Sign in

Anne Perkins

@annegperkins.bsky.social
40 followers 15 following 104 posts

Historian and higher education scholar. Author of Yale Needs Women: How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant.

PostsRepliesMedia
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I’m in waiting mode now, as my editor works through my manuscript. I’m not a prima donna about my writing. If an edit strengthens it, fantastic. But wouldn’t it be great if she said this was the best book she’d read in years?
010
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
When I was 23, I lived for two years in a 16th century building in England—the housing for graduate students in my Oxford college. 🧵
100
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I’m working on endnotes now. Sounds boring, but it’s a job I actually like. It’s satisfying to document a history that has been forgotten until now, particularly one about a small group of courageous people fighting a battle that everyone else thought they would lose.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
This is the beach where I used to go with my grandmother when I was little. I took my two-year-old granddaughter there last week. Sometimes, life just hands you a gift like that.
011
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
What I did in the first week after I handed in my manuscript: Got my hair cut. Had a two-hour lunch with an old friend. Went to the supermarket (I love the supermarket.) Took a long walk. Weeded the garden. Read Ann Patchett’s Whistler.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
At the archives: plenty of excellent photos of the white men who held the positions of power in the 1970s. No photos of the young women who challenged them.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
I spent a day in the Yale archives last week, searching for potential photographs to publish with the book. It really is a remarkable place to work. That's Maya Lin's "The Women's Table" in front of the library building.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Now that I’ve handed in my manuscript, I’m finding it a bit disorienting not to be working on my book all the time. What do normal people do on Saturdays?
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Done! After 5 years of research, 1,000+ pages of primary documents, 50 interviews, and more writing and rewriting than I can count, I submitted my book manuscript on time. And now the wait to see what my editor thinks…
120
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
On December 9, 1972, the Yale Corporation voted to abolish the gender quota that had restricted the number of female students at the school for the first four years of co-education. Within 5 years, the percentage of women at the school had grown to nearly 50%.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
1972 marked the first year of varsity status for the Yale women's field hockey team. After years of persistence and non-university organizing, Lawrie Mifflin was able to establish the team within the school's athletic department.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
In 1970, the Yale Women's Alliance organized the Free Women Conference at Yale...
100
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
The winter of 1970 found the Graduate Women's Alliance hard at work exposing inequities at Yale. One of their early acts was documenting the number of women faculty members in each department, exposing assumptions and injustice in the school's hiring practices.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
In the fall of 1969, Kit McClure became the first woman to join Yale's Marching Band, performing at the college's football games. Despite the raunchy, unserious attitude of the majority of the band members, McClure's persistence in joining marked another barrier broken by women at Yale.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
As I prepare to submit my next manuscript in a month, I'll be looking back on some of landmark moments in the narrative of my first book: Yale Needs Women (1/3 🪡)
100
Reposted by Anne Perkins
Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Out now! Literary Review's June 2026 issue, featuring Peter Moore on George Forster @annegperkins.bsky.social on the Balfour family William Whyte on British dons Ian Thomson on the fall of the USSR John Mullan on Emily Brontë and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk
031
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
My new manuscript deadline is July 15, and I’m pretty much in lock down until then—taking a sabbatical from the food pantry, skipping my haircut, telling friends I’ll see them later this summer. My poor husband. He sees me in glimpses.
010
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
I had to ask my publisher for an extension on the deadline for this book. My agent made the ask for me. That’s our rule: she shares the bad news. I share the good news. Thank goodness the answer was yes.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
I learned so much from an interview I did last week. The woman was the daughter of refugees. Her parents had survived by “being small,” not standing out. And that’s how they taught her to live her life.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
It is so gloriously green outside. I can’t get enough of it after our long, gray winter.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
With Yale Needs Women, the deadline was so tight that I sent my manuscript to my editor without anyone else reading it first. Not ideal. I’ve got more time with this book, so my lovely friend, short story writer @katywritestuff.bsky.social, is editing the draft for me...
210
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
A morning at the food pantry. Our numbers keep rising. For some who come here, there is shame in needing free groceries. “We’re all here for each other. We’re part of the same community,” we tell them, trying to erase the stigma. “But that’s easier to say when you’re the one handing out the food.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
I’m revising Chapter 3 now. It’s the hardest one so far. There’s so much backstory I want the reader to know, but I don’t want to lose the pulse of the plot. I’m impatient that I haven’t found the right balance yet, and impatience never makes for good writing. Time to go for a walk.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Sometimes I interview people who have almost no memory of what happened, even if I show them letters or articles they wrote. Others remember like they’re watching a movie. For them, every detail returns...
110
