"There are many ways to destroy a university."

Adam Serwer@adamserwer.bsky.social · 4w ago

After years of championing "free speech," Texas lawmakers have enabled a dramatic rise of censorship in Texas universities, banning concepts, canceling courses and closing departments seen as "woke," and even using AI bots as censors. All in the name of freedom. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/1...

Internal emails and documents obtained by The New York Times demonstrate President Trump’s political capture of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, including how officials once pursued a plan to unload much of the art collection. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/u...

20 fantastic scholars and 20 amazing essays. We worked hard on this and are glad to able to share it now!

University of Texas Press@utexaspress.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Out today! REWRITING AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE, ed. by Charles L. Davis II, Kathryn E. Holliday, & Joanna Merwood-Salisbury. A new collection reframing 19th-c. built environments as key arenas of nationhood, race, settler colonialism & institutional building.

Looking for fresh material for your architectural history syllabus? Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians Assoc Ed Sheila Crane explores how JSAH roundtables can spark new conversations in the classroom. @sah1365.bsky.social www.ucpress.edu/blog-posts/r...

Revitalize Your Syllabi with “Architectural History and Trans Experience” & JSAH Roundtables

Refresh your syllabus with JSAH Roundtables that bring timely, field-expanding perspectives on trans experiences, race, Indigeneity, and global architectural histories into the classroom.

ucpress.edu

Early registration is now open for SAH's 6th annual Virtual Conference! This 3-day online event offers paper sessions and roundtables showcasing research in architectural history by scholars around the world. View the preliminary program: sah.org/conferences/...

Do you love Chicago's courtyard buildings? They may soon be on the National Register of Historic Places. https://bit.ly/3R1g1sZ 📸: Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

This is a local historic preservation action call! While there is so much preservation trouble at rhe national level, it is equally rough on the ground. Urbana, Illinois Civic Center crtitcal landmark vote Monday night. Read more here www.smilepolitely.com/opinion/the-...

The Urbana Civic Center is a reminder of the positive power of public space - Opinion

The Urbana Civic Center remains a subject of hope and debate and is on the agenda again for the Monday, June 22 Urbana City Council meeting. The Urbana Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) voted Jun...

smilepolitely.com

"'I have no confidence, whatsoever, that my administration will support faculty if academic freedom is under assault,' one [survey response read]...'In the past few weeks, administrators have told faculty to not speak, teach or research certain things.'" www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

Faculty Actually Are Trying to Flee Red States

Following a year of anecdotes about professors uprooting themselves from Republican-controlled states over academic freedom concerns, a new survey provides evidence that their experiences reflect a br...

insidehighered.com

"The key to radio's future does not lie, as so many broadcasters seem to think, in doing more cheaply what television can do...Rather the key to radio's future lies in another direction: doing the things that television cannot do." File under: unheeded advice, 1952. www.nytimes.com/1952/06/01/a...

REALISTIC APPROACH; Radio Should Do Things That Video Cannot (Published 1952)

nytimes.com

Just confirming that Made by History will now be back up and running in the next few weeks with a new home and new partners at the Philadelphia Inquirer. Exciting! So, if you have pitches, now's the time to start sending them to madebyhistory@inquirer.com 🗃️ #MadebyHistory #HistoryMatters

This is a long shot given how local my network is on here but I’ve complied a fair amount of resources on how to identify the vehicles and agents involved in these raids and what to do if you see them. Happy to share with anybody looking to set up patrols in New Orleans or Charlotte, DM me

unraveled@unraveledpress.com · 12mo ago

This New Orleans operation is going to closely resemble what we just went through in Chicago.

This is a fantastic set of reflections on the meaning of the American South and how we teach, research, and talk about it

Journal of Southern History@joursouhist.bsky.social · 12mo ago

NEW in NOV: A Journal of Southern History special issue, for those who teach about the South, in the South and beyond #openaccess muse.jhu.edu/issue/55697

"Instead of focusing on what computer vision can achieve in processing images, I want to offer a historical account of the language and the feelings used to frame its imagined role in art-historical practice." www.artforum.com/features/gen...

MACHINE YEARNING

Sonja Drimmer critically examines art historians’ recent embrace of generative AI as a tool for humanities research.

artforum.com

J. D. Vance: I’m here to surprise a really deserving family with a total home makeover! The family is the Trumps! Donald, the patriarch, is the monarch of a small, backwater nation. He’s hoping to completely redo his house so that one day, he can pass it down to his kids!

