Tessera
Folgen

Cindy Ermus

@cindyermus.bsky.social

Mom; Wilson Assoc Prof in History of Medicine; Dir of medical humanities; Series Ed for France Overseas, U Neb Press; cofounder ageofrevolutions.com; FRHistS; NEH Fellow 2022. Book: Great Plague Scare of 1720 (Cambridge 2023). Views my own.

303 Posts3979 Follower814 Folgt
Katie Mack@astrokatie.com · 3w ago

Probably more helpful to think of them not so much as “Canadian wildfires” but rather “climate change wildfires currently consuming Canada”

Cindy Ermus@cindyermus.bsky.social · 3w ago

I should have posted this 3 days ago (14 juillet), but better late than never. Here’s a thread of some of the vignettes or letterhead I’ve come across in the archives this summer. Lots of symbolism here. Some examples, the laurel wreath, an ancient symbol, symbolizing, in part, Republican virtue...

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman.bsky.social · last mo.

Today is the 250th anniversary of Boston’s mass inoculation against smallpox on July 3, 1776. The city was effectively closed to commerce from July through September 1776. The mass immunization effort was cheered as evidence of true independence. Here's how I described it in my book:

While John Adams and fifty-five men in Philadelphia debated a resolution on independence and the final wording of the Declaration of Independence, the people of Boston declared their own independence from smallpox. The measures taken in both cities provided hope that America would not only be a republic free of a king but also a country free from disease. On July 3, 1776, a day after independence was declared in Philadelphia, the Massachusetts General Court voted to allow inoculation. Despite the dangers of infection, the people of Boston and the surrounding areas cheered the news. Ezekiel Price, a court official and insurance broker, declared “Liberty is given for to inoculate for the small-pox; many begin upon it this afternoon.” Hannah Winthrop described the scene: “Boston has given up its Fears of an invasion & is busily employd in Communicating the Infection. Straw Beds & Cribs are daily Carted into the Town.” She wrote that “Men Women & children eagerly crowding to inoculate is I think as modish as running away from the Troops of a barbarous George was the last year.” Dr. James Warren wrote to John Adams that the “rage for inoculation” had “whirled me into its vortex.…” Warren and his wife Mercy Otis joined Abigail Adams and her four children who had been invited to be inoculated at Abigail’s uncle’s house in Boston along with Abigail’s sisters Elizabeth Cranch and Mary Shaw and their families. Even though Boston was teeming with the sick, the prospect that the city could conquer smallpox made it "a scene delightful indeed." Cotton Tufts was satisfied that he could now "take my leave of Earth, satisfied that the Day of American Redemption was at Hand."
Manisha Sinha@profmsinha.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Historian of slavery here the Pope is single handedly showing us the best of America in these very troubling times and needed on the 250th of the republic, to see the virtues that made the U.S. admired all over the world, the ability to admit a mistake. apnews.com/article/pope...

Pope Leo XIV makes historic apology for Vatican's role in legitimizing slavery

Pope Leo XIV has made a historic apology for the role the Holy See played in legitimizing slavery. Leo’s own family history includes both enslaved people and slave owners.

apnews.com

Cindy Ermus@cindyermus.bsky.social · 3mo ago

“Being able to talk to people & interact with people in a very human way is more valuable than ever.” Every humanities organization & dept needs to capitalize on this moment. Scream from the mountain tops, "If you want the invaluable skills that AI can't replicate, major in history!" @historians.org

College students are changing course in search of 'AI-proof' majors. But no one knows what they are

The rise of artificial intelligence is prompting college students to second-guess their career paths.

apnews.com

Rachael Nevins ❌👑@rachaelnevins.bsky.social · 3mo ago

“Use AI to brainstorm but not to write.” “Use AI to help you outline but not to write.” These are commonly proposed as “ethical” ways for undergrad students to use AI, but I’m sorry, brainstorming & outlining are just as integral to writing as the actual construction of sentences.

Cindy Ermus@cindyermus.bsky.social · 4mo ago

So excited to see the cover for this fascinating, touching book on the hist of schoolhouses in the south, beautifully co-authored by my brilliant colleague & spouse, @abegibson.bsky.social, & his pops Benny Gibson. The Vanishing Schools of Franklin County: A History of Public Education in Rural VA

The Vanishing Schools of Franklin County

<p><b>An in-depth history that assesses the price of progress and the legacy of lost rural American communities</b></p><p>Nestled among the foothills

upress.virginia.edu

Cindy Ermus@cindyermus.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Colleagues in French history: I’ll be working at Pierrefitte for the first time this summer. Commuting from Marais. Any tips—about the commute, archives, anything—are very welcome!! (Feel free to email.) Please and thank you 🙏

Matthew Noe@noethematt.bsky.social · 5mo ago

"But in education, the ultimate product is not your term paper or essay or [GPA]; it’s your self. You are supposed to emerge more informed, more capable of critical thinking, more competent in your field of study. The students who begin by cheating their professors end by cheating themselves."

What technology takes from us – and how to take it back | Rebecca Solnit

The long read: Decisions outsourced, chatbots for friends, the natural world an afterthought: Silicon Valley is giving us life void of connection. There is a way out – but it’s going to take collectiv...

theguardian.com

Age of Revolutions@ageofrevolutions.bsky.social · 5mo ago

A powerful look at how women’s writing during the Seven Years’ War reveals the raw emotion, loss, and humanity often hidden in colonial archives. A moving reminder that behind every global conflict are intimate stories worth remembering. @tlecaque.bsky.social ageofrevolutions.com/2026/03/02/h...

Heartbreak on the Colonial Front: Women’s Writing, the Seven Years War, and Humanity in the Archive

By Thomas Lecaque This article is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Patrick Lecaque, 1/15/1949-10/11/2025, who taught his son the joy of history, of research, of discovery, and to find the individuals…

ageofrevolutions.com

Andrew WM Smith@smidbob.bsky.social · 5mo ago

My copy of the newly published 'The Global Age of Revolutions' arrived in the post yesterday! My chapter is called 'The Bastille and the Roundabout: the revolutionary past of the gilets jaunes'

Copy of the book described aboveImage of chapter by Smith, title in post above
Yesenia Barragan, she/they@yeseniabarragan.bsky.social · 5mo ago

My book has a cover! IN LATIN AMERICA YOU COULD BE FREE: AN AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY tells the story of the place and promise of Latin America in the political imagination of African Americans and of their movements to the region in the antebellum period. Out on Basic Books, November 11, 2026! 🥳

Bild