- The Shadow Of Chemical Valley
Sarnia has been growing and dying in cycles for a hundred years.
- A New Citizen in a New World
A reader would have to have blinders on to not draw parallels between the past and the present.
- How Julia Skinner Does History
I want to help people see themselves as a bridge between the past and the future.
- The Land Says A Lot More
I had never left my subdivision as a kid.
- Pieces That A Machine Can Comprehend
“How much code can a person stand?”
- How Christine Sloan Stoddard Does History
In one way or another, storytelling has been at the crux of what I’ve done all my life.
- A Place for Berlinguer
Enrico Berlinguer led the Italian Communist Party at the height of its power. A new exhibit at the Mattatoio grapples with his legacy.
- Harry Benjamin, the Maverick
Through his participation in the medical community, the theater community, and his connections to literary artists, Benjamin openly questioned how medical professionals and society at large defined and categorized gender.
- Deference and Doomposting
Ironically, Chevron deference — which the conservative Supreme Court scrapped last month — began as a conservative legal tool.
- Turpentine in Time
Each community had an overseer who supervised the operations and the commissary. He also enforced the law.
- Our Local Monster
Whose knowledge matters in a changing region?
- In Solidarity—And Sometimes, In Tandem
What is possible when white activists heed the call of the Black radical vanguard.
- The Problem of Plenty
There was nothing inevitable about the kind of gun country the U.S. is today.
- A Postcard From The First Annual Bucks County Para-Con
America is rapidly changing into a country where we worship strange gods.
- Bankrupt Authority
Advanced Placement: “a money-making racket that lets states off the hook for underfunding education”
- Historians As Parents: Podcasting Through It
The thing that I thought would be easiest to drop became something of a lifeline for me.
- Historians As Parents: My Father’s Memory
Whatever I write and record could be important for my children and future generations.
- The Great Leg Show!
Hot pants served as a sartorial riposte to the fashion industry’s relentless campaign for the midi.
- In Their Own Voices
The New Bedford Sunday Standard-Times announced: “Indian Nuns Invade College”
- Nicole’s Contingent Story
Contingent is what I have always been.
- How Kate Carpenter Does History
“I was amazed to find that the book I wanted to read didn’t exist yet.”
- The Lone Gunmen Who Came in from the Fringe
The weirdo researchers were explaining fringe theories to a prime-time audience of millions.
- Caught on Camera
The X-Files plays on our fascination with the camera — and our fear of it.
- Towns Like Pulaski
Duane Barry is a symbol of collateral damage inflicted by powerful interests.
- This Has Something To Do With Computers, Doesn’t It? The Internet?
It seems strange to think of the 1990s as history; it was only 30 years ago, after all.
- Past Lives
Who wants to watch a show whose characters never make real moral choices?
- A Nice Trip To The Forest
With so many crop dusters, somebody’s bound to see a UFO.
- A Beautiful Mutation
This is all wrong. This is not how the story is supposed to end.
- 2023 Literary Studies Book and Journal Article List
A companion list for lit studies scholars.
- Blood on Our Hands
What did Truman and Oppenheimer actually say in that room?
- How Lauren Lassabe Shepherd Does History
For the next eight months, I’ll be an independent scholar with a side hustle as a fitness instructor.
- 2023 Journal Article List
A companion to our 2023 book list.
- 2023 Contingent Book List
When you’re shopping for books this season, consider a contingent scholar.
- Beyond The Gates
As I descended into the basement I wondered if copal would ever have a chance to ascend.
- The Castle on the Hill
“We asked for Central High School but they think it is too good for us.”
- How Mary Klann Does History
Last year was the first academic year I only taught at one institution.
- Historians As Parents: Sex Education
Parenting is a humbling reminder that knowledge does not just magically appear.
- Historians As Parents: Playlist Challenges
In a cruel twist of fate, my children suffer from having a historian for a mother.
- Historians As Parents: Raising Twins
I first learned I was pregnant immediately after passing my Ph.D. qualifying exams. A few weeks later I discovered I was carrying twins.
