By Mimi Eisen, Historian For most of 2020, people across the globe anticipated the development of a vaccine to safeguard against COVID-19. The arrival of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s mRNA vaccines at the end of the year signaled a new phase …
Planning Successful Virtual Interpretive Workshops and Visioning Sessions
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, …
Bringing History On Demand Services to Digital Consumers
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 …
“A Pleasant Thanksgiving With Nothing To Do”: A Holiday and a Pandemic
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 …
Picture This: Historical Approaches to Data Visualization
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 …
A Crack in Time Itself: John Brown’s Raid and Harpers Ferry, Part I
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. …
When Will U.S. Libraries and Archives Reopen? The Status of COVID-19 Closures and the Global Historical Supply Chain
By Jason H. Gart, PhD, Vice President and Director of Litigation Research In early April, approximately two weeks after state and local stay-at-home orders began going into effect due to the COVID-19 public health emergency, HAI began seeing disruptions to …
Carrier of News and Knowledge: A Brief History of the United States Postal Service, Part 2
By Scott Vierick, Historian This is the second part of our exploration of the history of the United States Postal Service. You can read part one, which looks at the Postal Service’s early years, here. The Great Depression and World …
Carrier of News and Knowledge: A Brief History of the United States Postal Service, Part 1
By Scott Vierick, Historian Barely three weeks after the battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775, the fledgling Continental Congress began the process of creating a postal system to unify and connect the 13 colonies. No longer willing to trust …
Eating Out, Eating In: A Brief History of Takeout in America
By Colleen Kim, Historian Originally posted on May 14, 2020 Over the past weeks, takeout has been the only way most Americans can enjoy restaurant food and support businesses hit hard by shutdowns. But even before the coronavirus outbreak, food …
Is 2020 the Worst Year Ever?
By Colleen Kim, Historian When 2016 came to a close, many on the internet dubbed it “the worst year ever.” The trend continued, and commentators declared the following years to be the worst ever as well, touting each as “the …
Reopenings: The Mob Museum
By Megan Anderson, Manager of Exhibits & Interpretive Planning Our friends at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada, reopened their doors to the public at the end of May when state and local authorities lifted restrictions. I chatted with …