Casey Sylvia Schmitt
@csschmitt1
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Assistant Professor of History, Cornell. William & Mary PhD. She/her @casey_schmitt @mastodon .online
Ithaca, NY
Joined October 2014
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Law of archival research: you will find out about the most important document for your research in the last fifteen minutes before the archive closes on the last day of your trip.
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Hey academics! Do you have side hustles? If so, what are they?
Had an eye-opening chat with some assistant profs from working class backgrounds and each of them had a side hustle to make ends meet/save for a down payment for a house/support parents.
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Sometimes I really, really wish I had decided to be a historian of the 20th century...
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Ten years into a book project that started as a dissertation and I finally - FINALLY - understand what I'm arguing and why it matters.
It's a priceless feeling.
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Yay! My book contract was approved by UPenn Press! The Predatory Sea is one step closer to becoming a book (now I just need to finish it...)
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I want to know what necessitated this tweet.
YOU are cold. They have fur.
Do not let inside.
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Hey Historians! I'm teaching a Maritime History of Early America next semester, any thoughts on accessible readings for undergrads or great books to lecture from? We're going 1490s-1800s. Anything would be helpful!
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Hey academics! I am going through some very real and debilitating imposter syndrome as I race to finish this chapter.
Any tips on how to keep going despite of all the mean, self-doubting thoughts?
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Hey historians! I'm looking for great first paragraph hooks from articles or monographs to share with my honors thesis students.
Any suggestions?
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Does anyone else feel like a rebel when they proceed to download on JSTOR without reading the terms and conditions?
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Got wonderful news that my recent article received an honorable mention for the John M. Murrin prize for best article in Early American Studies!
Now, I just wish they could also send honorable mentions to everyone who helped me make the article better!
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Solid advice for ship captains ca. 1630: charge 10 pence to every sailor transporting parrots "so that your ship may not be unnecessarily pestered."
You wouldn't want your ship unnecessarily pestered.
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Hey historians! I'm looking for recommendations and advice on commissioning maps for a book manuscript. I am going to need A LOT of very specific maps and need all of the tips you've got. Thank you!
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Just received a very critical (but generous and productive) set of readers' reports.
Any advice on how to get over that first sting of feeling like an idiot? Asking for me.
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My heart goes out to the 17th-century Spanish notary from Santo Domingo who heard an English sailor say his last name and used every vowel at his disposal to transcribe it.
Sadly, I don't think "Gueilloaes" was quite how the sailor would have spelled it. 🙄
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Hey historians! I'm looking for ideas for assignments to replace the midterm/final exam model.
Something that assesses retention and critical engagement with the course material, but perhaps several times over the course of the semester rather than only twice. Ideas?
Thanks!
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We lost our best friend yesterday and the Harry-sized hole in our lives is just enormous. Thank you for everything, sweet boy. ❤️
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Page proofs!!! I wish I was able to include everyone who has read, commented on, or discusses some version of this with me over the years, but the list would be longer than the article. In the midsts of another job market, it's wonderful to celebrate something!
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New favorite archival find, ca. 1659:
English sailor who awoke to Spanish sailors standing over his hammock because he slept through an entire sea battle, boarding, and removal of his shipmates.
Honestly, there are mornings when I totally get it.
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Me to my students: Give yourself plenty of time so you aren't writing papers at the last minute.
Also me: Frantically finishing a paper for a talk on Monday that I've known about for six months.
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I teach from 11:25-12:40 and again from 1:00-2:15.
Will I spend the rest of the semester anxiously debating with myself if I should eat lunch at 10:45 or wait until 2:30?
Yes, yes I will.
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Let's have a conversation about historiography. I know that the convention is to discuss historiographic interventions in the introduction of the book, but I am a big fan of historiographic conversations woven into every chapter.
Thoughts?
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Absolute riches! Turns out that it is a really, really good time to study the 17th-century Caribbean.
(There was never a bad time, but the new stuff coming out is 🔥) 👇
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Stop already with the "this doesn't happen in this country" claims followed by racist references to Latin American countries that most people couldn't point to on a map. Try critiquing the racism and bigotry that got us here without using more racism and bigotry.
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Working on the book without knowing when foreign archives will be accessible again is like planning to bake a cake that might have eggs, flour, and sugar. But it also might not.
New subtitle for the book: "Here's something, not everything, but something."
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My courses are listed for the fall!!! I squealed and then hyperventilated - that's normal, right?
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Oh my!!!
Well, that's one way to Hispanize the name Sir John Watling! 🤭
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It's out! 🎉🎉🎉
Research on this started nearly a decade ago and it benefitted from so many generous people who offered advice, critiques, and encouragement. It feels like a village wrote this article and I am really grateful to see it in print!
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Just came in the mail and I'm very, very excited to dig into this!
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I am very much looking forward to this book! Coming in September!
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Writing a new chapter outline for the book manuscript from the dissertation feels a little like re-heating leftovers from a meal that didn't quite work out the first time. Send help. And wine.
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Hey historians! Anyone have suggestions for an ice-breaker that gets students familiar with what a primary source is, what a secondary source is, and how historians use them?
