Orel Beilinson
@orelb.bsky.social
Historian of modern Europe in its Eurasian context. Education, youth, social structure, and family life. Comparative and transnational history. PhD, Yale; currently a postdoc fellow at the Polonsky Academy.
Today was the last day of my first semester on the tenure track. Tomorrow I'll be heading to Central Asia for 1.5 months of research.
Given that I began making contingency plans for leaving academia around this time last year, I am both relieved and overjoyed.
🗃️
Given that I began making contingency plans for leaving academia around this time last year, I am both relieved and overjoyed.
🗃️
January 28, 2026 at 10:12 AM
Today was the last day of my first semester on the tenure track. Tomorrow I'll be heading to Central Asia for 1.5 months of research.
Given that I began making contingency plans for leaving academia around this time last year, I am both relieved and overjoyed.
🗃️
Given that I began making contingency plans for leaving academia around this time last year, I am both relieved and overjoyed.
🗃️
My first semester on the tenure track has been quite an adjustment, but I am lucky to finish it with grad students doing fascinating work: anti-feminist women writing on motherhood and marriage c. 1900; the reception of Dickens in political speeches; cultural responses to shell-shock therapies...
January 20, 2026 at 3:34 PM
My first semester on the tenure track has been quite an adjustment, but I am lucky to finish it with grad students doing fascinating work: anti-feminist women writing on motherhood and marriage c. 1900; the reception of Dickens in political speeches; cultural responses to shell-shock therapies...
Ran into a student with her 5-year-old daughter. She said she wished I would be her daughter's professor, too—thus I realized that if our retirement age remains 70, I still have *41* years of teaching ahead of me. I might just still be there to teach her grandchildren...
December 23, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Ran into a student with her 5-year-old daughter. She said she wished I would be her daughter's professor, too—thus I realized that if our retirement age remains 70, I still have *41* years of teaching ahead of me. I might just still be there to teach her grandchildren...
Reposted by Orel Beilinson
I think we need a mega thread of everyone's craziest archive stories.
December 22, 2025 at 3:38 PM
I think we need a mega thread of everyone's craziest archive stories.
Very excited to participate in evaluating applications for this year's Critical Language Scholarship program in Russian and Arabic. As long as there's at least some avenues open to funding language study...
December 18, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Very excited to participate in evaluating applications for this year's Critical Language Scholarship program in Russian and Arabic. As long as there's at least some avenues open to funding language study...
I want to write about the history of real estate just so I can make a pun using, or at least a witty reference to, the fact that the Danish word lejlighed means both "apartment" and "opportunity."
December 17, 2025 at 4:06 PM
I want to write about the history of real estate just so I can make a pun using, or at least a witty reference to, the fact that the Danish word lejlighed means both "apartment" and "opportunity."
I have some grant funding for research assistance in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. If you know (preferably) history grad students who might be interested in working with me on the history of STEM education/professions in Soviet Central Asia, please send them my way. 🗃️
December 15, 2025 at 7:29 AM
I have some grant funding for research assistance in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. If you know (preferably) history grad students who might be interested in working with me on the history of STEM education/professions in Soviet Central Asia, please send them my way. 🗃️
From the life of Parisian tenants:
1. Eviction, 1912
2. Association: the inaugural meeting of the 12th arrondissement's tenants association, 1924
1. Eviction, 1912
2. Association: the inaugural meeting of the 12th arrondissement's tenants association, 1924
December 12, 2025 at 9:18 PM
From the life of Parisian tenants:
1. Eviction, 1912
2. Association: the inaugural meeting of the 12th arrondissement's tenants association, 1924
1. Eviction, 1912
2. Association: the inaugural meeting of the 12th arrondissement's tenants association, 1924
From the life of renters in Paris:
1. Eviction of tenants, 1912
2. The inaugural meeting of the tenants' association of12 arrondissement, 1924
1. Eviction of tenants, 1912
2. The inaugural meeting of the tenants' association of12 arrondissement, 1924
December 12, 2025 at 9:17 PM
From the life of renters in Paris:
1. Eviction of tenants, 1912
2. The inaugural meeting of the tenants' association of12 arrondissement, 1924
1. Eviction of tenants, 1912
2. The inaugural meeting of the tenants' association of12 arrondissement, 1924
My preferred language is Ottoman Turkish but I can settle for English if we must
Trying out a new PCP's office, and their "preferred language" dropdown on the intake form is time-traveler inclusive.
