The cross sector impact of snotty disregard for expertise because it’s not your own. The wave of analysis is only starting to build.

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...

Excellent Scholarly Kitchen post today from @kawulf.bsky.social detailing how the proposed #OMB regulations impact the #Humanities. So important to remember this is a fight for all disciplines!!! #DefendResearch scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/07/10/t... #Academia #Science

Surfing the writing wave of "I love this" to "ugh, banality" to "I can do this!" to "what was I thinking obviously I wasn't." Repeat! Matching words to ideas to refine the ideas that need the right words is the best. Also the worst!

Still time to make a comment. I wrote as loved one of a person with chronic illness, an historian, and administrator focused on undergraduate research in all disciplines. I picked a few areas for focus of my comments. Public conversation has also not captured the language of the rule change.

Great contribution to @scholarlykitchen.bsky.social posts on #OMB proposal by @kawulf.bsky.social & Sarah Weicksel of @historians.org - a timely reminder that it’s “always also about the #humanities” scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/07/10/t...

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...

This article doesn't mention what happens to collected DNA samples if the person is not convicted; this is a significant omission. Treating felony arrest as presumption of guilt and collecting DNA automatically is a slippery slope to a serious rights violation. What about innocent individuals?

Good news, but the fact that this is only happening now, nearly three years after the cyber attack shows 1) what a huge job BL staff have had rebuilding services, 2) that the BL is underfunded, and 3) the impact this has had on academic research, especially in the humanities.

Anthea Hartig, Rob Parkinson, Virginia Scharff, and me talking about the Declaration of Independence on Ben Franklin's World :) Episode 446: The Declaration of Independence at 250 - Ben Franklin's World share.google/h0HReuh0ed64...

Louder for the people in the cheap seats: If you did not have to naturalize because you were born on US soil, you are a birthright citizen. Yes, you. Not only people of color gain citizenship that way. Most Americans here did too.

Here’s the main takeaway: while historians have worked to deliver evidence-based full histories for the semiquin, this report is among other things just sloppy. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/07/a...

"It is unpatriotic not to tell the truth...whether about the president or anyone else.” T Roosevelt, quoted here in Erica Green's 250 piece. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/05/u...

Trump's War on the Museum of American History Continues #CivilWarMemory #America250 #publichistory 🗃️ open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...

A broadside assault on truth that must be taken seriously. This administration wants to replace independent scholarship and curation with propaganda and Prager U. drivel. The Kennedy Center was bad enough. This is worse.

Loved writing this for the latest American Historical Review "76 Objects" issue. Why a family Bible? Because like all wars, the experience and politics of the American Revolution was foundationally about family. Mine + other essays are open! academic-oup-com.brown.idm.oclc.org/ahr/article/...

This afternoon at 2 on @gliamericanhistory.bsky.social Book Breaks! Genealogy at the foundation. Or, why nepo babies are a baked in phenom. Join us: marketing.gilderlehrman.org/l/941553/202...

“It’s the ambiguity of language,” Grasso told me. “They can use these broad terms that are themselves contested to help spin their argument in the direction that they want.” The Christian founding narrative is false and slippery. (Not suprisingly) Chris nails it. www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

🙏 @kawulf.bsky.social “History is like medicine – you should be careful where you get it.”

this is an excellent rule of thumb!

A quick 4 for the 4th. karinwulf.com/trove/four-f...

This is always so moving, no matter how many times you watch/ listen. Also fascinated by the intensity of descendant emphasis this year. In the last years we have seen much more attention to descendant communities at sites of enslavement, but for the semiquin many others. Complex #lineage stuff.

I don't speak for the library exactly but.

My thoughts on the day. I'd have liked the simpler title, "Is It the Fourth?" But editors get their own say on that. I do think that the close of Winthrop's sermon aboard the Arbella in 1630 sounds the right counterpoint to the aspirations of the Declaration. washingtonmonthly.com/2026/07/04/i...

Never mind 1776, here's the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.

My university asked me to reflect on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. I was happy to do so. If you have 7 minutes, come on a journey with me. The future belongs to us. @bucas.bsky.social

What is a monument to British liberty doing in the Charleston County Judicial Center? I wrote about a relic of the American Revolution now hiding in plain sight and why a statue honoring William Pitt and the Stamp Act's repeal ended up in Charleston. jimambuske.substack.com/p/revolution...

Utah in 1776. Love this @sltrib.com story fr Addy Baird! West of revolution indeed. www.sltrib.com/news/politic...

