Lauren Brand

a cup of hot coffee with steam coming out of it ALT: a cup of hot coffee with steam coming out of it

How much coffee is too much? Today I might find out.

History of Vaccines – AHA The American Historical Association (AHA) will host a Congressional Briefing offering historical perspectives on vaccines. The briefing will take place on Wednesday, February 11, at 9:00 a.m. in Raybu...

On 2/11, the AHA will host a Congressional Briefing offering historical perspectives on vaccines. Panelists Elena Conis, David M. Oshinsky, Michael Willrich, & moderator Sarah Weicksel will discuss how public perception & the role of the federal government in vaccination has changed over time. 🗃️

Todays is #BadBunnyDay and a good moment to read my book review in the @historians.org’s AHR!!! It contrasts Bad 🐰’s #Dtmf album with a legal history of #PuertoRico book:

Interested in learning more about how curators are bringing the history of Indigenous peoples to the public?

Historians Amanda Cobb-Greetham and Scott Manning Stevens interview curators Kathleen Ash-Milby, Jordan Poorman Cocker, and Patricia Marroquin Norby on Indigenous history in museums

Now we're on item 11, social studies TEKS. Motion is to adopt recommendations for K-12, not K-8, which was the original charge for content advisors. Hickman wants to add Earl Rudder (I'm not Texan, but he's a WWII hero and Aggie, apparently?).

The Texas social studies standards revision saga continues!

Gorgeous manicule in this manuscript collection of works by Italian Humanist writers, including Bartolomeo Facio & Giannantonio de’Pandoni (known as Porcellius), written in Italy c. 1450-1500. Given to @theulspeccoll.bsky.social by Stephen Gaselee in 1919 & now MS Add. 6188.

This meeting is STILL going, and Whit is still watching, in case you're still following along and want to know how social studies standards get made in Texas.

I really love the cover of this book.

Okay, we’ve started. Commissioner is offering his opening remarks. Started with praise for the board for doing an unpaid service. Talking about the 2025 Annual Report, “organized around the strategic priorities we have for the state as a whole. Starts with our goal for public education.”

Legalizing the 1932 Lake Placid Olympic Bob-run: A Test of the Adirondack Wilderness Culture

The III Winter Olympics in Lake Placid NY helped kick start a skiing boom in the 🇺🇸 – and a fight to protect the environment in the Adirondacks especially with the construction of the bobsled track #olympics #sporthistory #skystorians 🗃️
digital.la84.org/digital/coll...

American Historical Association 2026 Scholarship is a powerful tool for changing how people think, plan, and govern. By giving voice to bright minds and bold ideas, we seek to foster understanding and drive progressive change.

Thank you to @historians.org and #AHA26 attendees for another great conference to start the new year! Our AHA website will be up for a few weeks so you still have time to save 40% on our latest History books: www.ucpress.edu/book-lists/a...

See you next year in NOLA for #AHA27!

Need a professional headshot for your website or social media profile? Come to Booth 521 in the #AHA26 Exhibit Hall (located in Salon A in the Hilton Chicago) on Saturday from noon to 4 PM and get your photo taken at our complimentary headshot booth!

Call for Papers — Land and Power in the Later Roman World Tübingen, June 29 to July 1, 2026 Codex Justiniani I-IX cum glosa Franciscus Accursius, Guido de Suzaria, Guillelmus de Ferreriis, Petrus de Ferreriis, Petrus de Cerveriis (BHSL.HS.0021) Land and l…

🚨CfP: Land and Power in the Late Roman World. Deadline: 11 Jan 26, event 29 Jun-1 July 26.

Come join the Land & Loyalty team in sunny Tubingen to discuss why land was so important in the late Roman world. ECRs especially solicited!

research.st-andrews.ac.uk/landloyalty/...

Just launched: @ceuropeanhistory.bsky.social's new blog featuring the projects of recipients of its annual research & travel grants. Check it out: tinyurl.com/2afay4ct . PS: Applications for the 2026 grants are still being accepted until January 15 (tinyurl.com/695jr4cm). Apply now!

SLAC historians coming to #AHA26: come join our pre-conference workshop on Thursday morning! We also have a Friday afternoon session on navigating times of crisis and an interactive Saturday morning session, "Hands-On History."

If you're free on Friday morning, Jan. 9: the op-ed workshop is back! @lmansley.bsky.social has organized a rock-star group again this year with @syrussolojin.bsky.social, @kathrynbrownell.bsky.social, @geraldo-cadava.bsky.social, and the one and only @jamellebouie.net
#AHA26

Also highly topical, session 145: "Historicizing Historiography: Reassessing the Politics of History in Korea aha.confex.com/aha/2026/web...
#AHA26

There are many panels about the challenges of teaching history in the US, but also a couple highlighting international perspectives I wouldn't want to miss:
Session 54, "Teaching Secondary History in the Shadow of the State," featuring panelists from South Africa, Netherlands, England & Peru #AHA25

I primarily taught world history surveys, and all off these comparative empires panels this year look so helpful and interesting. Session 261 "What Makes an Empire? Integrating Denmark's Overseas Expansion into Global History" seems especially interesting and relevant
#AHA26

The Conference on Latin American History also meets at #AHA26, so there's a lot of Indigenous Latin American history. Last year I attended a panel about the digital Florentine Codex and it was really fascinating. Session 92, "Borderland Ecologies, Indigenous Perspectives" looks like a highlight.

Session 17, "Before Land Grab Universities" strikes me as especially interesting. The American Catholic History Association also has a panel titled "Horse Cultures, Catholic Missionaries, and the Settler Colonialism in the Indigenous Northwest" that I will be attending if I can!
#AHA26

Rose Miron of @newberrylibrary.bsky.social is leading session 221: Indigenous Chicago: Community-Engaged Curriculum Development as Public History #AHA26

Indigenous history is my primary research field, so I always peruse other panels in that area, and this year there are several very cool ones...

Finishing up my final program perusal for #AHA26, and I've got to add some sessions: so much local Chicago history! My former colleague on the American Lesson Plan project Nick Kryczka has a panel about teaching Chicago history in public schools.

Public school teachers will be at #AHA26, & two sessions in particular strike me as great opportunities for teachers at the college level to connect with them: K-12 Faculty Tell Us How College Faculty Can Best Help Them & What Historians Need to Know About Developing Curricula for Grades 6-12

I'm currently reading a book about the history of physics, which begins in ancient Greece, so I was happy to see the ancient world represented on the program with session 236, Ancient Greece in War and Peace: aha.confex.com/aha/2026/web...
#AHA26

Truly one of the coolest things I've seen on the program this year is a session taking place at the nearby Field Museum of Natural History: "Premodern Maritime and Silk Road Inter-Asia," which will feature museum staff and artifacts from the Java Sea Shipwreck Collection.
#AHA26

There are a lot of sessions on publishing! I'll plug session 79: Publishing in the AHR: Early Career Experiences. Yes, early career historians do publish in the AHR! Come hear from some of them and meet AHR staff.
#AHA26

There is also a separate session where participants will play both analog and virtual reality games set in the Middle Ages. I used to teach a Reacting to the Past game in one of my courses, and I just can't get enough of this kind of pedagogy.
aha.confex.com/aha/2026/web...
#AHA26

Also, the medievalists are coming, and they are bringing GAMES. There's a series of sessions titled "Historical Games in Research and Teaching" that looks fascinating: aha.confex.com/aha/2026/web...
#AHA26