Bobby Lee
@bobbylee.bsky.social
Historian of the United States, mostly 19th c., colonialism, land, GIS
Pinned
Bobby Lee
@bobbylee.bsky.social
· Jun 12
Justice for the Edifice: Praying Compensation for Rhode Island College, 1770–1800
In 1770, Rhode Island College, now Brown University, erected the biggest building in Providence. Donations tied to the slave trade funded the College Edifice, now University Hall. Some donors grew ric...
direct.mit.edu
My latest article just published and is open access, for now at least.
It’s about how Brown got reparations for property made by slaves after the American Revolution. 🗃️
direct.mit.edu/tneq/article...
It’s about how Brown got reparations for property made by slaves after the American Revolution. 🗃️
direct.mit.edu/tneq/article...
Reposted by Bobby Lee
Can someone recommend an independent researcher that can visit an archive in New Haven, CT? I really need someone ASAP. I would prefer someone experienced, but in theory anyone that can read these city names and dates in cursive could be fine. It should take 4-6 hours. 🗃️
February 12, 2026 at 7:47 PM
Can someone recommend an independent researcher that can visit an archive in New Haven, CT? I really need someone ASAP. I would prefer someone experienced, but in theory anyone that can read these city names and dates in cursive could be fine. It should take 4-6 hours. 🗃️
This was just a huge regressive tax
fortune.com/2026/02/12/t...
fortune.com/2026/02/12/t...
Trump’s tariffs cancel out what he claims is ‘the largest tax cut in American history’: The average person will lose $300 even after refunds | Fortune
“If the tariffs were out of the picture, it would be real relief for American workers and businesses,” the Tax Foundation’s Erica York told Fortune.
fortune.com
February 12, 2026 at 7:40 PM
This was just a huge regressive tax
fortune.com/2026/02/12/t...
fortune.com/2026/02/12/t...
Reposted by Bobby Lee
If you're teaching Digital Humanities, encourage students to participate in the Dear Data project. It's v. engaging for students to keep track of data in visually interesting ways. Doing it along side your students! Here's my visualization which traces my commute/weather from Hattiesburg to NOLA.
February 12, 2026 at 4:49 PM
If you're teaching Digital Humanities, encourage students to participate in the Dear Data project. It's v. engaging for students to keep track of data in visually interesting ways. Doing it along side your students! Here's my visualization which traces my commute/weather from Hattiesburg to NOLA.
Reposted by Bobby Lee
Our next The American Revolution documentary post on Ep. 2, "An Asylum for Mankind," is live!
In "Ken Burn's Inevitable Revolution," Helena Yoo-Roth unpacks the significance and need for "interpretation" in history.
Read this and others on the #JERPano: thepanorama.shear.org/2026/02/12/i...
In "Ken Burn's Inevitable Revolution," Helena Yoo-Roth unpacks the significance and need for "interpretation" in history.
Read this and others on the #JERPano: thepanorama.shear.org/2026/02/12/i...
Ken Burns’s Inevitable Revolution
Helena Yoo-Roth explores the second episode of Ken Burns’s American Revolution.
thepanorama.shear.org
February 12, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Our next The American Revolution documentary post on Ep. 2, "An Asylum for Mankind," is live!
In "Ken Burn's Inevitable Revolution," Helena Yoo-Roth unpacks the significance and need for "interpretation" in history.
Read this and others on the #JERPano: thepanorama.shear.org/2026/02/12/i...
In "Ken Burn's Inevitable Revolution," Helena Yoo-Roth unpacks the significance and need for "interpretation" in history.
Read this and others on the #JERPano: thepanorama.shear.org/2026/02/12/i...
So has the Atlantic now come out against grants against white supremacy?
February 12, 2026 at 7:11 PM
So has the Atlantic now come out against grants against white supremacy?
It’s Thursday and I just realized I’ve heard nothing about and seen clips of none of the Super Bowl ads. Not even a best/worst list.
February 12, 2026 at 6:47 AM
It’s Thursday and I just realized I’ve heard nothing about and seen clips of none of the Super Bowl ads. Not even a best/worst list.
