Alison Laurence
@dinostalgia.bsky.social
Cultural historian of extinction at work on DINOSTALGIA, a book about how dinosaurs became cultural artifacts, consumer goods, and spokes-creatures for consumption | Instructor @ UC Santa Cruz | Editor @ Contingent Magazine
https://www.alisonlaurence.com
https://www.alisonlaurence.com
Pinned
This one's for the taxidermy curious. We are legion, yeah?
In "Coyotes, Cougars, Californians," I trace evolving display practices @nhm.org. It's a story about how one museum revises boundaries of belonging, featuring the late great P-22.
@animalhistory.bsky.social #envhist
doi.org/10.1525/ah.2...
In "Coyotes, Cougars, Californians," I trace evolving display practices @nhm.org. It's a story about how one museum revises boundaries of belonging, featuring the late great P-22.
@animalhistory.bsky.social #envhist
doi.org/10.1525/ah.2...
Reposted by Alison Laurence
Gary Staab is making an alarmingly large bison family that will travel among a number of museums this March. Some stops are only 1 day, so mark your calendars. www.si.edu/newsdesk/rel...
February 7, 2026 at 3:08 PM
Gary Staab is making an alarmingly large bison family that will travel among a number of museums this March. Some stops are only 1 day, so mark your calendars. www.si.edu/newsdesk/rel...
Reposted by Alison Laurence
#WyrdWednesday Sad times.
Snakepit Operator, Highway 66, Sayre, Oklahoma. Photo by Steve Fitch, 1973.
americanart.si.edu/artwork/snak...
Snakepit Operator, Highway 66, Sayre, Oklahoma. Photo by Steve Fitch, 1973.
americanart.si.edu/artwork/snak...
February 4, 2026 at 8:06 PM
#WyrdWednesday Sad times.
Snakepit Operator, Highway 66, Sayre, Oklahoma. Photo by Steve Fitch, 1973.
americanart.si.edu/artwork/snak...
Snakepit Operator, Highway 66, Sayre, Oklahoma. Photo by Steve Fitch, 1973.
americanart.si.edu/artwork/snak...
Reposted by Alison Laurence
"The 1927 expedition to Paris exposed the central contradiction of the early American Legion – an organization that sought to present itself as a benign custodian of memory and shared sacrifice in combat, yet one haunted by its history of vigilantism and exclusionary nationalism."
Over There, Again
The American Legion at home and abroad
contingentmagazine.org
February 3, 2026 at 3:56 AM
"The 1927 expedition to Paris exposed the central contradiction of the early American Legion – an organization that sought to present itself as a benign custodian of memory and shared sacrifice in combat, yet one haunted by its history of vigilantism and exclusionary nationalism."
Self soothing by watching highlights from Yuki Kawamura's iconic debut on repeat. Shortest* player in franchise history, baby, let's gooo. www.youtube.com/watch?v=52uF...
*Nate Robinson is shorter, I'd wager.
*Nate Robinson is shorter, I'd wager.
Yuki Kawamura makes his Chicago Bulls season debut | FULL HIGHLIGHTS
YouTube video by Chicago Bulls
www.youtube.com
February 2, 2026 at 2:00 AM
Self soothing by watching highlights from Yuki Kawamura's iconic debut on repeat. Shortest* player in franchise history, baby, let's gooo. www.youtube.com/watch?v=52uF...
*Nate Robinson is shorter, I'd wager.
*Nate Robinson is shorter, I'd wager.
Reposted by Alison Laurence
Every child who learned to read English in New England before 1800 would have been familiar with an image of John Rogers being burned at the stake.
It was one of the main images reproduced in the New England Primer, and one of the first longer passages children learned to read independently.
It was one of the main images reproduced in the New England Primer, and one of the first longer passages children learned to read independently.
February 1, 2026 at 11:46 PM
Every child who learned to read English in New England before 1800 would have been familiar with an image of John Rogers being burned at the stake.
It was one of the main images reproduced in the New England Primer, and one of the first longer passages children learned to read independently.
It was one of the main images reproduced in the New England Primer, and one of the first longer passages children learned to read independently.
