Karin Wulf
@kawulf.bsky.social
Historian of #VastEarlyAmerica, gender, family & politics | Director & Librarian @ JCBLibrary | History Prof @ Brown U
#LineageTheBook OUP July, 2025 | On some other platforms and also @ karinwulf.com | Opinions here just mine.
#LineageTheBook OUP July, 2025 | On some other platforms and also @ karinwulf.com | Opinions here just mine.
It was a good day to revisit a crazily rewarding 2025 experience: #readingthewhale, published in the US this day 1851. 🐋
November 14, 2025 at 10:44 PM
It was a good day to revisit a crazily rewarding 2025 experience: #readingthewhale, published in the US this day 1851. 🐋
Hey this is today. 😊
November 11, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Hey this is today. 😊
I am appreciating this book of powerhouse essays so much. And not just because it vibes with my orange glitter pen. 🤓
November 3, 2025 at 6:49 PM
I am appreciating this book of powerhouse essays so much. And not just because it vibes with my orange glitter pen. 🤓
This cheerful little fella wishing you a funtastic All Hallows Eve.
(From an account of Cooke's voyage, 1712. @jcblibrary.bsky.social ofc)
(From an account of Cooke's voyage, 1712. @jcblibrary.bsky.social ofc)
October 31, 2025 at 10:24 AM
This cheerful little fella wishing you a funtastic All Hallows Eve.
(From an account of Cooke's voyage, 1712. @jcblibrary.bsky.social ofc)
(From an account of Cooke's voyage, 1712. @jcblibrary.bsky.social ofc)
Just pondering Charles Thomson, the secretary of the Continental Congress, who served from 1774 through the adoption of the Constitution in 1789. His choices about recording proceedings were immensely important. This is his signature on an edition of the journals of congress for 1774.
October 23, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Just pondering Charles Thomson, the secretary of the Continental Congress, who served from 1774 through the adoption of the Constitution in 1789. His choices about recording proceedings were immensely important. This is his signature on an edition of the journals of congress for 1774.
I think this is the National Trust for Historical Preservation version of same. savingplaces.org/press-center...
October 22, 2025 at 12:13 PM
I think this is the National Trust for Historical Preservation version of same. savingplaces.org/press-center...
October 22, 1774. The First Continental Congress concludes, resolves to meet again "on the tenth of May next." But first, printing the Journals of the Proceedings is affirmed. From one of the @jcblibrary.bsky.social's dozens of copies of those journals, printed across the colonies and in London.
October 22, 2025 at 9:50 AM
October 22, 1774. The First Continental Congress concludes, resolves to meet again "on the tenth of May next." But first, printing the Journals of the Proceedings is affirmed. From one of the @jcblibrary.bsky.social's dozens of copies of those journals, printed across the colonies and in London.
"In America the Law is King." It's only Common Sense.
October 18, 2025 at 10:30 AM
"In America the Law is King." It's only Common Sense.
If things had gone differently I guess.
October 15, 2025 at 11:38 AM
If things had gone differently I guess.
Building a federal government -- totally fascinating. And Peter Kastor's website/ investigative tool is very cool and may wreck your morning commitment to processing email just saying.
creatingafederalgovernment.wustl.edu
creatingafederalgovernment.wustl.edu
October 15, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Building a federal government -- totally fascinating. And Peter Kastor's website/ investigative tool is very cool and may wreck your morning commitment to processing email just saying.
creatingafederalgovernment.wustl.edu
creatingafederalgovernment.wustl.edu
I've long been obsessed with government documents. What do they communicate and to whom, how and when and by whom were they printed and circulated? The @jcblibrary.bsky.social has a terrific collection of the many printed journals of Congress, fr 1774. Started a weekly series on IG to discuss. 🤓
October 7, 2025 at 10:29 PM
I've long been obsessed with government documents. What do they communicate and to whom, how and when and by whom were they printed and circulated? The @jcblibrary.bsky.social has a terrific collection of the many printed journals of Congress, fr 1774. Started a weekly series on IG to discuss. 🤓
Yesterday was gorgeous. See that little hint of fall at the top of the tree? You could feel it.
October 1, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Yesterday was gorgeous. See that little hint of fall at the top of the tree? You could feel it.
A weekend pleasure is walking to the bookstore to pick up books I've ordered. So excited to read these new editions from the brilliant @triciamatthew.bsky.social! Wonderful introductions, rich and learned and: "I have a soft spot for Northanger Abbey. Its first line is hilarious." So. True. 😄
September 30, 2025 at 9:46 AM
A weekend pleasure is walking to the bookstore to pick up books I've ordered. So excited to read these new editions from the brilliant @triciamatthew.bsky.social! Wonderful introductions, rich and learned and: "I have a soft spot for Northanger Abbey. Its first line is hilarious." So. True. 😄
Some days you're just keen to locate a
September 22, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Some days you're just keen to locate a
V glad to be in DC for a conversation at Politics &Prose w Kate Haulman at 3 today about her new book on the politics of motherhood and commemoration. Changing leverage around both framed the mother of the father of the country as the 19thc wanted specific remembrance of the 18thc revolution.
