Yeah, but the implication (and it might have even been stated) was that we “merely” have this stuff, and that texts would be more definitive.
Posts by Sarah C. Schaefer
I’ve even heard academics who pay attention to material culture say in passing “all we have is the archaeology.” I know they don’t mean it to be dismissive but I think it’s still indicative of the wider mindset.
🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
Images/objects are just as valid forms of historical evidence as texts
Ralph Bakshi did.
BIG NEWS at the end of theOneRing's post: Karen Wynn Fonstad's maps have found a home at the American Geographical Society Library here at UW-Milwaukee!!!
www.theonering.net/torwp/2025/0...
A fun reminder that a loss of 60,000 jobs in and around academia is ~50% more than all coal mining jobs in the entire country.
Came across this ad for the Milwaukee School of Engineering in vol 1 issue 2 of Amazing Stories!
@msoe-official.bsky.social
Other material and immaterial forms are valuable primary sources. And while I'm not good at historical forecasting, it seems clear that learning to engage critically with non-written forms is only going to become more and more vital.
When talking about periods of history with few or no extant written sources, I implore: PLEASE, don't frame it as "all we have is the material/archaeological record." It reinforces the idea that the written word is the be-all and end-all of historical evidence...
Very cool, Popular Mechanics, but why did you use an image of Bryn Celli Ddu in North Wales?
#popularmechanics
Milein Cosman, who was initially approached to do illustrations for Farmer Giles of Ham. Both images from 1942-43; Eagle and Child on the right.
#tolkien
Double feature suggestion: "Meatloaf's World" --> Wayne's World and Spice World
An amazing write-up of the venue my spouse has been pouring his lifeblood into!
NEW: Here's my breakdown of the latest Marquette Poll, which asks about Tony Evers and a third term.
Along with those # 's, I took a look at what Wisconsinites agree on, where people stand on Trump's economic policies, and more.
Let's recombobulate: www.therecombobulationarea.news/p/evers-thir...
Something really important about organizations’ decisions to adopt AI tools which people need to understand is this: it often comes down to a room of a handful of people who are simply uninformed and think it’s just a new norm they’ll be left behind on if they don’t find a use for it in their work.
This appears to be absolutely antithetical to the mission of the National Archives and a thinly-veiled attempt by the Trump administration to give it the authority to decide who gets to conduct research.
It’s also entirely unnecessary. You already need to make an appt to conduct research at NARA II
Learned a few days ago that Ian Ballantine lived next to Todd Rudgren. My dad about lost his mind.
I spent the weekend at “The Ben Wikler Show,” aka the WisDems 2025 Convention.
Read my 10 takeaways here. Let's recombobulate: www.therecombobulationarea.news/p/10-takeawa...
I watched something recently in which a character described being addicted to making money and I can't get the idea out of my head. Like, what would happen if accruing disgusting amounts of wealth was pathologized to a much greater extent and seen as necessitating treatment (e.g. immersion therapy)?
(Alas that Bluesky will not allow me to post the Tolkien-shrug gif that I desire)
😂
My OCR version of Nick Groom's "Tolkien, Geology, and Romantic Lithology" keeps reading "stones" as "scones"––"the Seeing Scones," "the philosophical study of scones," "the Scone of Erech"...
@willsherwood.bsky.social
Unexpected/completely predictable search result following a conversation that started with “How funny would it be if we got a phrenological head for our house?”
In her Close-Up on Gustave Doré’s engraving “Newgate—Exercise Yard,” 1872, @sarahcschaefer.bsky.social connects depictions of prisoners ranging from the nineteenth century to Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange,” 1971, and the much-publicized photographs of Luigi Mangione’s 2024 “perp walk.”
See you at #Westmoot!
Following the departure of Sandra Jackson-Dumont, the inaugural director and CEO of the still-under-construction Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, director George Lucas will take primary responsibility for curatorial direction at his namesake institution. www.artforum.com/news/george-...