Confederate officer, John Robery Baylor from the Civil War time period

A Complicated Man: John Baylor’s Letters to His Family

How could John Baylor have done such terrible thing and simultaneously be so effusively affectionate in his letters home?
Close-up of a voting machine lever

The Early American Origins of Political Terms

What does stump speech and pork barrel mean? A short lexicon of American political terms.
Slate statute of Alan Turing at Bletchley Park.

Remembering and Representing Alan Turing

A 1955 obituary of Turing from the Royal Society is fascinating for what it leaves out of the first draft of history.


The Urban Lawyer

Highlights from the American Bar Association's publication, The Urban Lawyer
MacArthus Fellow Sarah Deer standing in front of the sign for William Mitchell College of Law

Interview with MacArthur Fellow Sarah Deer: Native Women and the Law

MacArthur Fellow Sarah Deer discusses her legal work in preventing sexual violence among the Native American population.
The Organ Mountains in New Mexico

Reading the Landscape

For the past two months, I have been on a researching road trip through the West and Southwest—Colorado, ...
Older and worn illustration of Mesilla, New Mexico

Visualizing History

Nineteenth-century visual images, then, had power to move people to action, to convert ideas into policy.
Low angle view of government buidling

The Origins of the Secret Service

Where did the Secret Service come from?
Excerpt of letter from Alexander Murdock detailing the geography of the Battle of Gettysburg

Finding Your Place in Letters

For scholars of American history, letter-writing makes historical research possible.