September 20, 2025 at 12:20 PM
V glad to be in DC for a conversation at Politics &Prose w Kate Haulman at 3 today about her new book on the politics of motherhood and commemoration. Changing leverage around both framed the mother of the father of the country as the 19thc wanted specific remembrance of the 18thc revolution.
Very beautiful day to be very briefly in DC. Between things, stopped in at the National Archives to see the display of amendments in the Rotunda, w obligatory look at the signed parchment copy of the Constitution. Still a booster for Article 1.
September 19, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Very beautiful day to be very briefly in DC. Between things, stopped in at the National Archives to see the display of amendments in the Rotunda, w obligatory look at the signed parchment copy of the Constitution. Still a booster for Article 1.
Hmmm I might have chosen a few other misconceptions about the Constitution... but I do hear these among young adults. Also, one of the best ways to spend #ConstitutionDay is at a Naturalization Ceremony. Moving and affirming.
September 17, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Hmmm I might have chosen a few other misconceptions about the Constitution... but I do hear these among young adults. Also, one of the best ways to spend #ConstitutionDay is at a Naturalization Ceremony. Moving and affirming.
It's Constitution Day! Hello from Rhode Island, which by popular referendum rejected the Constitution and only agreed, very grudgingly, in 1790 and w addenda on rights. It was/ is a process; emblematic this tattered pamphlet (@jcblibrary.bsky.social) circulated in Massachusetts during ratification.
September 17, 2025 at 12:10 PM
It's Constitution Day! Hello from Rhode Island, which by popular referendum rejected the Constitution and only agreed, very grudgingly, in 1790 and w addenda on rights. It was/ is a process; emblematic this tattered pamphlet (@jcblibrary.bsky.social) circulated in Massachusetts during ratification.
So I read Moby Dick for the first time this summer. I read it slowly, and I took a lot of notes (selections in the 🧵⬇️). I was motivated in part by learning more over the last few years about the 18th c spermaceti candle business of the Browns in our collections @jcblibrary.bsky.social. But also 1/
September 14, 2025 at 10:25 AM
So I read Moby Dick for the first time this summer. I read it slowly, and I took a lot of notes (selections in the 🧵⬇️). I was motivated in part by learning more over the last few years about the 18th c spermaceti candle business of the Browns in our collections @jcblibrary.bsky.social. But also 1/
Signs of Virginia. (I did send one of these to my spouse and note that I'm still a mom and also did he never schlep a stroller?) It's a complicated place and I love it.
September 12, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Signs of Virginia. (I did send one of these to my spouse and note that I'm still a mom and also did he never schlep a stroller?) It's a complicated place and I love it.
Oh hi.
Quickest trip back to a place I love and miss!
Quickest trip back to a place I love and miss!
September 12, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Oh hi.
Quickest trip back to a place I love and miss!
Quickest trip back to a place I love and miss!
Last night in Richmond had the joy of conversation abt history, saw folks who were part of the “serious history for retirees” group I convened at the OI in before times. Fab dinner at Lillie Pearl w fried chicken and greens. And a group of bday ladies at another table shared cake. That’s all.
September 11, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Last night in Richmond had the joy of conversation abt history, saw folks who were part of the “serious history for retirees” group I convened at the OI in before times. Fab dinner at Lillie Pearl w fried chicken and greens. And a group of bday ladies at another table shared cake. That’s all.
August slipped away like (well, you know) and September is already bracing! Amidst all the things, can't even say how grateful I am for opportunities to talk w folks about _Lineage: Genealogy and the Power of Connection in Early America_. This week online for Conn. Museum & IRL in Richmond 1/
September 7, 2025 at 4:31 PM
August slipped away like (well, you know) and September is already bracing! Amidst all the things, can't even say how grateful I am for opportunities to talk w folks about _Lineage: Genealogy and the Power of Connection in Early America_. This week online for Conn. Museum & IRL in Richmond 1/
Did I spend a lot of time perusing examples of illustrated whales @ the JCB as a consequence of the observation that a picture of a dead whale is not as good as Jeremy Bentham's skeleton being hung for a candelabra? But of course. #ReadingTheWhale
![Page dominated by a sperm whale almost cartoonish, seen from the side with tongue protruding from open mouth with teeth showing. From the John Carter Brown Library, "Sperm Whale from Greenland" [1756] reported as viewed in 1738.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:lvjdq3atbtjluzztw6vejwsx/bafkreiasicthmb5yljilsdgpr2vnuowurpdv7r4oej22muegud3bpjlub4@jpeg)
August 8, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Did I spend a lot of time perusing examples of illustrated whales @ the JCB as a consequence of the observation that a picture of a dead whale is not as good as Jeremy Bentham's skeleton being hung for a candelabra? But of course. #ReadingTheWhale
It's Margaret's too. 🐶 True story! 😁
August 2, 2025 at 2:56 PM
It's Margaret's too. 🐶 True story! 😁