Ian Petrie
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icpetrie.bsky.social
Ian Petrie
@icpetrie.bsky.social
3.2K followers 1.4K following 21K posts

Historian, Canadian, Philadelphian. Higher ed, urban🚲, books, cats, hockey. At Penn's CETLI; teach South Asia & Hist Sci/Med/Tech.
Disappointing people since 1972.
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icpetrie.bsky.social
Ian Petrie @icpetrie.bsky.social · Nov 10
You tell the kids today that Philly's public pools used to be stocked with carp and they won't believe you
digital.library.temple.edu/digital/coll...
icpetrie.bsky.social
Just checked this out from our Fine Arts Library and it is absolutely beautiful.....a bargain at $35!
shop.noma.org/products/cal...
Called to the Camera: Black American Studio Photographers
From photography’s beginnings in the United States, Black studio photographers operated on the developing edge of popular media to produce affirming portraits for their clients, as well as a wide rang...
shop.noma.org
February 10, 2026 at 8:39 PM
icpetrie.bsky.social
This is one of my favorite photos in an absolutely splendid collection
A handsome and poised Black man wearing a dark suit and tie, grey vest and white shirt, with a dark cap, sits, left hand on his left thigh, calmly regarding the camera as he raises a lit match to the cigarette between his lips. William “Bill” Hurley (1863–1948) was born into slavery and, as an adult, held the kind of low-wage jobs that racial discrimination forced most Black men to accept. Yet, his sense of style and his powerful masculine presence dominate the portrait that he commissioned from the Holsinger Studio. The image demonstrates his refusal to be defined by the roles that society had prepared for him. As a child he lived with his mother, Julia Hurley (born c. 1840), and two sisters, in Fredericksville Parish, in northern Albemarle County. He spent most of his life in Charlottesville, working as a manual laborer, a porter at the Gleason Hotel, and, for many years, a coachman and stable hand for J. Samuel McCue, a wealthy white lawyer and former mayor of the city. In 1904, McCue was tried and convicted on charges of murdering his wife, Fannie Crawford McCue. Hurley’s testimony at the trial, in which he showed his familiarity with the character of both of the McCues, illustrated the close, yet strictly hierarchical relationship that often existed between white employers and Black employees. McCue was sentenced to death and, in 1905, became the last person to be publicly hanged in Charlottesville.
February 10, 2026 at 8:18 PM
Reposted by Ian Petrie
johnedwinmason.bsky.social
Did I mention that the PDF catalog of the Holsinger Studio Portrait Project's exhibition, Visions of Progress, is freely downloadable online? Over 10,000 people saw the show at UVA, then it went to the Black History Museum of Virginia. Now it's touring churches & schools.
at.virginia.edu/vop-catalog
Holsinger-Visions-of-Progress-catalog-accessible.pdf | Powered by Box
at.virginia.edu
February 10, 2026 at 7:30 PM
icpetrie.bsky.social
Ruth Schwartz Cowan, MORE WORK FOR MOTHRA (1983)
Black and white still showing Mothra approaching Godzilla from the left.
February 10, 2026 at 6:44 PM
icpetrie.bsky.social
I am once again looking at the Declaration of Independence as printed on a handkerchief
www.amrevmuseum.org/news/now-on-...
Now on View: New Display of Historic Handkerchiefs is "Nothing to Sneeze At"
Learn more about early, rare printed handkerchiefs along with the symbolism they held in a new display at the Museum of the American Revolution in historic Philadelphia.
www.amrevmuseum.org
February 10, 2026 at 6:22 PM
Reposted by Ian Petrie
nicholasguyatt.bsky.social
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
icpetrie.bsky.social
Lies and betrayals
Fruit covered nails
Electricity and lust

www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet...
Illustrated statistical diagrams. Title translates to, "Growth of electricity production : 1913 -- 1932 -- 1937 target." With explanatory notes. Colored lithograph. View is 21 x 30 cm, on sheet 25 x 35 cm. Production denominated in lightning bolts. In background, power lines and a hydroelectric dam
February 10, 2026 at 5:40 PM
icpetrie.bsky.social
Seeing this sign always makes me happy
8th and Market, the old Lit Brothers store. Above entrance reads LITS and HATS TRIMMED FREE OF CHARGE
February 10, 2026 at 5:31 PM
Reposted by Ian Petrie
timothyjlombardo.bsky.social
PUBLICATION DAY! Today my book has officially been re-released by @pennpress.bsky.social. With new preface that examines the 2020 protest that led to the removal of the Rizzo statue, recent Philly politics, and the rise of Trump, I hope you'll check it out and help spread the word! 🗃️
The cover of my book, Blue-Collar Conservatism: Frank Rizzo's Philadelphia and Populist Politics, re-released today with a new preface
February 10, 2026 at 4:14 PM
icpetrie.bsky.social
"My favourite higher education joke of all time – apart from the existence of the University of Southern California – is without a doubt “how many universities does it take to change a lightbulb?” “Change!?!”

Tremendous burn from @alexusherhesa.bsky.social
(re: USC lol)
Change Challenge | HESA
Roughly 93 years ago, Franklin D. Rosevelt began his inaugural address thus: “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself–nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror ...
higheredstrategy.com
February 10, 2026 at 5:12 PM
icpetrie.bsky.social
New slogan:

"Get railed by SEPTA*"

*applies to all modes
February 10, 2026 at 4:47 PM
icpetrie.bsky.social
Worst part of this morning's trip to the DMV?

