Learn how we're using the past to inform the present and prepare for the future.
By Scott Vierick, Historian Since HAI’s three-part blog series on the story of John Brown, millions of people have tuned into Showtime’s The Good Lord Bird, about Henry “Onion” Shackleford, a fictional formerly enslaved teenager, and his encounters with the …
By Scott Vierick, Historian While the COVID-19 pandemic has sent shockwaves through the museum world, it has also offered an opportunity for sites to reevaluate programming, exhibits, and major interpretive themes. With many sites closed or operating at reduced capacity, …
By Laura Starr, Engagement Strategist, and Jen Giambrone, Historian A Historical Retrospective of On Demand Services Need a ride? Groceries? Beer? A meal from your favorite restaurant? Want to read a new book, watch the latest trending show, or listen …
By Jen Giambrone, Historian Back in the spring, when quarantines and stay at home orders still felt new, I wrote a blog exploring reactions to the 1918 influenza pandemic. Now, as Americans everywhere ponder how their Thanksgiving celebrations might look …
By Mimi Eisen and Colleen Kim, Historians As the days turn colder and darker, we couldn’t let autumn slip away without paying homage to its most iconic bastion: the pumpkin spice latte (PSL). From its sweet, humble beginnings at Starbucks …
By Scott Vierick, Historian Tonight on Frontline. This is Masterpiece Mystery! Let’s build a happy little cloud. Won’t you be my neighbor? Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street? Fifty years ago, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) …
By Margaret Long, Archivist Archives have long been a part of society’s infrastructure as they contain vital documents, objects, and information about various operations of organizations or even society as a whole. It is no surprise, then, that archives have …
By Mimi Eisen, Historian This blog was originally posted on July 16, 2020. Now, at the end of October, there have been more than 227,000 reported deaths from COVID-19. Lately, I’ve been thinking about the work data visualization can do …
By James McDonald, former HAI Research Historian, current Ph.D. candidate Travel has long incorporated some assessment of personal safety, but the mechanization of travel complicated this calculus. Concerns about safety have often conflicted with a desire to take advantage of …
By Scott Vierick, Historian This is the final installment in our three-part blog series about John Brown and his legacy. We recommend starting with parts one and two if you haven’t already. In 1861, less than two years after John …
By Scott Vierick, Historian This is part two of a three-part series on John Brown. If you haven’t already, read the first blog, describing the raid on Harpers Ferry, here. John Brown and other captured raiders would spend the rest …
By Scott Vierick, Historian This is the first of a three-part blog series in honor of the 161st anniversary of John Brown’s raid. Check back in next week for the second and third installments of this remarkable and fateful story. …
