Shirley Wajda
@stwajda.bsky.social
Historian, curator, knitter of the American experience, daughter & granddaughter of immigrants, waiting for Lefty & CLE World Series win. American material & visual culture, museum studies, craftivism, women's history, everyday life. Too many projects.
"The role of museums has never been more vital. We are not merely stewards of the past; we are civic actors positioned on the precipice of the future."
www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/11/06/c...
www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/11/06/c...
Comment | As the US’s 250th anniversary approaches, museums must keep pushing the American story forward
The Phillips Collection was founded amid a president’s calls for a return to “normalcy”, and today the museum is addressing a city and a country grappling with a similar dynamic
www.theartnewspaper.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:51 PM
"The role of museums has never been more vital. We are not merely stewards of the past; we are civic actors positioned on the precipice of the future."
www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/11/06/c...
www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/11/06/c...
Reposted by Shirley Wajda
"Diogenes with His Lantern Looking for an Honest Man," a painting by 17th-century Flemish artist Pieter van Mol
October 23, 2025 at 12:50 PM
"Diogenes with His Lantern Looking for an Honest Man," a painting by 17th-century Flemish artist Pieter van Mol
Be the Patriot with the Hair.
Tremendous depiction of Ben Franklin here
blog.money.org/coin-collect...
blog.money.org/coin-collect...
November 13, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Be the Patriot with the Hair.
Reposted by Shirley Wajda
People who make primary source documents easily accessible to the public are the best
Thank you @paulgp.com
Thank you @paulgp.com
For folks (and journalists) who want to search the Oversight Committee email texts, I made a database for searching the 20k text files:
splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app
splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app
Epstein Document Search
splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app
November 13, 2025 at 2:02 AM
People who make primary source documents easily accessible to the public are the best
Thank you @paulgp.com
Thank you @paulgp.com
Reposted by Shirley Wajda
Like I dunno, maybe the reason it took a lady to break open the story of all the men protecting the dude trafficking underage girls is because the male journos were all emailing him making jokes about it?
November 12, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Like I dunno, maybe the reason it took a lady to break open the story of all the men protecting the dude trafficking underage girls is because the male journos were all emailing him making jokes about it?
Reposted by Shirley Wajda
Waking up to news 🚨 that 6 (!) Roman statues were stolen from Syria’s National Museum, in Damascus, on Monday. No details on which statues yet, but I had a few pics below from the GRB gallery with the famed Al-Lat Athena. Heartbreaking news.
thehill.com/homenews/ap/...
thehill.com/homenews/ap/...
November 11, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Waking up to news 🚨 that 6 (!) Roman statues were stolen from Syria’s National Museum, in Damascus, on Monday. No details on which statues yet, but I had a few pics below from the GRB gallery with the famed Al-Lat Athena. Heartbreaking news.
thehill.com/homenews/ap/...
thehill.com/homenews/ap/...
Reposted by Shirley Wajda
Wow, a Long Island jury awarded $112 Million to 674 immigrants who were unlawfully held by county police so they could be handed over to ICE
Federal jury awards $112M to immigrants detained by Suffolk for ICE
A federal jury found the county and the Sheriff's Office violated the Constitutional rights of 674 people.
longisland.news12.com
November 11, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Wow, a Long Island jury awarded $112 Million to 674 immigrants who were unlawfully held by county police so they could be handed over to ICE
Reposted by Shirley Wajda
This new piece from @shannonmattern.bsky.social about the role of libraries in public life is extraordinary. There's so much I want to quote from it, but I'd encourage you to take the time to read it yourself instead...
placesjournal.org/article/extr...
placesjournal.org/article/extr...
Extralibrary Loan: Making the Civic Infrastructure We Need
Amid a war on public knowledge, libraries are pushing outward, enlarging the commons through new configurations of civic and creative life.
placesjournal.org
November 11, 2025 at 7:54 PM
This new piece from @shannonmattern.bsky.social about the role of libraries in public life is extraordinary. There's so much I want to quote from it, but I'd encourage you to take the time to read it yourself instead...
placesjournal.org/article/extr...
placesjournal.org/article/extr...
