Nostr notes by John Overholt

Big news! Cc @npub1qgg…0ptl ...

2026-06-30T20:16:34Z

Big news! Cc Ethan Marcotte (npub1qgg…0ptl)

RE: https://mastodon.social/@Richard_Littler/116838333860652107 ...

2026-06-30T11:32:15Z

RE: https://mastodon.social/@Richard_Littler/116838333860652107

It is incredibly important that libraries not lose the trust they have earned as a place that is safe from this, where the history we preserve stays history and not hallucination.

quoting
note1ps5…am0q

I feel like I'm going mad sometimes. Sites like Facebook have turned into history-erasing machines. There are far too many posts now along the lines of: "I found this old photo of my great grandmother and decided to restore it with #AI".
With comments like: "Oh wow, she's so beautiful! You must be *so* proud!"

As a special treat, if you come to see my War of Words exhibition ...

2026-06-29T16:09:59Z

As a special treat, if you come to see my War of Words exhibition on July 4th you can print your own $50 bill!* https://library.harvard.edu/exhibits/war-words

*Only legal tender in 1779

Like hell I will. ...

2026-06-26T14:07:30Z

Like hell I will.

He’s always famously been willing to appear in any movie that ...

2026-06-23T22:25:24Z

In reply to nevent1q…zwnq
_________________________

He’s always famously been willing to appear in any movie that will pay his going rate, but this feels a lot different to me.

A new bit of weasel-wording to watch out for: an Odyssey ...

2026-06-23T22:20:25Z

A new bit of weasel-wording to watch out for: an Odyssey audiobook not read by, but “in the voice of” Michael Caine. https://www.avclub.com/the-odyssey-ai-audiobook

I got a purchase request from a faculty member for a fairly pricy ...

2026-06-18T19:01:21Z

I got a purchase request from a faculty member for a fairly pricy book, and was able to determine that we had it, transferred in the past from the main library but never updated in the online catalog. It’s in a multi-work volume including the first scientific treatise on lemmings, establishing that, while they may show up in suddenly in large numbers, they do not spontaneously fall from the sky as previously believed.

Anthropeum is a game where you attempt to guess the place and ...

2026-06-16T21:22:32Z

Anthropeum is a game where you attempt to guess the place and time of production of 10 random items from the Met. It’s a fun challenge and a great use of open collections. This was kind of a gimme, though, it’s obviously the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. https://anthropeum.com

Here's the article: ...

2026-06-10T13:34:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…rt0h
_________________________

Here's the article: https://www.library.hbs.edu/working-knowledge/cheating-at-work-isnt-just-about-character-its-about-conditions

My work sending this article to my work email feels like a trap. ...

2026-06-10T13:23:12Z

My work sending this article to my work email feels like a trap.

Oh, dude. ...

2026-06-06T23:18:41Z

Oh, dude. https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/rare-lincoln-documents-lost-london-201407896.html

I met somebody new tonight who asked me what I do, and “Rare ...

2026-06-06T03:38:10Z

I met somebody new tonight who asked me what I do, and “Rare book librarian at Harvard” always seems like a bit of a conversation killer. Nobody’s mad at it, but they often don’t seem to know what to do with that information.

RE: https://mstdn.social/@Nickiquote/116693318638217955 Ooh, how ...

2026-06-04T21:58:56Z

RE: https://mstdn.social/@Nickiquote/116693318638217955

Ooh, how about Lego Winchester Mystery House
nostr:note1kshmhdj23j7m3nzm3y88z6zxxtd5rx7tsxhnq9pjuakarp02trvql3ss0p

I am un-ding-dong-dashable because I refuse to open my front door ...

2026-06-03T12:01:37Z

I am un-ding-dong-dashable because I refuse to open my front door to strangers. Congratulations on making me anxiously peer at my porch through the second floor blinds, I guess.

"Your Presence Is Requested: An archive of party invitations ...

2026-06-02T18:16:21Z

"Your Presence Is Requested: An archive of party invitations from the Bay Area sex-radical scene, from gay liberation to the AIDS crisis." From the collections of the Center for Sex and Culture, recently acquired by Schlesinger and Houghton Libraries. (Possibly NSFW, unless you work here.)