I'm grateful for all thoughts!
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Each time I pick up this book, I learn something or discover a new way to think about my own work.
If historical scholarship is about building on the work of others, I am especially grateful to scholars like this for laying such smart, insightful foundations.
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Please don't ask anyone to explain being childless. Being forced to explain infertility around the holidays is really tough for mental health.
I know folks have good intentions, just remember it's not always a choice.
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“It’s not about finding gay people in history,” Bronski said, “so much as it’s actually expanding our notions of human relationships and the complexity of human behavior.”
This is a welcome and important announcement from CW.
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Students deserve to work with academics who aren't struggling to cobble together enough classes to survive. Academics deserve to have the security of being tenured or tenure-track. Without that, what's the use of a public institution like CU Boulder?
College of A&S at
@CUBoulder
announced today that 25 instructors would replace 50 tenured faculty members to cut salary expenses by $6.2 million. A majority of instructors teacher 4 courses a semester, double what most TT faculty teach for half the pay. This is bad.
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Come join my ridiculously wonderful department! Please share widely.
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First day of teaching as an assistant professor in the books! I am humbled by the level of generosity, maturity, and intellectual spark among my students today. Onward!
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A huge thanks to
@NEHgov
for providing reviewer feedback on grant applications!
And so much gratitude to the anonymous reviewers - I don't know who you are, but I appreciate your time!
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Hey historians! Any advice on how to hold discussion sections for students with very different levels of preparation? i.e.: freshman and senior history majors in the same discussion sections.
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Hey historian friends! What readings (articles, chapters, sources, or books) did you assign this semester that really worked?
For me it was Laila Lalami's The Moor's Account for my Disasters class alongside Cabeza de Vaca's account.
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Preview of how I will describe the last two chapters of my book in the introduction: 👇
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Writing a book takes trust. Trust that you know enough. Trust that you can communicate your ideas well enough. And trust that your peers will help.
Sometimes you just have to keep writing and trust the process.
And sometimes you have to take the weekend off and have fun.
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Check out my review of Joseph Clark's new book, and then check out the book!
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This is 40! 🎉 I'm so grateful for the last decade and the people in it and I'm looking forward to what the next brings!
(Please commence with the over-the-hill jokes now...)
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Hey historians! Any tips for someone thinking about putting on a conference and producing an edited volume?
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I think this will work for my chapter titles. Chapter II: Same Stuff I Was Talking About Before.
Easy.
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Feeling very overwhelmed and sad.
Fortunately I have lots of early modern sailors' testimonies to read, which reminds me that life could be much worse. 😂
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Time for tough decision for the book: do I keep names Hispanized as they appeared in Spanish archives or try to translate them? (Easier with some names than others).
I kind of want to keep Guillermo de los Guillermos, if only because it's much funnier than William Williamson.
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Me: about to book archive-related travel for over the winter break.
World: new variant and potential travel restrictions.
Cool, cool. I will just write a big historiographic essay in lieu of a book. That should work, right?
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Editing the book manuscript means sitting with my own writing for days on end. I hate reading my own writing!
Any tips for editing and staying sane?
(Other than whiskey, I've got that one covered.)
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Hey historians! For those of you who have written a second book, what's one thing you wish you'd know about the process?
Was your process different from book one?
Any advice, thoughts, or tips would be appreciated!
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Research earlier in the 17th century, they said. It'll be fun! While I'm really grateful for some digitized sources, my eyeballs hurt...
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Me: I'm really worried that this chapter is too much backstory and I need to get to the point.
My partner: It's history, isn't it all backstory?
😂
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The worst part of being spoken over, ignored, and belittled is the assumption that there's something wrong with my work or my intelligence.
Sometimes sexism is just sexism and I need to see it for what it is.
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In case I didn't already know academia seems weird to the outside world: rejected for a mortgage application because my year-long fellowship seems like "unreliable" income. 😂
To be fair, I can't believe I'm getting paid to write a book either.
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Teaching a class for the first time is like submitting the first, very rough draft of an article for peer review. Except the peer reviewers don't know anything about history and only read the first two pages. TGIF?
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Book proposal to what the chapters actually look like.
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Why is it so hard to see a doctor!?
Like, maybe if you're booked out until November, it's time to hire more doctors? Am I missing something?
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Can't wait for this conference!
Join us in Philly next May for a conference on early early America. Proposals due August 30th. More info here:
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The anticipation for this was completely worth it. Such an important, well-researched, and elegant argument.
Stop whatever you are doing and read this book. 👇
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I totally sympathize with this seventeenth-century bureaucrat's need to doodle all over this cover page.
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Hey history folks! Any advice on places for long-term fellowships for assistant professors to work on book projects?
(In this job market, I'm especially looking for funding opportunities that are only open to assistant profs and not forms of support for postdocs.)
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This will be my first semester teaching in-person while wearing masks. I am slightly hearing impaired and am panicking about being able to hear/understand students speaking through masks.
Tips? Advice?
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Okay folks who live in perpetually dark, cloudy, and cold places. I've done the mood lamp, vitamin D supplements, and meditation. Any other tips for not being cranky/depressed when you haven't seen the sun for a month?
