Kathryn Ostrofsky
@kostrofs.bsky.social
Bunk taxonomist, Sesame Street historian, digital humanist, housing & transportation advocate, Boston Rosident.
Pinned
Well, I guess I'm on here now. Mostly to help @bunkhistory.bsky.social and @myhnn.bsky.social find and share interesting history content on the web.
Reposted by Kathryn Ostrofsky
In this moment we need #RevolutionaryLove #JoyfulResistance #Solidarity #PeoplePower and loud, visible protests in the streets! #Ride4Republic
@bostonindivisible.bsky.social @mass50501.bsky.social @nsindivisible.bsky.social @progressivemass.bsky.social
@bostonindivisible.bsky.social @mass50501.bsky.social @nsindivisible.bsky.social @progressivemass.bsky.social
June 22, 2025 at 3:10 AM
In this moment we need #RevolutionaryLove #JoyfulResistance #Solidarity #PeoplePower and loud, visible protests in the streets! #Ride4Republic
@bostonindivisible.bsky.social @mass50501.bsky.social @nsindivisible.bsky.social @progressivemass.bsky.social
@bostonindivisible.bsky.social @mass50501.bsky.social @nsindivisible.bsky.social @progressivemass.bsky.social
This is truly delightful. youtu.be/n5efl8clgT4?...
On our way to the Transport festival!
YouTube video by Rimski & Handkerchief
youtu.be
April 29, 2025 at 10:32 PM
This is truly delightful. youtu.be/n5efl8clgT4?...
Reposted by Kathryn Ostrofsky
🗃️ The question posed by James Madison in 1788 is just as salient today: should we trust “these parchment barriers against the encroaching spirit of power?” www.hnn.us/article/the-...
The Constitution Does Not Speak for Itself
In 1841, John Tyler said he was the president. The Constitution said he wasn’t. What happened next?
www.hnn.us
April 3, 2025 at 1:37 PM
🗃️ The question posed by James Madison in 1788 is just as salient today: should we trust “these parchment barriers against the encroaching spirit of power?” www.hnn.us/article/the-...
Reposted by Kathryn Ostrofsky
I'm adding two articles I wrote back in 2016 and 2017, during a different round of threats to NEH and other valuable cultural agencies.
The first is "How to Fight for Federal Support of Cultural Research and Why It Matters," which offers some specific advocacy tips
medium.com/@jasonrhody/...
The first is "How to Fight for Federal Support of Cultural Research and Why It Matters," which offers some specific advocacy tips
medium.com/@jasonrhody/...
How to Fight for Federal Support of Cultural Research and Why It Matters
This post was written on Veteran’s Day, 2016, in honor of the many soldiers and civil servants who worked alongside Vannevar Bush, head of…
medium.com
April 2, 2025 at 10:35 PM
I'm adding two articles I wrote back in 2016 and 2017, during a different round of threats to NEH and other valuable cultural agencies.
The first is "How to Fight for Federal Support of Cultural Research and Why It Matters," which offers some specific advocacy tips
medium.com/@jasonrhody/...
The first is "How to Fight for Federal Support of Cultural Research and Why It Matters," which offers some specific advocacy tips
medium.com/@jasonrhody/...
Highlights reel from the @walkuprozzie.bsky.social Roslindale Zoning Zoom! Seriously excellent, clear, helpful explanations of how zoning for density eases displacement, enhances affordability, increases tax revenue, accommodates parking, & allows aging in place.
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Highlights from The Rozzie Zoning Zoom! - YouTube
The City proposed new Squares + Streets zoning (S+S) for Roslindale! What will this mean for the community? How much new housing and public amenities should ...
www.youtube.com
March 18, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Highlights reel from the @walkuprozzie.bsky.social Roslindale Zoning Zoom! Seriously excellent, clear, helpful explanations of how zoning for density eases displacement, enhances affordability, increases tax revenue, accommodates parking, & allows aging in place.
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Attention fellow Boston-area folks, and/or folks interested in housing: join the Rozzie Zoning Zoom TONIGHT at 7pm an informational panel discussion where planning experts & Bos & Camb city councilors will discuss what new zoning changes will mean in practice.
walkuproslindale.org/weblog/2025/...
walkuproslindale.org/weblog/2025/...