Harvard Library has lots of subscription materials you have to ...

2026-06-01T17:56:48Z

Harvard Library has lots of subscription materials you have to have affiliation to view, but our online catalog has always been freely available for anyone to look at. We just been notified that because it's getting hammered by bots and scrapers, starting next week non-signed-in users will only be able to see the first 250 results from a search. It's a pretty marginal restriction, but I hate that we've had to move in the direction of making the catalog less open to keep it functional.

UPDATE: The leading theory is meteorite just off the coast. ...

2026-05-30T18:52:55Z

UPDATE: The leading theory is meteorite just off the coast.

There’s a lot I don’t miss about Twitter, but I do miss the feeling that if a giant boom shook Eastern Massachusetts I’d be able to find out pretty quickly what it was.

For a future exhibition on stories of shipwrecks and desert ...

2026-05-29T22:55:53Z

For a future exhibition on stories of shipwrecks and desert isles, I thought I might include some science fictional examples. Can you suggest some golden age SF that would fit the bill? (We probably won’t have something recent like The Martian.) Bonus points if it’s illustrated on the cover of a pulp magazine, we have a really good collection of those.

“Can I just say fk AI, fk AI, f**k AI?” the comedian, ...

2026-05-28T18:59:00Z

“Can I just say f**k AI, f**k AI, f**k AI?” the comedian, actor, and rotating host of The Daily Show asked in his keynote speech during the Class Day celebration on Wednesday. The crowd at Tercentenary Theatre, made up of the graduating Class of 2026 and their friends and families, answered him with a roar of approval. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/commencement/class-day-ronny-chieng-harvard

In the transition from illuminated manuscripts to printed books, ...

2026-05-24T16:17:19Z

In the transition from illuminated manuscripts to printed books, printers often left space for well-heeled purchasers to have traditional decorative touches added. https://wordpress.library.illinois.edu/rbx/2026/05/21/an-illuminating-comparison/

I can’t believe I have to say this, but please don’t use the ...

2026-05-24T14:59:57Z

I can’t believe I have to say this, but please don’t use the microfilm storage drawers to hide a case of Natural Light. That stuff is *terrible*. https://blogs.library.duke.edu/preservation/2026/05/18/oh-the-things-we-find-in-the-stacks/

Somebody got the Circulating Library as a tattoo! ...

2026-05-22T16:24:36Z

In reply to nevent1q…ucg0
_________________________

Somebody got the Circulating Library as a tattoo! https://www.instagram.com/p/DXr5vQYCX0U/

Very excited to find something in our uncataloged materials that ...

2026-05-22T16:15:44Z

Very excited to find something in our uncataloged materials that I've been looking for for an upcoming exhibition on images of trades--a series of 1830 prints depicting people made up of the objects associated with their jobs.

Well at least somebody there understands the problem. (Via ...

2026-05-20T16:49:30Z

Well at least somebody there understands the problem. (Via Yoko's Asterisk 🏳️‍⚧ (npub1zq7…g2ym) / kottke.org (npub1efr…d96f)

History in Your Hands: an introduction to archives in six panels. ...

2026-05-17T17:47:05Z

History in Your Hands: an introduction to archives in six panels. https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/2026/05/13/archives-history-in-your-hands-an-illustrated-pamphlet/

RE: https://glammr.us/@overholt/116550684105347548 If you want to ...

2026-05-11T12:38:26Z

RE: https://glammr.us/@overholt/116550684105347548

If you want to get to know this collection better, check out the new bot [@fsa_archive](https://social.yeschenko.com/@fsa_archive ) posting a photo from it every three hours.

quoting
note1fze…aves

The Library of Congress is entering the home stretch of digitizing the massive and historically rich collection of 175,000 photographs comissioned by the Farm Security Administration. https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2026/05/preserving-the-175000-fsa-photographs-one-at-a-time/

The Library of Congress is entering the home stretch of ...

