February 3-4, 2024: January 2024 Recap

[A Recap of the month that was in AmericanStudying.]

January 1: 2024 Anniversaries: New Netherland in 1674: A New Year’s series begins with the 350^th anniversary of a handover that changed a lot—but not nearly everything.

January 2: 2024 Anniversaries: The First Continental Congress in 1774: The series continues with three lesser-known delegates from the First Continental Congress on its 250^th anniversary.

January 3: 2024 Anniversaries: The 1874 Midterms: On the importance but not the inevitability of historical turning points, as the series commemorates on.

January 4: 2024 Anniversaries: J. Edgar Hoover in 1924: What J. Edgar Hoover immediately brought to his new role as the Director of the Bureau of Investigation 100 years ago.

January 5: 2024 Anniversaries: 1974 Films: The series concludes with AmericanStudies contexts for five of the many great films released 50 years ago.

January 6-7: 2024 Anniversaries: The 1824 Election: But wait, a special weekend post on the controversial presidential election that might and might not foreshadow our moment.

January 8: AmericanStudying Columbia Pictures: Three Origin Points: A series on the studio’s 100^th anniversary kicks off with three pre-1924 starting points.

January 9: AmericanStudying Columbia Pictures: The Three Stooges and Friends: The series continues with why the Stooges were just the tip of the iceberg when it came to comic shorts.

January 10: AmericanStudying Columbia Pictures: Technicolor: Three films through which Columbia finally entered the technicolor age, as the series screens on.

January 11: AmericanStudying Columbia Pictures: Jungle Jim: A longstanding B-movie series that reflects Hollywood’s multimedia influences in all directions.

January 12: AmericanStudying Columbia Pictures: Matt Helm and Casino Royale: The series concludes with a pair of ways that the studio tried to make up for losing out on Bond.

January 13-14: Vaughn Joy’s Hollywood Histories: I couldn’t share a Hollywood histories series without paying tribute to the best public scholar working on those histories.

January 15: Spring Semester Previews: First-Year Writing II: A Spring semester series focused on why we teach & study the humanities kicks off with the skills at the heart of first-year writing.

January 16: Spring Semester Previews: American Literature II: The series continues with the many core American reasons to teach our literary histories.

January 17: Spring Semester Previews: Intro to Sci Fi/Fantasy: The crucial importance of diversifying speculative fiction syllabi, as the series learns on.

January 18: Spring Semester Previews: The Short Story Online: How all-online courses help us share the humanities with broader and more varied audiences.

January 19: Spring Semester Previews: Grad Historical Fiction: The series concludes with my latest grad course and a request for connections to our grad programs!

January 20: MLK Day and the Humanities: The first of two weekend follow-ups, an MLK Day tribute to his many connections to the humanities.

January 20-21: Ava DePasquale’s Guest Post on Grey Dog: And the second, my latest great Guest Post from an awesome FSU English Studies alum!

January 22: AmericanStudying Groundbreaking Women: Judith Sargent Murray: A series for the 175^th anniversary of Elizabeth Blackwell’s MD kicks off with the Gloucester home that was both prison and liberation for Judith Sargent Murray.

January 23: AmericanStudying Groundbreaking Women: Elizabeth Blackwell: The series continues with three institutions that help tell the story of the groundbreaking physician on her 175^th anniversary.

January 24: AmericanStudying Groundbreaking Women: Nelly Bly: A rightly famous work of groundbreaking investigative journalism and one that should be, as the series trailblazes on.

January 25: AmericanStudying Groundbreaking Women: Pauli Murray and Black Women in the Law: Linking to a Saturday Evening Post column of mine on the latest in a long line of groundbreaking African American women and the law.

January 26: AmericanStudying Groundbreaking Women: Shirley Chisholm: The series concludes with two telling political efforts beyond Chisholm’s groundbreaking presidential campaign.

January 27-28: AmericanStudying Groundbreaking Women: 21^st Century Icons: But the groundbreaking continues, so here are six 21^st century women carrying on the legacy.

January 29: Quirky American Traditions: Pumpkin Chunkin: A Groundhog Day series on quirky traditions kicks off with the very American balance between the local and the national.

January 30: Quirky American Traditions: National Hollerin’ Contest: The series continues with the challenges of preserving traditions, and how the intertubes can help.

January 31: Quirky American Traditions: Ostrich Racing: Three ways to contextualize a very strange “sports” tradition, as the series celebrates on.

February 1: Quirky American Traditions: Nenana Ice Classic: What a unique Alaskan tradition can tell us about both Alaska and traditions.

February 2: Quirky American Traditions: Groundhog Day: And the series concludes with two ways to explain why we celebrate this quirkiest of American holidays.

Super Bowl series starts Monday,

Ben

PS. Topics you’d like to see covered in this space? Guest Posts you’d like to contribute? Lemme know!