Reposted by Zachary SchragNoah Kazis @noahkazis.bsky.social · 28/09/2026I have mostly switched to lurking here but some words are so good they must be shared. “Surface the viscerality of parking and of religion” 1227
Reposted by Zachary SchragDr. Adeene Denton @spacewhalerider.com · 27/09/2026It's me, the mythical STEM PhD who not only took history classes but got a whole history degree! Studying history is arguably one of the most important things STEM students can do. Science isn't done in a vacuum, and students should investigate the people, places, and events that shape it. 1421044
Zachary Schrag @zacharyschrag.bsky.social · 22/09/2026I tried something like this with William F. Buckley's 1955 National Review manifesto. I had no idea that "Archibald MacLeish will have written ten heroic cantos about our age of terror" likely referred to a specific work. (MacLeish, The Trojan Horse, 1952). 022
Zachary Schrag @zacharyschrag.bsky.social · 18/09/2026I'd love to read a history of historians' note-taking practices. In the meantime, enjoy Mark De Wolfe Howe's notes from the Oliver Wendell Holmes papers in the Library of Congress. 030
Reposted by Zachary SchragErin L. Thompson @artcrimeprof.bsky.social · 16/09/2026I spent years tracking her purchases through the records she left in three archives. Finally, I found a missing notebook where she recorded exact prices and sellers for 513 objects — sometimes labeling the seller simply "chor." In Nepali, that’s “thief.” 28412
Reposted by Zachary SchragKing Algamemnon @adamrothman.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Interesting essay about writing, history, and being open to criticism. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/07/o...nytimes.comOpinion | The Puerto Rican Women I Left Out of My History of the Pill (Gift Article)I wrote a book about the history of the pill. I never expected to be a character in a play telling the story of what I left out. 042
Reposted by Zachary SchragCameron Blevins @cblevins.bsky.social · 28/08/2026This MIT report on AI and teaching is rightfully getting lots of praise: aiandeducation.mit.edu/report/. There's a ton to like, but it exemplifies a trend I see on Bluesky around AI + pedagogy conversations: they tend to leave out online learning entirely. 69637
Zachary Schrag @zacharyschrag.bsky.social · 26/08/2026Your periodic reminder that young people can get a military education at a real university by joining the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets. 061
Reposted by Zachary SchragJarrett Walker @humantransit.bsky.social · 18/08/2026Just got the publisher's OK to put the entire introduction of my book Human Transit online, where you can read it for free. Please share! humantransit.org/bookhumantransit.orgHuman Transit - Book — Human TransitBelow is the complete introduction of the Revised Edition my book Human Transit: How clearer thinking about public transit can enrich our communities and our lives. You can read the preface and Tabl... 05419
Reposted by Zachary SchragSMH Historians @smh-historians.bsky.social · 20/08/2026The Board of Trustees of the Society for Military History has approved the following statement of protest regarding the recent closure of public access to the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC). 210941
Reposted by Zachary SchragChristof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 21/08/2026(Transit Twitter voice): As the opening scene announces, the movie is really a parable about the inevitable compromises of using light rail as a rapid transit backbone, and how the entire system is morally corrupted as a result of that decision. youtu.be/MqRyngrXlXw?...youtu.beHeat (1995) - Opening sceneYouTube video by 1DaKo 3161
Zachary Schrag @zacharyschrag.bsky.social · 20/08/2026Technology in the news: 1. Some level of Virginia government has set up a huge electronic sign warning of an E-moto crackdown on the W&OD trail, where such vehicles are prohibited. 2. Zach doesn't know how to photograph an LED electronic sign with an iPhone. 260
Reposted by Zachary SchragJulia Rose Kraut @juliarosekraut.bsky.social · 13/08/2026Honored to join Ellen Schrecker & Sam Lebovic in submitting the Historians' Amicus Brief in AAUP v. Rubio. 🗃️ The brief focuses on the First & Second Red Scares, & on the development of free speech jurisprudence. Read ⬇️ Grateful to @brennancenter.org & Counsel www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...brennancenter.orgHistorians’ Amicus Brief in American Association of University Professors v. RubioHistorians filed a brief supporting a challenge to the federal government’s policy of arresting, detaining, and deporting noncitizen students and faculty on the basis of their speech and associations. 510143
