Today’s What We’re Reading features the recent Supreme Court decisions, a new crowdsourcing project from the Chronicle aimed at tracking PhD placement, a new report on the health and vitality of national parks in England, and much more!

SCOTUS and History

The AHA is rolling out a series of roundtables on two of the recent Supreme Court decisions. The first roundtable, posted just this morning, features the Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin case. You can read the responses here, and be sure to check in throughout the week for new commentary.

Historians Played Important Role in DOMA Decision

HNN editor David Austin Walsh discusses the important role historians played in the Supreme Court’s recent decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act, including the amicus brief filed by the AHA.

A Look Back at LGBT Rights 10 Years Ago

Curator Katherine Ott from the National Museum of American History discusses the landmark case of Lawrence v. Texas.

History and the Discipline

Foreman Wolf Seeks English, History Majors to Staff Columbia Restaurant

Restauranteurs Tony Foreman and Cindy Wolf have publicly noted they prefer to hire history and english majors. Why? As Foreman notes, history majors “can think on their feet, communicate well, hustle, are kind to guests and waqnt to be part of something much larger than themselves. While restaurant knowledge can be taught, those characteristics can’t.”

EveryBody: An Artifact History of Disability in America

A new exhibition from the National Museum of American History on the topic of disability in America.

Crowdsourcing PhD Data

The Chronicle’s PhD Placement Project, which intends to track PhDs, is off to a roaring start.

What We Do: Researching and Writing

Falling Short: Seven Writers Reflect on Failure

“Failure is what writers do. It is built in.” Ann Enright and six other wildly successful people reveal some dark moments, personal and professional.

The Appendix, Appendixed

The Appendix, which bills itself as “a new journal of narrative & experimental history,” has reimagined the idea of the index for Web 2.0 and we can’t stop playing with it.

Haystacks v. Algorithms

We all lament the lost art of stumbling upon things in the library, but is it really a viable research strategy?

Preserving the Past

National Parks, National Assets

National Parks England has released a new report estimating the economic value of English national parks.

Heritage for Sale?

The Detroit Institute of Arts nearly had its collection sold to pay the city of Detroit’s debts. Museum 2.0 talks through the ethics of museum de-accession in a time of economic crisis.

This post first appeared on AHA Today.