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Hopkins Retrospective
@hopkinsretro.bsky.social
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A dynamic public history initiative to research, reexamine, and share the history of Johns Hopkins University with the community in meaningful ways!

https://retrospective.jhu.edu/
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The Homewood Museum held a panel discussion last night for their new exhibit, "If Walls Could Talk: A History of an American House", now open until 2027. Michelle Fitzgerald, John Guess (A&S '71, SAIS '76), Hadeed Habib (A&S '25), and Molly Moores spoke on their process of shaping the exhibit
Five people sit at the front of a room with painted white stone and brick walls. A video camera sits to the left, and some of the audience in front of the panel can be seen in the photo. Five people sit at the front of a room with painted white stone and brick walls. The man in the middle, wearing a blue cap, dark grey suit jacket, and jeans, speaks as the other panelists turn their heads to listen to him.
November 7, 2025 at 8:52 PM
hopkinsretro.bsky.social
Ira Remsen was the first chemistry professor at Hopkins and the university's second president. His legacy on campus was cemented in 1927 when the new chemistry building was named in his honor, and his ashes were interred behind a plaque shortly after the building's opening. #HappyHalloween
October 31, 2025 at 1:58 PM
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“Papercuts. I keep Band-Aids in my desk drawer! On a more serious note, sometimes archival materials discuss or depict difficult topics...."

Photo: A letter to former Senator Ben Cardin from former President Joe Biden, in October 1988.
A letter from Joe Biden to Benjamin Cardin on October 5, 1988. The letter is short, but mentions bill H.R. 1149, that Biden believes will be passed without incident in the House.
October 16, 2025 at 7:35 PM
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“Basically, I do what a librarian does with books but with historic records. Archivists describe and provide access to historic records (and a whole bunch of other stuff, but that’s the cool part). ”– Allison Seyler, Hopkins Retrospective Program Manager
Allison Seyler, a blonde woman in her 30s, stands with two men wearing university spirit gear, holding a document open on a book cradle. All three smile as they converse with each other.
October 16, 2025 at 6:33 PM
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“We do have a mascot in the archives, Box Friend, a sentient box with a winning smile. Alternatively, a cat – never enough cats.”– Kristen Diehl, Processing Archivist
A young woman side-hugs an archival box with googly eyes and a hand-drawn half smile.
October 16, 2025 at 5:23 PM
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“Some of the weirdest items I have found.... a tire pressure reader, a plastic syringe, matchsticks, and a lock of hair. With the Sarbanes papers...I have seen...a commemorative coin, license plates, and a weirdly shaped CD.” – Irene M. Lewis, Congressional Papers Processing Archivist
Eleven liscense plates laid out on a off white table, each marked for a different congressional session and varying in color from blue, white, and red. They range from the 93rd congress to the 109th congress. An oval-shaped CD decorated with the dark blue European Union flag with 12 yellow stars. The CD is titled for the “Delegation of the European Commission to the United States”, the European Union website listed at the bottom. An aged bronze commemoration coin with German written at the top and an ornate building below the words. Below the building "Berlin" is written. A ruler is placed on the table below the coin to show that it is 1 inch round.
October 16, 2025 at 4:04 PM
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“That would have to be a 1988 Barbie Dance Club cassette tape found amongst congressional papers about pension legislation.” – Nicole Connell, Congressional Papers Processing Archivist
A pink cassette tape for the song “Doin’ the Barbie (Dance Mix)”, written and produced by Jerry and Cheryl Caglese. Executive producer is Carlos Rios. Note the cassette also says Side A and that it is part of the “Barbie Dance Club” collection.
October 16, 2025 at 4:04 PM
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Nothing says Fall Break more than taking the time to enjoy the chilling temperatures, drink a hot beverage, revel in spooky season, and admire the changing leaves. Have a wonderful week, everyone!
A black and white photo of Homewood House in the distance behind several trees that have shed most of their leaves. A black and white photo of three young white men sitting around a fireplace in plush chairs in a room with square wood paneling. A black and white photo of twenty students with light skin tones sitting in a room with a grand piano that has a carved pumpkin on top of it.
October 15, 2025 at 6:25 PM
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"On October 21, Homewood Museum will open If Homewood’s Walls Could Talk: A History of an American House, a new exhibition exploring the house’s full 224-year history."