2026-05-10T14:11:43Z

The Library of Congress is entering the home stretch of digitizing the massive and historically rich collection of 175,000 photographs comissioned by the Farm Security Administration. https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2026/05/preserving-the-175000-fsa-photographs-one-at-a-time/

From the series "Miseries of Human Life," the cartoon ...

2026-05-08T13:28:43Z

From the series "Miseries of Human Life," the cartoon "Squatting Plump on an Unsuspected Cat in Your Chair!!" (1807) https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:x346dn809

The info sign seems less informative than usual. ...

2026-04-28T11:54:35Z

The info sign seems less informative than usual.

A new collection at Penn focuses on women in the wilderness. ...

2026-04-26T14:35:59Z

A new collection at Penn focuses on women in the wilderness. https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/2026/04/22/a-guide-to-finding-pictures-in-the-caroline-f-schimmel-collection-of-women-in-the-american-wilderness/

Maximum Fun is definitely the most Mastodon podcast network: ...

2026-04-23T00:26:15Z

Maximum Fun is definitely the most Mastodon podcast network: it’s a worker-owned cooperative, it’s been around almost as long as the podcast has existed, and (at least) one show is on here, The Flop House Podcast (npub195u…wtxx) . MaxFun is in the midst of its annual pledge drive, and right now would be a great time to check out its shows, or support it with a membership if you’re already a fan. https://maximumfun.org

RE: https://mastodon.social/@verge/116450368199169628 Mastodon ...

2026-04-22T21:46:25Z

RE: https://mastodon.social/@verge/116450368199169628

Mastodon will continue to let the users curate their timelines.
nostr:note19p8wnfan6zdy8nvh65wf99j8dntyng0gwqt8sntlcn9uhpgs9sqq6gwsgq

Harvard is celebrating Patriot’s Day with an all #Revolution250 ...

2026-04-20T16:40:51Z

Harvard is celebrating Patriot’s Day with an all #Revolution250 homepage, including a video about the Dunlap Broadside starring someone you might know. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNowPtxWeoY

The first work in English on the seasonal migration of birds ...

2026-04-20T15:46:48Z

The first work in English on the seasonal migration of birds comes to a perfectly logical conclusion. https://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990011766090203941/catalog

The Clements Library recently undertook to digitize this ...

2026-04-19T13:40:32Z

The Clements Library recently undertook to digitize this wonderful 19th century quilt and see what careful imaging could reveal about how it was made and the women who made it. https://clements.umich.edu/weld-grimke-quilt/ cc Ruth [☕️ 👩🏻‍💻📚✍🏻🧵🪡🍵] (npub1a0z…z5ww)

An AI-generated film about Bitcoin? Stop, there’s only so much ...

2026-04-16T11:39:44Z

An AI-generated film about Bitcoin? Stop, there’s only so much I can not-watch a movie. https://www.avclub.com/doug-liman-killing-satoshi-big-gray-ai-movie-box

Kids today don't even know the music that goes with these ...

2026-04-13T14:44:42Z

Kids today don't even know the music that goes with these lyrics.

Renaissance engineers: "We're proud to announce we've ...

2026-04-13T12:27:27Z

Renaissance engineers: "We're proud to announce we've built The Manflinger from the classic cautionary tale Don't Build the Manflinger." https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:FHCL.HOUGH:42401613:VIEW?page=482902705

Some readers record reflections on the text or family history in ...

2026-04-12T14:22:30Z

Some readers record reflections on the text or family history in the blank spaces of their Bibles, and some just want to draw chickens. https://library.chethams.com/blog/births-deaths-marriages-and-chickens-strange-finds-in-the-margins/

Bringing weaving patterns from a 300-year-old notebook back to ...

2026-04-12T14:08:11Z

Bringing weaving patterns from a 300-year-old notebook back to life on the loom. https://www.folger.edu/blogs/collation/drafting-narratives/

The Great Gatsby got eight words longer in its 2023 Library of ...