Extreme Home Makeover: White House Edition

This old, fly-infested building needs some work.

theatlantic.com

"Understanding what this place offers is deepened by learning how it came to be."

Smile Politely@smilepolitely.com · last yr.

Champaign-Urbana Neighborhood Stories is an impressive digital story map illuminating the community’s diverse cultural roots, while also highlighting the ongoing tension of dividing and displacing marginalized communities.

Our local arts & culture mag wrote a super nice piece on my students' work documenting neighborhood histories in postwar Champaign-Urbana (thank you!) - very proud of the student work and look forward to adding to this project with future classes www.smilepolitely.com/culture/stud...

Student work expands the scope of Krannert Art Museum's magnificent exhibit -

Those of us who call Urbana-Champaign home know it’s not quite like any other place. There’s a certain spirit in the air—faint strains of music echoing across streets that connect our two cities. It’s...

smilepolitely.com

Historic Preservation job in my hometown - the Preservation Resource Center is in such a lovely Gothic Revival warehouse by the GNO bridge. Great opportunity to help make preservation work in New Orleans! preservenet.org/job/preserva...

New from me in Mas Context: In February NPS removed Transgender and Queer from the Stonewall National Monument website. NPS also removed LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer History—the 1st federal account of the LGBTQ community.

Stonewall: Movement, Monument, Myth

In February 2025, under the orders of the Trump administration, the National Park Service (NPS) removed the words “Transgender” and “Queer” from the…

mascontext.com

This point is not made enough. The US has an embarrassment of riches of great colleges and universities. There are strong institutions in every state. It’s as if those places don’t count.

jamelle@jamellebouie.net · last yr.

this obsession with a handful of high status universities is also low key an indication of elite disdain for the institutions that educate most americans who attend colleges and universities

✨ Job posting: ✨Visiting Assistant Director of the Humanities Without Walls program at the HRI, U of Illinois Urbana-Champaign✨ illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

Everyone deserves dignity and equality regardless of who they are or who they love. On International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia, know that Illinois stands with our LGBTQ+ community. Hate has no home here in the Land of Lincoln.

My book's pub day is next week, so sharing bits! In 1925, Paul R. Williams, the 1st Black registered architect in California, designed this house for a competition held by a Santa Barbara-based org. The design was inspired by Mexican buildings, but white architects tried to minimize those influences

The Society of Architectural Historians welcomes paper submissions for its 79th Annual International Conference in Mexico City April 15-19, 2026. 50+ sessions target diverse topics across the length and breadth of history. Submit by June 5, 2025. www.sah.org/docs/default...

May I recommend my book if you want fires, oil spills, eugenics, earthquakes, mudslides, unfriendly neighbors, the mores of the wealthy, beautiful beaches and mountains, and a reference to HBO’s Succession AND the Duchess of Sussex in one tidy package on sale? press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Natural Attachments

A nuanced analysis takes a California oil spill as its point of departure to show how affluent homeowners pushed for an environmentalism that would protect not only the earth but also property and com...

press.uchicago.edu

The University of Chicago Press@uchicagopress.bsky.social · 2y ago

Even though #ASEH2025 is coming to an end, there’s still time to browse our virtual exhibit! Get 30% off & free domestic shipping on books with promo code EX57956: bit.ly/UCPEXASEH.

From The Clay Studio in Philadelphia (and I’m part of the team 😎): “How do we observe the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States in 2026? How has the Declaration of Independence been commemorated or criticized in the past?” (1/2)

Ireland phone. www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1... #StPatricksDay

SHOT 2025 Open sessions Individuals and groups interested in finding others to join an organized session can submit an open session proposal to be posted on the open sessions list below. The list will be updated daily until March 23th, 2025. www.historyoftechnology.org/annual-meeti...

2025 SHOT Annual Meeting Luxembourg

Visit the post for more.

historyoftechnology.org

If you think they will not notice you consider the words listed below. They include or describe work across disciplines, practices, and world views. Stand up now

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 2y ago

Agencies within the Trump administration have flagged hundreds of words to limit or avoid, according to a compilation of government documents. These terms appeared in government memos, in official and unofficial agency guidance and in other documents. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Spotted in the wild! Terrific new book on architect, engineer & teacher Nathan Ricker, founder of the first public university program in architecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1873. The architects of 19th c. Chicago were shaped by his rigorous teaching - a great new resource!

Tyranny requires your fear and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage. So gather your justice and humanity, Illinois, and do not let despair overcome us when our country needs us the most.