“Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”

~Adlai Stevenson, 1952.

Image: Public domain.

“…in America the law is King. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other.”

~Thomas Paine, “Common Sense” (1776).

Image: Public domain.

Cross Talk on Labor Registration (in-person option) Join Brown 2026 and the Discovery Through Dialogue project for Cross Talk: A Whole Campus, Distinct Disciplines Approach Friday, April 3, 2026, at 5pm: Cross Talk on Labor This is the registration pa...

friends near pvd: join #Brown2026 and Discovery Through Dialogue for Cross Talk: A Whole Campus, Distinct Disciplines Approach @jcblibrary.bsky.social on Fri. April 3, 2026, at 5pm. this first Cross Talk is about Labor, moderated by @sethrockman.bsky.social docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

I ran a program for a few years. I still have the document if you’d like to see!

Rhode Island History Day zFairs Contest Management System

Rhode Island and RI-adjacent friends! want to do an objectively great, feel-good public service? sign up to judge National History Day at the Rhode Island level at CCRI on Sat. Apr. 25th starting around 9am. hope to see you there ri.nhd.org/App?f=d74d80...

Congratulations, @contingent-mag.bsky.social team 🎉

I’m a 99% “best” user - is this bad?

“The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain, is floating in mid-air, until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.”

~Jane Addams, “The Subjective Necessity of Social Settlements,” 1893.

Image: Jane Addams Papers Project.

The Church Committee Report book cover with a photo of Frank Church holding a CIA dark gone done in 1970s style orange. Edited and introduced by Matthew Guariglia and Brian Hochman with a foreward by Beverly Gage.

“It is clear that Congress must exert its will and devise procedures that will enable it to play its full constitutional role in making policy decisions concerning intelligence activities. Failure to do so would permit further erosion of constitutional government.”

That was written in 1975.

Publications by Non-Tenure-Track Historians Since we began publishing in 2019, Contingent has published end-of-year lists of books and articles by non-tenure-track historians released in the past calendar year. To submit something for inclusion...

Haven't received as many contributions as usual for this year's lists--could be many things, but one aspect is surely that our ability to get this in front of people is much diminished. If you know folks whose stuff should be on here, please suggest it! contingentmagazine.org/yearly-pub-l...

After all this time, we can only hope that this shutdown doesn’t end because of weak and corrupt bargains.

Your Town’s Local History Books Have a Very Secret and Powerful New Buyer Arcadia Publishing built its empire on small-town storytellers. Now it wants to sell their words to an A.I. company no one will name.

Very important news to local history authors and historical societies: slate.com/technology/2...

📚📜🗃️

Have you read Julie Chan is Dead?

Honorable mention: the cheez it

The bane of my existence is someone trying to argue that there are only 63 national parks.
This is not only incorrect, but belittles the historical, cultural, and landscape parks that are also protected by NPS and is the slippery slope to dismantle the park service, 🧵1/2 #nationalparks #parkchat

Seeking recommendations on books or articles discussing the natural world in New England in the 1770s & 1780s. Thank you! 🍂🍁📙

For #NutmegSky and others, my museum is hiring historic interpreters, living history interpreters, and a grants manager. Find out more at marktwainhouse.org/about/careers/

Beautiful piece by @kwilfrid.bsky.social!

“I had forgotten what this part was like: the anticipation of that tall, narrow box that served as a vessel for an 18-inch companion.”

📍Revolutionary War Pension Files Transcription Event
📍Wednesday, July 16, 2025 in North Smithfield, RI (6-8 PM)
www.nps.gov/planyourvisi...

Stolen Relations: Recovering Stories of Indigenous Enslavement in the Americas Stolen Relations seeks to recover stories of Indigenous slavery in the Americas. The website has a database as well as a map, timeline, interviews, and curricular materials.

(1/3) Stolen Relations has been launched for a month! Thanks to the hard work of hundreds of partners and researchers, stolenrelations.org currently has records of upwards of 7,000 individuals and many pieces of art and storytelling that help to flesh out the stories of unfree Indigenous people.

Colorful quilt of a nighttime scene with Harriet Tubman in an orange jacket and purple dress carrying a rifle. She is leading other figures who walk behind her.

Harriet Tubman #quilt by my Mom, Vera P. Hall, who makes quilts celebrating Black people who fought for their own freedom. This seems to be the crowd favorite of the “We Didn’t Wait for Freedom” series. Happy #Juneteenth #quilting

You’ve got this ✍️👩🏻‍💻

About this Collection | Chronicling America | Digital Collections | Library of Congress Search America's Historic Newspaper Pages through 1963 Please Note: The Library of Congress has transitioned the longstanding Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers website to this new digi...

Some sad confirmation from @bcgl.bsky.social while I was at UW last week—the National Digital Newspaper Program—which builds Chronicling America—has been shut down

Historical newspapers are probably the archival material most used by the general public—for genealogy, local history—it’s such a loss

There is always bounce & luggagehero! 🧳💼

Many airlines allow you to check a bag up to four hours before a flight.

The Underground Railroad: Erased, Rewritten, Reclaimed Authoritarian Memory and the Urgent Work of Resistance History

Let’s not get distracted by the lazy headlines. This isn’t just about Harriet Tubman, and it’s not just a “Tubman page” vanishing. That framing is reductive—and convenient. Legacy media loves a symbol they can flatten for clicks.

When Is History Advocacy? Advocacy should not be a dirty word.

“Excuse me,” a visitor asked as they tapped my shoulder...The visitor inquired, “Is this one of those woke tours?

Public historian Nick DeLuca discusses when history is advocacy and when it is not.

Read, share, and enjoy on this #ScholarSunday

contingentmagazine.org/2025/03/30/w...

That cookie looks divine.

First Landing pier in VA

Historic house with bright purple tree in bloom

Large crowd in Tidal Basin DC

Old ship in Jamestown

Blue skies in Virginia & DC this past weekend. I was honored to give a talk in Jamestown. Seeing peak cherry blossoms was a bucket list item.

Anyone going to the NCPH conference in a few weeks and want to write a conference postcard for @contingent-mag.bsky.social? Shoot me a DM.