alongside major works: the Upper Region Library in Bolgatanga (1967), King Center in Atlanta (1982), and NMAAHC in DC (2016). Max Bond: The Life and Work of the People's Architect out September 15, 2026; preorder now via bookshop.org/a/121290/978...

My students always LOVE it! It really is so useful.

taught with it for a third time this year, and students were again quite appreciative of it -- a worthwhile investment and a "keeper"

The Princeton Guide to Historical Research is on sale for $14.48. That's like 3 gallons of gas. press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

This calls for a Venn diagram

People should really stop comparing the 4-year, 1933–1937 *build* time of the Golden Gate Bridge to the decades long *study-to-completion* timelines of modern projects. The Golden Gate Bridge took 19 years (1918–1937) by that metric!

Apparently jokes, like many works of history, can benefit from a three-act structure. historyprofessor.org/writing/joke...

Every time Trump announces a building project, the White House press writes up whatever he says. ⛔️ There is no proof of anything he says, from damage to cost. ⛔️ The pool bottom is not granite. ⛔️ The action is illegal under Section 106 of the NHPA among other things. apnews.com/article/linc...

I look forward to attending the May 9 dedication of the Pennsylvania Historical Marker commemorating the Kensington Riots of 1844, and—even more—the subsequent festival demonstrating the endurance of the immigrant community targeted by the Nativists. nannygoatfest.com

"the colleges that dominate the headlines are not the colleges that most Americans attend their core mission: to serve students from all backgrounds, at a price families can actually afford, prepare graduates for real careers and meaningful lives." www.geneseo.edu/enrollment-m...

Texas Tech is expanding its prohibition on "gender and sexual orientation" topics to include faculty research and student theses and dissertations. Our chancellor wants to censor the truth because he knows it topples the hateful ideology of MAGA. Knowledge is power, so they plan to destroy it.

They're here, and they're spectacular. Thanks to all for your help over the decade-plus it's taken to get here.

I always learn something seeing Hamlet performed. Eddie Izzard’s one-woman show highlights the similarities between Hamlet and Polonius (the lectures!) and Hamlet and Claudius (the plotting)

The Chicago Tribune honors the best thread on Bluesky: "The world is more interesting — more engaging but also more wondrous — when thought and care for aesthetics is built into even the most mundane tasks and objects."

🙋‍♂️I do, in September! Max Bond: The Life and Work of the People's Architect. The first biography of the most prominent African American architect in the late 20th century and his lifelong effort to shape a better, more just world. Preorder anywhere but I endorse Bookshop: bookshop.org/a/121290/978...