Reposted by Alison Laurence
This year, we are adding audio versions of many of your favorite articles, and donors to the magazine get early access through our private podcast feed!
Donate today and you’ll get to hear all of our monster series authors over the next few weeks, beginning with Sam Moore.
Donate today and you’ll get to hear all of our monster series authors over the next few weeks, beginning with Sam Moore.
February 1, 2026 at 8:00 PM
This year, we are adding audio versions of many of your favorite articles, and donors to the magazine get early access through our private podcast feed!
Donate today and you’ll get to hear all of our monster series authors over the next few weeks, beginning with Sam Moore.
Donate today and you’ll get to hear all of our monster series authors over the next few weeks, beginning with Sam Moore.
Reposted by Alison Laurence
Re: archivists 🧡
the profession is a commitment to the future, which is something worthwhile at a time when it seems so perilous
January 25, 2026 at 2:44 AM
Re: archivists 🧡
Reposted by Alison Laurence
“Major historical dread meant something to me then, in that context, lifetimes ago, back in 2014 . . . It was an anticipatory dread of a history we had not yet lived.”
Welcome To This Class Part 2
Writing & Anger, Spring 2021
contingentmagazine.org
January 16, 2026 at 3:00 PM
“Major historical dread meant something to me then, in that context, lifetimes ago, back in 2014 . . . It was an anticipatory dread of a history we had not yet lived.”
Reposted by Alison Laurence
“[F]ull disclosure: as I write this during the first week of January 2021, in the midst of an insurrection a mile away at the US Capitol, my imagination is taxed, so I’m not 100% sure what we’re going to do. But we’ll figure it out.”
Our latest, from Oline Eaton. Look for Part 2 on Friday.
Our latest, from Oline Eaton. Look for Part 2 on Friday.
Welcome To This Class Part 1
Writing & Anger, Spring 2021
contingentmagazine.org
January 14, 2026 at 1:21 PM
“[F]ull disclosure: as I write this during the first week of January 2021, in the midst of an insurrection a mile away at the US Capitol, my imagination is taxed, so I’m not 100% sure what we’re going to do. But we’ll figure it out.”
Our latest, from Oline Eaton. Look for Part 2 on Friday.
Our latest, from Oline Eaton. Look for Part 2 on Friday.
Reposted by Alison Laurence
Seriously, I am shy, please come talk to me and save me from having to approach people cold.
Headed to #AHA26 today, recorder and mic in hand! If you see me in the book exhibit, come say hi and tell me the most influential writing advice you know!
January 9, 2026 at 4:35 PM
Seriously, I am shy, please come talk to me and save me from having to approach people cold.
Reposted by Alison Laurence
Something new coming your way— audio versions of some of your favorite Contingent pieces read by the authors themselves!
January 9, 2026 at 2:56 AM
Something new coming your way— audio versions of some of your favorite Contingent pieces read by the authors themselves!
My favorite neighbors: two cats with three eyes between them.
January 7, 2026 at 6:13 PM
My favorite neighbors: two cats with three eyes between them.
Reposted by Alison Laurence
A call for 🦕🦖🦣 contributors! With Victor Monnin, I'm editing a collection about extinct animal parks—it's a field guide, of sorts, that turns a critical eye on places real, imagined, and yet to be. Find the full CFP for LANDS OF THE LOST here: tinyurl.com/dinoparks #PaleoSky #HistSci #EnvHist #STS
October 13, 2025 at 2:22 PM
A call for 🦕🦖🦣 contributors! With Victor Monnin, I'm editing a collection about extinct animal parks—it's a field guide, of sorts, that turns a critical eye on places real, imagined, and yet to be. Find the full CFP for LANDS OF THE LOST here: tinyurl.com/dinoparks #PaleoSky #HistSci #EnvHist #STS
Reposted by Alison Laurence
I wrote in @contingent-mag.bsky.social about how a chance encounter with monsters in the archives led to my two books on monsters, science, exploration, maps, and culture.
1/🧵
🧪💙📚 🗃 #ancient #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thCentury #politics #HAMH #archives #libraries #arthistory
1/🧵
🧪💙📚 🗃 #ancient #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thCentury #politics #HAMH #archives #libraries #arthistory
Can the Archive Make a Monster of a Historian?
