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John Garrison Marks

@johngmarks.com
6K followers 1.2K following 4.1K posts

Historian and writer exploring how Americans engage with the past. **THY WILL BE DONE: George Washington's Legacy of Slavery and the Fight for American Memory** out now. www.johngmarks.com

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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 15h
Do your find it surprising that there are more than 21k history orgs in the U.S.? Or that 80% of nonprofit history institutions are run by volunteers? Or that a third of all history orgs are operated as part of government? If so, come join me for a webinar in a couple weeks.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 19h
I know this kind of thing is serious or whatever but god do I want to meet the person who thinks “ya know, I was gonna vote for a Democrat but then I heard what Christopher Lloyd said about Black Lives Matter.”
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Clint Smith @clintsmithiii.bsky.social · 22h
Very excited to share the cover of my new book JUST BENEATH THE SOIL: WORLD WAR II THROUGH THE EYES OF ITS LAST WITNESSES. It will be out May 4, 2027. I learned so much writing this book and truly can't wait to share it with you all. It’s available for preorder now: sites.prh.com/justbeneatht...
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 29/09/2026
When, I ask, will Democrats start getting the benefit of the doubt as the party of ball-knowers?
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 29/09/2026
I’m asking for just like, a couple days without some new, weird George Washington bullshit please
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 29/09/2026
Congratulations to Kevin! He’s one of a handful of people who have been on roughly the same book schedule as me for the last few years. Excited to see this finally out in the world.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 29/09/2026
Hey while they’re at it, IMLS and NEH should start offering unrestricted operating support for museums. Like, a lot of it. johngmarks.beehiiv.com/p/america-s-...
johngmarks.beehiiv.com
America's Museums are Falling Apart
With
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 29/09/2026
Historian John Marks will not be submitting his newest draft to his editor on time after an internal review revealed it did not meet safety standards.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 28/09/2026
Don't ask me what I'm working on that demanded this, but I've watched the AI-generated video from the Donald Trump Presidential Library and Museum about 20 times today and I'm losing my grip on reality. www.trumplibrary.org
AI slop from Trump Library. A seal that looks vaguely like presidential seal, but very messed upMore slop. What looks like "PRESIDERPIAL EIRRACE"More slop text. United States of Anaica?
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 28/09/2026
Describing the process of historical research as akin to detective work and emphasizing how it requires and builds transferable critical thinking skills is very effective at getting people to appreciate what history is and why it’s valuable.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 28/09/2026
Describing the process of historical research as akin to detective work and emphasizing how it requires and builds transferable critical thinking skills is very effective at getting people to appreciate what history is and why it’s valuable.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 28/09/2026
Lots of talk about how we should/shouldnt communicate with non-historians about history's value so let me just say: 1) There's actual, empirical research about this! aaslh.org/reframing-hi... 2) If you want me to be walked through it, I'm leading a workshop on Weds. learn.aaslh.org/products/str...
learn.aaslh.org
AASLH Learning: Strengthening History Communication: Reframing the Value of History and Your Institution (September 2026) - Virtual Workshop
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 25/09/2026
Seeing this job interview discourse having experienced the academic job market I’m struck by how much iced coffee can’t even compete with questions like “Should anyone in the interview be on a hotel bed?” or “Should you be able to hear dozens of other job interviews during yours?”
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 25/09/2026
One thing events like this always make clear is how incredibly valuable it is to read things you think of as totally unrelated to your usual scholarship and to just be curious and be in conversation with others who are as well.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 25/09/2026
“For centuries, books have constructed the intellectual world that we inhabit.” A lovely day hearing about recent books from former Kluge scholars @dagomardegroot.bsky.social, @peterbrannen.bsky.social, @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social, @patrickmccray.bsky.social, @isanchezprado.bsky.social!
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 25/09/2026
Today! Looking forward to learning from my fellow panelists and speaking with OAH members.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 25/09/2026
I read END OF DAYS: Ruby Ridge, the Apocalypse, and the Unmaking of America by Chris Jennings this year and suddenly felt like I understood so much about our current politics a lot better.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 24/09/2026
Almost ran out of time but I made it to The Valentine. Well worth it.
Defaced Jefferson Davis statue, covered in paint“How do history and art influence politics and power?”
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 24/09/2026
Anyway, this talk is gonna be on C-SPAN sometime in the not-too-distant future, so you can see for yourself!
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 24/09/2026
I've done almost 20 book events this year, but it wasn't until I came to Richmond that people came up to me afterwards with, uh, "objections."
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 24/09/2026
Really excellent exhibit about free Blaxk Virginians here at VMHC in Richmond. Not often that free Black people are the primary focus rather than an afterthought.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 24/09/2026
How will Banksy have enough money left for space travel now?
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 24/09/2026
Traveling by train is so much more humane than flying it’s almost unbelievable. “Just walk on board and sit in a normal-sized seat” is such a luxury.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 24/09/2026
Cannot be understated how much easier it is to get dressed for a fall book talk than a summer book talk. Whole closet is an option again!
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 23/09/2026
Had some really incredible archival finds this week. Stuff just jumping off the page it’s so great. So much of being a historian is a slog, days like these must be celebrated.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 23/09/2026
