Driving through Burlington, NJ, recently we decided to don our facemarks and do a quick run through of Philip’s, one of our favorite antique shops. “Maybe my needlework is still there,” I noted hopefully to Tyler. After we parked, I…
#OldHouseCommunity
Smiling nervously while posing in front of what is now our house in a beautiful borough in South (not Southern) Jersey a year ago last Wednesday (the photograph was actually taken before the closing), I did not anticipate all that…
Two Historians Walk Into a Bar
Trudging through an early December snow storm in Washington, D.C., a few weeks ago, after a chilly ten-minute walk, Tyler and I finally spotted our destination: the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery. After visiting friends and colleagues at Colonial…
Of Carriages, Courts, and a Collection
Soon after I made my way through the doors and into the bustling atrium of Penn Dental Medicine (no people in these photos, as I did not want to compromise dental patients’ privacy), I knew I was in the right…
In Search of Magic
Walking toward the Wagner Free Institute of Science near Temple University in Philadelphia in October, I was a little nervous. My friend Hannah and I thought we were going to go back in time and never return. Why the concern,…
Finding George Washington
George Washington (1732-1799) is famously inscrutable. And yet I found him, hanging on the wall at the Powel House (b. 1765) in Philadelphia. Rather, I found his shadow in the form of a silhouette, pencil lines and all. On the…
Change Over Time
Watching intently as the workshop leaders shuffled hot embers from the front to the back of the hearth at an introductory hearth cooking workshop I took at Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum yesterday, I wondered whether I would have a…
I Left My Soul in Antwerp
As Tyler and I made our way inside Museum Plantin-Moretus in Antwerp, Belgium, this past June, we knew that its stature as a UNESCO World Heritage site meant we would, at the very least, feel like we had an afternoon well-spent.…
#DisabilityStories Abroad
En route to our hotel the first night we spent in Brussels, Belgium, this past June, I stopped dead in my tracks in front of a store window despite the fact that I was more than ready to hit the sack…
Teaching Paleography and the Canton Trade System
When I decided to include a one-day workshop (1.5 hours) on paleography (the fancy word for the study of handwriting) in my World History II survey last summer, I thought my students might never make it through the session (not for…