OAI's vision: "an AI system that can accelerate and increasingly automate the research process itself, while remaining steerable, accountable, and connected to people." Realistic? Reasonable? openai.com/index/built-...

Like so many other PhD students in the '80s and '90s, I was deeply influenced by Gordon Wood's scholarship. Not just what he wrote about, but how he wrote. He was a model historian, and his legacy will live on. May his memory be a blessing. 🗃️

www.nytimes.com/2026/05/06/w... 🗃️

Domestic surveillance is surging: "The U.S. is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on tools that give federal agents easy access to the home and workplace addresses of American citizens, their social-media accounts, vehicle information, flight history," etc. 🗃️ www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Great session on building a winning culture at the @americanconf.bsky.social Research Symposium at @wichitastate.bsky.social. #AMERSymposium.

As usual, trust but verify. www.techspot.com/news/111984-...

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AHA Files Lawsuit to Defend the Presidential Records Act - AHA www.historians.org/news/aha-fil... 🗃️

Their Ancestor Was an Enslaved Potter. They Are Battling to Recover His Legacy. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/a... #ethicalrestitution 🗃️

read.macmillan.com/lp/an-inconv... Never too early to preorder. Forthcoming by @kerileighmerritt.bsky.social 🗃️

www.zocalopublicsquare.org/what-cesar-c... 🗃️

Nice recognition for this oft-forgotten history. 🗃️ www.nytimes.com/2026/02/20/u...

Remarkable and ingenuous. 🗃️ www.nytimes.com/2026/02/15/n...

The WaPo's cuts sadly confirm its growing irrelevance. Closing international bureaus and essentially ending local news will not serve readers. But it will create an opportunity for new local news sources.

The chancellor offers an incredibly cramped view of what constitutes "degrees of value." #skystorians Texas Tech struggles with new rules that changed what students learn about race, gender, sexuality www.texastribune.org/2026/02/04/t...

@radleybalko.bsky.social offers an especially sharp and insightful discussion of the ongoing crisis of federal forces overstepping their authority 🗃️ www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/o...

I would like to see more coverage of these “self-generated” searches. “documents Mr. Patel’s team has found through self-generated searches.”🗃️ www.nytimes.com/2026/01/18/u...

“Maybe by telling my story — something I was afraid to do for a long time — kids will have a better understanding about what the civil rights movement was about.”🗃️

“Destruction by Neglect”—former National Archivist Trudy Peterson’s fear of the current administration’s plans for the National Archives. #AHA26 🗃️

Fabulous #aha26 opening session on history teacher prep. Challenges abound but also unique opportunities.

In one graph, the overwhelming benefit of the new tax law (from the WSJ)

Join us in wishing @michaelstipe.bsky.social a very happy birthday today! 🎉

Happy Birthday Mike Mills !

Good to hear from NCAA Pres Charlie Baker at the FARA annual meeting. #FAR

goutsa.com/news/2025/11... Congrats to #9, Patrick Overmyer. Great student, dedicated athlete. #utsa

Excited to teach Dylan Penningroth’s Before The Movement to my grad class today. Preparing for class I’m reminded how rich, insightful, and innovative the book is. 🗃️

Congrats to all the UTSA History students presenting at the Cowden History Symposium. @utsaroadrunners.bsky.social 🗃️

@utsaroadrunners.bsky.social students show up! Día De Los Muertos celebration sponsored by the History Club. 🗃️

The AHA has sent a letter to Texas State University president Kelly Damphousse registering strong objection to the university’s decision to terminate the employment of Dr. Thomas Alter without due process. 🗃️

Deeply felt and ultimately sorrowful essay

Anthropic settlement is a win for authors. Will it set the pattern others follow?

Early morning at JFK. #airport

The King children put it succinctly about the latest file release: their father was “relentlessly targeted by an invasive, predatory, and deeply disturbing disinformation and surveillance campaign.” Never forget that fact. 🗃️

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco... Really look forward to this new book from @joshuaclarkdavis.bsky.social. Will be an important addition to the growing historiography on police and the movements of the ‘60s. 🗃️

Marking the 4th at Willie’s picnic and hoping for good news from Hunt about the missing kids. #texas

Tough couple days to lose both Sly Stone and Brian Wilson. Each changed the musical world with their innovations and brilliance.

I had great fun answering questions about surveillance and student activists in the 1960s at @askhistorians.bsky.social AMA. Thanks for inviting me, and check out my book, Spying on Students lsupress.org/978080718222..., to learn more about the topic. #skystorians.

Like many others today, wishing a happy birthday to the incomparable Bob Dylan. His music expresses our humanity, beautifully poignantly, and without compare.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/a... Wonderful story that highlights the rich history of Memphis. 🗃️

www.psrmemphis.org/tyre-nichols... Otis Sanford puts it well: “The culture historically of Memphis police in some respects has been oppressive to African-American citizens. That’s just a fact.” 🗃️

Yesterday’s Nau Conference on Texas History hosted by the @utsaroadrunners.bsky.social History Dept showcased exciting new work on the state’s rich & diverse history and the digital tools that are making it even more accessible. Shout out to the incomparable Catherine Clinton for organizing. 🗃️

Kudos to my @utsaroadrunners.bsky.social colleagues who are integrating AI into their pedagogy. www.chronicle.com/newsletter/t...

Congratulations to the AAC champions. let’s keep rolling ! Birds Up🤙 #UTSA

The one and only David Johansen. RIP.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/h... When Texas health officials talk like this you can understand the scope of the problem here: “I don’t want anybody to suffer from long-lasting disability because they got measles. But if you choose to live in Texas,” he added, “you can exercise that option.”

Trump yesterday, repeating something he’s been saying for years (re: tariffs, which he said would make the US “rich’): “it’s going to stop us from being a laughingstock all over the world because we have been taken advantage of like no country has been taken advantage of.” Let’s unpack this a bit./1

A great scholar and kind and gentle person.

My sentiments exactly

#skystorians I’m developing an upper-level course on the U.S. in the ‘60s and thinking of using Lakota Woman as one of the books. Anyone use it in similar course? Students respond well to it? Welcome any thoughts! 🗃️