I’m a history undergrad and Im presenting my thesis research at my very first conference Saturday!!!!! I’m discussing African American and white American perspectives on compulsory health insurance during the federal election of 1950 and I’m talking a lot about the Saturday evening post, I’m super excited to be doing “real historian” stuff. Just wanted to share!

Also in light of the Jersey shore reunion, I learned the other day in class people were making fun of New Jersey during the American revolutionary war, some things don’t change lol.

Presented at my first museum conference last week (gotta love those presentation jitters that set in two minutes before you're supposed to speak) and everything went smashing. Currently working on our next exhibit which'll focus on slavery through the end of Reconstruction in our county and finding some truly amazing stories and primary sources. We've tracked down the local USCT unit that occupied our area and there are some fantastic tales from that, a white officer murdered right downtown, a riot involving the Union League and outright political intimidation and violence on both sides of the spectrum. If anyone is interested, familysearch.org has actually digitized all and indexed much of the paperwork of the Freedmen's Bureau throughout the South. Link

I'm reading Harvard's Secret Court about the expulsion of known/suspected homosexual students from Harvard in 1920 and boy it is as depressing as you'd think. Are there other instances in the history of LGBT people at Ivy League schools that I should look into or at least be aware of?

How long do you think the cultural memory of historical events lasts? For example Macron has alluded to that France is still reeling from the French revolution

Sort of hard way to phrase this but how long do you think it takes an area to truly get over a historical event? Furthermore what are some of the oldest historical events that have a cultural impact on people today?

How feasible was it to fake a pregnancy/produce a child that wasn't yours for succession benefits depending on era? I guess if it was done successfully then we probably wouldn't know about it, but are there any documented incidents of this happening which are particularly interesting?

Not really a history question as much as a question about this sub:

Are questions regarding myths and stuff good for here? Or is there another subreddit for it? For example, say I'm curious about the origins of some particular modern day mythical creature, would this sub be the appropriate play to ask a question about that? Or is there another good sub which would be better?

As far as I reason it, the existence of those myths and stuff are history, and in some cases actively affected how certain people might have lived, so it is history, but at the same time the mythical beings themselves didn't exist, so maybe it falls under something else? Honestly no idea.

The only /r/Ask___ subs I know of are /r/AskScience, men, women, culinary, and this one, and it doesn't really seem like it fits in any of those.

Does anyone know of any good books about Korean pows in the Korean War? I've been scanning my grandpa's slides from when he was in Korea and a lot seem to be involving pows and I'd like to read more about it.

Anyone else having trouble with their IFTTT alert? I have an applet set up to alert me about questions regarding transportation and urbanism, but this week it began sending me an email about every question posted in askhistorians.

What are some historic examples of fringe/unpopular scientific theories that later turned out to be wrong? (is this the right place to ask this kind of question?) I realize this is a bit subjective, but for some non-examples, Aether theories were wrong but mainstream (AFAIK?), while Semmelweis hand-washing was fringe but correct. Any replies are greatly appreciated!

Is there any way one can nominate a book to be considered for addition to the official book list? I’ve found what I think is a real gem that isn’t on there. War Plan Orange, by Edward Miller.

I posted this same comment last week but it was a bit late, so I’m just trying again now that I’ve remembered to do so. How would one pursue a career in the field of ancient languages, and the research and discovery of them? Where and what would that person study before entering a career path? What other experience is necessary or valuable in the work? What kind of careers are there that pertain to or involve ancient languages? Is it a career that would require supplement income or is it relatively sustainable? Who are some people in the field that I should DEFINITELY know the names of and who are the major innovators/contributors to this side of history? Feel free to answer only one question, i realize there are many.

Working hard on my capstone paper, 25 pages on the United States submarine force in World War One. Unlike my last (shorter) paper I will be actually analyzing whether the strategies and tactics user were successful.

The last paper was more just what life onboard the submarines was like, and some technical information on them. This one is much different in its scope and content, and it's been a lot of fun to write, especially since I'm arguing an actual analytical point that's different from like the only other writing on the subject.