Happy Fourth all! I've long been curious about Bernardo de Gálvez and the independence day celebration in Macharaviaya, Málaga, held in his honor. I'm glad to have finally had the chance to write about it. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

“It’s the ambiguity of language,” Grasso told me. “They can use these broad terms that are themselves contested to help spin their argument in the direction that they want.” The Christian founding narrative is false and slippery. (Not suprisingly) Chris nails it. www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

Glad to see Brown 2026 featured in this @insidehighered.com piece about how universities can contribute to the 250th. Thanks to @kathrynpalmer.bsky.social for the conversation! www.insidehighered.com/news/student...

The revolution didn't end on July 5th, and we don't stop then either! So looking forward to joining @gliamericanhistory.bsky.social Book Breaks folks on SUNDAY JULY 5 @ 2 EDT to talk about genealogy and yes, the revolution, too.

Bringing back the handwritten letter of apology? Okay maybe 2026 can be redeemed.

Genealogy has always been government work. Where do you come from, who are your people, & what will that mean for your rights --and future? We're rightly focused on the 14th amendment and birthright citizenship, but those questions have driven policy for centuries. My book turns 1 today! Thanks...

*not just science. Research across disciplines!

Genealogy has always been government work. Where do you come from, who are your people, & what will that mean for your rights --and future? We're rightly focused on the 14th amendment and birthright citizenship, but those questions have driven policy for centuries. My book turns 1 today! Thanks...

July 2, 1776. John Adams wrote to his wife and confidant the next day that "yesterday the greatest Question was decided, which ever was debated in America... these united Colonies are, and of right ought to be free and indepdent states." From the Journals of Congress, kept by Charles Thomson.

Elizabeth Brooke Carroll (1709-1761) gave birth to the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence, Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737-1732). She also didn't marry his father until 1757. For reasons. It's complicated isn't just a historian's default. It really was complicated.

Today, we're joined by @drkarenlcox.bsky.social, @sharronwconrad.bsky.social, and @robertdbland.bsky.social over on @askhistorians.bsky.social for an AMA on race, rights, and justice in American democracy. Come check it out! www.reddit.com/r/AskHistori... @uncpress.bsky.social

The long game is the only game. Take it from a historian.

Elizabeth Brooke Carroll (1709-1761) gave birth to the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence, Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737-1732). She also didn't marry his father until 1757. For reasons. It's complicated isn't just a historian's default. It really was complicated.

The ethics of historical fiction. This theft of Rachel’s work on Charity and Sylvia is awful and it has costs. Two years ago I wrote about an author writing a mystery about Martha Ballard and slighting *Laurel Ulrich*. scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2024/01/18/m...

This is an incredible story, a view via letters in the summer and fall of 1775 into just how determined Dickinson was (and surely reflecting others) to prevent revolution. Noting Dickinson's 1767-68 series _Letters from A Farmer_ arguing against colonial taxation was reprinted in London in 1774.

Major props to the WMQ team, led by @juliagaffield.bsky.social and Meg Musselwhite, who moved heaven and earth in the last couple of days to get the documents online by today. The WMQ has been amazing from start to finish. @oieahc.bsky.social

This is an incredible story, a view via letters in the summer and fall of 1775 into just how determined Dickinson was (and surely reflecting others) to prevent revolution. Noting Dickinson's 1767-68 series _Letters from A Farmer_ arguing against colonial taxation was reprinted in London in 1774.

The documents, and a set of interpretive essays, will soon be published in a forum in the William and Mary Quarterly coinciding with the 250th of U.S. independence. Until then, the WMQ have made the transcripts of the documents available for viewing. oireader.wm.edu/open_wmq/the...

One of the most incredible things I have ever worked on: Recently discovered documents, written by John Dickinson in 1775, that reveal his secret and previously unknown efforts to prevent the American Revolution. Now featured in the New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/u...

The ethics of historical fiction. This theft of Rachel’s work on Charity and Sylvia is awful and it has costs. Two years ago I wrote about an author writing a mystery about Martha Ballard and slighting *Laurel Ulrich*. scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2024/01/18/m...

We're delighted that Emilie Connolly's Vested Interests is the winner of @shafrhistorians.bsky.social's Stuart L. Bernath Book Prize! Read a sample of this work, which the committee calls "innovative, exhaustive, and revelatory," here: buff.ly/IBSDFpT

In 1765 Rhode Island signer of the Declaration of Independence Stephen Hopkins published a call to political conscience. He also explored the spiritual dimensions of politics and war-- including w his cousin, the Public Universal Friend, born Jemima Wilkinson but who rejected gender definitions.