“In an average year, some two hundred million tons of sediment are in transport in the river. This is where the foreland Rockies go, the western Appalachians. Southern Louisiana is a very large lump of mountain butter…” -John McPhee, The Control of Nature

Mine was probably during my MA. Our class had just read an article on a historian’s experience discovering a lock of hair tucked in their archival materials. Two weeks later, going through the diaries I was perusing for that research seminar, a lock of hair fell out.

Come work with me at the Minnesota Historical Society! We’re looking for our next Gale Scholar to join the Research team. Apply by February 16 for full consideration, and feel free to reach out to me with any questions! workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/defau...

Ah, reminds me of the time a deer ran into my house when I was in 1st grade. Very Midwestern, indeed.

“Important events crowd so fast upon each other that we live years in a few weeks.” -Edward Fitch, Lawrence, KS, 1861

Today we have "Playing the Vanishing Frontier: Red Dead Redemption 2 and the Environmental Imagination" by Nolan Reynolds This is the tenth article in the Playing Inside: Board Games, Video Games, and the Indoors series, edited by @theliftline.bsky.social niche-canada.org/2025/12/12/p... #envhum

Research day on logging and forestry under the ever-present gaze of big Fred W. How fitting.

646 words down in an hour on a new project!

Family weekend in Milwaukee with a tour of the Miller Brewing Company and a Bucks game!

Interested in beavers, the fur trade, and environmental history? I was honored to be a guest on the Minnesota Historical Society’s award-winning podcast, Minnesota Unraveled, on their most recent episode: “Beaver Tales: From Minnesota’s Ice Age to the Present.” Give it a listen!

A good way to connect with other scholars is to check out the Panel Connections spreadsheet. Anyone who has already added themselves to the MHA 2026 Panel Connections spreadsheet is encouraged to check back to see who else shares their interests and if they can network to form a session. END

Now featuring a timeline (that I’m still tinkering with and adding to)! firearchive.omeka.net/fire-timeline

Visit the Germinate Website: g-ehr.com for all the latest content in ASEH's new digital publication: Germinate!

Happy to share that I've begun curating the Great Lakes Fire History Digital Archive, a digital archive collating primary source documents pertaining to forest fires in the Great Lakes in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Excited to see how it evolves moving forward! firearchive.omeka.net

Had a great time at the WHA in Albuquerque presenting some of my research and seeing friends, old and new!

Ohtani strikes out the side and then hits a lead off home run. Come on, man.

Research trip up to Duluth turned into a nice little weekend getaway.

Minnesota Unraveled, a podcast by the Minnesota Historical Society, is up for the Signal Listeners’ Choice Award for best history podcast IN THE WORLD! This major accomplishment attests to the work of host Dr. Chantel Rodríguez and team. Click here to vote! vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting...

Today to celebrate anniversary week, we're thrilled to share a crosspost with our friends at @nichecanada.bsky.social: @micaamy.bsky.social's incredible comic for fire season #envhist #envhum envhistnow.com/2025/09/17/l...

One of the many reasons I love my job is because I can go look at cool things like this whenever I want.

One month until publication for _Ethanol: A Hemispheric History for the Future of Biofuels_. Tom Rogers and I lay out the linked history of the US and Brazilian ethanol programs and explain why they matter for energy, climate, and politics. Pre-orders available now! www.oupress.com/978080619601...

JOB: 2026-27 Mahindra Humanities Center Postdoctoral Fellowships in Environmental Humanities, Harvard University (USA) For Early Career Scholars (PhD from May 2023 or later) #envhum networks.h-net.org/jobs/69060/h...

"I see hockey as a cultural heritage landscape, one that retains an important social role in contemporary society and one that is threatened by climate change." - Lauren Walker niche-canada.org/2018/11/27/c...

Up North

Does anyone have experience creating a mapping project with Omeka?

Do I know anyone with experience creating a digital archive? I have an idea/something I’m trying to put together, but have a few questions.

Officially official 🎓

I have a former student interested in researching JFK, particularly his assassination and Lee Harvey Oswald. This is admittedly not my area of expertise and I know that the topic of JFK is rife with conspiracies, but does anyone have any solid books/articles I could share with them?

I have a former student interested in researching JFK, particularly his assassination and Lee Harvey Oswald. This is admittedly not my area of expertise and I know that the topic of JFK is rife with conspiracies, but does anyone have any solid books/articles I could share with them?

We moved and I’m making an inventory of all of my books. It got me thinking: which author has written the most books that you own? Pretty sure mine is Alan Taylor with 7.

We learned last month that the State of Iowa will no longer fund or publish their peer-reviewed journal Annals of Iowa, which is now looking for an institutional home. Here we share our letter of concern, and we hope others will join us in supporting state and local history! 🗃️ 🧵

Check out @haydenlnelson.bsky.social's review of ‪@charmiller4.bsky.social‬'s "Burn Scars: A Documentary History of Fire Suppression, from Colonial Origins to the Resurgence of Cultural Burning," published in 2024 by @osupress.bsky.social www.h-net.org/reviews/show...

Despite warnings from the law enforcement not to attend today’s No Kings rally after this mornings shooting of Minnesota lawmakers with the killer on the lose, the No Kings Rally is happening at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul.

George Orwell wrote in 1941:

This should be front-page news in every news outlet worth a damn these days.

great opportunity for historians of games and/or the environment - check it out! niche-canada.org/2025/06/05/c...

After federal troops forced a fugitive slave named Anthony Burns back into slavery in the 1850s, one Bostonian wrote, “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.” The abuse of power radicalizes people. We are seeing that now.

Reminder: elections close at 11:59pm on Friday, June 13. Make sure to vote!

I had the pleasure of reviewing Willa Hammitt Brown’s new book, Gentlemen of the Woods: Manhood, Myth, and the American Lumberjack, for the most recent issue of Minnesota History. Check out the review ⬇️ storage.googleapis.com/mnhs-org-sup...

Whenever we have friends (non-historians) visiting I ask if they know anything about the history of Lawrence/Bleeding Kansas/John Brown. It bewilders me how, at best, they hear John Brown and say, “Oh! I’ve heard of him…what’d he do again?”

Elections will close at 11:59pm on Friday, June 13. Only early career folks are able to vote for ECC leadership, and the email group is how we keep track of that. Please reach out to the email below if you’d like to be added to the group/vote.

Today we have "Cuts to FEMA and Disaster Preparedness Will Disproportionately Harm Disabled Americans" by Abigail Block & @kstackwhitney.bsky.social Part of our Tracking the Effects: Environmental History and the Current United States Federal Administration series niche-canada.org/2025/05/23/c...

Hooding yesterday + commencement today = #PhDone

Sign at the doctoral hooding ceremony: “Graduates will be lead…” My advisor: shakes head

2025 ASEH Early Career Caucus Call for Nominations - @asehearlycareer.bsky.social Nominations should be made by Sunday, May 18th. niche-canada.org/2025/05/10/2... #envhist

The American Society for Environmental History Early Career Caucus is accepting nominations for various positions through May 18th. @aseh.bsky.social - @asehearlycareer.bsky.social niche-canada.org/2025/05/10/2... #envhist

I’m thrilled to share several personal updates! (1/4)

@aseh.bsky.social @asehearlycareer.bsky.social @carsoncenter.bsky.social @nichecanada.bsky.social

Hi everyone, we’ve extended the call for nominations to serve on the ASEH Early Career Caucus. The new nominations deadline is now Sunday, May 18. Please consider serving: early career participation in the caucus is vital to early career representation within the broader association. Please share!