Elaine Ayers

Documenting the History Trump Wants to Erase Librarians, historians, and volunteers are forming networks to chronicle signs and objects they fear could disappear from museums and national parks.

Preparing myself for Smithsonian week in my Museums: Power + Politics course this week, the flex "wtf is happening right now" week of the semester. Looking for seeds of hope.

hyperallergic.com/1045848/docu...

Two-thirds of National Park Service employees have been furloughed during the ongoing government shutdown, worsening an already severe staffing shortage. With limited personnel remaining, essential maintenance, law enforcement, and visitor services are significantly reduced.

Frankenstein’s Sheep Cloned and genetically modified animals are jumping the lab and entering the black market, possibly forever altering our ecosystems.

Putting the (overused) Frankenstein metaphor aside, this is just so weird. "Using a small blade, he sliced off a pencil-eraser-size piece of hide from its armpit and put it in a tissue-collection kit furnished by a U.S. livestock-cloning outfit called Trans Ova Genetics."

nymag.com/intelligence...

The Feather Detective: How Roxie Laybourne Pioneered Forensic Ornithology You wouldn’t know it, looking at the tiny elderly woman in the white lab coat bent over a table in a halogen-lit government office, you wouldn’t know she had spent her youth doing scien…

Didn't know that Roxie Laybourne worked on moss before moving into ornithology - a trend I've seen more than once. What a powerful career.

www.themarginalian.org/2025/09/30/r...

Blood-Blue Sky - The American Scholar How horseshoe crabs and ecological grief connect with the wonders of the human heart

I love horseshoe crabs.

theamericanscholar.org/blood-blue-s...

CFP: A Time of Monsters The monster has been here all along. It is a historical constant that manifests in wildly different ways across time, place, and culture. Whatever form it takes, the monster claws at categories; it un...

Our new CFP is up and it is monstrous.

Also bonus @artcrimeprof.bsky.social arm + leg cameo

Being a part of the Whitney is so cool because I get to eat delicious lunch AND hear my incredibly smart and talented colleagues talk about the research that plagues and delights them

Elaine Ayers giving a talk in front of a PowerPoint labeled “Entangled organisms: Classificatory challenges + ecological objects in natural history collections”

Absolutely fascinating presentation by @eayers0.bsky.social today at the weekly Whitney Fellows’ lunch - the way I look at natural history specimens will change as a result of this talk.

I really need to improve my posture

Weirdly pretty gutted by this - thoughts (as a former primate person) coming soon.

(As is my sticky spacebar)

These AI-based writing "suggestions" (in emails, Word / Google docs, etc) are SO ANNOYING. They make writing simpler, sure, but also shittier. The number of blue lines I have to ignore is distracting and impeding my writing. Driving me absolutely crazy.

#Postdoc at U. of Vienna in philosophy of science, with focus on scientific modeling, interdisciplinarity &/or philosophy of engineering, w/ Prof. Tarja Knuuttila. English & German language proficiency required.
Deadline: Oct 9th
#philsci

jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Universi...

Assistant Professor – Global History of Technology - Department of History University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!

Job at UC-Berkeley: Asst. Prof. in Global History of Technology, apps due 10/10 (so soon). #history #histSTM #histsci #histphilsci

aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05065

I've rarely talked this much with this many colleagues about teaching methods, what we succeed in / struggle with doing, grade inflation, evals, how we teach reading, the value of research + writing in history. I hate AI, but I don't hate this reflectiveness + accountability, actually.

Should College Get Harder? A.I. is coming for knowledge work, and yet college seems to be getting easier. Does something need to change?

AI in schools has been terrible + crazy (although I've always been kind of interested in thinking about this stuff), but one thing I SORT OF appreciate is the turn towards critically discussing our teaching methods - grading, reading, assignments, etc.

www.newyorker.com/culture/open...

And Fri, it's the exhibit reception for Plants on Paper at Yale's Arts Library! I'll be speaking, there will be tea, and it's a gorgeous collection well worth perusing.

library.yale.edu/event/plants...

Thurs at 4PM, the inimitable @artcrimeprof.bsky.social is talking about "The Battle Over America's Monuments + Heroes" as part of the prestigious Poynter Fellowship in Journalism. I'm teaching during her talk, but my students are going + I'm so happy to see her on campus!

I'm also speaking about my in progress writing / book project - "Entangled Organisms: Classificatory Challenges & Ecological Objects in Natural History Collections" at the @yalewhc.bsky.social fellows' lunch this Weds; looking forward to feedback from the other fellows + visitors!

So many good events on campus this week, starting with Jhumpa Lahiri at @yalewhc.bsky.social, starting in a few minutes.

Applications sought for next editor(s) of Environmental History. For more information please visit the ASEH website: www.aseh.org

Since the new season dropped last week, just a reminder that the English Teacher is a very sweet and funny and commitment show for those looking for small breaks between grading + writing.

Texas Tech chancellor limits academic mentions of transgender and nonbinary identities at five universities Advocacy groups say the new state law, presidential executive order and gubernatorial letter Tedd Mitchell cited do not prohibit classroom discussions of particular LGBTQ+ identities.

Breaking: Texas Tech chancellor limits academic mentions of transgender and nonbinary identities at five universities.

The Three-Hour Challenge: 180 Minutes with ‘Las Meninas’

Hashtag Foucault

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/a...

Assistant Professor, History of the United States since 1920 at University of Cambridge Explore an exciting academic career as a Assistant Professor, History of the United States since 1920. Don't miss out on other academic jobs. Click to apply and explore more opportunities.

A *permanent* US history job! Goes without saying that this will be highly competitive, but the US history faculty at Cambridge are some of the most supportive colleagues you can ask for. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOT902/a...

The image has pink and brown design elements, the JCB logo, and the text "Fellowship opportunities- Apply now!"

We have just launched our new application cycle for long- and short-term fellowships at the JCB!

Details at jcblibrary.org/fellowships/...

A Left Behind story set in the Jurassic Park universe called Velocirapture

It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers First published on October 9, 2009, this classic by Colin Nissan is our most-read article of all time. We’re celebrating the 16th anniversary of th...

IT IS TIME.

U.S. Department of Education Places Harvard University on Heightened Cash Monitoring for Financial Responsibility Concerns Today, the Department’s Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) announced that it has placed Harvard University (Harvard) on Heightened Cash Monitoring (HCM) status following growing concerns regarding th...

The Department of Education is placing Harvard on Heightened Cash Monitoring, a status usually reserved for institutions in some kind of financial distress.

Requires Harvard to provide a letter of credit for $36 million.

www.ed.gov/about/news/p...