I'll try anything!
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The emphasis on "so-what" arguments in history means a "so-what" that translates across the discipline.
But transhistorical "so-whats" tend to prioritize the perspectives of elites or to flatten the experiences of others into something applicable across time and space.
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Very emotional day in the archives today (a thread).
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@JSRichman
A few of the folks I talked to do free lance consulting work in addition to being full-time academics.
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The danger of reading archival documents too close to lunch: seeing a Bagel of Enemies! 😁
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Good news: I got my first vaccine shot yesterday!
Bad news: I feel like I got hit by a truck and am terrified for how bad the second shot is going to be.
Anyone else have a bad reaction to the first Moderna shot?
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Over the years, many smart people have suggested that I use section headings in my book. I have resisted. It turns out they were right and it does make the whole thing much clearer.
But y'all, I am terrible at titles and now I have to write SO MANY of them!
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I'm excited participate in this wonderful program in February.
Also, check out the fellowships associated with the UCLA Center for 17th and 18th Century Studies!
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Clerk: Weird, I had a dream about bowls because I need to order more.
Me: Weird! I'm a historian and I read about violent things all day, so my dreams are really violent.
Clerk: [silently puts my things in a bag.]
Reason
#527
why historians have a hard time making friends.
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Clicked on this fully expecting a new scandal involving Sir Francis Drake.
The struggles of being an early modern historian are real.
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Me: I think I'll just transcribe some sources this afternoon.
The AGI: Good luck.
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For me as a historian, this father’s petition and the fate of his family reveals a lot about the intersections of race, slavery, and warfare in the seventeenth-century Caribbean. As a person, though, today has just been heavy, exhausting, and sad.
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You know you've been reading documents for too many hours when smiley faces start appearing.
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It must be Wednesday if my ILL books are sending me into an existential crisis.
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New graphic novel project that redraws and narrates 18th century history from indigenous perspectives. I can't wait to incorporate this into the classroom! *Redrawing History: Indigenous Perspectives on Colonial America*
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What happened to Worldcat?! Why do search engines keep changing when there's nothing wrong with the old version?! (I'm looking at you, too, ANOM).
In other news, I have reached that age where I don't handle change very well.
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This feels right for a Monday. It's totally fine that most of the documents that are central for this chapter are like this. Totally fine.
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Ithaca folks - this is going to be great! 👇
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I'm working on edits for a forthcoming article and have two thoughts. 1: Editors are the under appreciated heroes of our profession. 2: Did I ever learn proper English grammar?
On a related note, can I have wine before noon?
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So, it turns out that a missing set of testimonies I've obsessed over for years are not, nor will they ever be, in the Archivo General de Indias. It turns out that the ship they were sent on was seized by moros.
Awesome. ☹️
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Writing lectures with books like this is such a privilege. SUCH an important and well-written book.
@ElenaSchneid
🔥
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Twenty minutes into an animated lecture on the fortifications around Havana on the eve of the Seven Years' War:
"Uh, Professor, are we supposed to be seeing a PowerPoint?"
The wheels on this bus are coming off...
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"...small stories can provide valuable perspectives on the bigger picture. Detailed studies of individual lives often yield insights lost in broad, sweeping histories of a time or place."
This is such a subtle, brilliant book. 👇
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So, I assumed that the celebrations in Sevilla last night were for the city's patron saint, San Fernando.
No, it was for soccer. Because in the year of our lord 2023, only scholars of the 17th century assume that honking and singing all night happens for a patron saint.
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Congratulations to
@TamikaYNunley
!!! This is well-deserved and great news!
Congratulations to ABWH member,
@TamikaYNunley
, on winning
@AAIHS
’s 2022 Pauli Murray Book Prize for the best book in Black intellectual history!!!
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I was not prepared for the emotional toll of helping students who are grappling with mental illness navigate an online semester.
Just a reminder to anyone who needs it, help is available: National Suicide Prevention Hotline 800-273-8255.
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Just realized, minutes before submitting an essay for peer review, that Word had autocorrected every use of the term "oidor" to "odor." Shame and hilarity ensued.
Like, "in a letter from the odor..." or "The odor responded..."
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Hey published historian friends! How does using information from a published article in a forthcoming book work? Is it possible to repeat sections from the article in the book? Is that bad form? Thanks!
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New favorite Hispanization of an English name: Thomas Modyford becomes Tómas Molifot.
This tweet will appeal to approximately three people, two of whom have already left Twitter for greener pastures called anxiety-free productivity.
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Grades are in!!!
So grateful for Cornell students' hard work and good humor this semester and I will miss my students. But it feels good to have the next year to focus on the book!
(Also taking recommendations for making time away from teaching productive. 😉)
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Just got page proofs for a forthcoming article!!!
This all started with a conference 2+ years ago. Hats off the to editors who kept it going through Covid, shutdowns, and burnout.
Editors are the rudders that keep this whole thing moving in the right direction, folks.
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Sometimes writing goes well and some days it is simply awful.
Any tips for getting over writer's block/imposter syndrome would be greatly appreciated as I try to add a few more words to the day's meager tally!
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