Erstwhile’s Alessandra Link invites you to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day. She offers up a small serving of worthwhile reads on Native American pasts and presents. What are your favorite works in Indigenous history/contemporary life? Share them below and continue the conversation. This past Saturday the annual Columbus Day parade circled through Denver, led by “dignitaries” from the city’s…
While debates over high school curricula are heating up in Erstwhile’s home state of Colorado, Travis R. May (Ph.D. student, University of Colorado Boulder) explores the potential pitfalls of another teaching trend: “Big History.” There is a revolution in the offing in secondary education. Not one involving guillotines and cockades and (likely apocryphal) cake, mind you, but a…
Reed Chervin (History M.A., CU Boulder) recently began his PhD work at The University of Hong Kong. His arrival coincided with Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests, and he photographed some of the scenes for Erstwhile. Thanks to Reed for his contribution! In preparation for the 1997 handover of Hong Kong, the British and Chinese governments drafted…
Erstwhile blogger Caroline Grego presents a grab-bag of the most intriguing history and environmental writing from across the vasts of the Internet each month, according to her subjective and limited perspective. This round-up includes links from August as well, because sometimes the start of the school year gets you just that busy. What does it mean to think historically?…
Rob Nelson (Ph.D., College of William and Mary) is the Director of the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond and is a scholar of nineteenth-century America. Erstwhile’s Beau Driver spoke with Dr. Nelson about the possibilities and pitfalls of using Digital Humanities techniques in historical scholarship. Erstwhile blog: Hello Dr. Nelson, Could you introduce…
Meet B. Erin Cole (Ph.D., History, University of New Mexico), Colorado’s Assistant State Historian. Today she gives Erstwhile a glimpse of what her job entails, along with some advice for those considering careers in public history. Successful public historians, she explains, must be able to work across diverse topics, in assorted mediums, and with a variety of…
Erstwhile’s Sam Bock explains how instructors might productively bring video gaming into the classroom. Mention historical video games to most professional historians at your own peril. The ensuing snort of derision will surely be loud enough to rattle the very masonry of the ivory tower. While this attitude is certainly not unexpected, it is born of a prejudice…
Erstwhile’s Keith Aksel writes about the historical significance of the College Football Playoff and the flaws of everything that came before it. No sport has cheated its fans quite like big-time college football. Sure, the 1994 Major League Baseball strike and the steroid era that followed comes close. But, baseball’s moment of fan abuse only…
Erstwhile’s Beau Driver spotlights the folk singer, songwriter, and activist, Pete Seeger, in celebration of Labor Day and to commemorate the artist’s passing early this year. On January 27th of this year, the influential singer, songwriter, and activist, Pete Seeger, passed away. A great champion of labor and civil rights, Seeger was often outspoken against…
Erstwhile: A History Blog 