David Patrick McKenzie

As usual, an insightful piece from Max Van Balgooy on structural issues facing the public history field. https://engagingplaces.net/2026/03/10/aaslhs-workforce-report-redesign-the-field-or-just-endure-it/

Love this series. Already recommended to students & may well use in my US- LatAm relations class in the fall. Amazing work, @renatakeller.bsky.social & Dustin Walcher & everyone involved!

When DOGE Unleashed ChatGPT on the Humanities

Edgelords doing an AI drive-by to cancel scholarly grants is awful. But what’s most damning is the willing participation of Michael McDonald and Adam Wolfson in destroying the agency they led www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/a...

Good chance this piece will be on the syllabus for my U.S.-Latin America class. A nuanced take on U.S. business interests allying with Porfirio Díaz to put him in power. With a cameo by the Stillmans, who figure into my work.

Now that some AI has decent handwriting recognition, how should a documentary editing project—needing firm accuracy—incorporate it? Michael Cohen of Taylor-Fillmore papers has more: https://edspace.american.edu/taylorandfillmore/gemini-as-transcriber-artificial-intelligence-and-documentary-editing/

Past years:
Spurs down by 25. Go to bed.
Spurs up by 25. They’ll blow it so might as well go to bed.

This year: Keep watching even if they’re down by 25… Wow.

Postdoc Opportunity!

The History Department at Binghamton University (SUNY) seeks a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Latin American History who considers spatial dimensions in their work.

2-year contract, $60k

binghamton.interviewexchange.com/jobofferdeta...

For Educators Contingent publishes accessible, engaging, well-researched pieces on history, the work of doing history, and the community of people involved in that work.

We know people use our pieces in the classroom all the time and we love to hear from you! contingentmagazine.org/for-educator...

A favorite piece that I’ve written—thanks @contingent-mag.bsky.social for sharing!

Excellent, thank you!

Hi! U.S. electronics recycling open today?

I look forward to building on the amazing work my colleagues and predecessors in the UNCG History Department have done educating the next generation of public historians and connecting with local communities and institutions.

Big life news: the McKenzies are headed to North Carolina! I’m thrilled to share that I’m starting as an Assistant Professor of Public History at @uncg.edu in January. While it will be hard to leave the Washington area after 21 years, I’m excited for this next step.

Wide-ranging interview with transnational historian Erika Pani by Ben Vinson III for @historians.org — so many gems, and loving her work on showing just how intertwined 19c US & Mexico really were. https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/an-exciting-political-laboratory/

I should’ve been more suspicious when @markwarner.bsky.social’s office was taking voicemails today and @kaine.senate.gov’s was not…

Here’s today’s thread once more for the evening crowd. Please share all this great public scholarship widely, thanks! @hcrichardson.bsky.social 🗃️

Journalists are souring on social media platforms, an analysis of 11 years of Nieman Lab predictions suggests While these predictions suggest that the journalistic community’s enthusiasm for social media platforms has waned over time, there has been no such change in the perceptions of the people actually usi...

How does this analysis of journalists’ attitudes toward social media platforms track with those of museum professionals’ and public historians’ attitudes over time? Parallels & comparisons? www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/jour...

No Going Back Mary Rizzo examines how four LA historical and cultural institutions mobilize history and practice solidarity in the fight against immigration raids and deportations.

Latinx communities across the USA have been targeted by ICE. This summer, four LA historical and cultural institutions spoke out in solidarity, amongst silence in the museum sector.

Mary Rizzo on the role of museums in not only historical storytelling, but taking a stand:

Know a young filmmaker 14 to 22? Encourage them to join in Lincoln Presidential Foundation's Latest Generation Film Contest—opportunity to speak their voices & learn about nuanced historical storytelling through film. Two sessions this month! More info: www.lincolnpresidential.org/events/upcom...

The lost history of Latin America’s role in averting catastrophe during the Cuban missile crisis A common US-centric narrative holds that the Cuban missile crisis ended when Washington stood firm against the Soviets. But that story ignores a whole continent.

Glad for @renatakeller.bsky.social’s new work on Americas in Cuban Missile Crisis. Especially appreciate how she says “in Cuba,” as opposed to the “on Cuba” that others so often use in this context—showing Cuba as a sovereign nation, not a pawn. theconversation.com/the-lost-his...

Watching my Pitt Panthers in their Atlantic Coast Conference game against... Stanford, playing in California... 🤷‍♂️

Excited to be in Cincinnati for #aaslh2025. Enjoyed checking out the fascinating exhibits at National Underground Railroad Freedom Center at the conference event tonight, and getting to catch up with old colleagues/friends and meet new ones. And walk to Kentucky!

In a more serious vein, what do you hope to get out of #aaslh2025? What is the most pressing issue facing museums today? What do you hope to learn? This is our conference, let’s make the most of it. @aaslh.org #museum

Who else is going to the @aaslh.org conference this week? I’ll be there (first time attending since 2021) Wednesday-Friday!

Thread. 🧵

Great piece by Miriam Pensack on the Panama Canal. Some of the special status that Zonians acquired—and, as she discusses, even today try to restore—reminded me of special status some U.S. citizens in Mexico’s interior tried to claim as early as the 1820s.

What are folks' suggestions for a synthesis of U.S.-Mexico diplomatic relations? Looking for overall framework that provides a backdrop for more specific readings in a wide-ranging class. I have Zoraida Vázquez and Meyer's "The United States & Mexico" but that's a few decades old... Something newer?

In the Eyes of Maximiliano, Everyone Was an Enemy Those who speak nostalgically of Maximiliano Hernández Martínez overlook the fact that he persecuted the most important businessmen, politicians and professionals on the Left and Right, and military p...

@elfaroenglish.bsky.social is among best journalistic outlets—essential info on Central America—and has outdone itself with this look at an enemies list of a former Salvadoran dictator. An excellent demonstration of reading outward from a single primary source. beta.elfaro.net/en/the-tertu...

drawing of 19th century people, mostly women, in fine clothing, dressed up to celebrate Juneteenth. Artist is Weshoyot Alvitre for Johnson, "TEXAS: AN AMERICAN HISTORY"

A brief thread on Texas history and Juneteenth. Years ago, I head historian Ed Ayers observe that emancipation was the single most important event in U.S. history, yet one we don't mark with a holiday. /1

At the risk of screaming into the void: if you care about American history, you should care about the 250th. This is a rare chance to reintroduce history to broad swaths of the American public, to redefine public engagement with history for a generation. Don’t cede the whole thing to Trump.