TONIGHT at 7pm – The Rozzie Zoning Zoom!
The City proposed new Squares + Streets zoning for Roslindale - what will this mean for the community? How much new housing and public amenities should we expec
walkuproslindale.org
March 13, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Attention fellow Boston-area folks, and/or folks interested in housing: join the Rozzie Zoning Zoom TONIGHT at 7pm an informational panel discussion where planning experts & Bos & Camb city councilors will discuss what new zoning changes will mean in practice.
walkuproslindale.org/weblog/2025/...
walkuproslindale.org/weblog/2025/...
Reposted by Kathryn Ostrofsky
Mary Grace Chapman moved to Boston from Lewiston, Maine, with her parents, two siblings, and a nephew. In 1920, she lived at Franklin Street House, a home for single women, with at least 116 other 1920 New Women Voters. Image: Franklin Square House. Boston Public Library Arts Department.
March 8, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Mary Grace Chapman moved to Boston from Lewiston, Maine, with her parents, two siblings, and a nephew. In 1920, she lived at Franklin Street House, a home for single women, with at least 116 other 1920 New Women Voters. Image: Franklin Square House. Boston Public Library Arts Department.
Reposted by Kathryn Ostrofsky
The editors of the Atlantic City Press were responding to motordom’s pursuit of what it called “a radical revision of our conception of what a city street is for.”
March 5, 2025 at 5:10 PM
The editors of the Atlantic City Press were responding to motordom’s pursuit of what it called “a radical revision of our conception of what a city street is for.”
Reposted by Kathryn Ostrofsky
Vivian Gordon was murdered #OTD in 1931 to keep her from testifying about an NYPD ring that extracted bribes by framing innocent women for prostitution. As @erinblakemore.bsky.social explains, the resulting investigation took down the corrupt NYC mayor and his Tammany Hall cronies: loom.ly/lR8K_GY
The 1930s Investigation That Took Down New York's Mayor—and Then Tammany Hall
When FDR found out how beholden New York politicians were to mobsters, he ordered the Seabury commission to investigate.
loom.ly
February 25, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Vivian Gordon was murdered #OTD in 1931 to keep her from testifying about an NYPD ring that extracted bribes by framing innocent women for prostitution. As @erinblakemore.bsky.social explains, the resulting investigation took down the corrupt NYC mayor and his Tammany Hall cronies: loom.ly/lR8K_GY
Reposted by Kathryn Ostrofsky
"We wanted our voices to be heard. We wanted to feel that we were a part of the mainstream, and that as Blacks or African-Americans, we would we would have a certain amount of power that we could leverage for whatever we wanted to in the future."
www.npr.org/2024/02/28/1...
www.npr.org/2024/02/28/1...
A half-century later, students at the University of Mississippi reckon with the past
University of Mississippi students meet members of the school's Black Student Union from 1970. They were jailed and expelled from Ole Miss for protesting token integration.
www.npr.org
February 24, 2025 at 4:32 PM
"We wanted our voices to be heard. We wanted to feel that we were a part of the mainstream, and that as Blacks or African-Americans, we would we would have a certain amount of power that we could leverage for whatever we wanted to in the future."
www.npr.org/2024/02/28/1...
www.npr.org/2024/02/28/1...
Engines 604 and 607 make such a cute couple! @amtrak.com Valentines ❤️
February 14, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Engines 604 and 607 make such a cute couple! @amtrak.com Valentines ❤️
Reposted by Kathryn Ostrofsky
Rethinking the job of history — and the American Historical Association — after the veto of the Gaza “scholasticide” resolution. www.hnn.us/article/what...
What Is the Role of the Historian?
Rethinking the job of history — and the American Historical Association — after the veto of the Gaza “scholasticide” resolution.
www.hnn.us
February 5, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Rethinking the job of history — and the American Historical Association — after the veto of the Gaza “scholasticide” resolution. www.hnn.us/article/what...
