Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Where’s the Pirate? Or, why I wrote a history of rum with only a few pirates in it - Commonplace

2 2

Reposted by Commonplace: the journal of early American life

Katy Telling @katytelling.bsky.social · 26d

We have a brand new essay @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social today! Jordan Smith writes on his forthcoming history of rum and responds to the question "where all the pirates???"

Commonplace: the journal of early American life @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social · 26d

NEW on Commonplace: Jordan Smith asks and answers "where've all the pirates gone?" Check out the latest from Commonplace to learn more about the reasons for this piratical absence in Smith's forthcoming book "The Invention of Rum." commonplace.online/article/wher...

Over time, the history of what was consumed in those taverns became more interesting to me than a rather limited subset of drinkers.

Where’s the Pirate? Or, why I wrote a history of rum with only a few pirates in it - Commonplace

2 2

Commonplace: the journal of early American life @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social · 26d

NEW on Commonplace: Jordan Smith asks and answers "where've all the pirates gone?" Check out the latest from Commonplace to learn more about the reasons for this piratical absence in Smith's forthcoming book "The Invention of Rum." commonplace.online/article/wher...

Over time, the history of what was consumed in those taverns became more interesting to me than a rather limited subset of drinkers.

How to Read a Book: The X-Ray Method for Achieving a Sustainable “Book-Life Balance” - Commonplace

1

Reposted by Commonplace: the journal of early American life

Scott Sandage @scottsandage.bsky.social · Aug 22

Tis the season to make plans to reclaim and cherish your book-life balance! See my 10-step handout “How to Read a Book” @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social

#skystorians #gradstudents
#howtoreadabook #bibliophiles #selfcare

commonplace.online/article/how-...

This is why you need a plan: to read attentively but efficiently, and sustainably, without surrendering your book-life balance.

Commonplace Style Sheet - Commonplace

1 21 48

Reposted by Commonplace: the journal of early American life

Joshua R Greenberg @joshrgreenberg.bsky.social · Sep 2

I see more Bluesky discussion, so here is some @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social data (I am the editor). In the past month Bluesky ranked third on how people came to Commonplace.online (twitter was not in top ten). Same month two years ago, Twitter ranked third, but with fewer than half the referrals.

Commonplace

Save to PDF

Commonplace.online

3 7

Commonplace: the journal of early American life @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social · Jul 17

Headed to Providence for #SHEAR2025???

Joshua R Greenberg @joshrgreenberg.bsky.social · Jul 16

On my way to Providence for #SHEAR2025. Let me know if you will be there and want to pitch a piece or learn more about Commonplace @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social.

1 4

Commonplace: the journal of early American life @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social · Jul 15

Headed to #SHEAR2025? Let's connect!

Joshua R Greenberg @joshrgreenberg.bsky.social · Jul 15

Are you heading to Providence for #SHEAR2025? Are you interesting in pitching a piece to Commonplace (@commonplacejrnl.bsky.social) or learning about submitting? Please reach out to me and let's try to chat at the conference.

More info in our house style sheet:🗃️ commonplace.online/article/comm...

Commonplace Style Sheet

Hot Tennessee Sun - Commonplace

2

Commonplace: the journal of early American life @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social · Jul 15

NEW on Commonplace: A reflection on the work of family history and the stakes involved in facing your family's past. Lisa Roney shares an essay and original poems excavating her family's Confederate forbearer and the corrective potential of genealogical work. commonplace.online/article/hot-...

Silence is never something I manage very well.

Exeter’s Declaration of Independence: A Festival, a Broadside, and a Lesson in Public History - Commonplace

1 1 2

Reposted by Commonplace: the journal of early American life

Ben Franklin's World @bfworld.bsky.social · Jul 4

What’s the most asked question about the Declaration of Independence?

Emily Sneff has heard them all—and answers some of yours in our latest episode.

📜 Myths, manuscripts, missing minutes—it’s all here.

#USHistory #History #America250 #Rev250 #July4th

🎧 www.benfranklinsworld.com/415

1 7 9

Reposted by Commonplace: the journal of early American life

Commonplace: the journal of early American life @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social · Jul 4

Looking to read some history this fourth of July? Commonplace has you covered. We start with a 2016 piece from Jessica Lepler, all about Exeter's annual American Independence Festival...celebrated on July 16! commonplace.online/article/vol-...

