It is Superb Owl Sunday, so here is my favorite bank note featuring an owl from an aptly named bank. Someone has marked up the bill to add ears to the owl and a little word bubble with "whoo whoo." Owl Creek Bank of Mount Vernon, Mount Vernon, OH, $3, October 10, 1816. 🗃️

“The problem is that we have accelerated into a consuming and exclusive narrative about science in the national interest.” Some day I’ll stop sharing my v personal perspective on how devastating humanities has in fact devastated science. Not today. scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/06/26/d...

My daughter's water polo team won a playoff game yesterday, so today's bank note theme is horses. This amazing vignette shows two boys attempting to harness a frightened horse next to another boy who has been pushed to the ground. People's Bank of Haertel, Greenleaf & Co, Milwaukee, WI, $1, 18--. 🗃️

I expect that if a challenge to this makes it to the Supreme Court, the majority will side with the County Executive because of their long-standing support for Calvinball.

fyi mine and @lollardfish.bsky.social's THE BRIGHT AGES is on sale as an ebook for only $4.99! bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

My daughter's water polo team won a playoff game yesterday, so today's bank note theme is horses. This amazing vignette shows two boys attempting to harness a frightened horse next to another boy who has been pushed to the ground. People's Bank of Haertel, Greenleaf & Co, Milwaukee, WI, $1, 18--. 🗃️

Thanks to Eileen Boris for this report on the erasure of labor history at Lowell National Historic Park.

Today I am teaching Prigg v. Pennsylvania, which may be worse and more influential than Dred Scott. It radicalized countless normies into becoming abolitionists and provided constitutional cover for the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. I want to call out a thing about it that doesn’t get much attention.

Watch this, it's astonishing.

It is Big Bill Haywood's birthday. He started as a labor organizer in the Western Federation of Miners before helping found and lead the Industrial Workers of the World. Here is a vignette of miners taking a well-deserved break to celebrate. Allegany County Bank, Cumberland, MD, $5, May 4, 1859.🗃️

🚨 PENN PRESS BLACK HISTORY MONTH SALE KLAXON 🚨 40% off a ton of great titles, including books by @melanienewport.bsky.social @randybrowne.bsky.social @johncraighammond.bsky.social and many more.... Kathleen Brown, Brandon Byrd, Kim Hall, Jessica Marie Johnson, Tessa Murphy, to name a few more!

It is Big Bill Haywood's birthday. He started as a labor organizer in the Western Federation of Miners before helping found and lead the Industrial Workers of the World. Here is a vignette of miners taking a well-deserved break to celebrate. Allegany County Bank, Cumberland, MD, $5, May 4, 1859.🗃️

What’s your favorite song that has a long title, say at least 6 words long? That’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate (Mission of Burma)

You might know some famous names from the Salem Witch outbreak: Parris, Proctor, Putnam, but what about Dr. William Griggs, who help launch the trials with his "Evil Hand" diagnosis? In a new Commonplace piece, Benjamin Ray examines Griggs and his place in Salem.🗃️ commonplace.online/article/the-...

You might know some famous names from the Salem Witch outbreak: Parris, Proctor, Putnam, but what about Dr. William Griggs, who help launch the trials with his "Evil Hand" diagnosis? In a new Commonplace piece, Benjamin Ray examines Griggs and his place in Salem.🗃️ commonplace.online/article/the-...

I'm a huge fan of Claudio Saunt's project on land claims and treaties and cessions that is so revelatory in its scope-- pic 1 is 1776, pic 2 is 1876. Blue is Indian homelands, gray is unceded territory, red is reservations. usg.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappv...

NEW on Commonplace: You may be familiar with the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, but have you heard of Dr. William Griggs? Benjamin Ray examines Griggs's medical context and the role the physician played in setting off the famous witch panic. commonplace.online/article/the-...

It is Groundhog Day and while I don't know of any bank notes featuring the small weather-forecasting rodents, here is a Civil War era shinplaster from a dry goods merchant in Punxsutawney featuring some cows getting a drink in a river. G.W. Zeitler and Co., Punxsutawney, PA, $.25, 186-.🗃️

Tonight begins Tu Bishvat, sort of the Jewish New Years for trees which is often paired with planting new trees. In recognition, here is a bank note featuring a man spreading seeds next to a solitary tree in a field. The New Hope Delaware Bridge Company, PA, $1, Jan. 6, 1821. 🗃️

This is who runs this account

I don’t subscribe to the Atlantic & so can’t offer a gift link, but back in 2018 when more polite voices than Miller floated this (a UChicago law prof & a M$ economist) in Politico, @arielron.bsky.social and I co-wrote a rebuttal, explaining that reinventing slavery/servitude would be bad, actually.

Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college. 1. Sociology of Love 2. USSR/CIS/? 3. Myths and Models in American History 4. Science in Media 5. Popular Movements in China

Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college. 1. Sociology of Love 2. USSR/CIS/? 3. Myths and Models in American History 4. Science in Media 5. Popular Movements in China

My trusty calendar tells me that it is National Puzzle Day, so it the perfect day to read Patricia Jane Roylance's fascinating article in Commonplace on how an 1850s jigsaw puzzle version of Uncle Tom's Cabin jumbles and generates new meaning for the story. 🗃️ commonplace.online/article/uncl...

