Hey friends -
Who's been doing non-traditional humanities dissertations in the past ~5 years?
Tons of fabulous resources from ~2021 and before, but wondering what cool people have been doing lately. References? Links? Exploring new options for our department.
Great talk yesterday by @kgeographer.bsky.social on EDOP (Environmental Dimensions of Place) — now live with 190,000+ watershed profiles using HydroATLAS data, digital elevation models, and ecoregion classifications (CDOP: Cultural Dimensions of Place to follow). See kgeographer.org/computing-pl...
"Heritage projects don't usually feature neighbourhoods like Campsbourne... With some of the highest levels of deprivation in England its residents have had precious few opportunities to tell the story of the estate. At least, not until now." fass.open.ac.uk/news/we-are-... cc @pelagios.bsky.social
Fifteen minutes before the President announced he was pausing strikes on Iran, somebody moved $500 million in oil futures. Somebody knew. Somebody told them. Or somebody is them.
New piece ↓
open.substack.com/pub/adamkinz...
Putting the flu to work for the War Department (sic).
The image is part of a National Park Service exhibit, featuring a historical illustration of people in distress near a waterfront, with a burning ship in the background. The exhibit includes printed text on a cream-colored background, with headings and captions explaining historical events. Text: "In 1791, enslaved Haitians took freedom into their own hands by seizing their liberation from their enslavers in the French colony of St. Domingue. On the South Carolina coast, Blacks outnumbered Whites by more than two to one. Fearing a rebellion similar to the Stono Rebellion, enslavers feared large gatherings of Black people. Governor Pinckney declined a request to send arms and troops from South Carolina to Haiti, but the state legislature placed 25 volunteers, at federal expense, into the militia. Pinckney built a new political base in the upcountry when landowners there turned to cotton for their cash crop. As governor, Pinckney promoted new roads and canals to transport the goods to Charleston for export. He also enacted new militia laws and codes to maintain the system of slavery that enslavers demanded. These actions benefitted Pinckney personally. He began growing cotton at some of his upcountry properties."
Charles Pinckney National Historic Site
Brick wall with one informational sign and a banner where the other signs on this wall should be, with a lot of handwritten messages that are mostly too small to read at this distance.
Part of the banner with handwritten messages from the last photo. The largest one says: “‘First fascists fascinate the fools, then they muddle the intelligent.’ –Bertrand Russell, 1940 Sound familiar?”
Another brick wall, this one with three informational panels and blank spaces where more panels used to be
Wall with the carved names of some of the people George Washington enslaved: “Austin Paris Hercules Christopher Sheels Richmond Giles Oney Judge Moll Joe”
Stopped by the Philly NPS site the administration has most targeted this evening. They also haven’t put back the signage about the Alien and Sedition Act (third photo). 🗃️
The image shows a book cover titled "Native Americans in History" by Jimmy Beason, featuring illustrated portraits of three individuals with significant cultural attire and medals. The background is red with the subtitle "A History Book for Kids." Text on the cover: "NATIVE AMERICANS in History Jimmy Beason A HISTORY BOOK FOR KIDS"
Fort Matanzas National Monument
The image is a two-page layout featuring a large black-and-white photograph on the left of a man speaking emphatically at a podium with a cross in the background. On the right, there's text detailing historical events, accompanied by a smaller photo of civil rights leaders linking arms in front of a chapel. Text: Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail I’m going to Montgomery to see Wallace, and I’m gonna walk if I want to. James Bevel, February 26, 1965 Sanctuary to Stage The shooting of Jimmie Lee Jackson in nearby Marion, Alabama, transformed Brown Chapel from a sanctuary into a staging area for the Selma march. In a passionate sermon SCLC worker James Bevel suggested making a pilgrimage to the State Capitol to honor Lee. They would take their grief and grievances to Governor Wallace’s doorstep. Bevel’s idea of a march to Montgomery took hold. In a matter of days Brown Chapel became the headquarters for the event, with civil rights workers collecting sleeping bags, tents, and raingear. On March 7, 1965, SCLC leader Hosea Williams and SNCC chairman John Lewis left Brown Chapel and led marchers over the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The violence of Bloody Sunday sent them streaming back to the Chapel, but it also swelled the ranks. Citizens from throughout the United States arrived in Selma to wait at Brown Chapel for another chance to march—which came two days later. After Jimmie Lee Jackson’s death, James Bevel took to the pulpit with a defiant voice, announcing his plans to march to Montgomery. © Bettman/Corbis March leaders (left to right) Bob Mants, John Lewis, Hosea Williams, and Andrew Young join hands in front of Brown Chapel preparing to march. © 1965 Spider Martin. All rights reserved. Used with permission. National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior
Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail
The image is a National Park Service educational poster featuring a photograph of badlands with colorful hills, a detailed diagram illustrating geological layers, and text in English and Spanish. The photo at the top highlights the colorful layers of clays and minerals in the terrain, and the diagram on the right shows cross-sections of sandstone and shale or bentonite cliffs. Badlands The thin layer of gravel at your feet rests on colorful layers of slippery bentonite clay. Because bentonite swells when wet, exposed badlands slopes tend to slump away along fracture lines, collapsing the canyon back toward its rims. Notice the mounds of slump material at the base of the painted hills. The dry streambed in the canyon floor is more typical of desert erosion. After sudden storms in the mountains, flash floods roar down the channel, carving the canyon deeper and deeper. Tierras de baldío Las capas delgadas de gravacal o sus pies yacen sobre las capas llenas de colorido de lodo resbaladizo bentonita. Porque la bentonita se expande cuando está mojada, las inclinaciones expuestas de las tierras de baldío tienden a hundirse siguiendo las líneas de fractura, desplomando el cañón hacia sus orillas. Note el montón de material de derrumbe en la base de las colinas pintadas. El lecho seco del riachuelo intermitente en el suelo del cañón es lo más típico de la erosión del desierto. Después de las tormentas repentinas en las montañas, las torrentes rugen hacia abajo del canal, ahondando el cañón. Immediately after a rain, the banded clays and mineral oxides have darker, more dramatic hues. Inmediatamente después de una lluvia, las fajas de lodos y minerales óxidos toman colores más oscuros y dramáticos.