Next time you reach for "we're fucked," instead you could say: "I have laboured hard against the strong current of disappointments which had been threatening to carry us down the Cataract of destruction, but I have labored with a shatter'd oar."
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 23/09/2026
Busy week of talking about George Washington, slavery, and public memory! - Virtual presentation to a group of Philadelphia tour guides tonight - In-person lunch talk at Virginia Museum of History & Culture in Richmond tomorrow (maybe recorded by C-SPAN?) - Virtual webinar with OAH on Friday.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 23/09/2026
This is obviously absurd, and really whistling past the graveyard, but also there are huge EXXON MOBIL and STATE OF QATAR donor acknowledgements on the wall in there.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 23/09/2026
I hear the heads on all the statues in the Garden of American Heroes are going to tilt back and machine guns are going to pop out of them. Headless James Fenimore Cooper and Kobe Bryant just mowing people down.
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mike taddow @miketaddow.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
isaiah rodgers doing the hot dog dance for his kid is such a dope display of fatherhood. good shit.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 22/09/2026
Honored to be included in this panel discussion on Friday about the President's House site in Philadelphia and the controversy around telling the story of slavery there. Hope you can make it.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 23/09/2026
I’ll be speaking at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture tomorrow, so I talked to Richmond’s alternative weekly about it.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 23/09/2026
I’ll be speaking at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture tomorrow, so I talked to Richmond’s alternative weekly about it.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 22/09/2026
"The details which follow are wholly derived from memory, unassisted by note or memorandum of any kind; but they will be found substantially correct." Gonna start using this.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 22/09/2026
I love seeing words/phrases that feel very out of place in 18th century correspondence, like "by the way" and "puke"
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 22/09/2026
Honored to be included in this panel discussion on Friday about the President's House site in Philadelphia and the controversy around telling the story of slavery there. Hope you can make it.
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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Next Tuesday is the official release date for A GLORIOUS FATE. You can still order a signed copy through the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago. Join us to celebrate the book's publication with a live discussion. #booksky alincolnbookshop.com/a-house-divi...
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 21/09/2026
Just finished “A Flower Traveled in My Blood.” Incredible and awful and harrowing and inspiring. Couldn’t help but imagine the reckoning we’re due for.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 19/09/2026
I’m reading “A Flower Traveled in My Blood” right now, about the efforts of the Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo to recover their grandchildren, the children of disappeared left wing activists in the 1970s. Yet another book I wish didn’t feel so familiar.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 19/09/2026
Had an energizing and enlightening few days in Providence, RI for the @aaslh.org / @ncph.bsky.social conference. It was great to connect with so many old and new colleagues from all across the public history ecosystem. History museum people are out here working hard, go visit them.
Photo of street lamp banner promoting AASLH / NCPH conference Selfie in front of the RI state house
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 19/09/2026
I’m sure the people of Providence are enjoying this big live music street festival, but as someone who just finished 3 days of very busy conference sessions and is in a hotel room right above it, I’m a little less impressed.
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Sonya Bonczek @sonyabonczek.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
@johngmarks.com "has produced the kind of book that everyone should read before visiting Mount Vernon or Philadelphia." @johnfea1.bsky.social www.christianitytoday.com/2026/09/the-...
christianitytoday.com
The Founding Father Most Americans Couldn’t Name - Christianity Today
Three biographies of America’s founders.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 18/09/2026
In protesting the law and explaining the deep roots of the injustice it represented, some radical abolitionists took to calling George Washington "not just a slave holder but a slave HUNTER!!!" because of his support of the 1793 fugitive slave law and his pursuit of Ona Judge.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 16/09/2026
Flight attendants absolutely slamming the shit out of overhead bins to close them is a real pre-flight power move.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 16/09/2026
“IT HAS BEEN 0️⃣ DAYS SINCE THE LAST CONTROVERSY ABOUT GEORGE WASHINGTON AND PUBLIC MEMORY”
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 16/09/2026
Not on the schedule but heading to Providence, RI tomorrow for the @aaslh.org / @ncph.bsky.social joint conference! Say hi if you see me. I’ll be facilitating the CEO Forum and a few other events, but will be at the evening event each night!
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 16/09/2026
“I’d prefer not to.”
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 15/09/2026
"There is neither a proportional relationship, nor an inverse one, between a writer’s estimation of work in progress and its actual quality. The feeling that the work is magnificent, and the feeling that it is abominable, are both mosquitoes to be repelled, ignored, or killed, but not indulged."
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 15/09/2026
So much time writing is spent thinking "this shit is awful and it makes no sense," so I'm pleased to report that I feel like I'm absolutely cooking today. Of course neither of those things are ever really true, but still.
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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 15/09/2026
I’ve noticed a big increase museum layoffs and closures. I suspect ARP money finally getting fully flushed out of state/local budgets, declining federal support, rising prices for everything, declining corporate/foundation support for non-Trump approved history are all contributing. A sad thread:
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