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Matthew Kollmer

@matthewkollmer.com
4.4K followers 1.6K following 658 posts

PhD student, info sci at UIUC. DH research–NLP, AI, cultural analytics Lecturer @ Berkeley (Python for DH) Interests: place studies, activist histories, US lit, creative writing, rhet/comp: matthewkollmer.com Owner @ eveninglandbooks.com

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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 25/09/2026
Digging through old files and I found these. They're from a decade ago, from a trip down the Mississippi River. I was a little baby deckhand, thinking I'd maybe work toward a pilot's license. But then I got a chance to go to grad school. My how time flies, how life changes!
A photo of a wide floodplain on the Mississippi River with colorful fall bluffs and meandering river channel. A small navigation beacon that looks like a miniature lighthouse is off center on a pile of rocks in the water.A photo from behind the wheel in the wheelhouse. The dashboard with navigation equipment and thrusters sits behind it. Out the window, the two banks of the river look wooded. One has a small marina full of boats, too.The bow of the Avalon, the massive three-story riverboat, lifted out of the water in a dry dock. It is white with some edges painted red. It has two loading ramps lifted up and balconies behind them. The dry dock is massive, the size of a wide open football field.
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 08/09/2026
Here’s a photo of the call-in psychic for more context
Gary Spivey, local radio psychic from my youth. He’s a white guy wearing a giant white Afro wig and a white linen shirt. He has a large ruby pendant necklace around his neck
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 13/08/2026
Pausing my writing to acknowledge this perfect late-summer thunderstorm
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 10/08/2026
Been chillin all week with Sir Francis, recovering from jet lag, the flu, and a bout of intense brain fog. Love this lil guy
A selfie on the couch with my dog laying as though he were conscientious of the camera—posing, it would seem, but in actuality, I was just fortunate to capture him sitting like a hooman
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 28/07/2026
My poster is up at #DH2026 — come find me here tomorrow afternoon if you’d like to discuss this project that has occupied a large part of my life for the past two years! Everything about it was challenging—subject matter, methods, implementation 1/
A selfie in front of my poster titled: The Dataset of U.S. Lynching Reports (DUSLR): A Breakdown and Digital Exhibit
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 25/07/2026
Fun times ahead of #DH2026!
A selfie of myself and friends outside the Sungnyemun Gate in Seoul
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 16/07/2026
Da goofiest, da cutest
Sir Francis Bacon, our Boston terrier, face close up, facing the camera, with his ears held back and his head resting on my arm
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 16/05/2026
It took me over a year, but I managed to bring it back. Coming soon to @eveninglandbooks.com – an original WWI poster, "Knowledge Wins", commissioned by the ALA. Will be overpriced because I don't actually want to sell it!
an original "Knowledge Wins" poster, circa 1918, featuring an image of a WWI soldier climbing up a staircase of books to a city in the background. Above him reads "Knowledge Wins". Below him reads: Public library books are free"
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 09/05/2026
Date night!
Kristina and I grinning in a selfie
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 01/05/2026
He is not dog, he is baby Happy Friday!
Sir Francis, a Boston terrier, cradled in my arm like an infant
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 25/04/2026
Perhaps the last morel of the season 😭
A moldy morel mushroom held up in my hand in the woods
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 18/04/2026
We’re booksellin’!!!
Matthew lounging back at the edge of our booth at the Indianapolis rare book fairKristina posing in front of our booth at the Indianapolis rare book fair
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 14/02/2026
Valentine’s date success
Kristina with a black goat in the hay. She is squatting down to get on its level. She is holding a brush for petting. Another goat cranes its neck into the picture, trying to nibble on her purse strap
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 01/02/2026
this is who runs this account
A photo of me at about age 5, holding a bitten peach, atop the kitchen counter. I'm looking directly into the camera. I'm wearing oversized striped shorts and a striped t-shirt and white tennis shoes. My younger sister is seated next to me on the counter. She is raising up a pear.
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 04/01/2026
#MLA26 is this week?! I'll be part of session 652: Student-Centered AI and DH Practices, talking about LLMs and writing pedagogy and what we can do to help students know what this technology is doing, really, tho. Hope to see you there!
The MLA conference graphic. It features the conference logo in the bottom center. To its left and right is the Toronto skyline. Above it reads: "I'll be presenting at #MLA26".
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 11/12/2025
Sir Francis insisted on taking a selfie, interrupting my writing
A selfie of myself with beard, glasses, smile, and sir Francis bacon, my Boston terrier, seated in my lap. His ears are back and his jowly face is especially looking cute
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 13/11/2025
Wedding photos. Elvis showed up!
