Karin Wulf

YouTube video by Smarthistory Charles Willson Peale, Yarrow Mamout

Muslims don't belong in American society, says Andy Ogles.

And yet Yarrow Mamout was here, literally before the creation of the United States, and had his portrait painted by Charles Willson Peale.

The Civic Value of World History – AHA The Civic Value of World History AHA Learn, for Civic Learning Week Monday, March 9, 5 p.m. ET In the 21st-century United States, conversations around civics often focus on founding documents, constit...

Happening tonight! 🌎

Join us at 5 p.m. ET for The Civic Value of World History, an #AHALearn webinar for Civic Learning Week. How can global perspectives strengthen civic engagement?

Free & open to all—register now or sign up and view the recording on the AHA’s YouTube channel after the event.

Yes!!

And true beyond the US! The anomaly of the mid 20th c being mistaken for the norm has so many implications —

As does History popular and academic often ignoring rather than centering history of family.

A chart showing how the relative sizes of federal grant funding in the US, with arts and humanities getting an infinitesimal portion.

To offer some context, here's a graphic our fabulous intern Aidan Nuttall put together in 2023.

When we compared our per capita humanities research funding against 42 other countries, there was only a single country that spent less (South Africa), and most countries spent 10x-250x more.

NEH's budget is tiny—not just compared to NSF/NIH, but compared to humanities funding in every other wealthy nation. What little was there was largely rescinded and several programs were cut in full last year. It decimated not merely individual projects but whole corners of the humanities in the US.

Today's AMA on @askhistorians.bsky.social! Come check it out!

Well that's awesome for at least a couple of reasons... I just looked it up. Fierce!

Marvelous!
Mary Chapin Carpenter:
Sometimes you're the windshield
Sometimes you're the bug
Sometimes it all comes together baby
Sometimes you're just a fool in love
Sometimes you're the Louisville Slugger
Sometimes you're the ball
Sometimes it all comes together
Sometimes you're gonna lose it all

And some days you're the gnat "found crushed on the leaf of a lady's album": the unfortunate insect for whom James Montgomery writes a poem in 1827 (1st inscribing it in an album and then printing it in a literary annual). "Lie there, embalm'd from age to age!--/ This is the album's noblest page."

Image is of a squared bug, with 6 legs visible and splayed, and wings, on the reverse of a page of early modern text.

Some days you're the [windshield, closed book], some days you're the bug.

Work adventures last week @jcblibrary.bsky.social 🪰

I hear that sentiment at home too!

Also noting intensive hiring - Inc of historians - hearing typically done w out any history dept engagement so that’s efficient

10 mill for these centers tho a bargain

Annual lament about the theft of morning light. Seasonal dread is real!

“It should be a general rule, never to utter any thing in conversation, which would justly dishonor us if it should be reported to the world.”

In an airport, onto city 2 of 4 this week and brought my meditative 18th c #miscellany reading along. Also the conversations overheard while traveling … 👀

This is a gift link to Jenny Schuessler’s essential article about the DOGE assault on funded peer reviewed humanities research at NEH.

And about the lawsuit by @historians.org @modernlanguage.bsky.social and @acls1919.bsky.social that is bringing the details to light.

When DOGE Unleashed ChatGPT on the Humanities

"Even an effort to catalog and digitize the papers of Thomas Gage, a British general in the American Revolution, was guilty of “promoting inclusivity and diversity in historical research.”

+ Important update on the lawsuit fr AHA, MLA, ACLS etc. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/a...

In their lawsuit against NEH, ACLS, AHA, MLA, etc., include as an exhibit the AI-produced DOGE spreadsheet that determined if a project was too DEI for Trump. Here is the spreadsheet www.historians.org/wp-content/u...

And also some sweeping cancellations like the FPIRI program awards (to JCB, AAS, etc). I don't have words.

“That film rests on generations of decades of research into history — the history of music, the history of slavery,” [Connolly] said. “It wasn’t just whipped up overnight with ChatGPT.”

Gift article linked above.

Joy Connolly, the president of the American Council of Learned Societies, cited George Washington’s belief that a democratic nation requires an educated citizenry. She also mentioned the hit movie “Sinners,” which has taken in nearly $280 million at the domestic box office."

"...the plaintiffs see a narrowing of acceptable topics and approaches, and a backing away from the belief, expressed in its founding legislation, that “the humanities belong to all Americans.”

"Many of the awards went to handpicked recipients who had been invited to apply, outside the agency’s tradition of open, competitive calls for proposals."

"In January, [the NEH] announced $75 million in new grants, including more than $40 million in large awards to conservative-backed civic thought centers and classical humanities institutes that have been established at or near some campuses, to combat the liberal tilt of academia."

"Mr. Fox and Mr. Cavanaugh [the two DOGE staffers] left the government last summer to start a technology company called Special. Mr. McDonald is still at the agency."

When DOGE Unleashed ChatGPT on the Humanities

"Even an effort to catalog and digitize the papers of Thomas Gage, a British general in the American Revolution, was guilty of “promoting inclusivity and diversity in historical research.”

+ Important update on the lawsuit fr AHA, MLA, ACLS etc. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/a...

Job Opportunity!

Truman State University - Assistant Professor in Vast Early American History

networks.h-net.org/jobs/69857/t...

A thing I really appreciate about @polgreen.bsky.social’s piece is the historical context. Despite how critical it always is, we still don’t get enough of that in either reporting or analysis.

Opinion | Trump’s Fantasy Is Crashing Down

“More than anything, it shows up — in its grounded flights, shuttered refineries and intercepted missiles — the fallacy of Fortress America.”

💯

& global interconnection present since the founding. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/06/o...