Reposted by Kathryn Ostrofsky
Each year, we sift through thousands of online articles, essays, blogs, and newsletters that deal, in one way or another, with the American past. Here is our annual roundup of 40 standouts from 2024.
www.bunkhistory.org/resources/be...
www.bunkhistory.org/resources/be...
Best History Writing of 2024
Bunk's editors share their favorite history writing from the year just concluded.
www.bunkhistory.org
January 9, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Each year, we sift through thousands of online articles, essays, blogs, and newsletters that deal, in one way or another, with the American past. Here is our annual roundup of 40 standouts from 2024.
www.bunkhistory.org/resources/be...
www.bunkhistory.org/resources/be...
Went to the "Spineless" exhibit of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka 19th-century glass sea creatures at Mystic Seaport (which I highly recommend). Something their studio had generations before Jim Henson's Creature Shop? A drawer full of eyeballs.
December 31, 2024 at 6:03 PM
Went to the "Spineless" exhibit of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka 19th-century glass sea creatures at Mystic Seaport (which I highly recommend). Something their studio had generations before Jim Henson's Creature Shop? A drawer full of eyeballs.
The band of the fires is on fire on this frigid Boston day. It's Alright to play the Longest Day on the shortest - it's the Sound of Our Town! There's nothing I would rearrange: Del Fuegos, don't you change!
December 22, 2024 at 2:39 AM
The band of the fires is on fire on this frigid Boston day. It's Alright to play the Longest Day on the shortest - it's the Sound of Our Town! There's nothing I would rearrange: Del Fuegos, don't you change!
Looking forward to talking with @wdet.bsky.social this morning about Sesame Street on The Metro's deep dive into ad jingles in American culture!
December 19, 2024 at 3:01 PM
Looking forward to talking with @wdet.bsky.social this morning about Sesame Street on The Metro's deep dive into ad jingles in American culture!
Reposted by Kathryn Ostrofsky
Reminder: Our call for proposals is still open.
“So Long, Dental Plan!” Unions, Labor Relations and Class Struggle…As Seen On TV
Visit solongdentalplan.com for more info, or HMU.
“So Long, Dental Plan!” Unions, Labor Relations and Class Struggle…As Seen On TV
Visit solongdentalplan.com for more info, or HMU.
Call for Proposals - So Long, Dental Plan!
“So Long, Dental Plan!” Unions, Labor Relations and Class Struggle…As Seen On TV Edited by Shaun Richman Subject Fields Labor Studies, Film and Film History, American Studies, Humanities, Political Sc...
solongdentalplan.com
December 11, 2024 at 9:41 PM
Reminder: Our call for proposals is still open.
“So Long, Dental Plan!” Unions, Labor Relations and Class Struggle…As Seen On TV
Visit solongdentalplan.com for more info, or HMU.
“So Long, Dental Plan!” Unions, Labor Relations and Class Struggle…As Seen On TV
Visit solongdentalplan.com for more info, or HMU.
I love this. @dsuisman.bsky.social recognizes that the music we often assume was important in the past, the music people truly wanted and liked, and the music people actually heard around them on a daily basis, are all different things.
Why rock overtook every other genre to define our understanding of the Vietnam War. www.hnn.us/article/not-...
The Soundtrack to Vietnam War History Isn’t Quite Historically Accurate
Why rock overtook every other genre to define our understanding of America at war.
www.hnn.us
December 12, 2024 at 2:41 PM
I love this. @dsuisman.bsky.social recognizes that the music we often assume was important in the past, the music people truly wanted and liked, and the music people actually heard around them on a daily basis, are all different things.
calling 20th century scholars: the MHS is so well known for 18th & 19th century material that it has a ton of untapped 20th century papers just waiting to be mined...check their website, ask them about unprocessed collections, & apply!
The MHS welcomes Eric P. Totten, a Ph.D. candidate from the University of Arkansas. Eric is our 1,000th Research Fellow!
Join the ranks of our Research Fellows by applying for a 2025 Fellowship: www.masshist.org/research/fel...
First deadline for long-term fellowships is 15 January 2025.