Reposted by Zachary SchragRRCHNM @rrchnm.bsky.social · 13/08/2026Congratulations to John Turner, Professor of Religious Studies and History at George Mason University, whose book Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet, has won the 2026 Evans Biography Award. Read more: ow.ly/ixWn50Zz0uq ow.lyMountain West Center for Regional Studies Announces 2026 Evans Biography Award WinnersThe Mountain West Center for Regional Studies at USU awarded the Evans Awards to authors whose selected works focused on the importance of documenting individual lives and their impact. 031
Reposted by Zachary SchragDrafting the Past @draftingthepast.bsky.social · 13/08/2026DRAFTING THE PAST is expanding! Together, @katecarp.bsky.social and @mkn.bsky.social are creating a website and newsletter devoted to nonfiction history books. You'll find book reviews, craft essays, author interviews, publishing news, and more--plus the podcast you already know and love. 🗃️ 1/ 915971
Reposted by Zachary SchragCitizen Cohn / Jonathan Cohn @citizencohn.bsky.social · 12/08/2026This @drjoshs.bsky.social segment on MS NOW is such a calm, smart and respectful explanation of the science and why vaccines are so important It's kind of thing you can send to friends and family with questions or doubts, as a corrective to [sigh] what they might be hearing from the White House 11810
Reposted by Zachary SchragAaron Fritschner @fritschner.bsky.social · 11/08/2026Video of an ICE agent pulling a gun on a wife and mother, who is a US citizen born and raised in the area, near Bailey's Crossroads in Northern Virginia yesterday. Chillingly, they claimed she “almost ran them over” until she told them she had video proving that was a lie. 1813214038943
Reposted by Zachary SchragRob Townsend @rbtownsend.bsky.social · 09/08/2026Notable observation from a paper read at the 1946 AHA annual meeting. Just imagine how hard it will be to keep up with the scholarly literature when it is freed from the constraints of print! (Full paper at bit.ly/4wledtE.) 022
Reposted by Zachary Schrag"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 09/08/2026Equally, I'd like to think that all of our students are intelligent enough to know that when I assign the Code of Hammurabi, it is not because I am endorsing Hammurabi's divine right to rule Babylon in the name of the god Anu, the Sublime, King of the Anunaki and Marduk the over-ruling son of Ea. 915919
Zachary Schrag @zacharyschrag.bsky.social · 09/08/2026There’s much to love in Daniel Okrent’s new biography, Stephen Sondheim: Art Isn't Easy. But I especially appreciate the way that Okrent presents the technical elements of Sondheim’s approach to composing, quoting an interview by Mark Eden Horowitz. 141
Reposted by Zachary SchragRebecca Spang @rlspang.bsky.social · 07/08/2026Crossroads of the Country. Where history goes to die. 2145
Reposted by Zachary SchragKevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Honestly, it was an honor just to be nominated. 2177179
Reposted by Zachary SchragAAUP @aaup.org · 04/08/2026BOOM. The AAUP is suing Texas A&M University System over their censorship policy that prohibits faculty from discussing topics & viewpoints related to race, sexual orientation, & gender. www.aclutx.org/app/uploads/... 1 7713228
Reposted by Zachary SchragMartin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 03/08/2026One part of Trump's $22 billion makeover of Dulles that's been missed is his big, beautiful, world-record 32,000-spot parking garage. That's *way* more parking than recent estimates show the airport needs, and it would tower over the historic terminal: www.notus.org/metro/dulles...notus.orgLet’s Talk About the Massive Parking Garage Trump Wants to Build at DullesThe 32,000-spot deck would surpass both existing parking capacity and what airport officials have said is needed. 28301106
Zachary Schrag @zacharyschrag.bsky.social · 03/08/2026Reporters use AI to search through thousands or tens of thousands of relatively similar documents: SEC actions, diary entries, emails. Clearly relevant to some historical research, but less so for teaching undergraduates, whom we first must train to understand even individual sources. 074
Zachary Schrag @zacharyschrag.bsky.social · 01/08/2026The first students who were given these teaching machines were like, “Wow, this is cool. This is amazing.” And then after three weeks, they’re like, “Wow, this sucks.” — @audreywatters.bsky.social thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/can-the-clas... via @mitpress.bsky.socialthereader.mitpress.mit.eduCan the Classroom Ever Be Automated?Long before AI, teaching machines promised to make education more efficient. Their forgotten history reveals why that dream keeps falling short. 0125
Reposted by Zachary SchragMarlène Aviation @aviationmarlene.bsky.social · 01/08/2026In the mid-1960s, France was exploring the possibility of developing a small manned space shuttle launched by a carrier aircraft reminiscent of the Concorde. The project never got beyond the drawing board. 1417
