I've had the somewhat unusual experience of going straight from teaching 10th graders to grad students. Lots of differences, of course, but I've had some success importing the occasional high school technique like think-pair-share and an in-class work day with me floating around and checking in.

This is really sweet and deeply weird (in a good way)!

Hello historians! Amid...everything, there still seems to be a prof job market & I seem to be on it. Self-promote I must. If you are interested in early federal Indian agents, inquiry-driven history teaching, an in-progress JQ Adams pod, etc, please visit my new world wide website, zacharyconn.com.

Fantastic resource for historians: a spreadsheet of NARA's digitized microfilm, with links to the files in the Archives catalog. May it help you as much as it has helped me. www.archives.gov/files/colleg...

Specialization can go too far. But have you ever encountered a toaster oven as good at its core function as a humble toaster is?

It’s ultimately for others to judge, of course, but I think that after two years of sometimes frustrating effort I now sort of understand how to write a narrative history podcast. Mostly, it involves making room for the sounds of horses.

I just had such a nice catch-up call with a former colleague from my high school teaching days. In that setting, students are not the only ones who forge meaningful friendships through shared struggle.

Very excited for, and a little nervous about, this 3-minute presentation on the Indigenous side of the American Revolution at SHEAR 2026! I somehow got chosen to be on this list of heavy hitters ⚾️

Very excited for, and a little nervous about, this 3-minute presentation on the Indigenous side of the American Revolution at SHEAR 2026! I somehow got chosen to be on this list of heavy hitters ⚾️

The word “methodology” echoes across the bar. I must be at a conference again.

Excited to go to my first SHAFR and try to help get the word out that US-Indigenous relations = international relations! Lmk if anyone wants to meet up or feel free to approach me at the conference. Just as a heads up: I am rather short but make up for it by being rather loud.

I am excited to announce that through vigorous archival research I have made a major historical discovery: It was hard for the US government to get things done under the Articles of Confederation.

Something has happened to me and now I'm a Cafe Guy instead of a Home Guy for writing. Still adjusting to lack of musical control. The all-day cafe near my apt in Dallas is great but they switch to evening music around 5 and now we're listening to the whole Taylor Swift Reputation LP--not her best!

In the past, I have liked but not loved Car Seat Headrest, but I think their new album (a rock opera!) may be an actual masterpiece.

I awoke this morning to find that in my dream I’d been full-on teaching a class I’m excited to offer this fall. Amid all the darkness around us these days, I am grateful to have meaningful work that inspires me, even on an unconscious level. So many people lack this; it cannot be taken for granted.

Check out the Early American Tracker! The #JERPano invites academic historians, public historians, federal workers, teachers, and concerned citizens to submit evidence of changes made to the Early American historical record. Visit The Panorama at: thepanorama.shear.org/2025/04/09/t...

At 34, I am apparently now old enough to be in charge of making charoset for the Passover seder. The mid-30s are an exciting time for personal and spiritual growth.

to all who celebrate...

Deploying the "Omit Filler Words" function on the podcasting software I use makes me feel like a minor god. I wish I could zap away every wretched "um," "uh," and "you know" from my speech in everyday life.

My version of Proust’s madeleine is that if I eat a gummy bear I’m back to trying to soothe myself while spending two weeks on a tour bus attempting to interest 24 unruly ninth graders in the Indigenous history of the American Southwest.

Entering a ride share with the driver playing Grover Washington, Jr. can be a very good or a very bad omen. The ultimate musical border case.

It’s messed up that this even has to be said (unfortunately, it does). How can we help students learn to think and express with more clarity, rigor, and sophistication if we say it’s ok to outsource the brain work to a machine?

My colleagues at the SMU Center for Presidential History and I had a great time yesterday celebrating the work of our interns from Dallas's Irma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School! My intern did fantastic work going through mentions of federal Indian agents in the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper.

“Severance”: an inspiring TV series about career diversity for History PhDs

Does anyone have a favorite historical currency converter for the US dollar? Gotta help my future podcast listeners (there will be at least 7 or 8) imagine paying a treaty-mandated ransom to the Bashaw of Tripoli.

I’ve been reading Francis Parkman at bedtime. More for history of historiography/19th century thought reasons than history of actual Colonial America reasons. It’s fun if you imagine the book is being read by the J. Peterman character from Seinfeld.