Join the ranks of our Research Fellows by applying for a 2025 Fellowship: www.masshist.org/research/fel...
First deadline for long-term fellowships is 15 January 2025.
December 11, 2024 at 7:29 PM
calling 20th century scholars: the MHS is so well known for 18th & 19th century material that it has a ton of untapped 20th century papers just waiting to be mined...check their website, ask them about unprocessed collections, & apply!
"Mediacy" never caught on as a term, but maybe it should have! Now "media literacy" sounds unnecessarily clunky and I can't un-hear it.
December 10, 2024 at 1:45 AM
"Mediacy" never caught on as a term, but maybe it should have! Now "media literacy" sounds unnecessarily clunky and I can't un-hear it.
Reposted by Kathryn Ostrofsky
“Rather than drawing out elements of the ancient past that speak to and give nuance to the problems of modern politics, Ridley Scott’s anachronisms forcibly superimpose modern ideas and ideals onto the ancient world. For me, these anachronisms exist on a sliding scale.” www.hnn.us/article/all-...
All the World’s America’s Stage — Even Ancient Rome
Gladiator and Gladiator II have little to do with the Roman past. But they have a great deal to do with the American present.
www.hnn.us
December 6, 2024 at 2:36 PM
“Rather than drawing out elements of the ancient past that speak to and give nuance to the problems of modern politics, Ridley Scott’s anachronisms forcibly superimpose modern ideas and ideals onto the ancient world. For me, these anachronisms exist on a sliding scale.” www.hnn.us/article/all-...
Reposted by Kathryn Ostrofsky
Hello Bluesky! The MHS is the oldest historical society in the US founded in 1791! Follow along to learn more about our vast collections and archives, as well as our array of programs.
#MHS1791 🗃️
#MHS1791 🗃️
December 2, 2024 at 3:21 PM
Hello Bluesky! The MHS is the oldest historical society in the US founded in 1791! Follow along to learn more about our vast collections and archives, as well as our array of programs.
#MHS1791 🗃️
#MHS1791 🗃️
You want to get nuts? Let's get nuts!
November 23, 2024 at 4:07 PM
You want to get nuts? Let's get nuts!
TIL that #OTD in 1800 John Adams gave the first presidential speech to Congress at the U.S. Capitol, but then Jefferson refused to make it a tradition b/c he recognized the OG version of "this meeting could have been an e-mail"
In this week's HNN roundup: history biopics, Latino republicans, Linda McMahon & more.
Featuring A+ pieces by fellow bskyers @kawulf.bsky.social @hughryan.bsky.social @adriandaub.bsky.social
@adamlaats.bsky.social sky.social @geraldo-cadava.bsky.social sky.social
Read & subscribe!
loom.ly/oMd8ezU
Featuring A+ pieces by fellow bskyers @kawulf.bsky.social @hughryan.bsky.social @adriandaub.bsky.social
@adamlaats.bsky.social sky.social @geraldo-cadava.bsky.social sky.social
Read & subscribe!
loom.ly/oMd8ezU
Campus speech; poor posture; settler colonialism on Mars.
loom.ly
November 22, 2024 at 6:03 PM
TIL that #OTD in 1800 John Adams gave the first presidential speech to Congress at the U.S. Capitol, but then Jefferson refused to make it a tradition b/c he recognized the OG version of "this meeting could have been an e-mail"
TFW you are looking for an #OTD and it feels like it could work just as well as a news peg...
#OTD in 1934, Marine Corps Major-General Smedley Butler testified that stockbroker Gerald MacGuire had tried to enlist him in a fascist coup. Who would stop such a coup today? @katzonearth.bsky.social's 2022 book on the "Business Plot," excerpted here, takes on a new valence in 2024.
loom.ly/_tp9kHE
loom.ly/_tp9kHE
The Plot Against American Democracy That Isn't Taught in Schools
How the authors of the Depression-era “Business Plot” aimed to take power away from FDR and stop his “socialist” New Deal.
loom.ly
November 20, 2024 at 4:21 PM
TFW you are looking for an #OTD and it feels like it could work just as well as a news peg...