Reposted by Shirley Wajda
Once upon a time in a university near you, in-person teaching was a thing, as you can see in this image of 1612. Young people with hats came together, regularly and voluntarily, prepared for classes, and enjoying a lively learning situation of *checks notes*, a 90 minutes monolog of someone else ...
November 11, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Once upon a time in a university near you, in-person teaching was a thing, as you can see in this image of 1612. Young people with hats came together, regularly and voluntarily, prepared for classes, and enjoying a lively learning situation of *checks notes*, a 90 minutes monolog of someone else ...
I've spent the last month fact-checking 1,861 individuals for a biographies project. And that's only for the first phase of a deep mapping project. Evidence/Source/Proof. Fact/Truth. Authenticity/Reliability.
I. Am. A. Historian.
I. Am. A. Historian.
“I’ve been hearing that standards will be eliminated or severely cut back. Bari has told people that she wants to get rid of standards and is shocked that they have so much power. She also asked openly, ‘What’s the point of standards?’” one CBS source said.
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
Bari Weiss wants to take down ‘too much power’ CBS News Standards unit: sources
EXCLUSIVE: Internal rumblings within the newsroom come after the S&P head resigned and the network disbanded its vaunted Race and Culture unit.
www.independent.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 4:20 PM
I've spent the last month fact-checking 1,861 individuals for a biographies project. And that's only for the first phase of a deep mapping project. Evidence/Source/Proof. Fact/Truth. Authenticity/Reliability.
I. Am. A. Historian.
I. Am. A. Historian.
Reposted by Shirley Wajda
Whew that was a lot. Thanks everyone for coming out tonight. Next week we’re gonna do something a little different so make sure you read below. We’re gonna have a lot of fun together. #HATM
bsky.app/profile/herb...
bsky.app/profile/herb...
Exciting news for the new Ken Burns series on the American Revolution. @lizcovart.bsky.social @michaelhattem.bsky.social & Historians At The Movies are partnering to bring you a first of its kind watch party next Sunday. Detail below. Share widely. #HATM
open.substack.com/pub/jasonher...
open.substack.com/pub/jasonher...
The American Revolution on PBS
A Historians At The Movies/Ben Franklin’s World Watch Party
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:45 AM
Whew that was a lot. Thanks everyone for coming out tonight. Next week we’re gonna do something a little different so make sure you read below. We’re gonna have a lot of fun together. #HATM
bsky.app/profile/herb...
bsky.app/profile/herb...
Reposted by Shirley Wajda
This also brings up huge questions about the 2024 postseason! Guards made it all the way to ALCS before losing to the Yankees.
All of this is on Rob Manfred. All of it
All of this is on Rob Manfred. All of it
More from Passan: “The 23-page indictment against Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz lays out the alleged scheme for the pitchers to intentionally throw balls so bettors could wager on pitches to be balls or strikes. It started, prosecutors say, as early as May 2023 with Clase and later included Ortiz.”
Breaking news per Jeff Passan: “Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz have been indicted by prosecutors in Brooklyn on a host of charges related to a scheme to rig bets on pitches thrown in MLB games. Ortiz was arrested in Boston earlier today. Clase is not currently in custody”
November 9, 2025 at 6:56 PM
This also brings up huge questions about the 2024 postseason! Guards made it all the way to ALCS before losing to the Yankees.
All of this is on Rob Manfred. All of it
All of this is on Rob Manfred. All of it
He was memorably bad!
Clase notoriously turned into a pumpkin in the ALCS! It's extremely suspicious in hindsight!
November 9, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Reposted by Shirley Wajda
I’ve never seen an American elected official fight so hard to starve people.
November 8, 2025 at 12:23 AM
I’ve never seen an American elected official fight so hard to starve people.