A historian who pays full attention to their sources can’t help but be transformed into a monster...
contingentmagazine.org
December 31, 2025 at 2:03 PM
I wrote in @contingent-mag.bsky.social about how a chance encounter with monsters in the archives led to my two books on monsters, science, exploration, maps, and culture.
1/🧵
🧪💙📚 🗃 #ancient #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thCentury #politics #HAMH #archives #libraries #arthistory
1/🧵
🧪💙📚 🗃 #ancient #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thCentury #politics #HAMH #archives #libraries #arthistory
Oh, 2025. Some notable firsts for me this year: first time applying for food stamps, first creative nonfiction pub... So here's my wish for the new year.
May we, all of us, become fossils 🦖
*Fossil, as a figure of speech, is so often used pejoratively. I fundamentally disagree with that slander!
May we, all of us, become fossils 🦖
*Fossil, as a figure of speech, is so often used pejoratively. I fundamentally disagree with that slander!
Earlier this year, in a season of anxious unemployment, I wrote about Chicago's pride and prehistoric joy—SUE the T. rex. It's an essay about fossils and faith; minerals and humble miracles; the conditions that enable transubstantiation. #FossilFriday @therumpus.net
therumpus.net/2025/12/05/t...
therumpus.net/2025/12/05/t...
To Become a Fossil - The Rumpus
Some people made long pilgrimages to marvel at this superlative specimen. Other people, like the girl growing up in a nearby suburb, got to know SUE through happy proximity. And because her grandma—my...
therumpus.net
December 31, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Oh, 2025. Some notable firsts for me this year: first time applying for food stamps, first creative nonfiction pub... So here's my wish for the new year.
May we, all of us, become fossils 🦖
*Fossil, as a figure of speech, is so often used pejoratively. I fundamentally disagree with that slander!
May we, all of us, become fossils 🦖
*Fossil, as a figure of speech, is so often used pejoratively. I fundamentally disagree with that slander!
Reposted by Alison Laurence
"My sources broke categories: they were monstrous. Studying them meant integrating methods from several disciplines — and being marginalized by the more conservative practitioners in all of them."
The final piece in our monsters series, from @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social
The final piece in our monsters series, from @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social
Can the Archive Make a Monster of a Historian?
A historian who pays full attention to their sources can’t help but be transformed into a monster...
contingentmagazine.org
December 31, 2025 at 2:32 PM
"My sources broke categories: they were monstrous. Studying them meant integrating methods from several disciplines — and being marginalized by the more conservative practitioners in all of them."
The final piece in our monsters series, from @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social
The final piece in our monsters series, from @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social
Reposted by Alison Laurence
We don't do fundraising pushes very often, but that's because we're fortunate enough to have a loyal group of monthly givers. Almost everything you read this year was paid for by 161 people.
If you like what we do and want to see more, become a supporter today.
If you like what we do and want to see more, become a supporter today.
Donate
Contingent is supported by its readers, not by any university or think tank. We think that makes it possible for us to do this magazine right.
contingentmagazine.org
December 27, 2025 at 5:41 PM
We don't do fundraising pushes very often, but that's because we're fortunate enough to have a loyal group of monthly givers. Almost everything you read this year was paid for by 161 people.
If you like what we do and want to see more, become a supporter today.
If you like what we do and want to see more, become a supporter today.
Reposted by Alison Laurence
Thank you for writing this!
The choice of Khaleesi continues to rankle, too, especially for a white wolf as a namesake of white lady savior trope for animals that, so de-extinctioners say, they foresee on lands stolen from Indigenous peoples, hopping right over them to some undefined Ice Age time.
The choice of Khaleesi continues to rankle, too, especially for a white wolf as a namesake of white lady savior trope for animals that, so de-extinctioners say, they foresee on lands stolen from Indigenous peoples, hopping right over them to some undefined Ice Age time.
December 22, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Thank you for writing this!
The choice of Khaleesi continues to rankle, too, especially for a white wolf as a namesake of white lady savior trope for animals that, so de-extinctioners say, they foresee on lands stolen from Indigenous peoples, hopping right over them to some undefined Ice Age time.
