Newly digitized at Amherst College, perhaps the only diary of a German woman writing in English throughout World War II. https://consecratedeminence.wordpress.amherst.edu/2026/06/29/katrin-janecke-diaries/

A 1962 comic in which Superboy Forest Gumps his way through the Revolution, relighting Paul Revere’s signal lantern, and even helping John Hancock sign the Declaration with a sprained hand, so we can forgive for accidentally cracking the Liberty Bell. https://cotsen.blogs.princeton.edu/2026/06/superboy-saves-1776-in-adventure-comics-296-may-1962/

Two: Librarians on skates. More tomorrow.

Read the first edition pamphlet of Frederick Douglass' famous 1852 “What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?” speech. After he finished speaking there was “a universal burst of applause” and 700 copies of the pamphlet were subscribed to on the spot: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/frederick-douglass-fourth-july-speech #July4th

We’re open!

The Globe's imagining today of how it would have covered Boston in July, 1776 is pretty cool. Harvard's Houghton Library tomorrow has a free exhibit that will let you see how colonialists actually got their news then - along with a first printing of the Declaration of Independence. And it's air conditioned.
https://www.universalhub.com/2026/cool-thing-do-july-4th

Happening tomorrow! Come see the Declaration on its 250th birthday and print your own colonial $50 bill at a special opening of my War of Words exhibition from 12-3. https://library.harvard.edu/exhibits/war-words

RE: https://flipboard.com/@smithsonianmag/smartnews-343feuq8z/-/a-KwGKmv2RT6e1tnkwEK63Bg%3Aa%3A2586892611-%2F0

[That weary disgusted noise Sideshow Bob makes]

RE: https://flipboard.com/@smithsonianmag/smartnews-343feuq8z/-/a-nzsXX9m0SX2itk700NNGMA%3Aa%3A2586892611-%2F0

Ominous news stories in movie openings.

Young zoologist on a date next to us at dinner answering an about his favorite animal: “Sloths,for me, are just so GOATed.”

New from the Harvard Gazette, an article considering the Declaration of Independence as an idea and an object, featuring my exhibition War of Words: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2026/07/hot-off-the-presses-the-declaration-of-independence/

You never see the worst typo until the thing is already printed.

Bookseller offering a naval history item: "Given your institution's interest in naval history and maritime collections..." Sir, you may have this crisp $20 bill I'm holding if you can name one thing in our collection about naval history and didn't just send the same email to every big special collections library you could think of. (It's not like we have *nothing* but nobody's coming to us for that.)

“FIFA essentially forced American cities, even car-centric ones, to run month-long experiments in public transit” https://www.dezeen.com/2026/06/30/world-cup-transit-opinion-deb-chachra/ by @debcha

Big news! Cc @beep

Doing a pre-college class this afternoon on fairy tales and creative writing. This one was lots of fun to select for.

Well, it's better than nothing I guess. (OCR error for "rubricated")

RE: https://mastodon.social/@Richard_Littler/116838333860652107

It is incredibly important that libraries not lose the trust they have earned as a place that is safe from this, where the history we preserve stays history and not hallucination.

After the Founders Declared Independence, Printers Quickly Translated the Text for German-Speaking Americans
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/after-the-founders-declared-independence-printers-quickly-translated-the-text-for-german-speaking-americans-180989039/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into Smartnews @smartnews-Smithsonianmag