Erin Grievances
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erinbartram.bsky.social
Erin Grievances
@erinbartram.bsky.social
10K followers 1.3K following 4.2K posts
Historian of religion & gender in the 19th c US, drinker of tea in the 21st c US. Museum educator at MTH&M. Wrote some quit lit you may have read. Founder & editor at contingentmagazine.org. Former academic. Sings with Voices of Concinnity. She/her.
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erinbartram.bsky.social
A new field trip you should definitely read. contingentmagazine.org/2025/11/11/w...
In my interview for Contingent’s “How I Do History” series back in 2020, I was asked about the kind of career I thought I’d have if I wasn’t a public historian. In response, I talked about my service in the Army National Guard, and how if I ever stopped “doing history,” I’d want to somehow get involved with training future officers. It never occurred to me that I might someday have a job where I did both, but that’s exactly the situation I found myself in three years after that interview, when I spent the 2023-24 academic year serving as a visiting instructor in the Department of History (now known as the Department of History and War Studies) at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York.1
November 12, 2025 at 4:03 AM
erinbartram.bsky.social
just to break up the relentless beauty in your feed
a gray cloudy night sky and a telephone pole
November 12, 2025 at 3:55 AM
erinbartram.bsky.social
At first I thought it was a joke but now I really wonder.
Maggie Smith as Mrs. Christa Medlock, the housekeeper of Misselthwaite Manor, Minosha's wife and Lord Craven's servant Robin Williams as Minosha, Christa's husband Irène Jacob as Mrs. Lennox/Lilias Craven Peter Moreton as Will Peter Fonda as the nurse Jeff Fatt as the nurse Colin Bruce as Major Lennox Walter Sparrow as Ben Weatherstaff, the gardener The plot summary essentially needs to be removed and a new one written. 2001:569:7A70:B300:84E0:F513:C7DA:BEA2 (talk) 04:40, 1 September 2025 (UTC) Looking at the revision history, it appears some sort of AI/LLM is continously editing the page (and depositing its incoherent slop) every time a human undoes its damage. Has been happening since at least June. 2600:1700:6970:C210:153E:254D:C7EC:ADC2 (talk) 19:02, 6 September 2025 (UTC)
November 10, 2025 at 2:49 AM
erinbartram.bsky.social
imagine being frozen in perpetuity in a museum with this expression
Taxidermied otter with a bemused look on its face
November 8, 2025 at 4:04 PM
erinbartram.bsky.social
ngl this was one of the better parts of this conference trip
Two pieces of pie on a red diner counter
November 7, 2025 at 2:05 AM
erinbartram.bsky.social
The theme is wellness, broadly construed. Can't wait to see where wages fit into that. Also this is going to be a three-ring circus (if I have anything to say about it).
Wednesday, 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm Applied Artificial Intelligence in the Museum World Michael Bendit, ArtTech Alliance Museums worldwide are embracing AI to transform both operations and visitor experiences. Behind the scenes, AI is streamlining collection management, cataloging, conservation, and predictive maintenance. On the public side, it is powering interactive exhibits, multilingual audio guides, personalized recommendations, and immersive storytelling that deepens audience engagement. From chatbots that extend accessibility to data-driven insights that shape programming, AI is reshaping how museums serve their communities. This session will explore real-world applications and spark dialogue on the opportunities—and challenges—of integrating AI into cultural institutions.
November 4, 2025 at 1:37 AM
erinbartram.bsky.social
This place doesn’t have a bad side.
The mark twain house lit up in the sunset with a nice autumn tree and a blue sky
October 27, 2025 at 9:39 PM
erinbartram.bsky.social
Near and dear to my heart for reasons spiritual and intellectual. This woman was the center of my dissertation on conversion and female friendship.
Arrival in the United States: The North American Province owes its beginning to Jane Sedgwick of Stockbridge, MA - a convert to Catholicism. She desired to establish a Catholic school in Lee, MA. Since there weren't enough sisters in the United States to aid in the running of the school, Jane eventually went to Rome to appeal to Pope Leo XIII to send help. In 1885, five sisters of Saint Joseph of Chambery arrived in Lee to open the school. The rest, as they say, is history. The foundation spread roots into Connecticut and eventually into other parts of the United States.
October 26, 2025 at 3:30 PM
erinbartram.bsky.social
I am 30 or 40 years old and not the target audience anyway but everything about this product’s name and package design makes me think it’s a cat treat.
Mr beast feastables
October 23, 2025 at 10:52 PM
erinbartram.bsky.social
If the algorithm is sentient, it’s a real a hole.