Worst debt to GDP ratio since World War II
fortune.com/2026/02/11/3...
fortune.com/2026/02/11/3...
‘The fiscal trajectory is not sustainable’: CBO warns about the highest debt in U.S. history as Trump adds $1.4 trillion to 10-year deficit | Fortune
The national debt is set to surpass the historic high of 106% of GDP (which it reached in 1946) by 2030, according to the CBO.
fortune.com
February 11, 2026 at 10:23 PM
Worst debt to GDP ratio since World War II
fortune.com/2026/02/11/3...
fortune.com/2026/02/11/3...
“It marks a key development for the tribe, which was forcibly removed from its lands and saw its individual allotments stolen, said the tribe’s chairperson, Serrell Smokey.”
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Washoe Tribe buys 10,000 acres in one of California’s largest ever land returns
Tribe, which was forcibly removed from its lands near Lake Tahoe, used $5.5m grant and private donations for purchase
www.theguardian.com
February 11, 2026 at 10:13 PM
“It marks a key development for the tribe, which was forcibly removed from its lands and saw its individual allotments stolen, said the tribe’s chairperson, Serrell Smokey.”
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Future generations will despise us
www.euronews.com/green/2026/0...
www.euronews.com/green/2026/0...
Trump EPA to gut key scientific finding underpinning US climate policy
The 2009 'endangerment finding' is the legal underpinning of nearly all US climate regulations for planet-heating emissions.
www.euronews.com
February 11, 2026 at 8:06 PM
Future generations will despise us
www.euronews.com/green/2026/0...
www.euronews.com/green/2026/0...
Always a mystery if the printer’s gonna print
February 11, 2026 at 7:07 PM
Always a mystery if the printer’s gonna print
So, Arkansas used to employ prisoners as armed guards to oversee their fellow inmates. Called them 'trusties.' Sometimes they put them on horseback and gave them shotguns to oversee prisoners laboring in fields
February 11, 2026 at 11:15 AM
So, Arkansas used to employ prisoners as armed guards to oversee their fellow inmates. Called them 'trusties.' Sometimes they put them on horseback and gave them shotguns to oversee prisoners laboring in fields
Is this a performance art piece?
rentahuman.ai
rentahuman.ai
RentAHuman.ai - AI Agents Hire Humans for Physical Tasks
The marketplace where AI agents rent humans. MCP integration, REST API, flexible payments. Book humans for real-world tasks your AI can't do.
rentahuman.ai
February 11, 2026 at 7:03 AM
Is this a performance art piece?
rentahuman.ai
rentahuman.ai
Newest Western Historical Quarterly is up! Looks like it’s accidentally a special issue on land, with articles on forced fee patents, boundary making, and real estate speculation
academic.oup.com/whq/issue/57/1
academic.oup.com/whq/issue/57/1
Volume 57 Issue 1 | Western Historical Quarterly | Oxford Academic
The official journal of the Western History Association. Publishes original articles dealing with the North American West. Each issue contains reviews and notices of significant books, as well as rece...
academic.oup.com
February 10, 2026 at 7:25 PM
Newest Western Historical Quarterly is up! Looks like it’s accidentally a special issue on land, with articles on forced fee patents, boundary making, and real estate speculation
academic.oup.com/whq/issue/57/1
academic.oup.com/whq/issue/57/1
Reposted by Bobby Lee
Friends, can I ask you to spread the word that we have a THREE-YEAR postdoc in American history at Cambridge up for grabs - ANY field, but applications are due March 1 so don't delay - apply, apply, apply! networks.h-net.org/jobs/69790/u...
February 10, 2026 at 5:24 PM
Friends, can I ask you to spread the word that we have a THREE-YEAR postdoc in American history at Cambridge up for grabs - ANY field, but applications are due March 1 so don't delay - apply, apply, apply! networks.h-net.org/jobs/69790/u...
Three-year Mellon postdoc in American History at the University of Cambridge. Any subfield. Fast turn-around—application closes March 1.
Please spread widely.🗃️
networks.h-net.org/jobs/69790/u...
Please spread widely.🗃️
networks.h-net.org/jobs/69790/u...