Reposted by Zachary SchragThiago Krause @thiagokrause.bsky.social · 31/07/2026To the risk of being cancelled here on Bluesky, I'm sharing an interview with @leotranscribes.bsky.social on using LLMs in historical research. I hope to have sufficiently highlighted the necessary precautions. Glad to read your thoughts on the matter!tryleo.aiThiago Krause on HTR, AI Agents and Archival DiscoveryA historian working across 100+ archives on how HTR and AI agents surface documents no catalogue indexes — and why he now reads more manuscripts, not fewer. 3155
Zachary Schrag @zacharyschrag.bsky.social · 31/07/2026Highly recommend, perhaps especially for historians of technology 🗃️ Closes August 23. Beneath the Surface | National Gallery of Art www.nga.gov/exhibitions/...nga.govBeneath the Surface | National Gallery of ArtNearly two centuries of American photographs transport us to unexpected places to witness what powers our lives. 061
Reposted by Zachary SchragTed McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 31/07/2026look. nobody here likes paying consultants. but the only alternative is paying *instructors* 517453
Zachary Schrag @zacharyschrag.bsky.social · 31/07/2026Hot damn, I've had a photograph published in the New York Times! 1171
Reposted by Zachary Schragwill pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 30/07/2026Some historical background to the fires in southwestern France, drawing on reading I did for my 2019 book about the moorlands, and lamenting the deeply depressing reality that we have known many of the causes of this ecological disaster for 150years 🗃️ williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2026/07/30/u...williamgpooley.wordpress.comUnintentional ArsonThe fires in southwestern France are an appalling demonstration of the reality of climate change in 2026. But this is not the first ecological devastation in the region, and the role of human actio… 48045
Reposted by Zachary SchragJonathan English @englishrail.bsky.social · 29/07/2026There’s a whole generation of airports built for a supersonic age that never came. A few became mega-airports we transfer at today, many never got off the drawing board, and the most interesting exist as weird fragments. open.substack.com/pub/infrasto...open.substack.comAirports for the Supersonic AgeInfrastructure of an era that never happened 0223
Reposted by Zachary SchragLaDale Winling @lwinling.bsky.social · 29/07/2026I have been working on a book on race and real estate for a few years (Property Wrongs) and am in the course of revisions on it. One of my challenges (as with any book) is that there are SO MANY really excellent moments and people that I want to write about. Today I am going over... 1/n 12310
Reposted by Zachary SchragAlex Wellerstein @wellerstein.bsky.social · 27/07/2026My book spends an inordinate amount of time on the Oppenheimer-Truman meeting in no small part because people kept asking me if Nolan's depiction of it was "accurate" 141
Reposted by Zachary SchragDr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 24/07/2026My fellow historians, which single academic article of yours do you think 'teaches best', i.e. for both staff and students it's doing work that leads to a strong class discussion + students remember it? I am interested in how people see their own work. I'll go first. Hit reply and link your pick! 396643
Reposted by Zachary SchragBradford Vivian @bradvivian.bsky.social · 22/07/2026“an assistant professor affiliated with OSU’s legislatively mandated Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture and Society” 1228
Zachary Schrag @zacharyschrag.bsky.social · 22/07/2026I'm proud to appear in Episode 5 of In Pursuit: Philadelphia and the Making of America. Catch me at 8:48 www.inpursuit.tv/blank 151
Zachary Schrag @zacharyschrag.bsky.social · 22/07/2026Organizing my files like a Marine Corps Commandant. 0111
Reposted by Zachary SchragAden Y @adenyacobi.bsky.social · 21/07/2026Giving up the flashing circular platform edge lights for platform screen doors is not something I had considered. RIP 1133
Reposted by Zachary SchragMatt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 21/07/2026just got an email from my (former) chair that the university has acted & the state has approved the formal closure of my department. this was done without any faculty input on the decision or the process, & has ended a vibrant, growing (!), humanities department that won teaching and research awards 1591560509
Reposted by Zachary SchragJohn Schwartz @jswatz.bsky.social · 20/07/2026An enraging story about what look like UT's efforts to kowtow to powerful conservatives. “I ask questions that maybe someone in a position of power might disagree with. … We ask these questions because we’re trying to get at what is the truth,” Chaar López said. www.statesman.com/news/educati...statesman.comUT border surveillance scholar was a shoo-in for tenure. UT denied him.American Studies scholar Iván Chaar López fears UT’s unexplained tenure denial violated his academic freedom amid scrutiny of controversial fields. 24540
Reposted by Zachary SchragProf Peter Hotez MD PhD DSc(hon) @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social · 16/07/2026 1320440