iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

My Civil War lecture was supposed to cover July 1861 through December 1862, but I barely made it through Antietam. Apparently, I spent so much time discussing McClellan’s reluctance to advance in '61-62 that I adopted it myself. 🤣

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

A great conversation at Metairie Park Country Day School! We spoke about the Indigenous place, Bulbancha, and its transformation into New Orleans. Students asked so many thoughtful questions. I enjoyed methodical questions about Indigenous history & community engaged research.

A speaker at a wooden podium presents a slide titled "Native-Land Map: What is Bulbancha?" in a dark auditorium.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Tomorrow, after class, I head to Metairie Park Country Day School for my talk, “Bulbancha: An Indigenous Place.” The course premise: to understand the world, you must understand New Orleans. I'll add: you can't truly understand either without first centering the Indigenous histories of Bulbancha.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

As you can see, I embrace a breadth of interdisciplinary approaches to Indigenous history and culture. I have training in oral history and have spent a lot of time building real collaborations with Indigneous communities in the U.S. and Canada.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I also am co-editing with @llassabe.bsky.social the book, Degrees of Liberation: Public History, Campus Activism, and the Fight for Educational Justice, under contract with SUNY Press. It examines Native, African American, Latine, and other groups’ activism as public history in higher education.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I’m deeply interested in how Native American experiences influence public history/DH. I organized the forthcoming special issue in The Public Historian, “Indigenous Cultural Preservation in Public and Digital Spaces.” In it, I write on Indigenous authority over NAGPRA at Dickson Mounds in Illinois.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I have a forthcoming book chapter about the first Dakota (mixed-ancestry) student at the Portage la Prairie Indian School in Manitoba. I examine her writings and engagement with the Women’s Foreign Mission Society handling of the school.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

My interests with historical memory led me to co-author a Civil War History article (Dec. 2025) with @nielseichhorn.bsky.social. We examine contested CW memories in Minnesota, New Mexico, and Colorado, and how these complicate the North-South memories of the Civil War. muse.jhu.edu/issue/56267

muse.jhu.edu

Project MUSE -- Verification required!

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The Western Historical Quarterly published (this Fall) a companion article to the book, which studies the extralegal kidnapping, trials, and executions of two Dakota chiefs who found refuge in British Rupert’s Land but were kidnapped by hired U.S. agents in 1864. academic.oup.com/whq/issue/57/3

academic.oup.com

Volume 57 Issue 3 | Western Historical Quarterly | Oxford Academic

The official journal of the Western History Association. Publishes original articles dealing with the North American West. Each issue contains reviews and notices of significant books, as well as rece...

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

My book, under contract with Uof Nebraska Press, is called A Line Worth Crossing: Dakota Mobility in the US-Canadian-Indigenous borderlands, studies how eastern Dakota people used mobility to find a greater sense of belonging to their homeland, Mni Sota Makoce, before/during/after the US-Dakota War

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

For the last year and a half, I’ve taught in-person at Loyola University New Orleans as an adjunct. My classes embrace experiential learning and digital public history. See more here: publichistorytrail.com

publichistorytrail.com

Public History Trail – Exploring Our Community's Pasts

Public History Trail is a digital gateway to collaborative student and community digital public history projects.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

As I prep materials, I wanted to highlight what I’ve been up to lately.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

My new order at the coffeeshop — after I’ve already had coffee and I’m camped out for hours — is a Diet Coke with a little bit of lemon syrup. So good.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

The disdain with which the barista responded “car-a-mel” when I ordered an iced “car-mel” macchiato. #MississippiThings

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

I’m grateful, but it’s another day where I spend more time in the car than I do in the classroom (Hattiesburg to New Orleans and back). Ready to talk about the Kansas-Nebraska Act in one class and Jamestown in the other.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I found several typos in my lecture slides yesterday (it's been one of those first weeks of the semester!) but at least my students know that I am not using AI to create lecture materials!

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

I am very excited and thankful that Metairie Park Country Day School invited me to speak this September. I will be talking about New Orleans’ Indigenous history and the various intersections with colonialism. I am really looking forward to it!

Image: a Zine depicting the Choctaw name Bulbancha/Bvlbancha and a headless Andrew Jackson in Jackson Square.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Hey Digital Humanities friends: There's a DH postdoc that's opened up at Southern Miss's Mississippi Digital Humanities Hub (+ Center for Digital Humanities) for the next year. If you have any questions about living in Hattiesburg, let me know and I can try to answer. usm.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

usm.csod.com

Postdoctoral Digital Humanities Scholar

Special Instructions to ApplicantsPlease note: The Postdoctoral Digital Humanities Scholar is a one-year grant funded position.Applicants must be curr...