blogs.library.jhu.edu/2025/10/new-...
A black and white photo of a grand door entrance and its entrance hall. Two sets of wooden doors open out onto a grassy and tree-covered lawn. The transoms above each door arch over with an intricate design that looks like decorative spokes on wheels.
October 3, 2025 at 5:13 PM
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Hopkins Retrospective was also able to share the work we do through two sessions at NCPH 2025 - “Engaging Communities in Critical University Histories” and “Solidarity in Our Storytelling: Lessons in Collaborative Historiography.” Read more about both now at blogs.library.jhu.edu.
A graphic with the title of the written piece, “Hopkins Retrospective Team Attends National Council on Public History: Solidarity in Montreal, Part 2”. A photo in the middle shows a portrait of a dark-skinned woman with an afro with a falcon sitting in her hand. It has been painted as a mural on the side of a building using vibrant purples, blues, red, and gold colors.
October 3, 2025 at 4:53 PM
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Was Gilman Hall the first building constructed on Homewood campus? Can you guess when a photo was taken by what someone is wearing? Test out your university history skills at Hop Into History this 10/02 on Keyser Quad from 11 AM – 2 PM. We’ll also have some prizes and light snacks for you to grab.
A woman in her thirties wearing a bright yellow jacket stands in front of a whiteboard, pointing to it while two younger women look at the board in excitement. They stand outside on a brick walkway with large trees shading them. In the foreground is a table with cookies and bags of chips.
September 29, 2025 at 6:43 PM
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This year’s NCPH conference centered on the theme of Solidarity/Solidarité, echoing historical and contemporary calls for worker solidarity. Read about Hopkins Retrospective’s experience at the conference, published earlier this week.

https://blogs.library.jhu.edu/
A graphic with the title of the written piece, “Hopkins Retrospective Team Attends National Council on Public History: Solidarity in Montreal, Part 1”. A photo in the middle shows four people sitting at a table with laptops out in front of them. A link at the bottom reads blogs.library.jhu.edu.
September 26, 2025 at 2:34 PM
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The Billie Holiday Center has hosted the event every year with FREE jazz performances, local food and art vendors, and Black archive repositories. This year, join them on September 6 from 1 PM to 6 PM!

sites.krieger.jhu.edu/billie-holid...
A poster for the 7th Annual Billie Holiday Jazz in the Square. The event will be held on September 6, 2025 with food, music, and vendors. The flier lists several artists along with the promise of a “surprise special guest”. The location listed is Historic Lafayette Square Park. The time listed is 1 PM – 6PM. Behind the text is a black and white cutout of Billie Holiday over a blue background.
August 27, 2025 at 3:23 PM
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Additionally, Billie Holiday lived on Argyle Avenue, just off of Lafayette, and nearby the Royal Theater (1922 – 1971) was the city’s “fountainhead of…jazz heritage”.
On the left a wire display holds up about a dozen black and white photographs. Nearby and further back in the photo, several tents are set up in the grass where several people stand around vendor tables, out of focus. A man with a medium skin tone closes his eyes as he passionately plays a saxophone. He wears a white and gray vertical striped button-up shirt.
August 27, 2025 at 3:23 PM
hopkinsretro.bsky.social
The Annual Billie Holiday Jazz in the Square is strategically located in a neighborhood that has been an anchor of Baltimore’s African American religious life, only a few blocks away from two of the oldest African American Christian congregations in the U.S.
: On the left, Mayor Brandon Scott, a young dark-skin man stands on a stage next to a microphone stand. He wears a shirt that reads “to my black people, I love you”. Next to him on the right, a medium-dark-skinned woman smiles and wears a patterned yellow and white dress. She holds up a folder revealing a certificate, and in her other arm, she holds a bouquet. A man with medium-dark skin tone plays a trumpet. He wears a blue, green, white, and red vertical striped button-up shirt.
August 27, 2025 at 3:23 PM
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Jazz, community, history, and a lot of love have been filling the Historic Lafayette Square Park since 2019.