- Foundational Texts
This probably wasn’t what the Sargonids expected.
- Historians As Parents: Introduction
I can tell that they find it both fascinating and frustrating to have a historian as a parent.
- A Postcard from Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor was the New Left’s primary incubator for the movement’s leading activists.
- There’s More Than One Answer
[Always read the footnotes.]
- How Do You Do Research For A Podcast?
Any historian knows that it is crucial to write to your audience. I’m writing to two audiences.
- The Prophecy of Rani Gaidinliu
The Empire launched a massive manhunt to capture her.
- Artworks Are Artifacts Too
Art history research can occasionally fall into the trap of viewing everything through a digital screen.
- How Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell Does History
“I didn’t know my quirky obsession could be a job in its own right.”
- The Destroyer
The scientist’s interest in the Bhagavad Gita bordered on obsession.
- A Postcard from Makhanda
The Historical Association of South Africa held its biennial meeting at Rhodes University in Makhanda, South Africa.
- Lost and Found in Bamberg
For a minute I stood listening to the 9 a.m. bells, breathing deep sighs of relief.
- How Jay Ridler Does History
“I have to remind myself – I am the only one who cares if I get paid.”
- When Witches Take Flight
I was quickly surprised to find that flight — a defining feature of the modern image of the witch — figured relatively little in the earliest medieval sources.
- A Postcard From Atlanta
I cannot shut off my “Museum Brain.”
- No Gloves Required
Historians are well aware that a good old map invites curiosity and connection.
- How Sara Georgini Does History
I learned that I like to edit in the mornings, when I’m a little less caffeinated and a lot more ruthless with the text.
- A Postcard From Paris
Warm and welcoming, the Nubar Library is the place to go when researching Armenian history.
- A Known and Unknown War
Twenty years later, I am living through the making of the Iraq War as history.
- Snatches of Uncertain Information
Every revolution is an information revolution.
- A Postcard From Minneapolis
The joy of spontaneous weekend research roadtrips.
- Ain’t I Some Pumpkins?
Soon after he was elected, Abraham Lincoln received a rather bizarre letter.
- Palace Intrigue
Perhaps we can enjoy the Baron’s palace without having to apotheosize him.
- A Postcard from Sacramento, CA
It is fitting to research policy history in the heart of Sacramento.
- How Canden S. Arciniega Does History
“Why do the best ideas come while I’m driving?”
- A Profession, If You Can Keep It
Imagined meritocracies mean little to extractive institutions.
- The Case of the Empty Bookshelves
Why were librarians keeping the titian-haired detective off their shelves?
- The Song of the Dying Composer
Attaching a mystery to a famous musician or work gives us something to hold onto.
- The Mystery of the Social-Climbing Copywriter
Smoke your way to a peaceful working-class life.
- Penelope Garcia’s Criminal Minds
What is Penelope Garcia’s archive?
- The Plot of the Dime Store Dostoyevsky
The master of the psychodrama mystery was Jim Thompson.
- The Clue in the Old Lace
Fashion history is rarely as straightforward as Nancy Drew led me to believe.
- The Secret of the Faculty Wife
Fiction embroidered upon the fabric of history.
- 2022 Literary Studies Book and Journal Article List
A companion list for lit studies scholars.
- 2022 Contingent Journal Article List
A companion to our 2022 book list.
- 2022 Contingent Book List
When you’re shopping for books this season, consider a contingent scholar.
- A Postcard from Detroit
A trip to the Reuther Library at Wayne State University.
- Why Do Archivists Get Rid Of Things (And Enjoy It)?
Just because something is cool doesn’t mean it belongs in an archive.
- When Christmas Started Creeping
Christmas starts earlier every year — or does it?
- A Postcard from Abilene, KS
A visit to the Eisenhower Presidential Library.
- Edward Guimont’s “From Outer Space”
The Hills’ aliens wore clothing and spoke English—albeit with an unspecified “foreign accent.”
- A Postcard from Dallas, TX
I walked away feeling less alone.
- The Dentist Who Defrauded Two Governments—and a Historian, Part II
What happens when forged documents enter the historical record?