SEPTA

(DMV was great actually)
February 10, 2026 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Ian Petrie
jimsaksa.com
Carjackings and murders are down huge along with a few other crimes (but not all!) across the US. It’s a massive, underreported story. we should be aggressively trying to figure out why.
February 10, 2026 at 1:43 PM
icpetrie.bsky.social
Such a fave, song and video
English Beat - Save It For Later (Official Video) [HD]
YouTube video by RHINO
www.youtube.com
February 10, 2026 at 4:34 AM
icpetrie.bsky.social
I'd like an ice dancing routine set to "Sabotage"
February 10, 2026 at 1:50 AM
icpetrie.bsky.social
Fun presentation by John Bidwell at Material Texts this evening on how the Declaration of Independence became part of American/Atlantic visual culture across the 19th century
1820s cotton handkerchief printed at Glasgow by Colin Gillespie. The declaration with portraits of Washington, Jefferson and Madison at the top and patriotic decorative elements surrounding the text. Pirated from an earlier American design. As Bidwell notes, this is perhaps the visually densest version imaginably, from Philadelphia's Joseph Leeds in 1873, a project intended to capitalize on the coming Centennial. More founders' portraits and patriotic scenes while also setting the Declaration amidst architecture and statuary.
February 10, 2026 at 12:14 AM
icpetrie.bsky.social
Seems like a good hire at the PMA
Philadelphia Museum of Art Names Katherine Anne Paul as the Newly Appointed Stella Kramrisch Curator of Indian and Himalayan Art
Philadelphia, February 9, 2026 – The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Katherine Anne Paul, the Stella Kramrisch Curator of Indian and Himalayan Art. In this r...
press.philamuseum.org
February 9, 2026 at 11:10 PM
icpetrie.bsky.social
"Bike Encased in Snow, With Dog Piss" (2026)
Bike is locked on a rack on Baltimore Ave, otherwise photo is as advertised!
February 9, 2026 at 3:10 PM
Reposted by Ian Petrie
icpetrie.bsky.social
🚨Late-breaking TT JOB 🚨

Assistant Professor, English, University of Guelph

Review of applications begins 3/31 (!)
universityaffairs.ca/search-jobs/...
We are seeking to fill a tenure-track position in 20th- and / or 21st- century literature and culture, and we are open to candidates with research expertise situated in or between any nationally defined area of study. Being able to teach in multiple national frames would be beneficial to our undergraduate curriculum. We would particularly welcome candidates with a capacity to teach in any of the following areas: speculative fiction, poetry, post/decolonial studies, film and related media, literature and the sciences, queer studies, Canadian studies, and/or emergent areas in literary studies.
February 9, 2026 at 1:48 PM
icpetrie.bsky.social
Extremely rude that I am not on that Bluesky map

I'm an *Elder*
February 9, 2026 at 2:21 PM
Reposted by Ian Petrie
norton.bsky.social
Philadelphia Rapid Transit, 1927.

Assertions to the effect that “people preferred to drive” are guesses in the guise of explanations. A minority of motorists degraded streetcar service for the majority.
February 9, 2026 at 1:33 PM
icpetrie.bsky.social
🚨Late-breaking TT JOB 🚨

Assistant Professor, English, University of Guelph

Review of applications begins 3/31 (!)
universityaffairs.ca/search-jobs/...
We are seeking to fill a tenure-track position in 20th- and / or 21st- century literature and culture, and we are open to candidates with research expertise situated in or between any nationally defined area of study. Being able to teach in multiple national frames would be beneficial to our undergraduate curriculum. We would particularly welcome candidates with a capacity to teach in any of the following areas: speculative fiction, poetry, post/decolonial studies, film and related media, literature and the sciences, queer studies, Canadian studies, and/or emergent areas in literary studies.
February 9, 2026 at 1:48 PM
Reposted by Ian Petrie
icpetrie.bsky.social
Laughable yet alarming photo

From Francis Spufford's CAHOKIA JAZZ

Royal Gorge Regional Museum & History Center
Ferris wheel with Klansmen occupying every seat
February 9, 2026 at 2:20 AM
icpetrie.bsky.social
I confess:

Last week The Boy and I used a chair and a cone to save the spot he dug us out of when we went to hockey practice
www.inquirer.com/life/philade...
Lucas Tran didn’t see the cinderblock in the spot he parked in on Tuesday night. It wasn’t until another driver pulled up and told him that he was in her spot that he became aware of it. She said she had dug out the spot herself, saved it with the cinderblock, and that Tran had to move. At first, he refused. But he backed down after she called him a liar and a “little b—.” He didn’t want things to escalate. The next day, she left a handwritten apology on his car. “Thank you for moving your car,” it read. “You are NOT a little b—.”
February 9, 2026 at 1:39 PM
Reposted by Ian Petrie
timnitgebru.bsky.social
The onion remains undefeated in delivering the most accurate news.

theonion.com/ai-chatbot-t...
AI Chatbot That Only Responds ‘Huh’ Valued At $200 Billion
PALO ALTO, CA—Hailing the new product as a “game changer” in the development of large language models, Silicon Valley insiders confirmed Tuesday that an AI chatbot that only responds “huh” had been va...
theonion.com
February 9, 2026 at 4:00 AM