December 9, 2025 at 3:09 PM
My preferred language is Ottoman Turkish but I can settle for English if we must
A lovely finance bro tried to summarize my work at the pub to make sure he got it: "So modernity is a panic attack; you are the psychologist; the book manuscript is your case notes. Right?" 🗃️
December 8, 2025 at 8:57 PM
A lovely finance bro tried to summarize my work at the pub to make sure he got it: "So modernity is a panic attack; you are the psychologist; the book manuscript is your case notes. Right?" 🗃️
Please share this CFA with your graduate students. I am happy to sponsor applications. Nearby archives, including the Central Archive for the History of the Jewish People (located at the National Library in Jerusalem), host valuable collections—including a newly indexed collection on Yugoslav Jewry.
December 8, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Please share this CFA with your graduate students. I am happy to sponsor applications. Nearby archives, including the Central Archive for the History of the Jewish People (located at the National Library in Jerusalem), host valuable collections—including a newly indexed collection on Yugoslav Jewry.
Soviet Grandpa called and, without even exchanging pleasantries, asked (in a mildly agitated voice) why I hadn't gotten into a field that awards a Nobel Prize. "To what global recognition can historians aspire?" he inquired, deadly serious. "I mean a household-name award!"
December 6, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Soviet Grandpa called and, without even exchanging pleasantries, asked (in a mildly agitated voice) why I hadn't gotten into a field that awards a Nobel Prize. "To what global recognition can historians aspire?" he inquired, deadly serious. "I mean a household-name award!"
After another brief chat with a friend who edits a journal can hardly find referees, let me remind the journal editors on here that I am rarely at capacity, usually happy to accept an assignment, and always return my feedback promptly... :) 🗃️
December 2, 2025 at 1:25 PM
After another brief chat with a friend who edits a journal can hardly find referees, let me remind the journal editors on here that I am rarely at capacity, usually happy to accept an assignment, and always return my feedback promptly... :) 🗃️
The great thing about teaching a grad seminar: after I shared my excitement with them, the students committed to writing their term papers on Sven Beckert's new, much-anticipated global history of capitalism — and we'll dedicate a portion of each session to progress reports. 🗃️
November 30, 2025 at 5:20 PM
The great thing about teaching a grad seminar: after I shared my excitement with them, the students committed to writing their term papers on Sven Beckert's new, much-anticipated global history of capitalism — and we'll dedicate a portion of each session to progress reports. 🗃️
Every time I add 2-3 adjectives/adverbs, I hear @nmw1.bsky.social's disapproval. Then, I am left with a one-adjective sentence. At that point, I can hear @marcishore.bsky.social marking the noun, asking if I intended to draw attention to it with the adjective. I then shake my head and remove it.
November 29, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Every time I add 2-3 adjectives/adverbs, I hear @nmw1.bsky.social's disapproval. Then, I am left with a one-adjective sentence. At that point, I can hear @marcishore.bsky.social marking the noun, asking if I intended to draw attention to it with the adjective. I then shake my head and remove it.
The entrance ticket to the new Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza costs 1,450 EGP (30 USD, 26 EUR). My friend, a software engineer at an international company in Cairo, thus earns 22 tickets a month. Luckily, citizens pay 200 EGP (4 USD), so his salary buys 165 tickets...
November 28, 2025 at 8:44 AM
The entrance ticket to the new Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza costs 1,450 EGP (30 USD, 26 EUR). My friend, a software engineer at an international company in Cairo, thus earns 22 tickets a month. Luckily, citizens pay 200 EGP (4 USD), so his salary buys 165 tickets...
Reposted by Orel Beilinson
About to kick off a peer review workshop with our brilliant @sriucl.bsky.social PhD students right now. Thanks to my colleague Alina Pelikh for hosting and I wish something like this was available when I started out.
