Every time I call my mother, our conversation somehow ends up as a discussion of the latest Contingent post. She is thrilled to talk about history with me—whether it’s dinosaurs in Africa, cookbooks, wrestling gear, the closing of a college, or explaining museum exhibits—she always has an opinion (often, a very strong opinion). My mother’s experience with history is not as an academic, or potential contributor to the Contingent, but as a member of the public. Her enthusiasm for reading and talking about these pieces has reminded me of how important the principle of “history is for everyone” can be, and how important this site is for so many people.
Six months after our launch—after countless Skype calls, Twitter DMs, frantic chats with tech support, and late nights spent coding—Contingent is still going strong. We’ve had some challenges along the way (for which I take full responsibility on the technical side), and I’m thankful for our collective patience and effort on that front. But it is still incredible that at the end of the day, we’re here. We have a site, we have writers, and we have supporters. Bill, Erin, and Marc work tirelessly to get the managerial and editorial work finished; our dedicated board members have invested themselves for the long haul in seeing our mission through; and I’m here to make sure this platform works at the end of the day.
For me, the most inspiring part of the past six months has been watching this site become a community. Seeing this come to fruition in the words of our followers, readers, and donors has been inspiring. Together we’ve celebrated and elevated the little-c contingent community’s visibility in their bylines and workloads. We’ve talked about those experiences and how to recognize and reward our labor in our publication and within the profession at-large. Watching other publications review their own practices has been reaffirming. Our principles have clearly resonated. We’ve seen people who wouldn’t have considered themselves historians or even interested in history engage with these materials, finding new entries to the past through personal connection. And we’ve talked about histories that would not have crossed my path otherwise. Following threads on social media and participating in conversations with new people talk about this magazine, this community is constantly bringing new ideas to the table of how we can continue to support each other and our work in this field.
Watching Contingent’s support grow over the past six months has been the best part of participating in this endeavor. Knowing that I get to support great historical work and to be a part of our growing community is the most rewarding part of working on Contingent. I am grateful for all of your support. Contingent succeeds because of your readership and contributions. I can’t wait to write another one these posts six months from now, where I’ll hopefully be able to celebrate with all of you once more.
Atari 400 ad, 1981 (Reddit).
