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Clorox, Moscow Mitch, and the Red Wave: Report from the Battlefield

Note: This blog originated prior to the massacre in El Paso.  After the July 14 declaration of war I wrote: That day will be remembered as a day of infamy where the long-brewing culture wars finally spilled forth into an open (solely political so far) combat. But I also wrote: THE DONALD asked the audience […]

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The Unpresidential Library: The Adolescent Room

The Unpresidential Library will differ from the normal presidential libraries. Traditionally, the facility extols the achievements of its namesake. If there are artifacts and exhibits from the childhood or adolescence of the President, they are to show how those time periods contributed to the adult the person eventually became. There is no precedent for a […]

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History Advocacy: Lessons from the Massachusetts History Alliance Conference

The history community does not do a good job advocating for itself. I am not referring to the actions an individual history organization may take on behalf of its own organization. Instead I am referring to collective action on behalf of the entire history community within the state. The major exception to this generalization is […]

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Museum History: From Maine to the Met to the Erie Canal

Museums have a history, too. Museums today the repositories of historical artifacts available to scholars and the general public alike. However that was not always so. There is a history of how museums came to be what they are today. This topic was the subject of two presentations at conferences in June: “Entertainments at Taverns […]

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July 14, 2019 = April 12, 1861 II: The Third Civil War Is Engaged

On April 12, 1861, South Carolina opened fire on the US garrison of Fort Sumter. The Civil War had begun. It would rage for years and hundreds of thousands of people would die. It wreaked havoc on the land especially in the South where most of the battles were fought. Most importantly, it would be […]

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Civics and the Citizenship Test in the Time of Trump

Naturalized Americans unlike native Americans are obligated to demonstrate mastery of civics. To do so applicants take an exam covering American history, government, and ideals. It is a multiple choice question exam. This means that as with the SAT, it is possible for the tester to measure the results on the questions: which questions do […]

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