Kristina and I kissing at the end of the aisle outside at the Neon Museum in Las Vegas. Behind us is a blue clear sky and the Lady Luck sign. Folks are cheering and clapping around us.Kristina and I kissing between two Las Vegas showgirls in pink and Little Elvis in gold and black standing in front of us.My father and I getting ready in the hotel room. He is adjusting my tie. I am smiling at him in my blue suit.Kristina and I standing in front of the neon signage of old casinos. She's in her wedding dress, throwing the peace sign and kissing. I'm in my blue suit with a copper orange tie. I'm facing the camera, shrugging and holding out my hand.
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 18/10/2025
Best outfit #nokings
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 18/10/2025
More best signs
A sign that reads “honk if you’re no in the Epstein files”A sign that reads “no kings no fascists no nazis”
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 18/10/2025
Best signs
A sign that reads “little dictator energy” with a cartoon trump wearing a pad on his earA sign that reads “science it’s like magic but real”. There’s an image of an atom in the cornerA sign that reads “same shit different hat” with nazi, kkk, and maga hats togetherA sign that reads “revered American kings” with images of Elvis, Stephen king, and MLK with checks next to them while an image of trump has an x next to it
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 18/10/2025
Chambana showed up for #nokings
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 05/09/2025
Just tested out Google AI Mode by searching my name It was accurate–extremely specifically accurate about my lack of relevance to the sport of baseball?
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 01/08/2025
Sir Francis hitting me with that “don’t you dare get up” stare
Sir Francis Bacon, my bug-eyed Boston terrier, looking over his shoulder, sensing that I am going to rise from my seat and disturb his comfortable spot in my lap
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 23/07/2025
It me every time I try to draft a political post this past week
The classic “two button” meme—a comic with one box showing a hand choosing between two buttons. One button reads: “refusing to entertain conspiracy theories”. The other reads: “calling out Trump for Epstein files”. In another box, a cartoon man is sweating profusely and wiping his forehead with a cloth because the decision is too hard.
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 11/05/2025
@kristinaintin.bsky.social and were feelin’ crunchy, so we built a raised bed and planted veggies, complete with gates and fence to keep out those pesky groundhogs.
I am standing awkwardly in front of our raised bed vegetable garden
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 11/05/2025
I've been pushing myself through Deleuze & Guattari, unsure why. But then I found this passage wherein they compare the processes of evolutionary biology and DNA to the processes of social and cultural change, and vice versa. And suddenly it clicked.
"How, starting from this domain of chance or of real inorganization, large configurations are organized that necessarily reproduce a structure under the action of DNA and its segments, the genes, performing veritable lottery drawings, creating switching points as lines of selection or evolution—this, indeed, is what all the stages of the passage from the molecular to the molar demonstrate, such as this passage appears in the organic machines, but no less so in the social machines with other laws and other figures. In this sense it was possible to insist on a common characteristic of human cultures and of living species, as “Markov chains”: aleatory phenomena that are partially dependent. In the genetic code as in the social codes, what is termed a signifying chain is more a jargon than a language (langage), composed of nonsignifying elements that have a meaning or an effect of signification only in the large aggregates that they constitute through a linked drawing of elements, a partial dependence, and a superposition of relays.† It is not a matter of biologizing human history, nor of anthropologizing natural history. It is a matter of showing the common participation of the social machines and the organic machines in the desiring-machines." - from Anti-Oedipus, pg. 291 of the Penguin Classics edition.
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 26/04/2025
Morel of the story hehehe
A line of over a dozen morel mushrooms on a glass table
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 23/04/2025
We have found more morels 🍄‍🟫
My hand outstretched, holding out several morel mushrooms. The background shows a lush forest floor of bluebells
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 20/04/2025
Just found a morel mushroom!
A finger-sized morel mushroom popping out of the ground
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 19/04/2025
Is this an arrowhead or am I fooling myself? Found on a hiking trail near Clinton Lake in central IL.
A triangular piece of pale stone. It could just be a coincidence, but it has two sharp edges connecting at a point that seems to have chipped off.
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 16/04/2025
A film that takes place where you're from
The cover art of the 1990s comedy, Grumpy Old Men. The film was set and filmed in southeastern Minnesota. The cover art features the leading actors–Jack Lemmon, Ann-Margret, and Walter Matthau. They are standing outside in the snow, looking grumpy.
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 09/04/2025
No more depressing or volatile graphs today
A line graph titled "Trajectory of Good Things". The x-axis reads "The Passage of Time" from Past to Future. The y-axis reads "Good Things" from less to More. The line travels with a consistent curve upward across the x-axis, meaning there will be more good things over time. At the top right corner, the final line value is labelled as "impending nirvana".
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 05/04/2025
One block of protesters surrounding the park
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 05/04/2025
Protests encircling the park in Champaign, IL today—gives me hope
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 18/03/2025
a cartoon image of a frog sitting on a lily-pad. But instead of a frog head, it has my head tinted green.
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 07/03/2025
Can we please bring back the aesthetics of early 20th century political posters Example found at ccdl.claremont.edu/digital/coll...