Facebook then and now feature asking me to upload a photo of where I am today compared to last year on October 23, 2024 when I was early voting for Kamala Harris
October 23, 2025 at 12:45 PM
erinbartram.bsky.social
I cannot believe we are still having to talk about a guy with a Nazi tattoo as a legitimate D candidate in the same week the GOP scraped together enough shame to pull a nominee who said he was Nazi-curious.

The state is stuffed to the gills with white men. Just find another one!
According to the 2010 census, Maine has the highest percentage of non-Hispanic White of any state, at 94.4% of the total population. In 2011, 89.0% of all births in the state were to non-Hispanic White parents.[60] Maine also has the second-highest residential senior population.[61]
October 23, 2025 at 1:45 AM
erinbartram.bsky.social
Hey #NutmegSky marktwainhouse.org/event/tarot-...
Tarot & Poetry Workshop with Victoria Nordlund October 24 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM at The Mark Twain House & Museum
October 22, 2025 at 8:32 PM
erinbartram.bsky.social
It's powerful and we're all susceptible to it! contingentmagazine.org/2019/08/08/m...
It’s not that historians are distorting the past to make a point about the present. The discomfort comes from the fact that historians are often disrupting or destroying connections people have already made between the past and the present, connections that may be based on no evidence at all, but that are an integral part of how they understand what the world is like, how it came to be that way, and what their place is in all of it.
October 14, 2025 at 4:28 PM
erinbartram.bsky.social
Went to visit my hometown and got both kinds of New England fall in the span of a few hours. #NutmegSky
A view of a long green field looking down into a valley with a lake. In the distance, wooded mountains. The sky is blue with fluffy clouds. A gravestone and spindly trees with orange leaves under a cloudy misty sky.
October 11, 2025 at 8:45 PM
erinbartram.bsky.social
A gorgeous day in Hartford.
The red brick and wood front of the Mark Twain House lit up by sunlight against a cloudless blue sky
October 10, 2025 at 3:57 PM
erinbartram.bsky.social
Oh no, I may have found my in.
People also ask Did Mark Twain have ADHD?
October 6, 2025 at 9:17 PM
erinbartram.bsky.social
iykyk
A chicken sandwich with crispy cheese and a bowl of fries with a little paper cup of water from Shady Glen restaurant
September 29, 2025 at 12:07 AM
erinbartram.bsky.social
It begins like this. You should click through and read the rest.
Ain’t they virtuous? Don’t they take good care of the city? Is not their constant vigilance and efficiency shown in the fact that roughs and rowdies here are awed into good conduct?—isn’t it shown in the fact that ladies even on the back streets are safe from insult in the daytime, when they are under the protection of a regiment of soldiers?—isn’t it shown in the fact that although many offenders of importance go unpunished, they infallibly snaffle every Chinese chicken-thief that attempts to drive his trade, and are duly glorified by name in the papers for it?
September 26, 2025 at 11:48 PM
erinbartram.bsky.social
Please enjoy
an 8 part choral piece that maps 12 different voices across the parts
September 26, 2025 at 2:24 PM
erinbartram.bsky.social
Relevant baseball content?
newspaper headline reading Cleveland's Again as always Ahead.
September 24, 2025 at 4:21 PM
erinbartram.bsky.social
19th c newspapers always asking the tough questions
a newspaper headline reading Have You Boys?
September 24, 2025 at 4:20 PM
erinbartram.bsky.social
oooOOOooo
Stacks of More than Words by John Warner in a bookstore
September 19, 2025 at 9:53 PM
erinbartram.bsky.social
Wow @biblioracle.bsky.social wrote a classic Jeff Winger closing speech.
In other words, a mind untethered from the context of the world in which it is embodied and in communion with many other minds ceases to have meaning or sense. ChatGPT will talk to the void forever. Humans divorced from community go silent. Humans in captivity or isolation will continue to write because they can at least imagine the world from which they've been removed. Even alone under those circumstances, we remain part of a community.
September 19, 2025 at 12:57 AM
erinbartram.bsky.social
anyway join us in person and virtually this Friday for a real belter of a conversation marktwainhouse.org/event/more-t...
A poster for the book talk that the link takes you to. September 19 at 7 PM. The book is called More Than words: how to think about writing in the age of AI
September 16, 2025 at 12:24 AM
erinbartram.bsky.social
instead of gulping down a book, I’m actually trying to savor as I read for an upcoming talk at the museum. it helps that it’s got lots of bits to savor.
The assistant band director knew we were all there because the course was an easy A, which in a way seemed to free him up to teach us something more meaningful, that the world will reveal itself to you if you learn to pay attention. We learned that we possessed the powers to observe (listen to) the world and interpret that world for ourselves. I'm confident we made no discoveries not already known by many before us, but we were being taught to believe in ourselves as creators of knowl-edge, self-knowledge above all.
September 16, 2025 at 12:20 AM