Last night was such a great celebration! I am honored to receive the Oral History Association Book Award in 2025 for Prisoners after War (@umasspress). Always great to reconnect with all the amazing people at OHA.

Presented (virtually) with my amazing colleague @mariamismail.bsky.social at the Library Publishing Forum 2025 on “Entangling Stories to Organize Digital
Scholarship: Creating Generative,
Community-Engaged Workflows.” Give her a follow. She’s doing innovative, community-engaged digital scholarship.

Prepping to teach about African American experiences during WWII, I searched for Dorie Miller, the sailor who saved lives and shot down two Japanese planes at Pearl Harbor. The National Archives linked to the US Navy's post. This turned into a lesson in itself about historical erasure.

Virginia Tech Author’s Night is coming up. A giant poster of my book is hanging in the library!

Just got home from a conference in Colorado Springs. Return flight was cancelled due to the winter storm, but I caught a standby to Richmond and then drove across the state of Virginia during a blizzard. But, at last, I am home.

Incarcerated veterans live in the shadows, erased in the archives and forgotten in collective memory of war. Since the Vietnam War, hundreds of thousands of vets were incarcerated in the US. To learn more, consider ordering a copy from UMass Press at 40% off. Code: HOLIDAY https://buff.ly/40GDFNT

I’ve been building capacity for higher quality in-person interviews as well. This has been a process, but I’m now coordinating and recording multiple student-led projects. These are from a project with VT alumni who served in Vietnam. For a preview, check out my YT: youtube.com/@jasonahiggi...

The kits allowed us to connect with descendants communities with ties to Virginia Tech and to include the stories of those who could not travel to participate. This is in partnership w/ Dr. Kerri Moseley-Hobbs More Than A Fraction: morethanafraction.com/about.html

For 3 years, at Virginia Tech, I’ve been building capacity and developing workflows and replicable processes for high quality remote #OralHistory projects, compiling kits (mics, headphones, iPads, and lighting). We record on Riverside FM. The paid interns process the interviews. I’m expanding.

Done. Here’s Benjamin Franklin and Theo.

It’s done. No regrets.

I spoke with some excellent students involved in the VT Prison Books project about my work on the history of incarcerated veterans this evening. They asked insightful questions, and they’re involved in a vital program. Learn more about the initiative: liberalarts.vt.edu/departments-...

I gave a talk at the University of Chicago’s Military Life Cycle and Transition Summit this morning. The organizers are donating 200 copies of #PrisonersAfterWar to the audience. What an honor and rare opportunity!

I treated myself to the Hardcover edition of Prisoners after War! The extra cost is totally worth it to me and something I regretted not doing with Service Denied. www.umasspress.com/978162534753...