Elaine Ayers

Elaine Ayers

@eayers0.bsky.social

Historian of science, collecting, plants + museums // professor at Yale // PhD in History of Science from Princeton // writing books // contr. ed. at Public Domain Review // elaineayers.com

3.4K followers2.9K following905 posts

Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

There are so many re: history that all I can say is to both buy the shirt to pull out on particular days and that the Guy in Philosophy Class Needs to Shut The Fuck Up headline is evergreen. store.theonion.com/products/his...

store.theonion.com'History Sighs, Repeats Itself' Headline T-ShirtThis t-shirt is everything you've dreamed of and more. It feels soft and lightweight, with the right amount of stretch. It's comfortable and flattering for both men and women. • 100% combed and ring-s...
Will Fleisher@willfleisher.bsky.social

theonion.comGuy In Philosophy Class Needs To Shut The Fuck UpHANOVER, NH—According to students enrolled in professor Michael Rosenthal’s Philosophy 101 course at Dartmouth College, that guy, Darrin Floen, the one who sits at the back of the class and acts like ...
Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

Work is truly killing me right now, but at least there are very quick trips to the New York Botanical Garden so I don’t lose sight of why I like this stuff. But also wtf why is there so much on literally all of the time.

Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

One of my jobs as director of undergraduate studies for HSHM at Yale is managing our list of the next semester's courses so I can advertise them to students, make sure we've got a good balance / range of options, etc. And it strikes me that we have SUCH cool classes that I would've killed to take.

Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

What we've got listed now for spring (we'll add some more) ranges from art & museum studies to birds, childbirth, occult technology, disease in Latinx borderlands, Leonardo da Vinci, Vienna, reproductive health in our city, even ROT. Sure, we've got gaps, but all I wanna do is take classes again.

Elaine Ayers reposted

Daniel Radosh
@radosh.bsky.social

My kid has started a Letterboxd list called Killer Sweaters for films where the killer wears a great sweater and they've asked me to throw it out to Bluesky for more because "that's the kind of thing those weirdos like to do"

Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

Apropos of the day - and not new info (including Cronon's classic work) - but an article worth reading. "The trees contain “irrefutable evidence of their connection to land and stewardship.” www.newyorker.com/science/elem...

newyorker.comHow Tree Rings Challenged the Myth of American WildernessBy studying fire scars in ancient wood, many scientists have become convinced that Indigenous people transformed North America long before Christopher Columbus arrived.
Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

As a historian of science + museum studies my Sexy Michel Foucault costume really got ruined once the pedophilia accusations went mainstream.

Elyse Graham@elysegraham.bsky.social

I hate English department Halloween. What do you mean, you're the hermeneutics of suspicion

Elaine Ayers reposted

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani
@mayor.nyc.gov

Calling all NYC artists — painters, filmmakers, poets, musicians and more! Did you know our city provides grants to support your work every year? And this year, we're DOUBLING the amount — from $5,000 up to $10,000 per artist! Deadlines are approaching fast — apply today at nyc.gov/artistgrants.

Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

This looks cool!!

NAVSA@navsa.bsky.social

CFP: Volcanic Materiality in Literature and Art of the Anthropocene (Abstract Deadline: 11/30/2026) navsa.org/News/13725502

Elaine Ayers reposted

Kevin M. Kruse
@kevinmkruse.bsky.social

When they get back in power, Democrats need to go all-in on higher education. We need a campaign of reinvestment in public universities across the country that makes the Morrill Land-Grant Act look like nothing by comparison *and* a GI Bill of Rights-style program of tuition grants.

The New Republic@newrepublic.com

Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. trib.al/kQdKbY1

trib.alTrump Moves to Cut Off Student Loans for Tons of DegreesUnder a new rule, if your degree doesn’t make enough money, you won’t be able to get a student loan.

Elaine Ayers reposted

Alison Laurence
@dinostalgia.bsky.social

I wrote about those antediluvians in The End of Oak Street for @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social. Thanks to @sayanniething.bsky.social for letting me get a little weird with the Michigan of it all! Some general spoilers, but only one specific one re: fate of the dog. #FossilFriday tinyurl.com/dinostories

tinyurl.comWe Tell Ourselves Dinosaur Stories in Order to Live | Los Angeles Review of BooksWe live within a library of antediluvian narratives, with more accessioned every day.
Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

We’ve had to be creative + plan far in advance, but I love taking my big lecture class to collections so they can still do hands-on work, access Yale’s resources, see cool stuff + meet staff members even though it’s soo much harder to do with these numbers.

Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

Students in this class are also required to work with primary sources held in special collections around campus for their assignments + to do creative work throughout the semester. We are resisting AI with everything in us. 📚🌿📚

Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

We’ve had to be creative + plan far in advance, but I love taking my big lecture class to collections so they can still do hands-on work, access Yale’s resources, see cool stuff + meet staff members even though it’s soo much harder to do with these numbers.

Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

Collections visits are SO much simpler for smaller seminars, but I want my lecture students (especially freshmen) to see beautiful and important things, too! None of this would be possible without incredible staff stepping up and taking time out of their days, including planning months in advance.

Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

We’ve had to be creative + plan far in advance, but I love taking my big lecture class to collections so they can still do hands-on work, access Yale’s resources, see cool stuff + meet staff members even though it’s soo much harder to do with these numbers.

Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

In 3 weeks of class, we went to the Medical Historical Library to work with rare books (herbals, midwifery manuals, + more) - thanks to @mazarine.bsky.social for her primer on working with illustrations - and to the Peabody to explore plant sexuality + herbarium specimens. This week: Yale Farm.

Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

New articles out from two of my favs: first, @brad.bolman.com writing stunningly, and sadly, about water in his new(ish) home of New Orleans. "If land here has always been the site of a pyrrhic struggle to dry an insatiably wet place, it is clear now that the waters are winning—have won..."

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Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

(Beatrice and I always have a blast swapping classes + teaching for each other once a year, and she's such a lovely writer, thinker, and scholar. Keep an eye out for her work!)

Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

Literally the least original take ever, but as someone who loves and watches a ton of TV, I finally watched Hacks and LOVED it. I've seen some good TV this year, and this was top three.

Elaine Ayers reposted

Michael Clemens
@mclem.org

The US President's new proposal to tax international students has been approved by the White House for release this week. It's an unprecedented $100,000 tax on int'l grads who stay to work after graduation on Optional Practical Training (most grads do), a crucial bridge to remaining by any channel.

Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

This number of emails and meetings simply can...not be what it's going to be like this semester. I legitimately don't even know where to put people in my schedule. But three cheers for the biggest history of botany lecture class to date! The people want plants! 🎉🌿🎉

Elaine Ayers reposted

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D.
@sarahmackattack.bsky.social

Attention Philadelphia! We're hosting a rally to demand that Drexel University maintain The Academy of Natural Sciences Museum open to the public. Join us on Tuesday morning at 10am in front of the academy. Please spread the word, we need all hands on deck! RSVP here: luma.com/1qwnrqz2

Elaine Ayers reposted

Carole King
@carolekingofficial.bsky.social

As we elders, our daughters, and our granddaughters continue the fight for power, equality, and respect, we hold you in our hearts with love and gratitude. Rest in peace and power, Gloria Steinem. 🤍

nytimes.comGloria Steinem, Personification of the Women’s Movement, Dies at 92 (Gift Article)She challenged sexist assumptions, helping women develop a sense of self-worth and gain a measure of equality at work, at home and in society at large.
Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

For those of you who have been paying attention to the Duke Herbarium over the past ~2 years, here's more news: it's going to UNC Chapel Hill. Happy to see it's not closing entirely, but this is also part of a larger pattern of cuts + losses from multiple angles. dukechronicle.com/article/duke...

dukechronicle.comAfter near closure, Duke Herbarium to take up new roots in Chapel HillDespite previous concerns of a closure amid plans to relocate, the biodiversity hotspot will combine with UNC’s collection to become the largest herbarium in the Southeast. The move has provided resea...
Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

Selfish plug: you can read more about this in the forthcoming special journal issue on Death, Decay & Loss in Colonial Botany that @arnoldke.bsky.social and I are editing. There's also an issue of BJHS on "How Collections End" that's well worth checking out, and this will also feature in my book.

Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

For those of you who have been paying attention to the Duke Herbarium over the past ~2 years, here's more news: it's going to UNC Chapel Hill. Happy to see it's not closing entirely, but this is also part of a larger pattern of cuts + losses from multiple angles. dukechronicle.com/article/duke...

dukechronicle.comAfter near closure, Duke Herbarium to take up new roots in Chapel HillDespite previous concerns of a closure amid plans to relocate, the biodiversity hotspot will combine with UNC’s collection to become the largest herbarium in the Southeast. The move has provided resea...
Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

It's good that this is staying local, and this will now be the 3rd largest university herbarium in the US. The number of herbaria I've seen closed, destroyed, and cannibalized in the last decade is deeply sad, and I'm also wishing the very best for this merger. uncnews.unc.edu/2026/08/31/u...

uncnews.unc.eduUNC-Chapel Hill, Duke to combine herbaria, creating the third-largest university plant collection in the United States - UNC NewsUNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University will unite their herbaria under the management of the North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill. Herbaria are collections of preserved plant specimens that ser...
Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

Among multiple shakeups + closures this week: it's disappointing to hear this news about ANS, but at least their collections are remaining intact. My understanding is that among other issues, they were also hit by NEH/other gov't grant cuts. There are consequences to cuts. whyy.org/articles/aca...

whyy.orgThe Academy of Natural Sciences museum in Philly is closingThe Academy will continue scientific research and public education, but its museum will go the way of the dinosaur.
Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social

In this case, we are losing the oldest natural history museum in the United States. I am wishing the best to the staff members who will likely be laid off, and look forward to doing research in their collections in the future. Pay attention to how your local museums are doing.