The choice of Khaleesi continues to rankle, too, especially for a white wolf as a namesake of white lady savior trope for animals that, so de-extinctioners say, they foresee on lands stolen from Indigenous peoples, hopping right over them to some undefined Ice Age time.
Reposted by Alison Laurence
Colossal named its first "de-extinct" dire wolves for the fratricidal founder of a now fallen empire and the twin he did in. These names... they've been gnawing at me! So, I wrote about lupine Romulus and Remus and snow-white mythmaking for @g-ehr.bsky.social.
g-ehr.com/essay/cry-wo... #Paleosky
g-ehr.com/essay/cry-wo... #Paleosky
Cry, Wolf • Germinate
Uncover the story behind the dire wolf and Aesop's fable, a classic tale about trust and deception through history.
g-ehr.com
December 19, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Colossal named its first "de-extinct" dire wolves for the fratricidal founder of a now fallen empire and the twin he did in. These names... they've been gnawing at me! So, I wrote about lupine Romulus and Remus and snow-white mythmaking for @g-ehr.bsky.social.
g-ehr.com/essay/cry-wo... #Paleosky
g-ehr.com/essay/cry-wo... #Paleosky
Reposted by Alison Laurence
The next piece in our special December series explores "the rise and hunt of monsters in monstrous seasons of prodigious, inescapable heat."
Monstrous Rayne
On drought years and witch trials
contingentmagazine.org
December 21, 2025 at 9:10 PM
The next piece in our special December series explores "the rise and hunt of monsters in monstrous seasons of prodigious, inescapable heat."
Colossal named its first "de-extinct" dire wolves for the fratricidal founder of a now fallen empire and the twin he did in. These names... they've been gnawing at me! So, I wrote about lupine Romulus and Remus and snow-white mythmaking for @g-ehr.bsky.social.
g-ehr.com/essay/cry-wo... #Paleosky
g-ehr.com/essay/cry-wo... #Paleosky
Cry, Wolf • Germinate
Uncover the story behind the dire wolf and Aesop's fable, a classic tale about trust and deception through history.
g-ehr.com
December 19, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Colossal named its first "de-extinct" dire wolves for the fratricidal founder of a now fallen empire and the twin he did in. These names... they've been gnawing at me! So, I wrote about lupine Romulus and Remus and snow-white mythmaking for @g-ehr.bsky.social.
g-ehr.com/essay/cry-wo... #Paleosky
g-ehr.com/essay/cry-wo... #Paleosky
Reposted by Alison Laurence
Earlier this year, in a season of anxious unemployment, I wrote about Chicago's pride and prehistoric joy—SUE the T. rex. It's an essay about fossils and faith; minerals and humble miracles; the conditions that enable transubstantiation. #FossilFriday @therumpus.net
therumpus.net/2025/12/05/t...
therumpus.net/2025/12/05/t...
To Become a Fossil - The Rumpus
Some people made long pilgrimages to marvel at this superlative specimen. Other people, like the girl growing up in a nearby suburb, got to know SUE through happy proximity. And because her grandma—my...
therumpus.net
December 12, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Earlier this year, in a season of anxious unemployment, I wrote about Chicago's pride and prehistoric joy—SUE the T. rex. It's an essay about fossils and faith; minerals and humble miracles; the conditions that enable transubstantiation. #FossilFriday @therumpus.net
therumpus.net/2025/12/05/t...
therumpus.net/2025/12/05/t...
Reposted by Alison Laurence
“In the faunal frenzy of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, even serious naturalists competed with fabulists like Barnum for the attention of the public.”
Our latest piece in A Time Of Monsters, from Sam Moore.
Our latest piece in A Time Of Monsters, from Sam Moore.
Aaahh!!! Fake Monsters
exuberant life beyond our knowledge
contingentmagazine.org
December 14, 2025 at 9:01 PM
“In the faunal frenzy of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, even serious naturalists competed with fabulists like Barnum for the attention of the public.”
Our latest piece in A Time Of Monsters, from Sam Moore.
Our latest piece in A Time Of Monsters, from Sam Moore.