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Really disliked the finale of Hacks.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Definitely this one! It’s a great essay.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

People who use AI to make posters probably look like this after they tell themselves "I made that."

static.klipy.com

Jeremiah Johnson's Iconic Yes Nod

ALT: Jeremiah Johnson's Iconic Yes Nod

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Thanks! @lhistorienne.bsky.social's work is very helpful!

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

I’m looking for visual examples of student unessays—not just project descriptions—to share with my class. Many examples online have broken image links or blog posts do not include photos. If you have creative projects you’re comfortable sharing here or by DM, I’d love to see them. Thank you!

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

I am revising a chapter post-review and realized I used the word “duality.” I immediately thought of Full Metal Jacket.

static.klipy.com

Full Metal Jacket: Duality of Man Quote

Alt: Full Metal Jacket: Duality of Man Quote

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Reposted by Dr. John R. Legg

Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Very excited to see my Western Historical Quarterly article published online!

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

There's a prof. on TikTok that decided he's going to input student work into AI for grading. He's going to let AI grade AI. What's the freaking point anymore? First of all, this seems like a FERPA issue. Second...just do the work yourself, man.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

I had some free time to watch All Quiet on the Western Front (the 2022 iteration). I’ve never read the book, but all I have to say is that war is hell (surely the point of the film(s) and book).

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Thanks! I’ve been meaning to reach out — what’s going on with all the Golden Chicks in Hattiesburg! Lol

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Very excited to see my Western Historical Quarterly article published online!

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Very happy to send off my chapter for the Handbook on Digital Activism. Inspired by my work on Indigenous authority at Dickson Mounds, I explore digitization + Indigenous data sovereignty. It took me in unexpected directions, and I'm grateful for the opportunity. Let's hope the editor likes it!

A white screen with black text, there are some URLs in blue.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Love this Vine Deloria, Jr. line from Custer Died For Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto.

White page, black text, and red brackets highlight a passage on the book page.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Do any of my Native history/studies, museum/public history friends have connections with a THPO? I'm hoping to speak with someone who has experience or interest in digital repatriation, particularly questions surrounding the digitization, stewardship, + access of Native American cultural materials.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

That seems normal to me. It definitely takes time. One of my mentors took seven years to write and publish their first book. I mean the standard tenure clock for TT is 5-6 years. FWIW, this was for an ACLS writing fellowship, not a postdoc.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

I just think of myself, an adjunct, without much support for research and writing. I have had zero time to really work on my book during the academic year (I also commute two hours, each way, three days a week).

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Received interesting feedback from a fellowship rejection! Historians, do you agree/disagree with R2’s comment that one should be able to revise a dissertation into a book in one year?

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Reposted by Dr. John R. Legg

Jason Heppler @jasonheppler.org · 21/05/2026

I'm excited to soft launch my next digital history project, Governing Ground: A kind of companion website to my in-progress book on the politics of the grasslands and public lands in the twentieth century American West. 🗃️

governingground.org

Governing Ground

A history of the sagebrush rebellions---recurring fights over land, power, and federal authority in the American West from the 1930s through 2016.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

The Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola University New Orleans shared my Indigenous America digital class project on LOYNO's website and socials. Very grateful that our collaborative work stood out to university administration. More here: cas.loyno.edu/news/may-15-...

cas.loyno.edu

Dr. Legg Guides Freshman/Sophomore Research Projects | Loyola University New Orleans

Indigenous America is a WordPress-based digital exhibit that highlights mostly team-based research projects created by first- and second-year students in Dr. John Legg's Indigenous America course. Stu...

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Reposted by Dr. John R. Legg

Caitlin G. DeAngelis @caitlindeangelis.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Recently, FamilySearch digitized and uploaded tons of microfilmed records, including many from 18th-century Massachsuetts. They're using some sort of AI to transcribe/summarize the handwritten documents. I've noticed that the AI strips out references to race and enslavement in 18thc documents.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

There's space on a digital page to thank everyone by name. It's not that hard to do. It also lessens the sense of power and authority that professors have over their students when they are seen as equal collaborators on a project.

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

During a first-round TT interview, one committee member had worked on one of these projects and questioned my role because they didn’t recognize my name. I had to explain I was in the “thanks to X class” acknowledgment category.

static.klipy.com

Dan Levy as David Rose: Awkward Nodding

ALT: Dan Levy as David Rose: Awkward Nodding

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Dr. John R. Legg @legg.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

As a reminder, if you have grad/UG students collaborate on a digital project, please make sure that those students receive credit for their intellectual labor. I helped on two major digital projects that do not list me as a collaborator. There's no real "proof" that I even helped in any way.

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