Pieces of the Past
We launched the Everything Has a History feature in September to showcase short essays, each about a specific physical item. Since then, historians have written about pieces of the past ranging from bullfrogs to porcelain pigments, espresso machines, and a ship. Dina Kalman Spoerl’s entry in the series, about a clothing scrapbook in the collections of the Naperville Heritage Society, is a fitting conclusion to the first year. She describes a scrapbook that blends fabric scraps and annotations, observing that the creator had a “historian’s desire to get everything recorded that she could recall.” This series has highlighted how, truly, everything has a history..”
Photo courtesy of Naperville Heritage Society
Staff
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Overview and Updates
Virtual AHA is a series of online opportunities to bring together communities of historians, build professional relationships, discuss scholarship, and engage…
Theodore Carter DeLaney Jr. (1943–2020)
Photo courtesy Washington and Lee University Theodore Carter DeLaney Jr., “Ted,” had an almost Dickensian life. Born poor and Black…
Sharon Gillerman (1960–2020)
Photo courtesy Hebrew Union College Sharon Gillerman, a scholar of modern German and Jewish history, died on November 20, 2020.…
Sonya Orleans Rose (1935–2020)
Photo courtesy Laura Orleans Sonya Orleans Rose, distinguished historian of modern Britain and the British Empire, passed away at her…
Mack Walker (1929–2021)
Photo courtesy Walker family Mack Walker, one of the most distinguished German historians in the postwar era, died of complications…
On “China As Equal”
To the Editor: Due to the pandemic, I was unable to get to my university mailroom for several months, but…
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Our Learning Curve Was Steep
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Alison K. Smith is a professor and department chair at the University of Toronto. She lives in Toronto, Ontario, and…
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John R. Chávez is a professor of history at Southern Methodist University. He lives in Garland, Texas, and has been…
B.C. Franklin and the Tulsa Massacre
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