A WWI political poster from the American Library Association. It features a soldier in helmet and gear climbing up a staircase of books. Above him reads "KNOWLEDGE WINS" and below, "Public Library Books Are Free"
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 13/02/2025
Post an awkward photo of yourself.
A photo of Kristina and I doing our best T-Rex impressions in front of the T-Rex skeleton in the lobby of the Science Museum of Minnesota. The T-Rex skeleton is leaning forward with its jaw wide open as though it were frozen in a charge toward some prey. Kristina and I are trying to capture this posture, but we just look silly. Both of us are bent forward, lurching. We have our hands up, wrists bent, to seem like the puny hands of the T-Rex. Our jaws are also open, but there is no menace there. Just silly, awkward and silly.
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 07/02/2025
Look at this snoring furry angel
Our Boston terrier, sir Francis bacon, sound asleep. He snores.
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 30/01/2025
No cheating. Last saved celeb pic is your therapist.
Black and white photo of Karl Marx.
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 25/01/2025
Happy Friday!
After a busy week, our little Boston terrier, Sir Francis Bacon, sits on the rug in front of our bookshelves. He looks to the camera, patiently waiting for someone to play with him.
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 19/01/2025
#booksky is trending, hope springs eternal Here’s a taste of the appropriately dystopian goodies you may find here
A rare book, a first edition of Hunger Games in the original dust jacket. It’s sitting on a granite countertop. The front cover is black with a sparrow and arrow insignia in goldThe half-title page of the first edition of The Hunger Games. It is inscribed by the author, Suzanne Collins, with here leafy twig stamp underneath her signature.
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 31/12/2024
The last post office run of 2024! We had a good year at Evening Land Books. Idk wtf is going to happen with 2025, but we'll do our best.
It's me standing next to a stack of seven cardboard boxes arranged neatly in the back of our red Jeep Renegade. The boxes contain rare books to be shipped to their new owners. I am cheesing horribly–a goofy smile and a thumbs up.
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 25/12/2024
Was gifted a bird feeder with camera. It texts me every time there’s motion. Already receiving constant notifications from the backyard squirrels
A closeup image of a squirrel devouring birdseed from our bird feeder
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 07/12/2024
Our smol xmas tree, our smol good boy
Sir Francis Bacon, a Boston terrier, sitting patiently beneath our tiny tree. This shot is up close to Bacon. He is leaning toward the camera.Sir Francis Bacon, our Boston terrier, sitting underneath our tiny Christmas tree. This shot is taken from several feet back. It is a tall shot, capturing the entirety of our tiny Christmas tree and Bacon underneath it. The tree is on a box to give it more height, but otherwise it wouldn't be much taller than Bacon.Sir Francis Bacon, a Boston terrier, sitting patiently beneath our tiny tree. This shot is up close to Bacon. He is squinting into the flash.
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 23/11/2024
Learning about new animals is the best. My contribution: the maned wolf, a canine found in South America. It's reclusive, mysterious. Its long legs help it walk gracefully through tall grasses and brush. Idk why but I think about this creature often. A stretched out dog/fox hybrid? So majestic.
A photo of a maned wolf. It is a tall, lanky canine with long, black legs, twice as long as normal dog legs. Its torso is golden brown like a fox with streaks of black fur on its shoulders. It has a narrow, jackal-like face with perked up, triangular ears. Its tail is half the length of its legs and droops down, a golden tuft. In this photo, the maned wolf trots over a dirt patch sparsely covered with detritus. The background is the blurry green of foliage. It is moving with its head down, presumably watching whomever took the photo.
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 20/11/2024
Behold, Sir Francis Bacon
My Boston terrier, Sir Francis Bacon, sitting regally on the carpet. He looks to the left above the camera, posing like an explorer about to set out on a journey. Behind him are bookshelves cluttered with books, DVDs, and Nintendo 64 games.
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 20/11/2024
real footage of our next education secretary
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 19/11/2024
A pair of goodies arrived with us today. They'll be listed at eveninglandbooks.com soon 📚❤️
Two books propped up, showing their front covers in white space. The book on the lefthand side is a first edition of A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor. The book on the right hand side is an Anniversary Edition of To Kill a Mockingbird, signed by Harper Lee.The copyright page of A Good Man Is Hard to Find, showing the first edition statement.The half-title page of To Kill a Mockingbird with Harper Lee's signature in blue ink.
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 04/11/2024
Books that remind us why we vote.
A display of modern first editions. They include a 1st edition of My Fight for Birth Control by Margaret Sanger, a signed 1st edition of War on Peace by Ronan Farrow, a 1st American edition of Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, a 1st trade edition of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, a first edition of The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin, a first edition of And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou, a signed first edition of Worth the Fighting For by John McCain. On each side of the display are brass Abe Lincoln bookends.
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Matthew Kollmer @matthewkollmer.com · 21/10/2024
Obligatory voter selfie outside Champaign Public Library 🇺🇸🗳️
It’s me in the front seat of my car with my “I Voted” sticker pasted to my shirt
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