Zachary Conn
zacharyconn.bsky.social
Zachary Conn
@zacharyconn.bsky.social
Historian of pre-1900 North America. Postdoc at the University of Idaho. Working on a book about early US representatives to Native American nations and a podcast about the Diary of John Quincy Adams. Learn more IF YOU DARE at zacharyconn.com
Pinned
Hello historians! Amid...everything, there still seems to be a prof job market & I seem to be on it. Self-promote I must. If you are interested in early federal Indian agents, inquiry-driven history teaching, an in-progress JQ Adams pod, etc, please visit my new world wide website, zacharyconn.com.
Dr. Zachary Conn
zconn@uidaho.edu
zacharyconn.com
I've had the somewhat unusual experience of going straight from teaching 10th graders to grad students. Lots of differences, of course, but I've had some success importing the occasional high school technique like think-pair-share and an in-class work day with me floating around and checking in.
November 7, 2025 at 2:00 AM
This is really sweet and deeply weird (in a good way)!
Our department has the wonderful tradition that when someone publishes a book, @smotus.bsky.social bakes a cake in its honor. He really went above and beyond on this one!

Link to the book: www.cambridge.org/core/element...
September 27, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Hello historians! Amid...everything, there still seems to be a prof job market & I seem to be on it. Self-promote I must. If you are interested in early federal Indian agents, inquiry-driven history teaching, an in-progress JQ Adams pod, etc, please visit my new world wide website, zacharyconn.com.
Dr. Zachary Conn
zconn@uidaho.edu
zacharyconn.com
September 17, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Reposted by Zachary Conn
Fantastic resource for historians: a spreadsheet of NARA's digitized microfilm, with links to the files in the Archives catalog. May it help you as much as it has helped me.

www.archives.gov/files/colleg...
www.archives.gov
August 21, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Specialization can go too far. But have you ever encountered a toaster oven as good at its core function as a humble toaster is?
August 9, 2025 at 1:03 PM
It’s ultimately for others to judge, of course, but I think that after two years of sometimes frustrating effort I now sort of understand how to write a narrative history podcast. Mostly, it involves making room for the sounds of horses.
July 12, 2025 at 10:30 PM
I just had such a nice catch-up call with a former colleague from my high school teaching days. In that setting, students are not the only ones who forge meaningful friendships through shared struggle.
July 11, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Very excited for, and a little nervous about, this 3-minute presentation on the Indigenous side of the American Revolution at SHEAR 2026! I somehow got chosen to be on this list of heavy hitters ⚾️
July 8, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Very excited for, and a little nervous about, this 3-minute presentation on the Indigenous side of the American Revolution at SHEAR 2026! I somehow got chosen to be on this list of heavy hitters ⚾️
July 8, 2025 at 2:58 PM
The word “methodology” echoes across the bar. I must be at a conference again.
June 27, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Excited to go to my first SHAFR and try to help get the word out that US-Indigenous relations = international relations! Lmk if anyone wants to meet up or feel free to approach me at the conference. Just as a heads up: I am rather short but make up for it by being rather loud.
June 26, 2025 at 10:57 AM
I am excited to announce that through vigorous archival research I have made a major historical discovery: It was hard for the US government to get things done under the Articles of Confederation.
May 31, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Something has happened to me and now I'm a Cafe Guy instead of a Home Guy for writing. Still adjusting to lack of musical control. The all-day cafe near my apt in Dallas is great but they switch to evening music around 5 and now we're listening to the whole Taylor Swift Reputation LP--not her best!
May 28, 2025 at 10:17 PM
In the past, I have liked but not loved Car Seat Headrest, but I think their new album (a rock opera!) may be an actual masterpiece.
May 5, 2025 at 11:36 PM
I awoke this morning to find that in my dream I’d been full-on teaching a class I’m excited to offer this fall. Amid all the darkness around us these days, I am grateful to have meaningful work that inspires me, even on an unconscious level. So many people lack this; it cannot be taken for granted.
April 22, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Reposted by Zachary Conn
Check out the Early American Tracker!

The #JERPano invites academic historians, public historians, federal workers, teachers, and concerned citizens to submit evidence of changes made to the Early American historical record.

Visit The Panorama at: thepanorama.shear.org/2025/04/09/t...
April 16, 2025 at 2:50 PM
At 34, I am apparently now old enough to be in charge of making charoset for the Passover seder. The mid-30s are an exciting time for personal and spiritual growth.
April 10, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Reposted by Zachary Conn
to all who celebrate...
April 9, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Deploying the "Omit Filler Words" function on the podcasting software I use makes me feel like a minor god. I wish I could zap away every wretched "um," "uh," and "you know" from my speech in everyday life.
April 2, 2025 at 3:48 PM
My version of Proust’s madeleine is that if I eat a gummy bear I’m back to trying to soothe myself while spending two weeks on a tour bus attempting to interest 24 unruly ninth graders in the Indigenous history of the American Southwest.
March 31, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Entering a ride share with the driver playing Grover Washington, Jr. can be a very good or a very bad omen. The ultimate musical border case.
March 31, 2025 at 3:32 PM
It’s messed up that this even has to be said (unfortunately, it does). How can we help students learn to think and express with more clarity, rigor, and sophistication if we say it’s ok to outsource the brain work to a machine?
Zero patience for talks about accessible academic writing that also tell me that ChatGPT is a powerful new tool for writers. 🤢
March 27, 2025 at 4:46 PM
My colleagues at the SMU Center for Presidential History and I had a great time yesterday celebrating the work of our interns from Dallas's Irma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School! My intern did fantastic work going through mentions of federal Indian agents in the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper.
March 25, 2025 at 3:11 PM
“Severance”: an inspiring TV series about career diversity for History PhDs
March 1, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Does anyone have a favorite historical currency converter for the US dollar? Gotta help my future podcast listeners (there will be at least 7 or 8) imagine paying a treaty-mandated ransom to the Bashaw of Tripoli.
February 28, 2025 at 12:11 AM