Adam Quinn

19 Nov 2024

Reposting this intro for my new followers along with a bonus dog

Adam Quinn@adamquinnphd.com

Hi everyone! I'm a labor & environmental historian and organizer. My current research looks at the history of the work of turning natural materials into computers. I've also published on abolitionism, anarchism, and environmental politics and organized with my grad union and EWOC.

lookouteugene-springfield.comUO weighing cuts to graduate programs in humanities, educationThe proposals could eliminate Oregon’s only history doctoral program along with one of North America’s few graduate programs in folklore, faculty said.

The History PhD program has been at UO since the 19th century and is among the top programs for environmental history (not to mention the role of PhD students in running classes at the university). It'd be a shame to cut it for short-term budget issues. lookouteugene-springfield.com/story/univer...

23 Sept

The New York Times is actually incorrect about when the 21st century began (seriously, lol). They specifically disqualify The Sopranos since it started in the 20th century. Gilmore Girls started in 2000... which was still the 20th century.

The New York Times@nytimes.com

Alexis Bledel, who starred in seven seasons of “Gilmore Girls,” was one of more than 500 voters in our poll of the 100 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century. See the list so far, plus Bledel’s own top 10 shows, here as we count down to No. 1. nyti.ms/3V62l1E

30 Aug

Critical mineral (water) shortage

19 July

Looking for one more paper and/or a commentator! Actual deadline is 7/20

Adam Quinn@adamquinnphd.com

Open call for contributions to a panel at SHOT (remote, 10/22-25) on automation and environment in historical perspective. Abstracts for contributions due by 7/18. www.historyoftechnology.org/annual-meeti...

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Excited to share that I've accepted a tenure-track position in the History of Technology at the University of Texas at Dallas! Now to find out if I can pull off a cowboy hat...

bird quantity

Scott 𐚁 🦇 Cave 🦇@hellabarnes.bsky.social

what is the reverse historical dorito? the thing from the past that would blow our minds in a positive way

9 July

Excited to share that I've accepted a tenure-track position in the History of Technology at the University of Texas at Dallas! Now to find out if I can pull off a cowboy hat...

Alex Elizabeth Byrne McMillan

3 June

I had a dream last night where I was workshopping the article I'm working on and... the dream feedback was actually really helpful.

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@undeniablyalex.bsky.social

23 May

YOU’RE LISTENING TO SISYPHUS FM, THE HOME OF NON-STOP ROCK

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4 May 2025

The first recorded use of "May the Fourth Be With You" is from a pro-Thatcher ad in the London Evening Standard when she was elected on May 4th, 1979. I am pro Star Wars and take no pleasure in reporting this.

thecollegefix.comU. Florida students flock to new ‘philosophy, politics, economics, and law’ major | The College FixHamilton School to roll out new degree in ‘war, statecraft, and strategy.’…

12 May

Alternate headline: U of F adding every discipline to one major, recreating Hampshire College and New College of Florida from first principles www.thecollegefix.com/u-florida-st...

9 May

When thinking historically about UFOs, it seems most salient to focus not on whether aliens are real but on what the government's rhetoric and public's beliefs tell us about our society. This is coming up in a period of the US exercising and escalating its chip, missile, and space dominance.

Public approval of foreign policy and data centers is low. Many people are deeply compelled by conspiracy theory and Ufology. Might as well periodically dust off some old documents to signal that we need to subsidize SpaceX/AI/Raytheon and pass trillion dollar military budgets, because aliens.

9 May

Generally, more transparency around historical documents is good. This is very selective though, and otherwise we are in a moment where federal archives and parks are becoming more opaque. Worth asking why the push for transparency here & sudden secrecy on topics like George Washington's slaves.

Interestingly, both escalating US military-tech power and releasing UFO files have been bipartisan efforts under both Biden and Trump. There's some technological explanation for this overlap (e.g., the only really novel release so far has been high tech observations from fighter jets).

9 May

But, mostly, it seems like a low stakes way to play into public distrust of institutions (frames the current admin as distinct from shadowy Cold War gov) and build trust in the military-technological complex (which tends to be where much of the ongoing distrust is coming from).

28 Apr

The Apple TV exec who greenlighted For All Mankind with the knowledge that by season 4 they could do constant product placement with retro iPods on Mars

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Jim Wald

@citizenwald.bsky.social

25 Apr

Hey, look at this great honor that my former student Adam Quinn Adam Quinn received! THIS is what a Hampshire College education, under the best of circumstances and with the best of students, can achieve. The College may die, but its lessons live on and are passed on

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Stanford University Press

17 Apr

Excited and honored to share that my dissertation was awarded the Gutman Prize for Outstanding Dissertation from @lawcha.bsky.social. It was incredibly fulfilling and validating to receive this recognition in a room full of the historians who inspired my research.

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@stanfordpress.bsky.social

17 Apr

Congratulations to @sfahrenthold.bsky.social! 🎉 Her book Unmentionables won the 2026 David Montgomery Award, sponsored by @oah.org with co-sponsorship by @lawcha.bsky.social.

how paying Philadelphia city taxes feels

14 Apr

Hampshire College, my alma mater, just announced they are closing at the end of this year. Unfortunate for students and workers, of course, and for higher ed in general. Their distinctive interdisciplinary, student-driven, and project-based approach has so much to offer, especially in the age of AI.

Hampshire's narrative evaluations were more useful than a grade, allowing me to recognize and remember what I did well or could improve on in each class in detail. They were also sometimes fun, as in this alliterative one I received from mathematician David Kelly for Puzzles and Paradoxes.

