Hayden L. Nelson 🎄🐺🦫🔥🪵
@haydenlnelson.bsky.social
PhD, University of Kansas | Writing an Environmental History of the North Woods | Research Historian @ the Minnesota Historical Society | Adjunct @ the University of Central Missouri | WI➡️MT➡️KS➡️MN
haydenlnelson.com
haydenlnelson.com
Pinned
Great Lakes Fire History Digital Archive
This is a digital archive that illustrates and organizes primary source documents pertaining to forest fires in the Great Lakes from the early nineteenth century to the present. The Great Lakes Fire H...
firearchive.omeka.net
Happy to share that I've begun curating the Great Lakes Fire History Digital Archive, a digital archive collating primary source documents pertaining to forest fires in the Great Lakes in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Excited to see how it evolves moving forward!
firearchive.omeka.net
firearchive.omeka.net
Reposted by Hayden L. Nelson 🎄🐺🦫🔥🪵
Not going to make it, but I encourage all viewers to take a look at the wonder University of Idaho Library Digital collections on Forests (including logging history and the Big Burn) #envhist They are tremendous teaching/research resources
www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/home...
www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/home...
February 1, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Not going to make it, but I encourage all viewers to take a look at the wonder University of Idaho Library Digital collections on Forests (including logging history and the Big Burn) #envhist They are tremendous teaching/research resources
www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/home...
www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/home...
As a Wisconsinite it pains me to say this, but Minnesota has some good beers, too.
February 1, 2026 at 2:23 AM
As a Wisconsinite it pains me to say this, but Minnesota has some good beers, too.
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:
1. Ojibwe Language
2. Conservation of the Environment
3. Race, Religion, and Radicalism in U.S. History
4. Trade, Technology, and Globalization
5. Borderlands History
1. Ojibwe Language
2. Conservation of the Environment
3. Race, Religion, and Radicalism in U.S. History
4. Trade, Technology, and Globalization
5. Borderlands History
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:
1. Marine Biology (we got to go out on a boat!)
2. The History of the Holocaust
3. Logic and Critical Thinking
4. Eastern Religions
5. The French Revolution
1. Marine Biology (we got to go out on a boat!)
2. The History of the Holocaust
3. Logic and Critical Thinking
4. Eastern Religions
5. The French Revolution
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:
1. Origins of Nazism
2. Dante’s Divine Comedy
3. Behavioral Ecology & Conservation Biology
4. Principles of Evolution
5. Thinking and Speaking About Thinking and Speaking
1. Origins of Nazism
2. Dante’s Divine Comedy
3. Behavioral Ecology & Conservation Biology
4. Principles of Evolution
5. Thinking and Speaking About Thinking and Speaking
January 31, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:
1. Ojibwe Language
2. Conservation of the Environment
3. Race, Religion, and Radicalism in U.S. History
4. Trade, Technology, and Globalization
5. Borderlands History
1. Ojibwe Language
2. Conservation of the Environment
3. Race, Religion, and Radicalism in U.S. History
4. Trade, Technology, and Globalization
5. Borderlands History
***Upcoming program***
Robert C. Schwaller, Ph.D.
Professor of Latin American History
The University of Kansas
Schwaller will share his recent findings and discuss how the collection has supported and enriched his ongoing scholarship.
2/5
2 p.m. ET
Register here:
mailchi.mp/miami.edu/li...
Robert C. Schwaller, Ph.D.
Professor of Latin American History
The University of Kansas
Schwaller will share his recent findings and discuss how the collection has supported and enriched his ongoing scholarship.
2/5
2 p.m. ET
Register here:
mailchi.mp/miami.edu/li...
January 26, 2026 at 6:51 PM
Timeline cleanse
January 25, 2026 at 10:17 PM
Timeline cleanse
Reposted by Hayden L. Nelson 🎄🐺🦫🔥🪵
The director of the Minneapolis Emergency Management Department.
Sayre: "My background is in international humanitarian response in conflict zones in Yemen, Haiti, Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine. What I've seen here is what I've seen there. A powerful entity violently and intentionally terrorizing people."
January 24, 2026 at 6:34 PM
The director of the Minneapolis Emergency Management Department.
I had an organization reach out to me asking if I’d be able to give a talk later this year. They also asked if I had a rate and what it is. Should I have a rate? What is reasonable?
January 24, 2026 at 7:08 PM
I had an organization reach out to me asking if I’d be able to give a talk later this year. They also asked if I had a rate and what it is. Should I have a rate? What is reasonable?