2026-04-12T13:58:58Z

The Great Gatsby got eight words longer in its 2023 Library of America edition thanks to the editor returning to the original manuscript housed at Princeton and discovering a copyist’s error. https://specialcollections.princeton.edu/2026/04/gatsby-at-101-an-east-egg-easter-egg/

“Each ‘handset’ was connected to a vast national network of ...

2026-04-09T11:32:30Z

In reply to nevent1q…lv7r
_________________________

“Each ‘handset’ was connected to a vast national network of copper wiring, but calling outside one’s own local area accrued steep per-minute charges.”

It is remarkable to see something like this explained as though ...

2026-04-09T11:25:23Z

It is remarkable to see something like this explained as though it was the technique for casting bronze in Ancient Greece. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/08/business/bitcoin-satoshi-nakamoto-identity-adam-back.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ZlA.OETP.MPLF9R5oa0F1&smid=url-share

I myself am speechless, so I'll just quote the bookseller: ...

2026-04-08T13:32:46Z

I myself am speechless, so I'll just quote the bookseller: "The painting dates from Reed's History of the Western Ant period (roughly 1967-1971). Observing that in photos and paintings of historical events, people in crowds looked like insects, he went on to give ants their due." https://www.veatchs.com/pages/books/17118/joseph-w-after-paul-revere-reed/a-view-of-part-of-the-town-of-boston-in-new-england-and-british-ships-of-war-landing-their-troops-1768 cc myrmepropagandist (npub1ppe…qv2g)

Your password must contain at least one character flaw that you ...

2026-04-08T12:45:08Z

Your password must contain at least one character flaw that you have long recognized within yourself, but that you would never admit to anyone--not your therapist, your spouse, nor your most trusted friend. It is the dark secret shame that you must bear alone.

Two of the awesomest folks I know!

2026-04-07T23:47:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…wwgt
_________________________

Two of the awesomest folks I know!

Misogynists drove out the only charter female member of the ...

2026-04-06T15:08:35Z

Misogynists drove out the only charter female member of the American Chemical Society. That's not 21st century sensibilities talking--that's what they called themselves. https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/the-misogynist-dinner/

Cat Shamans – The Fantastic Felines of Pre-Columbian Pottery ...

2026-04-04T14:00:39Z

Cat Shamans – The Fantastic Felines of Pre-Columbian Pottery https://lib.cua.edu/wordpress/newsevents/28773/

Not sure if I just don’t know what to look for or if I’m ...

2026-04-01T16:40:48Z

Not sure if I just don’t know what to look for or if I’m getting trolled by a Victorian, but I can’t find the profiles supposedly present in this picture. https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/33288131

The TSA line at San Diego Airport is truly staggering in its ...

2026-03-29T18:09:01Z

The TSA line at San Diego Airport is truly staggering in its scope, and the part where it looks like you’re reaching the back of the normal set of rope barriers only to have it loop BACK OUTSIDE THE AIRPORT AGAIN is a real dagger in the heart.

On the beach in Cabo San Lucas. The spring break bar next to us ...

2026-03-23T21:49:34Z

On the beach in Cabo San Lucas. The spring break bar next to us is having a Sexiest Macho Man contest, but given that I’m already married it seems cruel to get everyone’s hopes up for no reason.

Not long after the recovery of lost Doctor Who, a lost episode of ...

2026-03-21T05:10:58Z

Not long after the recovery of lost Doctor Who, a lost episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 turns up at a Minnesota garage sale. Keep circulating the tapes! https://www.avclub.com/mystery-science-theater-3000-lost-episode-k03-found

The perfect neighborhood if you hate getting pizza delivered ...

2026-03-17T14:29:47Z

The perfect neighborhood if you hate getting pizza delivered successfully.

I just read a sentence that referred to “the decades since” ...

2026-03-09T10:55:39Z

I just read a sentence that referred to “the decades since” 2005 and I feel personally attacked.

A spectacular discovery by film archivists at the Library of ...

2026-03-07T15:13:50Z

A spectacular discovery by film archivists at the Library of Congress, a lost film by the pioneer George Méliès and the first appearance of a cinematic robot. https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2026/02/lost-19th-century-film-by-melies-discovered-at-the-library/

I've never been to Commencement, and this is a rare one I ...