(All photos in this thread are from the 2022 Billie Holiday Jazz in Lafayette Square, photographed by Will Kirk.)
Eleven people standing together and smiling, standing in front of several vendor stands and tents outdoors in a park.
August 27, 2025 at 3:23 PM
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Today, off-site storage facilities, hundreds of materials are moved between campuses weekly through an efficient system serviced by many Hopkins affiliates. If you ever get the chance to see these library staff members who are always on the move, send a thank you their way when you do!
August 18, 2025 at 2:19 PM
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Even in the university’s earliest days, librarians found ways to get books across campuses. In a 1910 News-Letter article, the head librarian mentions, “the…plying of a messenger between McCoy Hall and Medical School on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons [facilitating] the interchange of books”.
A cropped portion of an aged newspaper. The text visible reads, “…To our simple code of rules, applied with good will and candor, I hope it is not unjust to attribute the improved spirit de corps in the library, and even the physical aspect of things, perhaps, is a bit more inviting, though not much cleaner to be sure. The reserved shelves seem to be appreciated, with their quick charging. For the revolutionized library our debt is large to Prof. C. M. Andrews, uniformly so zealous and cooperative. The regular plying of messenger between McCoy Hall and the Medical School on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons facilitates the interchange of books. The display of new books in the Main Library by the Press has been welcomed by many”.
August 18, 2025 at 2:19 PM
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It’s International Delivery Driver Appreciation Day, and we couldn’t be any more grateful for the amazing staff who deliver books and archival material to a campus near you!
Two men stand on the driver’s side of a white van with the Johns Hopkins Sheridan Libraries logo. They both smile at the camera.
August 18, 2025 at 2:19 PM
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Momentum and enthusiasm were built for the ensemble in the early 80s, as evidenced by the commuting of musicians from Maine, Pennsylvania, and California to play for the Baltimore Consort and Pro Musica Rara, an early music ensemble based in Baltimore, which included Peabody faculty.
The Baltimore Consort and Pro Musica Rara members holding treble viol, flute, lute, cittern, bandora, and bass viol, 1985. A black and white photo of four men in tuxes and bowties standing against a bookshelf and a velvet curtain. Two women sit in the front row, wearing dark formal dresses. Each person holds an instrument in their hands. They hold a treble viol, a flute, a lute, a cittern, a bandora, and a bass viol. An excerpt of an article on early music at Peabody in the Johns Hopkins Peabody News, 1985. An excerpt from a news article about early music specialists. One paragraph describes Rod Regier's attempt to build an instrument with boiled cow bones being stolen by neighborhood dogs. Another paragraph describes Shirley Mathews, a Peabody faculty member who commutes from Maine once a week to teach and helps Regier with building instruments. Due to their efforts, Peabody students have access to various early music instruments.
July 31, 2025 at 1:20 PM
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It’s Uncommon Instrument Awareness Day, and students at the Peabody Institute throughout the years have played all kinds of unusual instruments. Today, we’re taking a look at instruments often played in the Peabody Renaissance Ensemble.
Anne Marie Morgan instructing Peabody student Christopher Sutherland on how to play the viol, 1990. A black and white photograph of a student and a faculty member sitting in chairs, both holding viols in their hand. The student looks down at his instrument in concentration, and the faculty member holds her bow out to direct the student. Words above their heads say A Prized Collection of Viols Finds a Home at Peabody.
July 31, 2025 at 1:20 PM
hopkinsretro.bsky.social
Have you ever heard the alluring sound of the viola da gamba? Or have you ever seen a krumhorn and wondered if someone is playing out of an upside-down cane?
The Baltimore Consort and Pro Musica Rara members holding treble viol, flute, lute, cittern, bandora, and bass viol, 1985. A black and white photo of four men in tuxes and bowties standing against a bookshelf and a velvet curtain. Two women sit in the front row, wearing dark formal dresses. Each person holds an instrument in their hands. They hold a treble viol, a flute, a lute, a cittern, a bandora, and a bass viol. Peabody Faculty Member Philip Kolker plays his baroque bassoon with other early instruments laid out on a piano in front of him, including a krumhorn, 1989. A man standing in front of a harpsichord with several wooden instruments laid on top of it. He plays a bassoon, a large instrument that is more than half of his height. The other pieces of the piano look like different mouthpieces and a crumhorn, a curved wooden wind instrument. A group shot of Helicon, an instrumental trio that include alumni Chris Norman and Ken Kolodner. They hold from left to right a flute, a cittern, and a hammered dulcimer, 1990. A newspaper describing Helicon, an instrumental trio composed of Chris Norman, Ken Kolodner, and Robin Bullock. The first is an alumnus of Peabody and the second an alumnus of Johns Hopkins University. The clipping also advertises their Winter Solstice Concert and the release of their third album, The Titan.
July 31, 2025 at 1:20 PM
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Biiiiig Stretch.

