I had two of my (co-advised) grad students win major external year-long fellowships, and they found out in the last week, so they're off to research in September! I couldn't be more happy. Sadly, both have been forced to reorient parts of their theses because (both) their work involves Russian America and post-sale Alaska, but there's a lot of material still over on this side for them to access, even in Russian. The fellowships are entirely over here so that's not a problem unless we get some kind of Tau variant something something.

I am curious, for those of my co-flairs who are academics, especially in history and allied disciplines: do you have many colleagues who worked in Russia and its 'client' states (Belarus, etc) and how are they adapting their plans? Hopefully nobody actually got caught out there. We did have a partner of one of our colleagues who had to cut a journey in central Asia short, but that's as close as it got.

The plus side? The State Dept and Dept of Ed may again have some good money for Russian-language instruction soon, so I hear.

Oh, one last bit of good news: half of my loans crossed the PSLF forgiveness line. The other half probably have, but they're evaluating my employment status so it takes time. So I may at last be debt-free, at the sprightly age of 50.

TL;DR -- DNA test proved great-grandmother, a notable 1900s author, lied about who the father of her son was. Family is wondering how we could go about making this a known part of the historical record.

Longer version: My great-grandmother was a somewhat notable author and socialite in the early 1900s. She wrote novels and plays, a number of which were made into Hollywood films. She is well-remembered in the family as a powerful and intelligent person, but not well-regarded as a mother to my grandfather.

About 2 years ago, my father took a DNA test which was expected to show mostly British Isles. However, it instead came back with an overwhelming percentage being Norwegian. Not only that, but it suggested a potential genetic match for a near cousin.

As fate would have it, my father had recently been collecting memorabilia of his family. Among the memorabilia has been a number of his grandmother's novels. When the DNA match showed him this near cousin, he recognized the name as that of his grandmother's favored illustrator for her novels. So... obvously... this changed a little bit of our understanding of the family history to realize she had an affair with her illustrator.

Yesterday, I was telling someone about this story and linked them to the wikipedia articles for my great grandmother and my grandfather, to help with explaining the story.

When I did, the meaning of it finally hit me -- history is wrong about who my grandfather's dad is. And I realized that I'm in an odd position where the truth kinda dies with me and my family unless we document this somehow.

So does anyone know what we can do this situation? Any help would be appreciated.

edit: grammar

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Where did the idiom “rail on” someone originate?

Question: Can one apply for a flair throughout the year, or do we have to wait for the next Flair Application Thread to be posted?

Really quickly: I’m starting a study of Zhuxi’s philosophy and I want to find something about Somg dynasty politics and social reforms, any suggestions?

A little bit of a fun question, but it is quite a serious pondering.

Imagine at some point we have a time machine, and a troll decided to make use of it - to troll historians that came before the invention of the time machine.

So imagine if we found a “throne room” in an Egyptian pyramid with a 20th century toilet.

Or perhaps, a chamber full of atari 2600s next to a chamber full of ET cartridges.

So things that can be verified are modern, but would have been impossible to actually put in there unless it was done in the past.

You might even have tests possible that could prove them thousands of years old. For example, the radioactive markers you would expect in things after 1945 being degraded that long or for some items carbon dating.

How would the profession deal with these kinds of things that would appear to be practical jokes but every test proves they’re ancient?

Q: Does anybody have any suggestions or recommendations for books on the topic of women’s work and labour throughout the ages?

Particularly that of which is comparative and or focuses on the working classes (along with other lower castes) and post-pre industrialisation.

If we developed a view-only time machine, like a TV screen on the past, what's the first time and place you're tuning in to?

The only way I know how to deal with the anxiety and stress of the devastation of climate change is to think about it in extremely long terms. Which makes me wonder... what will future historians in say, 100, 500, or 1,000 years know about us? So much of what we produce in terms of knowledge, art, culture, politics, and science is digitized, or on paper media that won't last forever, so I often think about how we'll be remembered.

Were the Best of February winners announced? I can find the voting thread but not the results announcement thread

Best books on the Holy Roman Empire/Charles V/16th-century European politics?

What is a good book or two to start with, if yuo're learning about history for the first time. Not in depth books, beginner books