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Spring comes to Boston. Finally.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
With some people I interview for this book, I feel an instant connection. With others, I don’t. The challenge of being human, I guess. I like to think that it won’t affect the quality of the interview, but how can it not?
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
So fun to see Yale Needs Women on display at Atticus Books in New Haven. It's been out for more than six years now, and I still get emails from readers. What a gift for an author.
001
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
I told myself I’d stop interviewing after January, but I’ve got another one scheduled next week. There’s always a part of this story I want to know more about. That’s what’s hard about writing history. No matter how thorough the research, we never have all the pieces.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
I’m writing about a class action lawsuit with seven plaintiffs. I knew when I started that one, the sole man, had died of AIDS in 1990, but I figured I’d be able to interview the six that remained. The oldest was only 22 when they sued in 1977; the youngest was 19… 🧵
110
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
I have tired of winter, and snow, and a palette of nothing but grays and whites. I remind myself: there are daffodil bulbs under there.
010
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
I’ve just started reading Charlotte Wood’s Stone Yard Devotional. What drew me to this book: the Booker Prize judges’ description of it as “one woman’s inward journey to make sense of the world.” That sounds pretty helpful just about now. @riverheadbooks.bsky.social
010
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
I did 12 new interviews last month. As always, I’m so grateful to the people who make time to speak with me. The most important conversations are the ones that challenge my understanding of what happened. It’s too easy at this stage of writing to think I’ve got it all figured out.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Remember these names—Paulette Barnes, Pamela Price, Diane Williams. These Black women were all plaintiffs in groundbreaking 1970s lawsuits that laid the foundation for today’s legal protections against sexual harassment. #BlackHistoryMonth
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
I was in Portland this weekend. The coffee shop in my son's neighborhood had this sign on its door.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Today begins year two of Trump’s 2nd term. I am grateful to all the activists and lawyers and judges, to all the writers and politicians, to all the decent people doing kind and decent work who have pushed back against the cruelties of the past year.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Historians once looked down their noses at interviews, and claimed that documents—the paper trail of officialdom—were more reliable sources. But it depends what you’re looking for. Interviews give access to voices that are missing from the written record. That’s why I value them so much.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
I spent a chunk of New Year’s Day making donations to organizations that I care about. It was a nice way to start 2026. Reading about all the good work being done out there, I felt hopeful.
010
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
I’m excited for January—with my book’s 1st draft now done, I have time for more interviews. It’s always such a gift to hear someone’s story.
010
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
So many Massachusetts winters, and I still get excited about snow. Wishing you and yours a warm and happy holiday season, with a special thanks to all the readers of Yale Needs Women for their support over these past years.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Buy books for all your holiday gifts!--Support independent bookstores; support authors and good writing; bring joy to the readers in your life. What’s not to love? @silverunicornbooks.bsky.social
020
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
I just filed my claim for the Anthropic copyright lawsuit. Yale Needs Women is one of the roughly 500,000 books covered by the settlement.
110
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Six months left until my June 1 manuscript deadline. 17 chapters drafted, 1 to go, and now I circle back for more research and revision. Is it possible that I'm actually on schedule?
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
This Thanksgiving, I find myself thinking of Wendell Berry’s wonderful quote: “Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts.” Much joy to you and yours this holiday.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
The last few chapters of my book are turning out to be the hardest to write. I toy with the idea of putting them on hold and starting the 2nd round of interviews. Yes, that would be a mistake, but like many mistakes, it is awfully tempting.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
The community has stepped up to support our local food pantry. One new donor dropped off $50, saying, “My husband and I are one bad thing away from needing to come here too, but for now, we can help.” I am moved by such acts of basic decency.
010
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Last week, more people came to our local food pantry in a single day than ever before in the pantry’s 41-year history. There were federal workers, school bus drivers, home health aides, hotel employees—all without enough to eat. Meanwhile, Trump dawdled on funding the SNAP program.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
This is the line of cars at the food pantry where I volunteer. We haven't even opened for the day yet. And meanwhile, the president builds his gilded ballroom.
011
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
I had to cut some great material from a chapter today--it was just too long. Painful, but I console myself by saying: If I'm cutting material this good, then I know that what remains must be even better.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
Breaking my own rule—no more interviews until I’ve finished the rough draft of my book—I just did my first interview in over a year. It was too important to wait, I told myself. And it was remarkable. I feel so honored to be trusted with the stories of the women in my book.
000
Anne Perkins @annegperkins.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
It’s Banned Book Week! And here are four banned books I’m reading. Who knew the day would come here when reading was an act of rebellion?
000