2026-03-05T13:30:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…v5jt
_________________________

I've never been to Commencement, and this is a rare one I would be excited to see. I may though be spending the day with my 1776 exhibition. (And if I'm not doing that I have no idea how I'd get a ticket.)

Conan O'Brien to headline commencement: ...

2026-03-05T13:24:01Z

Conan O'Brien to headline commencement: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2026/03/conan-obrien-85-named-commencement-speaker/

RE: https://mastodon.social/@kottke/116166340256614006 Well, old ...

2026-03-03T17:52:21Z

RE: https://mastodon.social/@kottke/116166340256614006

Well, old Rembrandt painting newly identified is a little more accurate.

quoting
note1a2q…jeel

New Rembrandt Painting Discovered. "A painting from 1633 called Vision of Zacharias in the Temple has been newly identified by Rijksmuseum researchers as an authentic Rembrandt van Rijn." https://kottke.org/26/03/new-rembrandt-painting-discove

The Wellcome Collection has digitized the sketchbook of Emily ...

2026-03-01T16:01:56Z

The Wellcome Collection has digitized the sketchbook of Emily Madden, a Victorian girl documenting the fantastical adventures of her cat, Mouton. https://wellcomecollection.org/works/rzwecsjy via [@metafilter](https://mefi.social/@metafilter )

Always a sign that things are going great when there's a ...

2026-02-20T13:23:02Z

Always a sign that things are going great when there's a prominent "Ask me about my lawsuits!" button on your homepage.

Doing a class with a bunch of wonderful medieval manuscripts, but ...

2026-02-19T19:55:47Z

Doing a class with a bunch of wonderful medieval manuscripts, but one of the rarest and most interesting has no text, because it was a model book for illuminators to copy from.

Yeah, I think the premise is cultural impact on GenX people--Judy ...

2026-02-19T18:19:44Z

In reply to nevent1q…uth3
_________________________

Yeah, I think the premise is cultural impact on GenX people--Judy Blume was born in the 1930s.

We’re watching GBBO Professionals and the presumably ...

2026-02-18T00:48:37Z

We’re watching GBBO Professionals and the presumably auto-generated captioning is having some struggles with the French vocabulary of patisserie.

I looked up Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner’s ages and it was ...

2026-02-17T02:03:21Z

I looked up Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner’s ages and it was profoundly disorienting. https://www.youtube.com/@dropping-names

Adapt xckcd 2501 to your area of abstruse specialization. ...

2026-02-17T01:48:37Z

Adapt xckcd 2501 to your area of abstruse specialization. https://marshdeer.github.io/xkcd2501-generator/

Wow, I have just been sent a Generation X-themed rare book ...

2026-02-11T14:59:58Z

Wow, I have just been sent a Generation X-themed rare book catalog and I have been so precisely targeted that there's a red dot on my forehead as I'm typing. First editions of the first Encyclopedia Brown and Choose Your Own Adventures? The scripts for 16 Candles and Heathers? Yes, please! Downloadable here: https://www.typepunchmatrix.com/catalogues.php

"In the late 19th century, some women made the boldest, most ...

2026-02-05T19:47:19Z

"In the late 19th century, some women made the boldest, most bizarre fashion choice imaginable—they started wearing pants." Fashion, Feminism, and Fear is a new online exhibition from Princeton. https://dpul.princeton.edu/fashionfeminismfear

When a piece of type gets damaged, it's like a fingerprint ...

2026-02-05T15:33:31Z

When a piece of type gets damaged, it's like a fingerprint that can be used to tie all the work of a printer together, whether or not their name appears on the title page. The Catalog of Distinctive Type is building a database of these fingerprints for Restoration England. https://cdt.library.cmu.edu/

Seen in Harvard Yard ...

2026-02-03T21:12:21Z

Seen in Harvard Yard

“U.S. President Donald Trump demanded Harvard pay $1 billion in ...

