Karin Wulf
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kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf
@kawulf.bsky.social
13K followers 2.6K following 11K posts

Historian of #VastEarlyAmerica, gender, family & politics | Director & Librarian @ JCBLibrary | History Prof @ Brown U

#LineageTheBook OUP July, 2025 | On some other platforms and also @ karinwulf.com | Opinions here just mine. .. more

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Karin A. Wulf is an American historian and the Beatrice and Julio Mario Santo Domingo Director and Librarian of the John Carter Brown Library in Providence, Rhode Island. She was the executive director of the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia from 2013 through 2021. She is also one of the founders of Women Also Know History, a searchable website database of women historians. Additionally, Wulf worked to spearhead a neurodiversity working group at William & Mary in 2011. She is currently writing a book about genealogy and political culture in Early America titled, Lineage: Genealogy and the Politics of Connection in British America, 1680-1820. Her work examines the history of women, gender, and the family in Early America. .. more

Political science 42%
Sociology 16%
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kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · Dec 28
It’s been a long time coming… so thrilled to share the cover (and Oxford UP website last in 🧵) for my book, _Lineage: Genealogy and the Power of Connection in Early America_, pub date 7.2.25 (but will ship, so they say very enticingly, mid-June. 1/ #VastEarlyAmerica 🗃️
Book cover with various kinds of evidence of family history arrayed around the author and title, the latter is _Lineage: Genealogy and the Power of Connection in Early America_. The kinds of materials include printed texts, manuscripts, a red book (shhhhh that figures largely in the Introduction!), a watercolor family record, Fraktur, gravestone, and a sampler. One repeated text says "born free, born free (etc)"

kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 1h
True story! 😂
theotherrbg.bsky.social Rebecca Brenner Graham @theotherrbg.bsky.social · 13h
“I can write 100 words and revise 110 of them” - @kawulf.bsky.social

Reposted by Karin Wulf

unlawfulentries.bsky.social
Anna O. Law @unlawfulentries.bsky.social · 3h
How the US Constitution operates, in theory
mobydickatsea.bsky.social Moby Dick @mobydickatsea.bsky.social · 3h
some written or unwritten, universal, undisputed law

Reposted by Karin Wulf

theotherrbg.bsky.social
Rebecca Brenner Graham @theotherrbg.bsky.social · 13h
“I can write 100 words and revise 110 of them” - @kawulf.bsky.social

kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 14h
Plus you’ll hear about @katecarp.bsky.social’s favorite pens (and mine)! We shared a lot of excellent nerdy joy here about thinking and writing history.

kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 22h
💯

Reposted by Karin Wulf

draftingthepast.bsky.social
Drafting the Past @draftingthepast.bsky.social · 1d
What a pleasure to talk with @kawulf.bsky.social about her love of all aspects of her work for this episode! You'll hear about the making of her new book, Lineage (@oxfordunipress.bsky.social), and how she keeps writing as director of the @jcblibrary.bsky.social. draftingthepast.com/podcast-epis...
Episode 76: Karin Wulf Keeps Her Brain Humming Along - Drafting the Past
In this episode, Kate is joined by Karin Wulf, the director and librarian of the John Carter Brown Library, to discuss her new book, Lineage, and her research and writing process.
draftingthepast.com

kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 1d
I want Anthony to come claim that prescient missive!!

kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 1d
Thank you — Kate has created a really special podcast, so fun to be part of it!

Reposted by Catherine J. Frieman, Karin Wulf

joshua-goodman.com
Joshua Goodman @joshua-goodman.com · 1d
"From Harvard to BU to Brown, New England schools are enrolling fewer new PhDs this year. Why?"

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/25/b...
From Harvard to BU to Brown, New England schools are enrolling fewer new PhDs this year. Why? - The Boston Globe
Elite universities are taking fewer doctoral candidates after decades of beefing up their research enterprises.
www.bostonglobe.com

kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 1d
I remember asking @katecarp.bsky.social if @draftingthepast.bsky.social was a confessional space...I think it is, and I was giddy to get to talk with Kate about the joy of writing history -- and my tremendous good fortune to get to do it. draftingthepast.com/podcast-epis...
Episode 76: Karin Wulf Keeps Her Brain Humming Along - Drafting the Past
In this episode, Kate is joined by Karin Wulf, the director and librarian of the John Carter Brown Library, to discuss her new book, Lineage, and her research and writing process.
draftingthepast.com

kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 2d
"Set bounds to your zeal by discretion; to error by truth; to passion by reason; and to division by charity."

Enjoying start of a project on an 18thc compilation of maxims, speculating on compiler's source. This is late 17thc British, repeated in 18thc vols and then littering 19thc US newspapers.

Reposted by Karin Wulf

randybrowne.bsky.social
Randy Browne @randybrowne.bsky.social · 2d
I'm so grateful our project, "Voices in Slavery's Archive: Law, Place and Testimony in British Guiana," was funded! @dianapaton.bsky.social, Linsey McMillan, @juanitacox.bsky.social, @pbhellawell.bsky.social, Estherine Adams, and Jamie McLaughlin

www.ed.ac.uk/news/project...
Project to map enslaved people’s testimony | News | The University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh historians will investigate slavery and the law in British Guiana, now Guyana, in a new three year-long project.
www.ed.ac.uk

Reposted by Karin Wulf

timhitchcock.bsky.social
Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 2d
Really pleased to see that Helen Esfandiary's excellent talk last week to @long18thsem.bsky.social is now available on the @ihrlibrary.bsky.social website: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
‘Such a silly fellow I fear his making some mistake’: The convergence of medical and maternal approaches to domestic childcare in Georgian England
British History in the Long 18th Century Seminar Session
www.history.ac.uk

