Today’s What We’re Reading features the history of playgrounds, a roundtable on the usefulness of unpaid internships, biblioburros (?), a drunk history of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and much more!
History in the News
The Associated Press reports that former governor Mitch Daniels favored conservative education leader Bill Bennett’s review of American history in lieu of Howard Zinn’s readings.
History is Useful Tool, Not Answer to Every Problem
Historian Catherine O’Donnell argues for history as a central source of information about the world, but argues it is neither an “oracle nor referee.”
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Oldest Globe to Depict the New World May Have Been Discovered
An Australian collector may have found the oldest globe, dated 1504, to depict the New World.
How We Came to Play: A History of Playgrounds
First in a series of posts about playground history on PreservationNation, featuring the work of graduate students.
Truth and Reconciliation
From NCPH news, Canadian historians petition the government to release relevant records to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that is investigating abuses at government-funded Indian Residential Schools in the 19th and 20th centuries.
New York had a Hyperloop First, Elon Musk
From HNN, Stephen Mihm points out that Elon Musk’s “hyperloop” proposal has roots in 19th-century proposals for transportation by pneumatic tube.
Higher Education
Unpaid Internships: A Foot in the Door or a Step Backward
From NCPH’s History@Work, an interesting roundtable on the benefits and pitfalls of unpaid internships.
Feminist open online courses look to change the pedagogy of the MOOC platform.
The Almanac of Higher Education 2013
The Chronicle’s annual publication is rich with data on everything from salaries to spending on research libraries to student preferences in coursework to technology.
Librarians Being Cool
A truly surprising list that includes Biblioburros and something called a “book cart drill team” that involves Vikings.
In addition to personalizing book carts, librarians also love recreating popular music videos, as evidenced by this Beastie Boys’ Sabotage video.
Fun and Off-Beat
How Pixar Nearly Deleted Toy Story 2 before its Release
A short video from a technical director of the film that tells the harrowing story of when technology gets in the way of filmmaking.
David McCullough Wondering How Much Scratch He Could Shake Out of Frederick Douglass
From the Onion, renowned historian David McCullough considers “how much cheddar” he could earn writing a biography of Frederick Douglass.
Drunk History: Lewis and Clark
The drunk historians retell the story of Lewis and Clark, with the aid of copious amounts of alcohol.
This post first appeared on AHA Today.
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