2026-02-03T17:59:35Z

“U.S. President Donald Trump demanded Harvard pay $1 billion in a settlement in a Truth Social post Monday night, pushing back against reports that the White House would no longer demand a cash payment from the University.” https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/2/3/trump-harvard-1-billion-claim/

I really hope there's an institution collecting the Mather ...

2026-02-03T13:56:04Z

I really hope there's an institution collecting the Mather Work Incentive posters. They are such an insight into 20th century capitalism and workplace culture. https://www.swanngalleries.com/auction-catalog/vintage-posters_K5FF5IMS83?algoliaParam=upcoming_lots_lotNumber_asc_prod%255Bquery%255D%3Dmather%26upcoming_lots_lotNumber_asc_prod%255BhitsPerPage%255D%3D180

I don't disagree that we are at the stage of having overseas ...

2026-01-29T13:59:22Z

I don't disagree that we are at the stage of having overseas conferences on how to protect US cultural heritage and historical records from a regime bent on erasing them, but it's still striking to see. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/2026/mar/state-united-states-safeguarding-knowledge-when-memory-becomes-political

@npub1zgt…c69a Huge backup of folks waiting for the 77 and 96 ...

2026-01-28T22:22:11Z

Universal Hub (npub1zgt…c69a) Huge backup of folks waiting for the 77 and 96 at Harvard.

Can someone older than me let me know when it stops being scary? ...

2026-01-27T14:33:58Z

Can someone older than me let me know when it stops being scary? TIA. https://uwmspeccoll.tumblr.com/post/806835037422157824/milestone-monday-jules-feiffer

Nostr event nevent1qqstpqgca7e5uj8aucv2a797ecjl9qydt5ndk088l4sz84sjupwlerszyqqyy6zg7qaymfpjyeggnsapujvhqejta4axgzgayu3h7q7tx7hhkl6mgsf

2026-01-25T02:32:39Z

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Massacre

Alaska Art Student Arrested for Eating Another Student’s ...

2026-01-20T17:44:05Z

Alaska Art Student Arrested for Eating Another Student’s AI-Generated Art in Protest https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/alaska-art-student-arrested-eating-ai-generated-art-protest-1234770081/ via Calishat (npub1ua0…ccmx)

My colleague the Curator of Printing and Graphic Arts just got ...

2026-01-13T17:56:51Z

My colleague the Curator of Printing and Graphic Arts just got something amazing—a Spanish technology encyclopedia from the 1910s full of multilayer plates to see inside all the machines.

PSA: I’m turning 55 next month, and there’s an issue with ...

2026-01-11T18:47:43Z

PSA: I’m turning 55 next month, and there’s an issue with people who got vaccinated for measles around the same time I did as a kid having waning immunity. I got tested and it turned out I had no immunity, so I got revaccinated this week. Don’t listen to the science deniers: measles is not a trivial disease if you’re 5 or 55 and we can no longer rely on herd immunity.

A week after Pearl Harbor, an Italian professor at Penn details ...

2026-01-11T15:41:34Z

A week after Pearl Harbor, an Italian professor at Penn details the Fascist persecution that forced him to flee the country. https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/2026/01/07/my-desire-of-breathing-a-free-air-giorgio-levi-della-vida-letter-as-an-enemy-alien-december-1941/

My brain woke me up to tell me that everyone’s very clever in ...

2026-01-10T12:30:50Z

My brain woke me up to tell me that everyone’s very clever in the Canny Valley.

Mrs. Chicken, are you trying to seduce me? ...

2025-12-30T15:31:49Z

Mrs. Chicken, are you trying to seduce me?

The simple edit you need to make Fairytale of New York usable is ...

2025-12-24T01:11:30Z

The simple edit you need to make Fairytale of New York usable is “braggart”. You’re welcome.

I'm taking a shift as the lobby greeter this morning and my ...

2025-12-22T15:31:19Z

I'm taking a shift as the lobby greeter this morning and my most important role so far has been chasing down people who tentatively peer in the door but are afraid to come in. By god you're going to experience the joy of special collections if I have anything to say about it!

The 1884 case that established the precedent that even if ...