It turns out that, in legal terms, the mystery of who found the broadside matters a lot less than who lost it.

Exeter’s Declaration of Independence: A Festival, a Broadside, and a Lesson in Public History - Commonplace

1 1 3

Reposted by Commonplace: the journal of early American life

Katy Telling @katytelling.bsky.social · Jul 4

I'll be adding to this thread throughout the day, but here's just a smidgen of Revolutionary content from the @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social archives. If you don't know what to do today--if you don't know what to do WITH today--here's some history to keep you company.

Commonplace: the journal of early American life @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social · Jul 4

Looking to read some history this fourth of July? Commonplace has you covered. We start with a 2016 piece from Jessica Lepler, all about Exeter's annual American Independence Festival...celebrated on July 16! commonplace.online/article/vol-...

It turns out that, in legal terms, the mystery of who found the broadside matters a lot less than who lost it.

What Freedom Meant to Prince Whipple, The Black Revolutionary Soldier Famous for Rowing Across the Delaware - Commonplace

3 1

Commonplace: the journal of early American life @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social · Jul 4

From August 2024, Timothy Messer-Krause shared the story of Prince Whipple and others who felt the disconnect between Revolutionary ideals and those who claimed to practice them most acutely: commonplace.online/article/what...

Prince and the other enslaved men had no fondness for their fetters and felt acutely the contradiction between American ideals and their condition.

Starving Memory: Joseph Plumb Martin Un-tells the Story of the American Revolution - Commonplace

1

Commonplace: the journal of early American life @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social · Jul 4

In 2010, William Huntting Howell declared that "the American Revolution narrates beautifully." Huntting Howell's essay looked at Joseph Plumb Martin to caution against glazing over the artificiality that such narratives produce: commonplace.online/article/star...

In conjuring an audience for which the rules of fictional narrative are more immediately recognizable and count as surer argumentative proof than the empirical facts of the everyday, Martin neatly dis...

“On the list of free nations”: Haitian Foreign Relations in the Revolutionary Atlantic - Commonplace

1 3

Commonplace: the journal of early American life @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social · Jul 4

How does our understanding of American independence deepen when we stay firmly entrenched in the broader Age of Revolutions? From 2017, Julia Gaffield discusses considers the relationship between America and Revolutionary Haiti: commonplace.online/article/on-t...

We talkwith Julia Gaffield about Haiti’s foreign relations in its early years of independence, the place of the Haitian Revolution, and the impact of the Haitian Declaration of Independence.

Triangulating Religion and the American Revolution through Jedidiah Morse - Commonplace

Commonplace: the journal of early American life @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social · Jul 4

From 2015, Kate Carté Engel connects the historiographies of religion, American Revolution, and the Early Republic to contextualize an anxious 1799 sermon from Jedidiah Morse: commonplace.online/article/tria...

“Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government, and all the blessings […]

Bewilderment as a Way of Understanding America’s Present – and Past - Commonplace

Commonplace: the journal of early American life @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social · Jul 4

Feeling bewildered by today's political climate and "unprecedented times"? You're not alone. From February of this year, Robert Parkinson writes on bewilderment as a means of understanding the past:
commonplace.online/article/bewi...

Circumstances in which people are feeling extreme disorientation are potent breeding grounds for people who are willing to exploit it to take advantage in moments of crisis.

Freedom Seekers: Stories of Black Liberation in the American Revolutionary Era and Beyond - Commonplace

1 2

Commonplace: the journal of early American life @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social · Jul 4

From September 2024, Antonio T. Bly, Simon P. Newman, Billy G. Smith, and Gloria McMahon Whiting wrote on the importance of centering histories of Black liberation in the Revolutionary Era and beyond:

commonplace.online/article/free...

Freedom Seekers will show how all kinds of men, women, and children who escaped were important actors in the challenge not just to their own enslavement but to slavery more broadly.

Exeter’s Declaration of Independence: A Festival, a Broadside, and a Lesson in Public History - Commonplace

Commonplace: the journal of early American life @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social · Jul 4

Looking to read some history this fourth of July? Commonplace has you covered. We start with a 2016 piece from Jessica Lepler, all about Exeter's annual American Independence Festival...celebrated on July 16! commonplace.online/article/vol-...