We hope you’ve had a moment to relax as we pass our halfway mark through the summer.

Photos: A black and white photo of a squirrel stretching out on a log on campus, 1990.

Photographers: Gordon Swan/Jay Van Rensselaer
Black and white photo of a squirrel stretched out flat on a tree branch, reaching forward with its front paws. A squirrel stretched out flat on a tree branch, looking upwards with alert eyes in a black and white photo.
July 17, 2025 at 12:39 PM
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This post is a condensed version of a zine created by Raven McCoy and Naina Gupta for their grant project, “Queer Ekphrasis in Baltimore” done with @jhulibraries.bsky.social. For more information, look at www.queerekphrasisbaltimore.com.
Words at top read, Workshops. On the left of the infographic is Queer Times from 2020. A newspaper front page of the 1981 Gay Paper. The paragraph underneath talks about the use of archives to explore LGBTQ print and news media. On the right is “Gendertopia” from 2001. A poster with a combination of gender symbols are shown over the words “Youth Pride Atlanta, Georgia, Because No One Should Grow Up Invisible or Alone”. The paragraph below explains the event as a facilitated discussion. Words at top read, “Drag & Club Nights”. The top image shows an advertisement for Drag Night and Dance in 2000, co-sponsored by the Black Student Union, Latina Estudiantil, and Multi-Ethich Students. The image in the middle advertises Club Night: Badlands in 2001, a dance event in DC. The bottom image shows a screenshot of a google calendar for DSAGA going to TOWN Danceboutique in 2013, also in DC with a provided bus. Words at top read, “Bmore Proud, The Collegiate Queer Coalition of Metropolitan Baltimore, 2013-2017”. There are seven images below showing posters, conference schedules, buttons, and people tabling at events. The paragraph below describes B’More Proud as a “loose collective of queer representatives and organizations from college campuses in the Baltimore region”. At the top, explains infographics are a condensed version of a zine created by Raven McCoy and Naina Gupta for their grant project, “Queer Ekphrasis in Baltimore” done with Sheridan Libraries. Below the credit, a bibliography is listed with eight different sources and a link Aspace, an online repository management system.
June 30, 2025 at 12:59 PM
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Words at the top read “DSAGA Over the Years”. A photo shows hand decorated and painted white banners on campus. The middle is a banner painted by DSAGA with a mouth wearing red lipstick and a rainbow mustache and words “Got Pride? National Coming Out Day 2011” underneath them. The paragraph below explained that various name changes the club went through before settling on Diverse Sexuality and Gender Alliance in 1993. Words at top read, “Awareness Days”. One image is a black and white photo with multiple hands holding up a cake with writing that reads “Awarness Day 2002: Celebrate a decade of diversity”. The second is a scan of DASAGA fliers from other Awarness days from 2012 promoting a carnival. The last is a more recent post from Instagram promoting a series of events to celebrate Pride Month. The paragraph on this page explains Awarness Days traditions and promotion methods throughout DSAGA’s history. Words at top read, “GBM Posters Over the Years”. Six posters, three labeled from 1984 and the rest labeled for the years 2021, 2023, and 2025. The posters from 1984 feature taglines such as “Gay people do it too. Get used to it”, “Do you support human and civil rights for all people, regardless of gender or sexuality? So Do We”, and “Being gay may not be what you think it is”. The more recent posters feature events for “DSAGA Gayme (Game) Night”, “LGBT Activism”, and “Queer Indentity”. Words at top read “Past Speaker Events”. The two speakers featured on the page are Joo-Hyunkang and Leslie Feinberg, both visiting in the spring of 2001. Joo-Hyunkang is described as the executive director of the Audre Lorde Project. Her visit was co-sponsored by the Inter Asian Council. Feinberg is described as an “activisit, trade unionist, anti-racist, socialist”. His event was co-sponsored by Student Affairs and Chase Brexton. Both have black and white photos on the infographic.
June 30, 2025 at 12:59 PM