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Rachel Tamar Van

@rtvan.bsky.social
3.7K followers 1.9K following 238 posts

Prof & DH Coordinator @CPP. Early Americans abroad, merchants, smugglers, capitalists, family history = labor history. In it for the gossip. Views my own.

PostsRepliesMedia
Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
<Spoiler>I’m an historian, but for any female in higher ed, there is at least one conference moment where I was yelling at the screen. Any female really —my teenager also balked, noooope.
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Right? Not how labs work, counting the ways, is a big one. Her a-ha moment for her research in the film is so bad it’s funny. Painful but funny.
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I like Ali Hazelwood and the movie is adorable, but yeah, the list of “that’s not how stuff works” list is long. We were originally going to watch it with friends who are biologists and were very glad we didn’t.
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Ground News did a push notification. Which is wild b/c they’re linking to folks like AP News but I did not get a push alert from them.
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Like an AI April Ludgate that just gets everyone to leave you alone?
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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
In planning this symposium, I placed high priority on a) making it hybrid and b) making it affordable. $10 streaming tickets for sale now, including full Q&A participation and access to the recording after the event. We hope you will tune in! marktwainhouse.vbotickets.com/event/Creati...
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Rebecca Nagle @rebeccanagle.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Chaco Canyon is not for sale. That's what 20 Pueblo leaders and New Mexico lawmakers told the Capitol this week, opposing Trump's plan to open one of the most sacred Indigenous landscapes in North America to drilling. www.hcn.org/articles/pue...
hcn.org
Pueblo leaders, New Mexico lawmakers speak out to protect Chaco Canyon - High Country News
Officials are calling the push to remove an oil and gas buffer around the culturally critical monument ‘an absolute gut punch.’
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Tony Corsentino @notalegalrecord.net · 21/07/2026
AI companies are buying, scanning, and destroying older books to improve their models' training data & avoid problems of "model collapse" (wherein LLMs choke on their own slop). One of their suppliers is Better World Books, which partners with public libraries. www.404media.co/ai-companies...
404media.co
AI Companies Are Buying Tons of Old Books Because They're Free of AI Slop
ISBNdb, a company that sources printed books for AI companies to turn into training data, tells clients “the optics problem is real.”
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Kelly Lynne D’Angelo ✨ @kellylynnedang.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Please blow up the public comment (included below): BREAKING NEWS (7/15) — The administration wants to destroy Chaco Canyon without consulting Tribal Nations. It’s an irreplaceable historic & cultural site with 4,700 archeological sites that could be lost to the bulldozers of oil & gas development
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
But could I be heard by this great nation, I would call to mind the sublime and glorious truths with which, at its birth, it saluted a listening world. Its voice then, was as the trump of an archangel, summoning hoary forms of oppression and time honored tyranny, to judgement. Crowned heads heard it and shrieked. Toiling millions heard it and clapped their hands for joy. It  announced the advent of a nation, based upon human brotherhood and the self-evident truths of liberty and equality. Its mission was the redemption of the world from the bondage of ages. Apply these sublime and glorious truths to the situation now before you. Put away your race prejudice. Banish the idea that one class must rule over another. Recognize the fact that the rights of the humblest citizen are as worthy of protection as are those of the highest, and your problem will be solved; and, whatever may be in store for it in the future, whether prosperity, or adversity; whether it shall have foes without, or foes within, whether there shall be peace, or war; based upon the eternal principles of truth, justice and humanity, and with no class having any cause of complaint or grievance, your Republic will stand and flourish forever.
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
This is a favorite of mine this time of year as well, but in 2026, I find myself thinking of Douglass’s 1894 speech, “Lessons of the Hour” - teachingamericanhistory.org/document/les...
teachingamericanhistory.org
Lessons of the Hour
… Do not ask me what will be the final result of the so-called negro problem. I cannot tell you. I have sometimes thought that the American people are too […]
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Bethany Brookshire @beebrookshire.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
You may have heard about the OMB rule change that will put politics over federal grants. However bad you think it is? It's probably worse. Thanks to @theverge.com for letting me report this one out. There is still time to comment. bit.ly/4v2X4nQ
bit.ly
The war against ‘woke’ could end US science as we know it
“Everyone will be affected, not just scientists. Every community in the country.“
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Mark Anthony Neal (@NewBlackMan on X) @markanthonyneal.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
'A lost interview (1995) with award-winning writer #OctaviaButler and filmmaker @juliedash.bsky.social at her home in Los Angeles for Marc Boothe, Digital Diaspora, and "40 Acres & A Microchip" the first Black cyberspace conference in the UK for digerati of African descent.' vimeo.com/163190768
vimeo.com
Julie Dash interviews Octavia Butler (1995)
A lost interview (1995) with award-winning Sy Fy writer Octavia Butler and filmmaker Julie Dash at her home in Los Angeles for Marc Boothe, Digital Diaspora, and "40 Acres & A Microchip" the first bla...
