Minding the GAPE – April 2025

Tariffs and the income tax in historical perspective, the origins of the White House Easter Egg Roll, HBCU marching bands, epidemics and disability, primary sources from mass persuasion campaigns, why we regulate raw milk, and much more.

Minding the GAPE – March 2025

Golden Age or new Gilded Age, the Statue of Liberty, a historian’s family history, pedestrianism and politics, documenting Black dance history, the Teddy Bear’s failed possum rival, and much more.

Minding the GAPE – February 2025

The life of Black feminist activist Dr. Anna Julia Cooper, a covert government agency in the Progressive Era, coercive tariffs under McKinley, marriage records of the Freedmen’s Bureau, the origins of Black financial institutions, and much more.

Minding the GAPE – January 2025

The Panama Canal, Grant’s Ku Klux Klan pardons, birthright citizenship and U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark, Greenland and Arctic imperialism, the origins of the anti-vaccine movement, teaching resources for Black History Month, and much more.

Minding the GAPE – December 2024

Rereleasing an 1891 country song recording, evolving depictions of Santa Claus, historical holiday drinks and the history of punch, Black self-publishers, acrimonious elections of the past, investigating deaths at Indian boarding schools, and much more

Minding the GAPE – July 2024

Rhubarb recipes, designing Times Square, presidential age concerns of the past, violence against elected officials in historical context, keeping cool before air conditioning, centuries of the “cat lady” trope, and much more.

Minding the GAPE – June 2024

“Forty Acres and a Lie,” the life of Nellie Bly, Coca-Cola and racism, a dangerous flying machine, a new database for African American genealogy, historical cat photos, and much more.