Christopher McKnight Nichols

15 Apr

The longest Hampshire evaluation I received was by @citizenwald.bsky.social for my final Div 3 project (sharp contrast with a letter grade). The project gave me hands-on experience in history, and the extraordinary depth of advising and feedback now serves as a model as I begin to mentor others.

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@cmcknichols.bsky.social

14 Apr

Just confirming that Made by History will now be back up and running in the next few weeks with a new home and new partners at the Philadelphia Inquirer. Exciting! So, if you have pitches, now's the time to start sending them to madebyhistory@inquirer.com 🗃️ #MadebyHistory #HistoryMatters

Hampshire's approach prepared me so well for grad school. The classes were rigorous seminars and workshops, the narrative evaluations guided me through a concerted effort to develop skills over the course of years, and the Div 3 senior project was as intensive and independent as a master's thesis.

10 Apr

Grand opening of the history of fireworks special exhibit at the Science History Institute in Philly, fitting for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence

wired.comAmazon Pulls Support for Perfectly Fine Older KindlesIn an email to customers, Amazon announced that it would be ending service for Kindle devices older than the 2012 edition. Those devices will lose access to the Kindle Store.

9 Apr

When the obsolescence wasn't planned well enough to maximize profits so they enforce artificial, unplanned obsolescence

WIRED@wired.com

In an email to customers, Amazon announced that it would be ending service for Kindle devices older than the 2012 edition. Those devices will lose access to the Kindle Store. www.wired.com/story/amazon...

9 Apr

The email to customers references these devices being 14-18 years old, seemingly as a justification. That's... not very old compared to the lifespan of printed books, which impacts the sustainability and consumer value calculus for digital vs. paper.

6 Apr

Off the top of my head, I can't think of another book that is so widely criticized by historians yet still so embraced by other fields (to its credit, this is because it does some compelling conceptual work on gender and capitalism that doesn't hinge on the accuracy of its witchcraft narrative).

This post is unavailable.

From Reid Wiseman/NASA: new image of our planet, with the aurora borealis visible at the edge

sternberg-press.comSilicon ForestArtists, media theorists, scientists, and science-fiction writers explore the reciprocity between ecology, industry, technology and consumption.

Coming later this year: a transdisciplinary collection of work on ecology, industry, and technology in Oregon's Silicon Forest. My piece is on the history of the transition from a timber economy to an (unexpectedly still extractive/polluting) digital economy. www.sternberg-press.com/product/sili...

(as you might be able to tell, the cover is a wood cut with ink made from recycled GPUs)

I've seen some people arguing that learning objectives are just a formality for admin, so I just want to throw it out there that telling students learning objectives is an evidence-based teaching practice that informs them about what they're learning and helps them more consciously practice skills

asc-csa.gc.caJeremy Hansen's patch for the Artemis II missionCSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen's patch was created for his participation in the Artemis II mission by Anishinaabe artist Henry Guimond. It includes personal and Indigenous elements important to Jeremy.

e.g., in a history survey course: students without learning objectives context might think it's all about rote memorization and focus on that, students with that context might be more intentional about practicing and developing their writing and primary source analysis skills

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Adam Rogers

@jetjocko.bsky.social

1 Apr

Yeah that’s cool

Dr Space Junk (Alice Gorman)@drspacejunk.bsky.social

Astronaut Jeremy Hansen is taking Indigenous culture past the Moon: his mission patch was designed by Henry Guimond, an Anishinaabe artist, incorporating one Indigenous perspective about the seven sacred laws, which are represented by animals. 🧪 #ArtemisII

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Sarah Quinn

@sarahquinnphd.bsky.social

1 Apr

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Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC)

@organizeworkers.bsky.social

1 Apr

We're proud to announce AIWOC, our new AI-powered organizing chatbot! AIWOC isn't just an assistant—it's the future of organizing. It's here to help you take care of the messy parts of your workplace. Check it out on our website! 🤖 workerorganizing.org

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Miriam Posner

@miriamposner.com

18 Mar

Apparently you can pre-order? (Thank you @alilleybrinker.com for pointing this out!) Just be sure not to read it ha ha ha? yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...

yalebooks.yale.eduSeeing Like a Supply ChainA history of the technology of supply-chain management from punch cards to neural nets, and how the ambiguity built into that technology helps companies and ...

Miriam Posner@miriamposner.com

*breathing into a paper bag*

Adam Quinn reposted

18 Mar

FDR visiting areas impacted by the Dust Bowl in 1936

18 Mar

FDR visiting areas impacted by the Dust Bowl in 1936

15 Mar

Just saw 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, appreciated how it developed the themes of nationalist/fascist resurgence from the predecessor and took it in a slightly different direction (this time it's about the more delusional, psychotic, and cultish aspects)

epi.orgWorkers’ resolve drives increase in unionization in 2025In 2025, 16.5 million workers in the United States were represented by a union—an increase of 463,000 from 2024 and the highest number of unionized workers in the U.S. in 16 years. These 16.5 million ...

15 Mar

You could also map 28 Years Later onto WW1 nationalism and Bone Temple onto WW2 fascism (implied/specifically referenced in each film, Bone Temple goes from subtle nods like poppies centered in scenes of attempts at peace to a very explicit historical discussion).

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Barry Eidlin

@eidlin.bsky.social

18 Feb

Useful report from @epi.org on US unionization trends. Interesting to see that US union density actually rose in 2025. Just by 0.1 percentage points, but still, it’s the first time since 2020 that union density has gone up. And even more interesting, 1/ www.epi.org/publication/...

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