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San Francisco Chronicle @sfchronicle.com · 17/06/2026
California is temporarily offering a free Historian Passport that covers admission for up to four people at more than 30 state historic parks through 2026.
bit.ly
California offers free pass to more than 30 historic state parks — for a limited time only
California is temporarily offering a free Historian Passport that covers admission for up to four people at more than 30 state historic parks through 2026.
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dhnow.bsky.social @dhnow.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Job Announcement: Digitization Archivist at Letterform Archive jobs.gusto.com/posti...
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
The combination of competence and caring — inject that into my veins.
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
I already have a teenager, thanks.
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
I am so sorry, Jack.
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Joshua R Greenberg @joshrgreenberg.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
In an interesting new Commonplace piece, James Blake stumbles upon a page in John F. Watson's scrapbook that at first seems to be about Lenape history, but with more investigation really offers more about the antiquarian construction of Lenape history. 🗄️ commonplace.online/article/past...
commonplace.online
Pasted Indians: John F. Watson, Scrapbook Culture, and the Construction of a Lenape Image - Commonplace
Rather than preserving a direct record of Native life, the page reveals the processes by which early American antiquarians assembled and interpreted the past.
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Dr. Jim Downs @jimdowns.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
HISTORIANS, Please share widely.I'm hosting an exciting Juneteenth event at the Library Company of Phila,June 16. "From Ledger to Genome: Data & the History of Black Life," exploring how Black lives have been recorded & recovered across time. Register here. support.librarycompany.org/event/junete...
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Noam Ross @noamross.net · 27/05/2026
The National Science Foundation is terminating and suspending grants again, and at Grant Witness we need you to help to track them! 🧪 We can only identify research being suppressed by under-the-radar suspensions directly from researchers. Please report! grant-witness.us/posts/2026-0... #NSF
grant-witness.us
New Grant Disruptions at NSF - We Need Your Help to Report! – Grant Witness
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
I am here for it 😂.
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Oh no! I’m so sorry!! Truly a scholar for the ages and such an incredible human!
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FLAVOR FLAV ⏰ @flavorflav.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Many of y’all asked how you can support and donate to our female athletes and the celebrations,,, so I created a Go Fund Me. I’m hopeful this can have an impact beyond the weekend and help those that represent the best of the US gofund.me/140322128
gofund.me
Donate to Support She Got Game: Celebrate Female Athletes, organized by Flavor Flav
Flavor Flav, the legendary rapper and Hollywood personality, has long been… Flavor Flav needs your support for Support She Got Game: Celebrate Female Athletes
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
@hstgrrl.bsky.social maybe of interest?
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Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
taking tax dollars to pay insurrectionists. which (by the way) the 14th amendment is supposed to prohibit: "[N]either the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States...."
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Zotero for secondary, but I like Tropy for organizing pics of sources + notes. It’s kind of a pared down version of FileMaker, but that’s to the good, in my experience.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
This graph shows how registration rates between Black and White voters varied in Louisiana since Reconstruction. In a single image, it tells the story of political power and discrimination. Black voters had power, briefly, then it was taken from them. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/power-demo...
graph shows high black voter registration during reconstruction, then it drops to zero, rises slightly in the 1940s and 1950s, and increases until it gets to parity with white voters in the 2000s
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
The California Newspaper database hosted by UC Riverside is another example of this—so fabulous, currently imperiled and engaged in fundraising: cdnc.ucr.edu
cdnc.ucr.edu
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Sharon Howard @sharonhoward.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
I don't think people fully understand yet just how fragile university-hosted digital resources are after external funding ends (especially if the lead academic retires or moves or is made redundant).
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Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Women’s history for (US)Mother’s Day on May10th. Material culture off my shelves at home version.