Big Bend National Park
The exhibit displays black-and-white photographs and accompanying text on a panel. One photo shows a group of people standing in line, and there are explanatory captions about "enemy aliens" during wartime in the United States. Text: These men living in the U.S. became enemy aliens when war was declared on Germany in 1917. They were interned at Ft. Oglethorpe, Georgia. The U.S. had already passed the Enemy Alien Act of 1940, so that as soon as war broke out, all foreign nationals living in the U.S. had to register with the Justice Department. Japanese, German, and Italian nationals living in Los Angeles wait their turn.
Andersonville National Historic Site
A wooden information panel is set in a wooden frame near a riverbank, surrounded by trees and greenery. The panel title, "A Canal to the West," is visible, though the text is weathered and difficult to read, accompanied by indistinct illustrations. Text: A Canal to the West For nearly two centuries, the... Potomac River held the attention... a people determined to build a... route to the heartland of the... by a combination of railroads and... fulfilling dreams of Presi...
Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park
The image is a historical interpretive panel from the National Park Service. It features a sepia-toned illustration of a man holding a child in a protective embrace, and an inset black-and-white photo of Armstrong Purdee. The background is a light beige with black text. Down the Island to Freedom Eight-years-old and alone, Armstrong Purdee took his chance to escape enslavement from a plantation near Marianna, Florida. In the fall of 1864, he joined about 600 freedom seekers in the company of white and Black US soldiers offering protection. To reach Fort Pickens, many traveled the length of Santa Rosa Island—over 40 miles of shifting sands. In 1931, Purdee recounted his story of liberation from enslavement. “A Yankee white soldier said to me, ‘Boy, does you want to go?’ I said to him, ‘Yes, sir’... He reached for my hand and pulled me up on the horse...” (at the John R. Waddell Plantation, 11 miles west of Marianna, Florida) Armstrong Purdee became the first Black attorney of Jackson County, Florida. —Photo courtesy Sarah Purdee Spires Family. “My father found out where I was and came after me. We came back by Apalachicola.” (after separated from his father Dave Purdee at the plantation) Underground Railroad: Individuals seeking freedom from slavery, known as freedom seekers, and those who assisted along the way formed a loose network of people and routes to liberation.
Gulf Islands National Seashore
Sighted users often use bold or large fonts to create the appearance of headings in documents. People using screen readers have no way of understanding these visual cues. Use heading styles from the styles menu to correctly format headings.
A terrain map with orange markers for updates and pink circles for new place resources. The map stretches from north-central Europe and Iberian peninsula in the northwest to Sri Lanka in the southeast.
Last Week in the #PleiadesGazetteer (13-20 April 2026): Over the past week the Pleiades editorial college published 21 new and 205 updated place resources, reflecting the work of Jeffrey Becker, Anika Campbell, Tom Elliott, Greta Hawes, Brady Kiesling, Chris […]
[Original post on hcommons.social]
Via @serviliusahala :
> the #PleiadesGazetteer now incorporates ,001 links to records in the Tabula Peutingeriana project of the Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt: www.ku.de/ggf/geschichte/alte-gesc...
#ancientGeography #ancientHistory […]
Question for the #digitalclassics or #digital #neolatin crowd (and @diyclassics in particular, I guess): What would be the best semantic embedding models for (Neo-)Latin currently available?
Made some LatinCy-based suggestions here—what else are people working with?
It was well-received!
It's definitely a ... Chicken Little moment, wouldn't you say? ;)
The latest Pasts Imperfect is out! This week, Tejas S. Aralere discusses ancient astrology ♌️ in India. Then, medieval chess & race relations, new interactive maps, encouraging Classics in China, remembering @averilcam.bsky.social, new ancient world journals from @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social & more.
oh noes! Courage!
So, for reasons, maybe let's use the Fediverse for the Association of Ancient Historians meeting subchannel and socials? I've started the #AAH2026 hash tag over there. I recommend hcommons.social if you need an account.
Please boost for reach.
Here's a #GiftLink to the NYT article on the Trumphial Arch: www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/u.... W/ @sarahebond.bsky.social
Wearing a penis costume to a No Kings rally is a 1st Amendment right. Alabama’s efforts to prosecute were firmly rejected today. www.al.com/news/2026/04...
So today I wandered into @ibraaz.bsky.social and wowza. There was a fab exhibition by Hrair Sarkissoan called Stolen Past.
It’s about artefacts looted from Raqqa Museum (northern Syria) by Islamic State.
Yep. In any use of LLMs that produces source references, they should be considered as placeholders only, both in terms of their content and in terms of their implication vis-a-vis any generated prose. Raises big fitness-for-purpose flags in many humanities-oriented use cases.
LatinCy Lexicon logo
Announcing—LatinCy Lexicon v0.1, a refactored version of Whitaker's Words that uses LatinCy annotations to disambiguate words/meanings. Can be added as a custom component to any LatinCy pipeline. github.com/latincy/lati... #digiclass #nlproc
This is 100% context dependent and liable to be entirely wrong if your URL includes any sort of search.
Ah, yes. Let's let another entity harvest our social network fingerprints on another platform. Same as the old boss.