See ya, 2020! In the weeks and months that gave us more gut-churning “what the heck”-ery than we knew what to do with, we managed to put out some great content (if we do say so ourselves). Here are our favorites, in no particular order. We’ll bring you lots more scholarly quirkiness in 2021. Promise!
“Grangerization” Made Beautiful Books Even Better
April 23, 2020
But the eighteenth-century readerly hobby angered critics, who saw it as a “monstrous practice.”
18th-Century Lovers Exchanged Portraits of Their Eyes
March 23, 2020
The miniature paintings celebrated and commemorated love at a time when public expressions of affection were uncouth.
Garlic and Social Class
November 2, 2020
Immigrants from southern Italy were stereotyped for their use of the aromatic vegetable.
Is Jane Austen the Antidote to Social Media Overload?
January 21, 2020
Racking up likes and followers today resembles the nonstop friending of 19th-century England. But Austen's characters figured out how to disengage.
Black English Matters
February 12, 2020
People who criticize African American Vernacular English don't see that it shares grammatical structures with more "prestigious" languages.
AIDS, from the Perspective of “Patient Zero”
December 1, 2020
We now know a great deal about how the man who's often blamed for the AIDS epidemic saw himself and his community. That's important.
Pompeii Mania in the Era of Romanticism
March 26, 2020
Nothing appealed more perfectly to the Romantic sensibility than the mix of horror and awe evoked by a volcano erupting.
Puffins Seen Using Tools, Breaking Dumb-Puffin Stereotypes
February 2, 2020
Reputed to be a less intelligent bird species, puffins have been observed scratching themselves with sticks.
The Newport Rebels and Jazz as Protest
July 23, 2020
In 1960 a group of jazz musicians organized an alternative to the Newport Jazz Festival, which they saw as too pop and too white.
How Medieval Arabic Literature Viewed Lesbians
September 27, 2020
As far back as the ninth century, doctors and poets wrote about women who loved women without calling them deviants.
How Children Took the Smallpox Vaccine around the World
June 16, 2020
In 1803, nearly two dozen orphan boys endured long voyages and physical discomfort to transport the smallpox vaccine to Spain's colonies.
Plant of the Month: Turmeric
March 4, 2020
The plant’s golden color has inspired a long—and potentially deadly—fascination.
Harriet Taylor Mill, At Last
November 8, 2020
When you're married to John Stuart Mill, whatever you do or say may be held against you. And so it was.
Was Modern Art Really a CIA Psy-Op?
April 1, 2020
The number of MoMA-CIA crossovers is highly suspicious, to say the least.
Cottagecore Debuted 2,300 Years Ago
November 11, 2020
Keeping cozy in a countryside escape, through the ages.
Deep Mapping with Tim Robinson
May 14, 2020
By walking his way around an island off the coast of Ireland, the late artist broke with cartography's origins in marking ownership and conquest.
Francesca Vidotto: The Quantum Properties of Space-Time
May 29, 2020
Theoretical physicist Francesca Vidotto on feminist epistemology, white holes, string theory, and her book (with Carlo Rovelli) on loop quantum gravity.
Joan of Arc, for Fascists and Feminists
May 14, 2020
As Catholics mark the centennial of her canonization, it’s clear that there is more than one Joan of Arc. How did that happen?
P.S., Mushrooms Are Extremely Beautiful
March 16, 2020
American mycologist Violetta White Delafield painted over 600 stunning watercolors of mushrooms as part of her fieldwork. Here they are in all their glory.
The Library That Walked Across Belgium
May 19, 2020
What two scholar-artists learned from taking ninety books on a very, very long walk.
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