It turns out that, in legal terms, the mystery of who found the broadside matters a lot less than who lost it.

The Record Scratch: Uncovering Documents Relating to William Ansah Sessarakoo - Commonplace

1 1 3

Reposted by Commonplace: the journal of early American life

Katy Telling @katytelling.bsky.social · Jun 18

NEW @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social, Jayne Ptolemy shares a fascinating essay on unexpected archival discoveries and the crucial details they provide on the life of William Ansah Sessarakoo.

Commonplace: the journal of early American life @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social · Jun 18

NEW on Commonplace: Jayne Ptolemy explores an unexpected bundle of documents in the Charles Townshend Papers and the insights they share on the life of William Ansah Sessarakoo. commonplace.online/article/the-...

Because as it turns out, as much as this clutch of papers is about a specific story of Atlantic slavery it still absolutely relates to British finance and national politics.

The Record Scratch: Uncovering Documents Relating to William Ansah Sessarakoo - Commonplace

7 9

Commonplace: the journal of early American life @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social · Jun 18

NEW on Commonplace: Jayne Ptolemy explores an unexpected bundle of documents in the Charles Townshend Papers and the insights they share on the life of William Ansah Sessarakoo. commonplace.online/article/the-...

Because as it turns out, as much as this clutch of papers is about a specific story of Atlantic slavery it still absolutely relates to British finance and national politics.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, The Jigsaw Puzzle: Jumbling the Pieces of Stowe’s Story - Commonplace

3 9

Reposted by Commonplace: the journal of early American life

Joshua R Greenberg @joshrgreenberg.bsky.social · Jun 5

OTD in 1851, Uncle Tom's Cabin's first installment appeared in The National Era. Here are six @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social articles about Harriet Beecher Stowe's work. Patricia Jane Roylance explored how a 19th century jigsaw puzzle jumbled Stowe's story: (1/6) 🗃️

commonplace.online/article/uncl...

Understanding puzzles as agents of disorder runs counter to a common interpretation that associates puzzles with the quest for and ultimate affirmation of order.

2 5 11

Reposted by Commonplace: the journal of early American life

Commonplace: the journal of early American life @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social · Jun 4

NEW on Commonplace: In the 1840s and 50s, the quest for spoils could lead men to despair. In his latest essay for Commonplace, Jeffrey Broxmeyer tracks the spoilsman's progress--and pain--through the political careers of George H. Proffit and Robert Dale Owens.
commonplace.online/article/the-...

Ambitious office seekers during the nineteenth century experienced wild swings of fortune that depended on the public’s mood and party benevolence.

1 5

Reposted by Commonplace: the journal of early American life

Katy Telling @katytelling.bsky.social · Jun 4

NEW essay on @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social! Jeffrey Broxmeyer explores the spoils system and antebellum politics.

Commonplace: the journal of early American life @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social · Jun 4

NEW on Commonplace: In the 1840s and 50s, the quest for spoils could lead men to despair. In his latest essay for Commonplace, Jeffrey Broxmeyer tracks the spoilsman's progress--and pain--through the political careers of George H. Proffit and Robert Dale Owens.
commonplace.online/article/the-...

Ambitious office seekers during the nineteenth century experienced wild swings of fortune that depended on the public’s mood and party benevolence.

Commonplace: the journal of early American life @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social · Jun 4

NEW on Commonplace: In the 1840s and 50s, the quest for spoils could lead men to despair. In his latest essay for Commonplace, Jeffrey Broxmeyer tracks the spoilsman's progress--and pain--through the political careers of George H. Proffit and Robert Dale Owens.
commonplace.online/article/the-...

Ambitious office seekers during the nineteenth century experienced wild swings of fortune that depended on the public’s mood and party benevolence.

1 5

Reposted by Commonplace: the journal of early American life

Joshua R Greenberg @joshrgreenberg.bsky.social · Jun 3

Did you ever wonder how patronage and political spoils worked in antebellum party politics? Jeffrey Broxmeyer has a great new piece up @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social that explores this world and the careers of Robert Dale Owen and George H. Profitt. Check it out:🗃️

commonplace.online/article/the-...

Ambitious office seekers during the nineteenth century experienced wild swings of fortune that depended on the public’s mood and party benevolence.