Search past blogs and other content by key word:
The Power of Names
Two events in November reinforced the power of calling out names of previously forgotten people.
Extracting History from the Everyday: A Conversation about Shopping Stories with Molly Kerr
Molly Kerr of History Revealed, Inc., describes how to extract stories behind seemingly mundane 18th-century store ledgers and correspondence,
Harriet Jacobs Walking Tour
On Juneteenth (or any day), please join this tour of Harriet Jacobs in Civil War Alexandria that I put together for two special visitors!
What's in a Name: Confederate Street Re-naming in Alexandria, Virginia
Streets named after Confederate generals and others—overdue for a change.
A Conversation with Brenda Mitchell-Powell, Author of Public in Name Only: The 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-In Demonstration
Brenda Mitchell-Powell sheds light on an early civil rights sit-in—for equal access to the public library in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1939.
A Conversation with Diana Parsell, Author of Eliza Scidmore: The Trailblazing Journalist Behind Washington’s Cherry Trees
A conversation with Diana Parsell about the subject of her new biography and about the ups and downs of bringing the book to life.
"For mercy’s sake, don’t let anybody see this letter": Sarah J.C. Whittlesey
The letters of an Alexandria woman’s letters reveal her interior life.
Campobello Island, Looked at from Two Countries
A three-hour international trip from Lubec, Maine (USA), to Campobello Island, New Brunswick (Canada)
Pilgrimage to Montgomery with the Alexandria Community Remembrance Project
My account of the Oct. 6-10 pilgrimage from Alexandria, Virginia, to Montgomery, Alabama, with the Alexandria Community Remembrance Project.
A Conversation with Meg Groeling, Author of First Fallen: The Life of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, the North’s First Civil War Hero
Read about Col. Elmer Ellsworth’s short but eventful life, which ended in a heroic death in Alexandria.
Behind the Written Word: Q and A with Katy O’Grady
Looking at scripts used by Japanese and Chinese women centuries ago, Katy O’Grady wondered how our brains can look at little shapes and instantly transform them into concepts.
SeeWorthy: Alexandria Archaeology's Big Finds
Surprises lay underneath the Alexandria waterfront.
Alexandria Canal: A Bet on TRADE and PROSPERITY
From an aqueduct across the Potomac, 7 miles to Alexandria—but someone had to pay for it all.
Black History Month Beginnings
Imagining the creativity and scholarship coming out of Carter Woodson’s “home office” on Ninth Street NW in Washington, DC.
A Gravestone Set Right: Julia Wilbur in the Avon, New York, Cemetery
Julia Wilbur’s final resting spot in Avon, New York, is definitely more restful now.
Harriet Jacobs in New York State
Two short articles summarize the roughly two decades that Harriet Jacobs lived in New York State—New York City and Rochester (part 1) and Cornwall (part 2).
More on Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial
A bit more background about a recent article I published on a civil rights action—in 1864 Alexandria, Virginia.
The Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay
Lesson of the Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay—ships built in a hurry are not a great idea