Reposted by Hayden L. Nelson 🎄🐺🦫🔥🪵
Tomorrow's front page of the Minnesota Star Tribune: Jan. 24, 2026
January 23, 2026 at 11:45 PM
Tomorrow's front page of the Minnesota Star Tribune: Jan. 24, 2026
I’m going to be sick
BREAKING: Mets acquiring Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers from the Brewers for Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat
January 22, 2026 at 3:21 AM
I’m going to be sick
Interested in the history of logging? Check out this piece I wrote for MNopedia on the Virginia & Rainy Lake Company, which at the time of its amalgamation in 1908 was the largest white pine lumber company in the world.
www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/sea...
www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/sea...
January 22, 2026 at 3:11 AM
Interested in the history of logging? Check out this piece I wrote for MNopedia on the Virginia & Rainy Lake Company, which at the time of its amalgamation in 1908 was the largest white pine lumber company in the world.
www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/sea...
www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/sea...
Reposted by Hayden L. Nelson 🎄🐺🦫🔥🪵
Looking for new ways to think about ecosystems and history?
This piece from Miles Powell uses Pacific Northwest salmon to link rivers, oceans, and communities, making a lively case for “meta-ecosystem” history and more connected environmental storytelling.
g-ehr.com/peer-reviewe...
This piece from Miles Powell uses Pacific Northwest salmon to link rivers, oceans, and communities, making a lively case for “meta-ecosystem” history and more connected environmental storytelling.
g-ehr.com/peer-reviewe...
January 19, 2026 at 4:33 PM
Looking for new ways to think about ecosystems and history?
This piece from Miles Powell uses Pacific Northwest salmon to link rivers, oceans, and communities, making a lively case for “meta-ecosystem” history and more connected environmental storytelling.
g-ehr.com/peer-reviewe...
This piece from Miles Powell uses Pacific Northwest salmon to link rivers, oceans, and communities, making a lively case for “meta-ecosystem” history and more connected environmental storytelling.
g-ehr.com/peer-reviewe...
In love with this cover and proud to have contributed to this important work. 🔥 coming August 26, 2026.
Available for preorder here with @univpressofkansas.bsky.social: kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700641994/
Available for preorder here with @univpressofkansas.bsky.social: kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700641994/
January 16, 2026 at 10:44 PM
In love with this cover and proud to have contributed to this important work. 🔥 coming August 26, 2026.
Available for preorder here with @univpressofkansas.bsky.social: kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700641994/
Available for preorder here with @univpressofkansas.bsky.social: kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700641994/
Yes, but let’s not forgot that many of those same Minnesotans waged a retaliatory war, launched punitive expeditions against, and placed scalp bounties on Dakota people from 1862 through the end of the Civil War.
1/3
1/3
I keep thinking about the Confederate battle flag captured by the 1st Minnesota infantry regiment at Gettysburg. Literally generations of Minnesotans have smugly delighted in telling anyone from Virginia to fuck off when they've petitioned for its return.
January 15, 2026 at 11:28 PM
Yes, but let’s not forgot that many of those same Minnesotans waged a retaliatory war, launched punitive expeditions against, and placed scalp bounties on Dakota people from 1862 through the end of the Civil War.
1/3
1/3
If you’re looking for a concise reading to help contextualize the current moment in Minnesota, this MNopedia article on a 2006 ICE raid at a rural meatpacking plant may be a good starting point.
www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/sea...
www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/sea...
Swift and Company ICE raids, 2006 | MNopedia
On Tuesday, December 12, 2006, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided six meat-processing plants in six US states, including one in Worthington, Minnesota. At the Worthington ...
www.mnhs.org
January 14, 2026 at 5:56 PM
If you’re looking for a concise reading to help contextualize the current moment in Minnesota, this MNopedia article on a 2006 ICE raid at a rural meatpacking plant may be a good starting point.
www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/sea...
www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/sea...
I grew up in a small, quite conservative town in western Wisconsin. It’s about 45 minutes from Minneapolis and probably 95% white. I was driving down Main Street tonight and saw protestors with flags and signs, and my heart immediately sank.
January 8, 2026 at 11:16 PM
I grew up in a small, quite conservative town in western Wisconsin. It’s about 45 minutes from Minneapolis and probably 95% white. I was driving down Main Street tonight and saw protestors with flags and signs, and my heart immediately sank.
