Some of our favorite history writing asks us to reconsider the ways in which we tend to think about the past. Here are a handful of essays in that vein that we found to be especially powerful:

It’s that time of year again, when we pick our favorite pieces of short-form history writing from the year just concluded. It’s never an easy task, and always entails some very tough decisions! But without further ado, we present the 2025 Bunk Top 40: www.bunkhistory.org/resources/be...

In this moment we need #RevolutionaryLove #JoyfulResistance #Solidarity #PeoplePower and loud, visible protests in the streets! #Ride4Republic @bostonindivisible.bsky.social @mass50501.bsky.social @nsindivisible.bsky.social @progressivemass.bsky.social

This is truly delightful. youtu.be/n5efl8clgT4?...

🗃️ The question posed by James Madison in 1788 is just as salient today: should we trust “these parchment barriers against the encroaching spirit of power?” www.hnn.us/article/the-...

I'm adding two articles I wrote back in 2016 and 2017, during a different round of threats to NEH and other valuable cultural agencies. The first is "How to Fight for Federal Support of Cultural Research and Why It Matters," which offers some specific advocacy tips medium.com/@jasonrhody/...

Highlights reel from the @walkuprozzie.bsky.social Roslindale Zoning Zoom! Seriously excellent, clear, helpful explanations of how zoning for density eases displacement, enhances affordability, increases tax revenue, accommodates parking, & allows aging in place. www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Attention fellow Boston-area folks, and/or folks interested in housing: join the Rozzie Zoning Zoom TONIGHT at 7pm an informational panel discussion where planning experts & Bos & Camb city councilors will discuss what new zoning changes will mean in practice. walkuproslindale.org/weblog/2025/...

Mary Grace Chapman moved to Boston from Lewiston, Maine, with her parents, two siblings, and a nephew. In 1920, she lived at Franklin Street House, a home for single women, with at least 116 other 1920 New Women Voters. Image: Franklin Square House. Boston Public Library Arts Department.

The editors of the Atlantic City Press were responding to motordom’s pursuit of what it called “a radical revision of our conception of what a city street is for.”

Vivian Gordon was murdered #OTD in 1931 to keep her from testifying about an NYPD ring that extracted bribes by framing innocent women for prostitution. As @erinblakemore.bsky.social explains, the resulting investigation took down the corrupt NYC mayor and his Tammany Hall cronies: loom.ly/lR8K_GY

"We wanted our voices to be heard. We wanted to feel that we were a part of the mainstream, and that as Blacks or African-Americans, we would we would have a certain amount of power that we could leverage for whatever we wanted to in the future." www.npr.org/2024/02/28/1...

Engines 604 and 607 make such a cute couple! @amtrak.com Valentines ❤️

Rethinking the job of history — and the American Historical Association — after the veto of the Gaza “scholasticide” resolution. www.hnn.us/article/what...

Each year, we sift through thousands of online articles, essays, blogs, and newsletters that deal, in one way or another, with the American past. Here is our annual roundup of 40 standouts from 2024. www.bunkhistory.org/resources/be...

Went to the "Spineless" exhibit of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka 19th-century glass sea creatures at Mystic Seaport (which I highly recommend). Something their studio had generations before Jim Henson's Creature Shop? A drawer full of eyeballs.

The band of the fires is on fire on this frigid Boston day. It's Alright to play the Longest Day on the shortest - it's the Sound of Our Town! There's nothing I would rearrange: Del Fuegos, don't you change!

Looking forward to talking with @wdet.bsky.social this morning about Sesame Street on The Metro's deep dive into ad jingles in American culture!

Reminder: Our call for proposals is still open. “So Long, Dental Plan!” Unions, Labor Relations and Class Struggle…As Seen On TV Visit solongdentalplan.com for more info, or HMU.

I love this. @dsuisman.bsky.social recognizes that the music we often assume was important in the past, the music people truly wanted and liked, and the music people actually heard around them on a daily basis, are all different things.

calling 20th century scholars: the MHS is so well known for 18th & 19th century material that it has a ton of untapped 20th century papers just waiting to be mined...check their website, ask them about unprocessed collections, & apply!

"Mediacy" never caught on as a term, but maybe it should have! Now "media literacy" sounds unnecessarily clunky and I can't un-hear it.

“Rather than drawing out elements of the ancient past that speak to and give nuance to the problems of modern politics, Ridley Scott’s anachronisms forcibly superimpose modern ideas and ideals onto the ancient world. For me, these anachronisms exist on a sliding scale.” www.hnn.us/article/all-...

Hello Bluesky! The MHS is the oldest historical society in the US founded in 1791! Follow along to learn more about our vast collections and archives, as well as our array of programs. #MHS1791 🗃️

You want to get nuts? Let's get nuts!

TIL that #OTD in 1800 John Adams gave the first presidential speech to Congress at the U.S. Capitol, but then Jefferson refused to make it a tradition b/c he recognized the OG version of "this meeting could have been an e-mail"

TFW you are looking for an #OTD and it feels like it could work just as well as a news peg...

Is there a sound studies starter pack?? Today's Omohundro Institute digital projects coffeehouse presenters Rachel M. Wheeler & Sarah Eyerly are sharing projects on early American music & soundscapes. Noon EST. (projects linked in thread replies). oieahc.wm.edu/digital-proj...

Looking forward to this tomorrow. Not least because b/c I will finally meet @melnickjeffrey1.bsky.social IRL. www.masshist.org/events/race-...

hahaha very apropos. Sesame Street was ahead of its time. youtu.be/OqNBTEIJjto?...

A point Kellie Carter Jackson made on her Oprah podcast (ca. 19:38) resonated with me: that in the '90s talk shows were where people learned the range of perspectives on - and the vocabulary to talk about - important issues, as social media often works for us now. (1/3) play.prx.org/listen?ge=pr...

Negotiators at #COP29 are debating how to fund climate policy in developing countries. Many worry that Trump could undercut progress that's made. But as @smacekura.bsky.social wrote 6 years ago, the U.S. has a long history of skimping on global environmental $$$. www.bunkhistory.org/resources/pa...

Ambulances used to be run by police and funeral homes. The idea for a civilian paramedic service that could save lives at the site of an emergency came out of a preventable death in Pittsburgh #OTD in 1966. Kevin Hazzard profiled the first first responders for the Atavist: loom.ly/l4DPHQg

Well, I guess I'm on here now. Mostly to help @bunkhistory.bsky.social and @myhnn.bsky.social find and share interesting history content on the web.