The Big Dig Podcast There is a cynicism that hangs over the topic of American infrastructure – whether it’s high-speed rail or off-shore wind – it feels like this country can’t build big things anymore. No one project em...

www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the...

The College Affordability Crisis is Real, but the Media is Looking at the Wrong Schools Sturges Hall (Photo by Keith Walters ’11) Opinion By Costas Solomou, Vice President, Enrollment Management Published by the Office of Enrollment Management When Yale University released its Committee ...

"the colleges that dominate the headlines are not the colleges that most Americans attend

their core mission: to serve students from all backgrounds, at a price families can actually afford, prepare graduates for real careers and meaningful lives."

www.geneseo.edu/enrollment-m...

Texas Tech System leader cancels academic programs “centered on” sexual orientation, gender identity Chancellor Brandon Creighton directed provosts to phase out the programs and ordered universities to recognize only “two human sexes.”

Texas Tech is expanding its prohibition on "gender and sexual orientation" topics to include faculty research and student theses and dissertations.

Our chancellor wants to censor the truth because he knows it topples the hateful ideology of MAGA.

Knowledge is power, so they plan to destroy it.

They're here, and they're spectacular.

Thanks to all for your help over the decade-plus it's taken to get here.

I always learn something seeing Hamlet performed. Eddie Izzard’s one-woman show highlights the similarities between Hamlet and Polonius (the lectures!) and Hamlet and Claudius (the plotting)

There! By Mitchell Jamieson Photo of the paining There! by Mitchell Jamieson A painting on board the U.S.S. Hornet, “There!,” shows the seamen pointing to the sky, seeing the Columbia command module descending on its parachute. ID#: WEB11376-2010 Owner: Smithsonian Institution Rights Usage: Contact Smithsonian Institution Terms of Use: Smithsonian Terms of Use For print or commercial use please see permissions information.

The Chicago Tribune honors the best thread on Bluesky:

"The world is more interesting — more engaging but also more wondrous — when thought and care for aesthetics is built into even the most mundane tasks and objects."

🙋‍♂️I do, in September! Max Bond: The Life and Work of the People's Architect. The first biography of the most prominent African American architect in the late 20th century and his lifelong effort to shape a better, more just world. Preorder anywhere but I endorse Bookshop: bookshop.org/a/121290/978...

AHA Files Lawsuit to Defend the Presidential Records Act - AHA The American Historical Association, in collaboration with American Oversight, filed a lawsuit last night challenging a recent memorandum from the Department of Justice declaring the Presidential Reco...

The AHA, with American Oversight, filed a lawsuit challenging a DOJ memo declaring the Presidential Records Act unconstitutional—threatening access to millions of records, including at the National Archives.

This case is about public access to our nation’s history.

Learn more and support our work:

They’re here and they’re gorgeous!!!

It Turns Out That When Waymos Are Stumped, They Get Intervention From Workers in the Philippines During a Congressional hearing, Waymo's chief safety officer, Mauricio Peña, was grilled over the company's reliance on overseas workers.

Waymo doesn't get rid of human drivers. It relocates them to the Philippines. futurism.com/advanced-tra...

Trump admin’s challenge of Watergate-era records law alarms historians Scholars warn that DOJ’s declaration that the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional could impact other administrations.

NEW: Trump's bid to escape scrutiny of his White House secrets threatens to bring down the system that governed access to records of every president since Reagan. And its demise could come quickly
www.politico.com/news/2026/04...

And $403M for the Secretary of Transportation to do as he pleases to the District of Columbia

This is a facanating must read for anyone interested in oral history or the history of science.

Well, this consumer is confused.

The NSF 2027 budget has noted that they will close out the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Science Program (SBE). This is not a good thing. nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/FY-202...

A colossal project for a transatlantic seaplane, first studied in 1937 by the engineer Hamel.
This 400-tonne behemoth was to have three passenger decks, with each propeller driven by four 3,000-horsepower engines. Scale models were produced, but no prototype was ever built.

‘Bordering on Insubordinate': How George Mason’s Conservative Board Chair Went After Its President Text messages obtained by <i>The Chronicle</i> detail a monthslong campaign to get Gregory Washington to dismantle its DEI programs and fall in line with Trump’s demands.

Bethany Letiecq…who heads George Mason’s chapter of AAUP, said the text messages made clear that the board was at odds with the president and that he “was indeed vulnerable to being ousted by this polarizing and ideologically motivated board.”
www.chronicle.com/article/bord...

Well, they made me say “Metrorail.”

The Second Red Scare and the Unmaking of the New Deal Left How Red Scare politics undermined the reform potential of the New Deal

My answer to so many questions.
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Hate mail sent to Brigadier General George Cadwalader, 1844. A crude cartoon shows Cadwalader ordering a cannon to fire, saying "By J—s C—t I will fire now." Cadwalader papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Here's another

In my callow youth, I offered narrators the chance to seal interviews until 2050. Must preserve the historical record! These days, if a narrator prefer that something not be made public, I just snip out the offending audio to get a recording that I can share.
Sorry!

One of my favorite archival moments

Frequently asked questions about the missing Georgetown Metro station Following the 20th anniversary of Zachary Schrag’s The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro, and the 50th anniversary of the first Metrorail service, Schrag offers his best answers ...

For twenty years I've been asked about this. Here are my answers, for all to see. ggwash.org/view/102941/...

Space: A Journey To Our Future This traveling exhibit highlighted current projects in space exploration and provided a glimpse to future human space travel.

If memory serves, about 20 years ago they had some models of the Orion. Maybe Charlie Brown grew suspicious of the football?
airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/...

"I know of no better Definition of a Republic than this, that it is an Empire of Laws and not of Men."
- John Adams to William Hooper, 27 March 1776

The DVD cover of “A Midwife’s Tale” featuring Martha Ballard in her canoe.

I just bought my own copy of the PBS American Experience DVD of “A Midwife’s Tale” that I’ve been checking out of the library for years. It’s great and it still holds up! But is there a similar but more recent documentary/dramatization of the historian’s process?

A packed platform at Arlington Cemetery Metro station for no kings march

I’m guessing Arlington Cemetery station is having its biggest day in a while

Zachary Schrag in front of metro 🚇 train with 50 years of Metro livery

Also known as 20 years of The Great Society Subway

An Urban Archive Was Lost on 9/11. This Agency Is Trying to Rebuild It. (Published 2021)

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is likewise a multi-state public authority, maintained an archive until it was destroyed on 9/11. WMATA considered hiring an archivist in the 1980s but never got around to it. www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/n...