I wonder what percentage of these armed ruffians cosplaying as law enforcement were pardoned J6ers. My guess is all of them.
January 7, 2026 at 6:09 PM
I wonder what percentage of these armed ruffians cosplaying as law enforcement were pardoned J6ers. My guess is all of them.
I’m reading Molly Ladd-Taylor’s “Raising a Baby the Government Way” (1986) for a project I’m working on, and I’m struck by how many expecting mother’s only a century ago feared things that could “mark” a baby.
January 4, 2026 at 6:26 PM
I’m reading Molly Ladd-Taylor’s “Raising a Baby the Government Way” (1986) for a project I’m working on, and I’m struck by how many expecting mother’s only a century ago feared things that could “mark” a baby.
“In an average year, some two hundred million tons of sediment are in transport in the river. This is where the foreland Rockies go, the western Appalachians. Southern Louisiana is a very large lump of mountain butter…”
-John McPhee, The Control of Nature
-John McPhee, The Control of Nature
December 24, 2025 at 5:46 PM
“In an average year, some two hundred million tons of sediment are in transport in the river. This is where the foreland Rockies go, the western Appalachians. Southern Louisiana is a very large lump of mountain butter…”
-John McPhee, The Control of Nature
-John McPhee, The Control of Nature
Mine was probably during my MA. Our class had just read an article on a historian’s experience discovering a lock of hair tucked in their archival materials. Two weeks later, going through the diaries I was perusing for that research seminar, a lock of hair fell out.
I think we need a mega thread of everyone's craziest archive stories.
December 22, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Mine was probably during my MA. Our class had just read an article on a historian’s experience discovering a lock of hair tucked in their archival materials. Two weeks later, going through the diaries I was perusing for that research seminar, a lock of hair fell out.
Come work with me at the Minnesota Historical Society! We’re looking for our next Gale Scholar to join the Research team. Apply by February 16 for full consideration, and feel free to reach out to me with any questions!
workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/defau...
workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/defau...
Recruitment
workforcenow.adp.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Come work with me at the Minnesota Historical Society! We’re looking for our next Gale Scholar to join the Research team. Apply by February 16 for full consideration, and feel free to reach out to me with any questions!
workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/defau...
workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/defau...
Ah, reminds me of the time a deer ran into my house when I was in 1st grade. Very Midwestern, indeed.
A deer carries out of my local Menards? Hard to think of a more Midwestern news story.
Customers safely remove deer from Menards
A deer was removed from a Menards store Monday after it ran into the building.
www.kwqc.com
December 17, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Ah, reminds me of the time a deer ran into my house when I was in 1st grade. Very Midwestern, indeed.
“Important events crowd so fast upon each other that we live years in a few weeks.” -Edward Fitch, Lawrence, KS, 1861
December 14, 2025 at 6:36 PM
“Important events crowd so fast upon each other that we live years in a few weeks.” -Edward Fitch, Lawrence, KS, 1861
Reposted by Hayden L. Nelson 🎄🐺🦫🔥🪵
Today we have "Playing the Vanishing Frontier: Red Dead Redemption 2 and the Environmental Imagination" by Nolan Reynolds
This is the tenth article in the Playing Inside: Board Games, Video Games, and the Indoors series, edited by @theliftline.bsky.social
niche-canada.org/2025/12/12/p...
#envhum
This is the tenth article in the Playing Inside: Board Games, Video Games, and the Indoors series, edited by @theliftline.bsky.social
niche-canada.org/2025/12/12/p...
#envhum
Playing the Vanishing Frontier: Red Dead Redemption 2 and the Environmental Imagination
Players control Arthur Morgan, navigating story missions while also exploring independently–hunting, riding, fishing, crafting, and encountering wildlife. The game encourages players to linger: fog se...
niche-canada.org
December 12, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Today we have "Playing the Vanishing Frontier: Red Dead Redemption 2 and the Environmental Imagination" by Nolan Reynolds
This is the tenth article in the Playing Inside: Board Games, Video Games, and the Indoors series, edited by @theliftline.bsky.social
niche-canada.org/2025/12/12/p...
#envhum
This is the tenth article in the Playing Inside: Board Games, Video Games, and the Indoors series, edited by @theliftline.bsky.social
niche-canada.org/2025/12/12/p...
#envhum
Research day on logging and forestry under the ever-present gaze of big Fred W. How fitting.
December 11, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Research day on logging and forestry under the ever-present gaze of big Fred W. How fitting.