- The Dentist Who Defrauded Two Governments—and a Historian, Part I
What happens when forged documents enter the historical record?
- A Postcard from Elmira, NY
“What is the most rigorous law of our being? Growth.”
- How Nishant Batsha Does History
In those fleeting moments where I’m able to sit down at my desk in silence for five minutes or for two hours, I’d like to think that I’m a writer.
- The Stories We Give Ourselves
I wish I’d asked my grandfather more questions.
- The RRRevolution Will Be Cinematic
This unflinching depiction of the British Raj and its terror is long overdue in Western pop culture.
- The Missouri Social Worker Who Started ICANN with Her Credit Card
It was no longer appropriate for one computer scientist in Marina del Rey to control the Internet’s address book.
- A Postcard from New Haven, CT
“When I entered the Sterling Memorial Library, I felt as though I stepped into a cathedral.”
- Working at the NMML
Two archivists share what it’s like at one of India’s largest archives.
- How Yael Schacher Does History
“There aren’t many history PhDs in the policy and advocacy spaces I now circulate in, but there should be more.”
- Dellwood: An Elegy for My Cat
I’m an animal historian — I know the dog always dies in the end.
- The Mechanical Hare
An essay about obsessive-compulsive disorder and standardized testing.
- Why Can’t You Just Keep Doing Your Research on the Side?
Frankly, even if I could, I wouldn’t want to.
- How Shin Yu Pai Does History
The most rewarding part of the experience is receiving the story.
- Who Do Historians Write For?
“I want my reader to enjoy reading it as much as I want to challenge myself writing it.”
- Where a Name Is From
It was a pretty name, right? And I was a pretty girl, right?
- My Trips to Vsetín
I’m usually the first visitor to arrive, and there are never more than two others at the reading room at any time.
- What If… Historians Were Honest About Counterfactuals?
A single choice can branch out to infinite realities.
- The Abolitionist Library
Libraries are safer without police.
- A Social Network Born Of Social Distancing
Scholars of science, technology, and medicine who are building a new community from the ground up.
Sarnia has been growing and dying in cycles for a hundred years.
A reader would have to have blinders on to not draw parallels between the past and the present.
I want to help people see themselves as a bridge between the past and the future.
I had never left my subdivision as a kid.
“How much code can a person stand?”
In one way or another, storytelling has been at the crux of what I’ve done all my life.
Enrico Berlinguer led the Italian Communist Party at the height of its power. A new exhibit at the Mattatoio grapples with his legacy.
Through his participation in the medical community, the theater community, and his connections to literary artists, Benjamin openly questioned how medical professionals and society at large defined and categorized gender.
Ironically, Chevron deference — which the conservative Supreme Court scrapped last month — began as a conservative legal tool.
Each community had an overseer who supervised the operations and the commissary. He also enforced the law.
Whose knowledge matters in a changing region?
What is possible when white activists heed the call of the Black radical vanguard.
There was nothing inevitable about the kind of gun country the U.S. is today.
America is rapidly changing into a country where we worship strange gods.
Advanced Placement: “a money-making racket that lets states off the hook for underfunding education”
The thing that I thought would be easiest to drop became something of a lifeline for me.
Hot pants served as a sartorial riposte to the fashion industry’s relentless campaign for the midi.
The New Bedford Sunday Standard-Times announced: “Indian Nuns Invade College”
Contingent is what I have always been.
“I was amazed to find that the book I wanted to read didn’t exist yet.”
The weirdo researchers were explaining fringe theories to a prime-time audience of millions.
The X-Files plays on our fascination with the camera — and our fear of it.
Duane Barry is a symbol of collateral damage inflicted by powerful interests.
It seems strange to think of the 1990s as history; it was only 30 years ago, after all.
Who wants to watch a show whose characters never make real moral choices?
With so many crop dusters, somebody’s bound to see a UFO.
This is all wrong. This is not how the story is supposed to end.
A companion list for lit studies scholars.
What did Truman and Oppenheimer actually say in that room?