My trusty calendar tells me that it is National Puzzle Day, so it the perfect day to read Patricia Jane Roylance's fascinating article in Commonplace on how an 1850s jigsaw puzzle version of Uncle Tom's Cabin jumbles and generates new meaning for the story. 🗃️ commonplace.online/article/uncl...

Read this thread and order Anna’s book:

Read this thread. 🧵

It is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birthday. His cameo portrait appeared on the left side of this German-language bank note from a Pennsylvania institution that catered to the local German population. It also has a lumberjack petting a good dog. Lumbermen's Bank at Warren, PA, $10, 18--.🗃️

It is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birthday. His cameo portrait appeared on the left side of this German-language bank note from a Pennsylvania institution that catered to the local German population. It also has a lumberjack petting a good dog. Lumbermen's Bank at Warren, PA, $10, 18--.🗃️

Is there another term for a reverse Alan Smithee, where everyone but the director wants their name off the film credits?

Out today: THE CROWN'S SILENCE I'm delighted to share that my new book is officially out! It traces the British monarchy's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade and colonial slavery over hundreds of years. Please buy a copy, tell your library, & spread the word. bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

Sunset in Pasadena.

Speaking of making your protest against authority visible, it is John Hancock's birthday. His famous signature on the Declaration of Independence appears as part of the name of this eponymous bank alongside his central portrait. John Hancock Bank, Springfield, MA, $5, 18--. 🗃️

Speaking of making your protest against authority visible, it is John Hancock's birthday. His famous signature on the Declaration of Independence appears as part of the name of this eponymous bank alongside his central portrait. John Hancock Bank, Springfield, MA, $5, 18--. 🗃️

Thank you, American Historical Association! @historians.org www.historians.org/perspectives...

RIP Uncle Floyd. If you were a certain kind of kid growing up in north Jersey in the 70s and 80s, Uncle Floyd was your hero.

The National Association of Base Ball Players was founded OTD in 1857. To celebrate the 1887 season, the league issued advertising notes (this one branded by Kenton, OH jeweler Bennett Garrettson). It featured Chicago White Stockings president Albert Spalding and images of the team on the back. 🗃️

I know I don't have a ton of media followers, but I'll put this out there anyway: if you need someone to comment/offer context on the removal of the slavery exhibit at the President's House site in Philly, get in touch. I just finished an entire book on Americans' fight over Washington and slavery.

Historian Calvin Schermerhorn traces four hundred years of Black dispossession and decapitalization, telling of the quiet heroism of those who worked to overcome obstacles and defy the plunder. Learn more at yalebooks.com.

I really dislike that I can't tell what is reality and what is satire anymore.

The National Association of Base Ball Players was founded OTD in 1857. To celebrate the 1887 season, the league issued advertising notes (this one branded by Kenton, OH jeweler Bennett Garrettson). It featured Chicago White Stockings president Albert Spalding and images of the team on the back. 🗃️

It is Ethan Allen's birthday today, so it is a perfect time to read Benjamin Anderson's interesting look at how family ties and allegiances colored his varied political activities in Vermont and beyond during the Revolutionary Era. 🗃️ commonplace.online/article/fami...

How do historians tell a story of a fascinating person who left few personal papers? In a new Commonplace piece, David Stowe explains how/why his historical novel might be the right approach for the life of William Billings, the first significant US composer. 🗃️ commonplace.online/article/writ...

I am pleased to learn that my forthcoming book is now listed on bookshop dot org, and there’s a nice little discount! Nice if you want to avoid the evil empire (the website not Man United) bookshop.org/p/books/whit...

How do historians tell a story of a fascinating person who left few personal papers? In a new Commonplace piece, David Stowe explains how/why his historical novel might be the right approach for the life of William Billings, the first significant US composer. 🗃️ commonplace.online/article/writ...

If you're in Providence, join us on Thursday! We'll talk about all the editions of Common Sense that the JCB owns.

One final post for Edgar Allan Poe's birthday. Did you know that in addition to writing poems, short stories, essays, and a novel, Poe was a pioneering mollusk scientist? James Lilley tells this fascinating story in a Commonplace piece with cool illustrations. commonplace.online/article/edga...

It is Edgar Allan Poe's birthday, so it is a good time to look at a question that scholars have debated since his death, was Poe a habitual opium user? In a piece for Commonplace, Elizabeth Kelly Gray dove into the complexities of the question and answer: commonplace.online/article/was-...

Edgar Allan Poe and Tippi Hedren have birthdays today, so here is a bird-themed bank note with a vignette featuring black birds that are probably crows, but could be ravens. The bonus portrait on the right is Gen. Winfield Scott (Old Fuss and Feathers). Bank of Germantown, PA, $2, Jan 15, 1862. 🗃️

One final post for Edgar Allan Poe's birthday. Did you know that in addition to writing poems, short stories, essays, and a novel, Poe was a pioneering mollusk scientist? James Lilley tells this fascinating story in a Commonplace piece with cool illustrations. commonplace.online/article/edga...