University of Cambridge - UK - Mellon Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Fixed Term) | H-Net
The Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge welcomes applications for the Mellon Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, a three-year postdoctoral fellowship open to those working in any field of American history from the colonial period to the twenty-first century. This is an exciting opportunity for a candidate who has or is close to obtaining a PhD in a relevant specialist subject area.
networks.h-net.org
February 10, 2026 at 7:16 PM
Three-year Mellon postdoc in American History at the University of Cambridge. Any subfield. Fast turn-around—application closes March 1.
Please spread widely.🗃️
networks.h-net.org/jobs/69790/u...
Please spread widely.🗃️
networks.h-net.org/jobs/69790/u...
Shocking stat from the first paragraph of the annual report of the Carlisle Indian boarding school in 1893: the death rate of students was more than double the graduation rate
February 10, 2026 at 12:26 PM
Shocking stat from the first paragraph of the annual report of the Carlisle Indian boarding school in 1893: the death rate of students was more than double the graduation rate
Reposted by Bobby Lee
A ‘Barrage of Bills’ Would Overhaul Higher Ed in Iowa—If They Actually Pass
www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...
www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...
‘Barrage of Bills’ Would Upend Iowa Higher Ed—If They Pass
The state’s new House Higher Education Committee has advanced a raft of bills that would hit universities’ pocketbooks, hide presidential candidates’ names, and more.
www.insidehighered.com
February 4, 2026 at 2:09 PM
A ‘Barrage of Bills’ Would Overhaul Higher Ed in Iowa—If They Actually Pass
www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...
www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...
So you can work on that post for a week before showing off your typos
February 9, 2026 at 8:33 PM
So you can work on that post for a week before showing off your typos
Reposted by Bobby Lee
PLEASE REPOST 🥺🙏
The Canadian Letters & Images Project is an online digital archive of Canadians’ experience during wartime at home & in battle. It contains thousands of personal letters & photos that reveal people’s experience through their own words & eyes.
www.canadianletters.ca/content/abou...
The Canadian Letters & Images Project is an online digital archive of Canadians’ experience during wartime at home & in battle. It contains thousands of personal letters & photos that reveal people’s experience through their own words & eyes.
www.canadianletters.ca/content/abou...
February 9, 2026 at 5:36 PM
PLEASE REPOST 🥺🙏
The Canadian Letters & Images Project is an online digital archive of Canadians’ experience during wartime at home & in battle. It contains thousands of personal letters & photos that reveal people’s experience through their own words & eyes.
www.canadianletters.ca/content/abou...
The Canadian Letters & Images Project is an online digital archive of Canadians’ experience during wartime at home & in battle. It contains thousands of personal letters & photos that reveal people’s experience through their own words & eyes.
www.canadianletters.ca/content/abou...
Are there any new winter games to look out for like breakdancing at the summer Olympics?
February 9, 2026 at 7:31 PM
Are there any new winter games to look out for like breakdancing at the summer Olympics?
What I learned from that half time show is that I’m now an out of touch old man
February 9, 2026 at 7:21 PM
What I learned from that half time show is that I’m now an out of touch old man
This is gonna happen when you shutdown the government for months and defund museums for talking about biodiversity
northernvirginiamag.com/family/educa...
northernvirginiamag.com/family/educa...
Smithsonian Museums See Decrease in Visits in 2025
Due to the government shutdown, only two Smithsonian locations in DC saw an increase in visits compared to 2024.
northernvirginiamag.com
February 9, 2026 at 7:14 PM
This is gonna happen when you shutdown the government for months and defund museums for talking about biodiversity
northernvirginiamag.com/family/educa...
northernvirginiamag.com/family/educa...
Reposted by Bobby Lee
I came back to share that I just did a podcast about the book for those interested. newbooksnetwork.com/mixed-blood-...
Jameson R. Sweet, "Mixed-Blood Histories: Race, Law, and Dakota Indians in the Nineteenth-Century Midwest" (U Minnesota Press, 2025) - New Books Network
newbooksnetwork.com
February 9, 2026 at 5:18 PM
I came back to share that I just did a podcast about the book for those interested. newbooksnetwork.com/mixed-blood-...