November 26, 2025 at 11:03 AM
About to kick off a peer review workshop with our brilliant @sriucl.bsky.social PhD students right now. Thanks to my colleague Alina Pelikh for hosting and I wish something like this was available when I started out.
So, you think calculus is hard? Good luck making sense of the right to vote in Habsburg Austria
(from a wonderful article by Birgitta Bader-Zaar) 🗃️
(from a wonderful article by Birgitta Bader-Zaar) 🗃️
November 25, 2025 at 10:17 PM
So, you think calculus is hard? Good luck making sense of the right to vote in Habsburg Austria
(from a wonderful article by Birgitta Bader-Zaar) 🗃️
(from a wonderful article by Birgitta Bader-Zaar) 🗃️
Halldór Laxness is my spirit animal. So relatable at such a young age.
November 25, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Halldór Laxness is my spirit animal. So relatable at such a young age.
Submitted my course proposals for next year, including a seminar on what Ibsen called "life-lies," the self-deceptions that sustain one's happiness, in nineteenth-century Europe: bourgeois, aristocratic, rustic idylls and those who tried to shatter them. 🗃️
November 24, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Submitted my course proposals for next year, including a seminar on what Ibsen called "life-lies," the self-deceptions that sustain one's happiness, in nineteenth-century Europe: bourgeois, aristocratic, rustic idylls and those who tried to shatter them. 🗃️
I met with a university press editor 1.5 years ago -- and the advice she gave me for revising my dissertation into a book manuscript is one of the documents I use daily. It is really amazing how transformative these random strikes of generosity can be.
November 23, 2025 at 4:26 PM
I met with a university press editor 1.5 years ago -- and the advice she gave me for revising my dissertation into a book manuscript is one of the documents I use daily. It is really amazing how transformative these random strikes of generosity can be.
הזכרתי בכיתה השבוע את הנריק פונטופידן, סופר דני שזכה בפרס הנובל ב-1917. הבטחתי לסטודנטים שאתרגם להם קצת כי אין בעברית. הנה קטע קצר גם לכם, קצת אחרי שהגיבור הנוצרי וארוסתו היהודייה, בטיול בלתי מתוכנן אל האלפים, מגלים שהם חולקים סלידה, עוד מילדות, מפעמוני כנסייה:
November 21, 2025 at 4:39 PM
הזכרתי בכיתה השבוע את הנריק פונטופידן, סופר דני שזכה בפרס הנובל ב-1917. הבטחתי לסטודנטים שאתרגם להם קצת כי אין בעברית. הנה קטע קצר גם לכם, קצת אחרי שהגיבור הנוצרי וארוסתו היהודייה, בטיול בלתי מתוכנן אל האלפים, מגלים שהם חולקים סלידה, עוד מילדות, מפעמוני כנסייה:
The mark of a great book: a write-up by the inimitable Holly Case.
A wise review by Holly Case of an excellent book by Iryna Vushko.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Holly Case · Thin Pink Glaze: Habsburg Legacies
We still live in the long shadow of Habsburg disintegration. In addition to the lingering legacy of 19th-century state...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 8:40 PM
The mark of a great book: a write-up by the inimitable Holly Case.
Reposted by Orel Beilinson
surrogacy in #Georgia has plenty of evidence of the slide in basic governance standards across the board -- yes, profits being made, and probably some happy stories, too, but also LOTS of women left very vulnerable.
Helena Bedwell for @ocmedia.bsky.social
oc-media.org/recent-contr...
Helena Bedwell for @ocmedia.bsky.social
oc-media.org/recent-contr...
Recent controversies spark concern in Georgia’s booming surrogacy industry
In recent years, Georgia has emerged as a major global fertility hub — yet there is no proper regulatory framework, leaving surrogates at risk.
oc-media.org
November 20, 2025 at 7:19 PM
surrogacy in #Georgia has plenty of evidence of the slide in basic governance standards across the board -- yes, profits being made, and probably some happy stories, too, but also LOTS of women left very vulnerable.
Helena Bedwell for @ocmedia.bsky.social
oc-media.org/recent-contr...
Helena Bedwell for @ocmedia.bsky.social
oc-media.org/recent-contr...