2025-12-17T17:38:41Z

The 1884 case that established the precedent that even if you’re shipwrecked and starving, it is not OK to just decide you’re going to eat the cabin boy. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/politics-and-law/harvard-law-school-cannibalism-ethics

Fediverse Gone Wild ...

2025-12-17T02:42:42Z

Fediverse Gone Wild

I’m sure it’s nothing. ...

2025-12-16T19:15:25Z

I’m sure it’s nothing.

This is surely much more of this than you actually want, but we ...

2025-12-12T20:44:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…t27l
_________________________

This is surely much more of this than you actually want, but we have digitized all of our accession records from our opening until 1983. https://listview.lib.harvard.edu/lists/drs-432564916

We paid $70,000 in current dollars for the Declaration of ...

2025-12-12T20:35:35Z

We paid $70,000 in current dollars for the Declaration of Independence in 1947, approximately a 99% discount on what it would cost you today.

Did I buy this to complement the American cookbook collection at ...

2025-12-03T18:27:45Z

Did I buy this to complement the American cookbook collection at the Schlesinger Library and because it has a contemporary female ownership inscription? Yes.

Did I buy it because it calls people who work in food preparation the "Officers of the Mouth"? Also yes.
#NewAcquisition

At the rate I go through letterhead and business cards I’ll ...

2025-11-18T20:30:01Z

At the rate I go through letterhead and business cards I’ll have to restock if I stay in this job another century or two.

This is a sheet of unused turnpike tickets from an 18th century ...

2025-11-17T20:08:41Z

This is a sheet of unused turnpike tickets from an 18th century English toll road. Something like this is so completely unremarkable in its time that it almost never survives, but in this case it was used as wastepaper to fill out a binding, and then recently discovered inside. #NewAcquisition

I'm learning a lot about my distinguished colleague President ...

2025-11-17T14:00:15Z

I'm learning a lot about my distinguished colleague President Summers. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/11/17/summers-epstein-wing-man-woman-described-as-mentee/

Verify you are human: click here to feel ongoing anxiety about ...

2025-11-17T13:43:26Z

Verify you are human: click here to feel ongoing anxiety about whether you badly handled a minor interaction the other person involved forgot about 10 seconds later.

“You know what happened to the last man who crossed me? I ate ...

2025-11-15T16:34:52Z

“You know what happened to the last man who crossed me? I ate him.”

I had the Quiet Car booked for a 6 1/2 hour ride to Baltimore, ...

2025-11-13T20:52:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…h4ge
_________________________

I had the Quiet Car booked for a 6 1/2 hour ride to Baltimore, but my train got cancelled and I had to take whatever they could squeeze me into. (I have to change seats in NYC because there wasn’t one free the entire way.)

Maybe Amtrak should have just one “People are Allowed to Talk ...

2025-11-13T20:36:17Z

Maybe Amtrak should have just one “People are Allowed to Talk Car.”The default is all wrong here.

Plur1bus Step Up 2 the Streets M3gan L4yer Cake 5nal Destination ...

2025-11-12T14:35:57Z

Plur1bus
Step Up 2 the Streets
M3gan
L4yer Cake
5nal Destination
Se7en
The H8ful Eight

(Is there a 6 out there I’m missing?)

FedEx is sending a package from the city in which I live, to the ...

2025-11-12T13:16:56Z

FedEx is sending a package from the city in which I live, to the city where I work a few miles away, via Chicago. I wish they’d let me know sooner, I could have just swung by and saved everyone a lot of trouble.

VAXXED 2 THA MAXX By which I mean I just got my COVID ...

2025-11-11T20:09:56Z

VAXXED 2 THA MAXX

By which I mean I just got my COVID vaccination, got flu a few weeks ago, and I’m getting my measles antibodies checked now that we’ve managed to save it from the verge of extinction.

I’m turning 55 in a few months and I have decided that’s old ...

2025-11-07T17:15:52Z

I’m turning 55 in a few months and I have decided that’s old enough that I can buy this hat without being that guy. I just want to keep my head warm and look put together, and I promise not to say “Llllladies…” at any point.