Reposted by Margot C. Finn, Karin Wulf

ihrscb.bsky.social
IHR Society, Culture & Belief, 1500-1800 @ihrscb.bsky.social · 2d
Our final event of term is happening this Thursday (27 November) Dr Nailya Shamgunova @nailyas.bsky.social on 'English and Scottish Scholars at the Global Library, c. 1500-1700'. ✨📚 This talk will be in-person only at the IHR. You can sign up here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
English and Scottish Scholars at the Global Library, c. 1500-1700
This talk introduces the UKRI-funded Future Leaders project, The Global Library project.
www.history.ac.uk

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Margot C. Finn, Karin Wulf

amaliasl.bsky.social
Amalia S. Levi @amaliasl.bsky.social · 2d
"Ongoing digitization and cataloging work not only serves the interests of scholars and manuscript communities—it also creates crucial, publicly-accessible provenance records that provide an increasingly robust bulwark against manuscript theft and trafficking."
hmml.org/stories/reve...
Reversal of Fates: Access Through Photographs can be a Counterbalance
“Cultural losses continue to beset communities around the world, especially in areas subject to armed conflict...”
hmml.org

kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 3d
Oh great! I have a crazy lot of material so let me know if I can helpful!

kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 3d
☺️ Thank you so much! Literally the nicest thing ever.

kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 4d
Really delighted to welcome @meaghanbrown.bsky.social to the JCB - only 3 weeks and she’s already making things happen! 😃
jcblibrary.bsky.social John Carter Brown Library @jcblibrary.bsky.social · 4d
Join us in welcoming our new Associate Director of Digital Asset Management, Meaghan J. Brown!

In her new role, Dr. Brown will guide the ongoing development of our platform, Americana, oversee the digitization of library collections, and steward our digital assets.

jcblibrary.org/news/jcb-wel...
The image shows Meaghan J. Brown standing in front of a bookcase.

Reposted by Karin Wulf

jcblibrary.bsky.social
John Carter Brown Library @jcblibrary.bsky.social · 4d
Join us in welcoming our new Associate Director of Digital Asset Management, Meaghan J. Brown!

In her new role, Dr. Brown will guide the ongoing development of our platform, Americana, oversee the digitization of library collections, and steward our digital assets.

jcblibrary.org/news/jcb-wel...
The image shows Meaghan J. Brown standing in front of a bookcase.

kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 5d
Happy anniversary, Bryan! It's a great project and publication!

kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 5d
Anyway, a good (reading) break from writing a public piece (but also checking footnotes for a journal article 😊🤓). 6//

Reposted by Margot C. Finn

kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 5d
A billion years ago, even mentioning the long history of histories of the American Revolution: scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2016/01/27/t... 5/
The Importance of Academic (History) Writing - The Scholarly Kitchen
Historians can and do play a vital role in the public humanities, but there are vital reasons not just why but how we write for one another, too.
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org

kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 5d
There's no doubt in my mind that the public needs humanists and that, in my own bailiwick, there's never been a more urgent need for expert historians of the 18th century. But where we cultivate and express expertise is part of a full cycle every part of which is stressed to breaking. 4/

kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 5d
There are so many arguments about genre and audiences -- I'm a 1000 flowers sort (in this as much else 😘) --but her point is more about the structural & technical (tools and platforms) changes that made some public writing possible as well as kinda liberating. 3/

kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 5d
Am reading Sarah Mesle's new book and one of her points, as in this essay, is that writing when compelled is hard --even joyless. Her comment on academic writing (which I find a joyful genre to read + write 🤓) was that it felt like a grind. Whereas public writing was freeing --now maybe less so. 2/
Bright red book "Reasons & Feelings: Writing for the Humanities Now" by Sarah Mesle reacting against laptop.

kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 5d
"When institutions reward us more when we write for “someone else” rather than for each other, we may be feeling an extension of a corporatized economy ...that continues ...to be interpreted as evidence of the humanities’ lack of value." Really thoughtful. 1/ www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
Opinion | Writing for ‘the Public’ Won’t Save Us
We created new venues to affirm our value. Now they’re at risk of collapsing too.
www.chronicle.com

Reposted by Karin Wulf

rhigarthjones.bsky.social
Rhiannon Garth Jones @rhigarthjones.bsky.social · 6d
Read more about it here:
www.historians.org/perspectives...

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Kevin Kenny, Robert L. Tsai , and 1 more

gauthamrao.bsky.social
Gautham Rao @gauthamrao.bsky.social · 6d
The publication date for my book on the history of policing American slavery has been moved up a month! Now available May 12, 2026! Thanks so much to those who have preordered! The Press is offering 30% off with the code, 01UNCP30

uncpress.org/978146969484...
White Power
Beginning in the colonial era and growing through the American Revolution and the Southern plantation system, slaveholders’ violent police regime continued...
uncpress.org

kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 6d
Super excited to be @ the AAS on December 4th! The AAS gave me a fellowship a long time ago, when I was juggling babies that's how long ago, to start working on the project that through many iterations became _Lineage_. www.americanantiquarian.org/programs-eve...
Screen shot of program description for online and on site in Worcester program about my book, Lineage. Book cover featured.

kawulf.bsky.social
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 6d
Wow, I don't have an emoji for that! But I'm so sorry you had that experience however weirdly delightful it is for me to have the book inspire larceny!