Reposted by Shirley Wajda
I’ve come to believe that we need to gather considerable forces and a campaign to demand the removal of face masks by ICE, Border Patrol, FBI and police.
It is a practice in conflict with the principles of transparency & accountability that are central to the concept of democracy.
It is a practice in conflict with the principles of transparency & accountability that are central to the concept of democracy.
Video on social media shows an immigration agent pulling a gun in Little Village and holding it to the side — which is not an appropriate or safe way to hold a gun. (Among other issues.)
November 9, 2025 at 3:41 AM
I’ve come to believe that we need to gather considerable forces and a campaign to demand the removal of face masks by ICE, Border Patrol, FBI and police.
It is a practice in conflict with the principles of transparency & accountability that are central to the concept of democracy.
It is a practice in conflict with the principles of transparency & accountability that are central to the concept of democracy.
Reposted by Shirley Wajda
Honestly, isn’t military history and a singular focus on wars and battles the ultimate “grievance studies”?
Historians, race and ethnicity, women & gender studies scholars, take a look. The idea that teaching *accurate* history and scholarship is "grievance studies" misdirects who is nursing the grievances. Gorgeously written. Read it now.
November 9, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Honestly, isn’t military history and a singular focus on wars and battles the ultimate “grievance studies”?
Sharing in hope followers repost to widen the knowledge of African American soldiers' sacrifice & patriotism & bear witness to the US government's racism.
A Dutch citizen cares for the Margraten grave of a WWII soldier from my hometown. This is also an insult to the Netherlands & US allies.
A Dutch citizen cares for the Margraten grave of a WWII soldier from my hometown. This is also an insult to the Netherlands & US allies.
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Sharing in hope followers repost to widen the knowledge of African American soldiers' sacrifice & patriotism & bear witness to the US government's racism.
A Dutch citizen cares for the Margraten grave of a WWII soldier from my hometown. This is also an insult to the Netherlands & US allies.
A Dutch citizen cares for the Margraten grave of a WWII soldier from my hometown. This is also an insult to the Netherlands & US allies.
Reposted by Shirley Wajda
it was love at first sight
November 8, 2025 at 2:05 AM
it was love at first sight
Reposted by Shirley Wajda
The depth of the shame of a country this wealthy and abundant allowing its people to go hungry is impossible to measure. The fact that a handful of people could fix this by paying their fair share of taxes while still remaining obscenely wealthy makes it even worse.
October 28, 2025 at 4:09 PM
The depth of the shame of a country this wealthy and abundant allowing its people to go hungry is impossible to measure. The fact that a handful of people could fix this by paying their fair share of taxes while still remaining obscenely wealthy makes it even worse.
Reposted by Shirley Wajda
Looking forward to watching Death by Lightning about James Garfield and Charles Guiteau. Seems like the sort of thing that someone should write an interesting review about and then send it to me for Commonplace. Any volunteers?
November 8, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Looking forward to watching Death by Lightning about James Garfield and Charles Guiteau. Seems like the sort of thing that someone should write an interesting review about and then send it to me for Commonplace. Any volunteers?
Reposted by Shirley Wajda
SO excited to have the ARCs of "The Westerners" out there in the world!
Got my advance copy of @mkn.bsky.social’s latest book today and I’m geeked to read it. On presale now and available in March. Stay tuned! #booksky #HATM 📚💙
November 9, 2025 at 1:26 AM
SO excited to have the ARCs of "The Westerners" out there in the world!
Reposted by Shirley Wajda
menswear writer here 👋 camo will not hide you inside a gym
November 8, 2025 at 11:26 PM
menswear writer here 👋 camo will not hide you inside a gym
Judgy census takers in 1880, I must say.
November 8, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Judgy census takers in 1880, I must say.
Reposted by Shirley Wajda
Imagine asking whether women ruined the workplace while our nation is being run into the ground by some of the most unqualified, toxic, mediocre men in politics.
November 8, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Imagine asking whether women ruined the workplace while our nation is being run into the ground by some of the most unqualified, toxic, mediocre men in politics.