For the next eight months, I’ll be an independent scholar with a side hustle as a fitness instructor.
A companion to our 2023 book list.
When you’re shopping for books this season, consider a contingent scholar.
As I descended into the basement I wondered if copal would ever have a chance to ascend.
“We asked for Central High School but they think it is too good for us.”
Last year was the first academic year I only taught at one institution.
This probably wasn’t what the Sargonids expected.
Ann Arbor was the New Left’s primary incubator for the movement’s leading activists.
[Always read the footnotes.]
Any historian knows that it is crucial to write to your audience. I’m writing to two audiences.
The Empire launched a massive manhunt to capture her.
Art history research can occasionally fall into the trap of viewing everything through a digital screen.
“I didn’t know my quirky obsession could be a job in its own right.”
The scientist’s interest in the Bhagavad Gita bordered on obsession.
The Historical Association of South Africa held its biennial meeting at Rhodes University in Makhanda, South Africa.
For a minute I stood listening to the 9 a.m. bells, breathing deep sighs of relief.
“I have to remind myself – I am the only one who cares if I get paid.”
I was quickly surprised to find that flight — a defining feature of the modern image of the witch — figured relatively little in the earliest medieval sources.
I cannot shut off my “Museum Brain.”
Historians are well aware that a good old map invites curiosity and connection.
I learned that I like to edit in the mornings, when I’m a little less caffeinated and a lot more ruthless with the text.
Warm and welcoming, the Nubar Library is the place to go when researching Armenian history.
Twenty years later, I am living through the making of the Iraq War as history.
Every revolution is an information revolution.
The joy of spontaneous weekend research roadtrips.
Soon after he was elected, Abraham Lincoln received a rather bizarre letter.
Perhaps we can enjoy the Baron’s palace without having to apotheosize him.
It is fitting to research policy history in the heart of Sacramento.
“Why do the best ideas come while I’m driving?”
Imagined meritocracies mean little to extractive institutions.
Why were librarians keeping the titian-haired detective off their shelves?
Attaching a mystery to a famous musician or work gives us something to hold onto.
Smoke your way to a peaceful working-class life.
What is Penelope Garcia’s archive?
The master of the psychodrama mystery was Jim Thompson.
Fashion history is rarely as straightforward as Nancy Drew led me to believe.
Fiction embroidered upon the fabric of history.
A companion list for lit studies scholars.
A companion to our 2022 book list.
When you’re shopping for books this season, consider a contingent scholar.
A trip to the Reuther Library at Wayne State University.
Just because something is cool doesn’t mean it belongs in an archive.
Christmas starts earlier every year — or does it?
A visit to the Eisenhower Presidential Library.
The Hills’ aliens wore clothing and spoke English—albeit with an unspecified “foreign accent.”
I walked away feeling less alone.
What happens when forged documents enter the historical record?
“What is the most rigorous law of our being? Growth.”
In those fleeting moments where I’m able to sit down at my desk in silence for five minutes or for two hours, I’d like to think that I’m a writer.
I wish I’d asked my grandfather more questions.
This unflinching depiction of the British Raj and its terror is long overdue in Western pop culture.
It was no longer appropriate for one computer scientist in Marina del Rey to control the Internet’s address book.
“When I entered the Sterling Memorial Library, I felt as though I stepped into a cathedral.”
Two archivists share what it’s like at one of India’s largest archives.
“There aren’t many history PhDs in the policy and advocacy spaces I now circulate in, but there should be more.”
I’m an animal historian — I know the dog always dies in the end.
An essay about obsessive-compulsive disorder and standardized testing.
Frankly, even if I could, I wouldn’t want to.
The most rewarding part of the experience is receiving the story.
“I want my reader to enjoy reading it as much as I want to challenge myself writing it.”
It was a pretty name, right? And I was a pretty girl, right?
I’m usually the first visitor to arrive, and there are never more than two others at the reading room at any time.
A single choice can branch out to infinite realities.
Libraries are safer without police.
Scholars of science, technology, and medicine who are building a new community from the ground up.