David Vail

White House fires much of the National Council on the Humanities The White House appeared to fire all but four members of the National Council on the Humanities, an advisory board to the head of the government’s grantmaking agency.

Take Note. Please support your local humanities council however you can. This is urgent. Humanities are essential to you, me, and us.

I will be speaking at this NDSU Libraries event on research based on my current monograph project as well as a new project inspired by what I found in NDSU Archives during the trip. Honored for this support from the Gunlogson Award and to join other scholars in this celebration.

"We cannot understand the problems that concern us in this, our particular moment of time, unless we first understand our environment and the forces that have made us what we are, physically and mentally."
-- Rachel Carson, Introduction in "Good Reading," 1956.
#envhist #envhum #histsci

UNK faculty members honored for their excellence in teaching, service and scholarship - UNK NEWS Anthony Donofrio, Amy Nebesniak, David Vail and Whitney Schneider-Cline received awards.

I'm beyond honored to receive the University of Nebraska at Kearney's Pratt-Heins Award for Teaching.

I dedicate this award to our students. You give me hope and perspective. I'm less without you. I'll be here for each of you, every step.

Humanities helps us find love in this moment of no love.

Book cover of Race and Environmental Justice in the Era of Climate Change and COVID-19 edited by Tatiana Konrad

Info on book series & editorial board which can be read here: https://msupress.org/environment-health-and-well-being/

Really excited to get a copy of this book which I think is the first in our series on Environment, Health & Wellbeing at Michigan State University Press. Great mix of chapters from academics & activists. More info here: msupress.org/978161186528...

Nebraska arts and culture institutions navigating fallout of federal funding cuts - Flatwater Free Press “I've never seen anything close to a moment like this,” Humanities Nebraska's longtime executive director said.

flatwaterfreepress.org/nebraska-art...

Federal judge rules cuts to humanities grants were 'unlawful' The ruling deems the government's termination of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities "unlawful" and allows a lawsuit brought by humanities groups to move forward.

www.npr.org/2025/08/07/n...

www.mellon.org/voices/human...

Federation of State Humanities Councils Granted Preliminary Injunction in Lawsuit Against NEH - Federation of State Humanities Councils FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Hannah Hethmon, Communications Manager, Federation of State Humanities Councils (hhethmon@statehumanities.org) FEDERATION OF STATE HUMANITIES COUNCILS GRANTED PREL...

www.statehumanities.org/federation-g...

Study shows AI's negative effects as Ohio State University requires students to use AI in classrooms Ohio State University did not study the impact artificial intelligence has on learning before launching its new plan. All undergraduate students, starting with the incoming freshman class, will be req...

I'm thinking we all need to rethink the urgent embrace of this stuff: www.wosu.org/2025-07-29/s...

Prairie Identity, Youth Sports Reform, Forest Recovery & Memory Historians trace prairie identity, Dr. Strand rethinks youth sports, Michigan forests recover from disaster, and Tom Isern honors German-Russian heritage.

news.prairiepublic.org/podcast/main...
#envhist #envhum #histsci

Farewell Fargo, but I'll be back! Had one of the most productive and delightful research trips this week. Many thanks to Tom Isern and Suzzanne Kelley for their hospitality and kindness throughout. I'm so grateful for Institute for Regional Studies research support. #Ndsu #envhist #envhum #histsci

Excited to continue my adventures in the NDSU Archives today! The Institute for Regional Studies collections and archival records have revealed much. And I got to use this cool "Light Box" to look at slides of early postwar contour farming and shelterbelts! #envhist #envhum #histsci #Ndsu

I will be spending the week researching at NDSU Archives thanks to the Institute for Regional Studies Gunlogson Fund support for the Vulnerable Harvests manuscript. Today, I found some epic singletrack at the Lions Conservancy Nature Park.
#envhist #envhum #histsci

1st stop in last round of research for the Vulnerable Harvests manuscript!
#envhist #envhum #histsci

Ventage photo of an old streetcar with three safety bicycles hanging off one end and more on the back. Caption: “Car carrying three bicycles at each end - Brooklyn”

Streetcar with bicycle racks, 1898

Turkey on a bridge for the AM ride

Associate Professor in Environmental History (281801) | University of Stavanger Job title: Associate Professor in Environmental History (281801), Employer: University of Stavanger, Deadline: Thursday, August 7, 2025

Important news for the #envhist crowd: We are hiring an Associate Professor of Environmental History!

www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

Application deadline is August 7.

Some tips for those interested from abroad in thread 👇

Never hold back love and kindness. People need to know more than you know.

Had to adventure out on this nice summer day with Rowdy. New tires are lightning fast (for an MTB). Dr. Crash Mode Activated!

Book cover of Ghosts Behind Glass with colorful Carolina parakeet under bell jar

Preorder now!!
Ghosts Behind Glass: Encountering Extinction in Museums

Coming out with @uchicagopress.bsky.social in October 2025.

Only $20 in paperback for a full color book with 80 pictures of dead things. It’s beautiful!

press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

YouTube video by fulanodetal4 Woody Guthrie/Sonny Terry - All you fascists bound to lose

"All you fascists bound to lose," Woody Guthrie, 1944.
youtu.be/nIOHXYDaT-s?...

@finnarne.me and @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social New summer Lego creation: Shuttle Enterprise with Boeing Shuttle Carrier.

Lipsey, "Finding the Florida Cracker Horse" — Agricultural History Society Humans are not the only animals who make history, but we are the only ones who write it. Agricultural and environmental historians are increasingly integrating the lives of non-human animals into thei...

The Agricultural History Society has a really cool digital space to publish short essays on perspectives on the rural and agricultural past. The most recent is a really compelling piece by Hanna Lipsey. You can check out her essay and a variety of others on the AHS Short Blog.

A most exciting Agricultural History Society meeting in St. Paul! Amazing time to see friends and hear about compelling new scholarship.

Chemical Lands has made it to paperback!

It was such a joy and honor to join @drhick.bsky.social in the
PhD defense of Hilde Røsstad at Univ of Agder today. Her work is exceptional and her storytelling superb. Congratulations Dr. Røsstad!

Woman in front of screen with picture of a grandfather holding granddaughter under a tree

Ads and labels for bladan? Black leaf, malathion 60, etc

A picture of a handwritten notebook with translation “Now we are dependent on these compounds”

Really nice lecture by Hilde this morning on “What do the Norwegian personal narratives about pesticides tell us about the global history of chemical risk and use?”
Personal narratives as showing ambivalence & embodied experience

Extremely excited and proud to be at the PhD defense of Hilde Røsstad at Univ of Agder today. Her dissertation “Handling Pesticides in Horticulture: Norwegian Horticulturists’ Perception of and Praxid with Chemical Plant Protection Products, 1945-2021” is fantastic.