Four books laurel ulrichs age of homespun (tapestry on cover) Laura edwards only the clothes on her back (a black 19thc dress) Sarah Weicksels a nation unraveled (piece of cloth at top) and Susan stabiles memory’s daughters (pencil drawing of women’s heads w 18th c caps)
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adamxmcneil.bsky.social @adamxmcneil.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
In case you missed my virtual talk yesterday, take a listen! Thank you, @kawulf.bsky.social for offering me the chance to lecture on Black Loyalists and Black Loyalism! The Revolution is News: Adam McNeil on Black Loyalism youtu.be/-nIt8JbUBhc?...
youtu.be
The Revolution Is News: Adam McNeil on Black Loyalism
YouTube video by The John Carter Brown Library
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Yay - thanks for sharing!
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Merrilee Proffitt @merrileeiam.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
I'm excited to share that we've made a collection of historic Supreme Court Records and Briefs available via @archive.org I've written a blog post where I go into detail about the importance of this collection. blog.archive.org/2026/04/20/u...
blog.archive.org
U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs: The Arguments That Shaped America, Now Freely Available | Internet Archive Blogs
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Story here: www.azcentral.com/story/news/p...
azcentral.com
Smell of feces, vomit fills crowded ICE facility, detainee's wife says
Conditions at the ICE facility in central Phoenix mirror the conditions at a Mesa facility, where people were being treated worse than "animals," lawmakers said.
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Any Cal PhDs-Jr faculty need regalia? Pref. details below ❤️. Go Bears.
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Can’t wait to read this!
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Mike Walker @newnarrative.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Trump’s proposed cuts to NASA are an insult to astronauts like the Artemis crew By Bill Nye www.ms.now/opinion/arte...
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Rachel Maddow @maddow.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
“'I’ve never experienced anything like this in my entire life,' the congresswoman said, fighting back tears. "She described the way people were laying down inside as “like sardines.” “'It is frightening in there,' she said. 'It is disgusting'..." azmirror.com/2026/04/10/i...
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Rebecca Nagle @rebeccanagle.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
The federal govt wants to end the block on new leasing for mineral extraction at Chaco Canyon. They announced a 7-day comment period and it ends tomorrow, April 7. Submit a comment now to remind the govt of their obligations to tribes. nativenewsonline.net/environment/...
nativenewsonline.net
ACTION NEEDED to Save Chaco!
Overview: Tribal leaders and advocates are calling for urgent public action to protect Chaco Canyon from renewed oil and gas development threats. The Association on American Affairs has released this ...
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Horrifying.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 02/04/2026
the trump administration is selling this country wholesale to rapacious, extractive industries that will destroy our collective resources for private profit morethanjustparks.substack.com/p/breaking-t...
morethanjustparks.substack.com
BREAKING: Trump Administration Orders Dismantling of the U.S. Forest Service
The headquarters is going to Utah. Every regional office is being shuttered. The research program is being destroyed.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
Feels appropriate to point out on No Kings day: Allowing Trump to selectively pay employees he likes, when he feels like it, rather than having Congress solve the problem, is a real constitutional threat. From @joshchafetz.bsky.social donmoynihan.substack.com/p/mike-johns...
These actions aren't just illegal, although they are that. They aren't just unconstitutional, although they are that. They are anti-constitutional: they strike at the core of one of the principles that allows our entire constitutional order to function.

From the Founding through the present day, the power of the purse has been understood as one of Congress's most potent tools against the executive: the executive can't do anything without money, and he can't spend money without Congress. If Trump is able to get away with ignoring that, with arrogating the entire power of the purse to himself, then Congress has pretty much no way of checking him.
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H-Net Job Guide @h-net-job-guide.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
New job: Senior Historian Colonial Williamsburg Foundation jobs.h-net.org/jobs/69898
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
It was not.
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King Algamemnon @adamrothman.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Hot off the press! I wrote an article that got published in the Journal of American History. It explores how abolitionists used runaway slave advertisements to ridicule slaveowners and slaveowners' northern allies. 🗃 academic.oup.com/jah/article/...
academic.oup.com
Slip the Yoke and Change the Joke: How Abolitionists Used Runaway Slave Advertisements to Ridicule Slavery
Speaking to an abolitionist audience in New York City in May 1856, William Wells Brown read an advertisement sliced from the New Orleans Daily Picayune:
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
The famous David Blight formulation (in Race & Reunion) is, the country chose healing over justice and thereby achieved neither.
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Suddenly those mini Coronas they were drinking at the Olympics are looking good.
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Rachel Tamar Van @rtvan.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Long time listener, first time caller: CONGRATS on the FIANCÉ! Happy for you two 🍾.
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Zito @zeets.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
I’m not sure we can donate to small independent media our way out of the reality that the media and arts landscapes are controlled by an authoritarian and his friends. I’m as supportive as anyone else but this seems like a critical problem that goes beyond that.
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