@jennyschuessler

NYT reporter on the ideas beat, lapsed midwesterner, &c. Footnote fan. Mostly here for the Walt Whitman bots. Tips: schuessler at https://xitter.cf/t.co/vSn5fGUY4p, DMs open

 Brooklyn, NY
Joined April 2010
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So... I wrote a thing explaining my job (including to myself) With shoutouts to Walt Whitman, historiography and coffee, and profuse thanks to all the scholars &c who have generously taken so much time over the years to explain their jobs to me! nytimes.com/2022/10/27/insid…

Finding the New in the Old on the Intellectual Life Beat (Published 2022)

Jennifer Schuessler covers the world of ideas for the Culture desk. But what does that mean, exactly?

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Jennifer Schuessler retweeted
1776 Live
@250YearsAgoLiveJul 8
The first public reading of the Declaration of Independence takes place in Philadelphia, summoned by the ringing of the Liberty Bell. John Nixon conducts the reading.
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1776 Live
@250YearsAgoLiveJul 6
The Pennsylvania Evening Post becomes the first newspaper to publish the text of the Declaration of Indepenence.
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1776 Live
@250YearsAgoLiveJul 4
Continental Congress HAS SIGNED A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE!  The UNITED STATES are OFFICIALLY INDEPENDENT from BRITAIN. LIBERTY BELLS ring out throughout Philadelphia; the streets ERUPT IN ECSTASY.
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As a one-time contributor, longtime subscriber, forever admirer, I'm devastated to hear that the Washington Post is shuttering its (superb) books section. A terrible loss ❤️
Jacob Brogan@Jacob_BroganFeb 4
The Washington Post is eliminating many sections. Book World, my section, is among them.
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“Common Sense,” published 250 years ago today in Philadelphia, helped light the fire of American independence Thomas Paine’s words are on many lips today - but Americans didn’t always love him. More on his wild life & often bizarre afterlife nytimes.com/2026/01/09/arts/…

How Americans Learned to Love Thomas Paine

His “Common Sense,” published 250 years ago, ignited the drive for American independence. That was hardly the end of the radical founder’s strange and winding story.

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John U. Bacon@Johnubacon10 Oct 2025
In today's @nytimes, a thoroughly researched, wonderfully written, and beautifully photographed and videotaped story on the Edmund Fitzgerald, shipping today, and yes, a certain author and his book. They did a great job. Hat tip, @jennyschuessler. nytimes.com/2025/10/10/arts/…

In the Wake of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Published 2025)

The mighty ship, immortalized in song by Gordon Lightfoot, sank 50 years ago on Lake Superior. Our reporter spent a week on a Great Lakes freighter that survived the storm.

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Charles Arrowsmith@ArrowsmithUSA13 Jun 2025
A lovely piece by @jennyschuessler about the landmark significance of the @SchomburgCenter (turning 100 this year!) as a home for Black history and culture nytimes.com/2025/06/12/arts/…

A Mecca for Black History Turns 100 (Published 2025)

The New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center celebrates its beginnings, at a moment when Black history is under attack.

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Phil Klay@PhilKlay26 May 2025
On Memorial Day, I always think of this inscription on a British grave from WWI: “If love could have saved him he would not have died.”
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Ken Burns
@KenBurns25 May 2025
Terrific piece by @jennyschuessler about finding understanding in our disagreements. Excited to visit @TJMonticello this July 4 to talk about the meaning of The American Revolution, our next film coming to @PBS this November.
Monticello@TJMonticello25 May 2025
Did you catch us today in the @nytimes? Read about the making of Monticello's newest tour, "Founding Friends, Founding Foes," courtesy of the New York Times. nytimes.com/2025/05/25/arts/…

These Founding Fathers Were Frenemies. Maybe We Can Learn Something. (Published 2025)

Can the fraught relationship between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams help heal our own hyper-polarized politics? Monticello is betting yes.

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NEW: Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities Leaves at Trump's "Direction" nytimes.com/2025/03/12/arts/…

Chair of National Endowment for the Humanities Leaves at Trump’s ‘Direction’ (Published 2025)

Shelly C. Lowe, a scholar of higher education and the first Native American to lead the agency, was appointed by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

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NEW: The Carter Library in Atlanta abruptly cancelled 3 book events relating to civil rights, climate change & homelessness, because of what authors were told was a requirement that all events, even already planned, be approved by the National Archives nytimes.com/2025/02/22/arts/…

Amid Changes at the National Archives, the Carter Library Cancels a Civil Rights Book Event...

After President Trump put in new leadership at the National Archives, the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta abruptly canceled several events.

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Live from the archives, it's Saturday Night? Spent a few days looking through the Lorne Michaels/SNL collection, just donated to the @ransomcenter 700+ boxes of scripts, notes, photos, memos, fan mail, hate mail (incl some written on... toilet paper?) nytimes.com/interactive/2025…

A New Look at the History of ‘S.N.L.’ (Published 2025)

Photos, scripts, hate mail and other artifacts donated by Lorne Michaels trace the show’s path from idea to institution.

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NEW: The California Historical Society, founded in 1871, is shuttering & transferring its collections to Stanford. It faced longstanding challenges, incl lack of regular state funding. Amid San Francisco's post-pandemic woes, they became insurmountable. Link in next tweet:
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The @CAHistory collections will move to Stanford, its building near Union Square (which had previously served as HQ for Nancy Pelosi's 1st campaign) has been sold. CHS only one of a number of historical orgs in San Francisco that are in peril. Link in next tweet:
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nytimes.com/2025/01/28/arts/…

California Historical Society to Dissolve and Transfer Collections to Stanford (Published 2025)

The society faced financial challenges that were exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. Its nearly 600,000 items stretch back before the Gold Rush.

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The collection includes some 600k items, dating to a century before the California Gold Rush. Troves of early printing (fruit labels!). Archive of the ACLU of Northern Cal, which represented Koremetsu's challenge of WWI-era internment. Records of Jim Jones's People's Temple ...
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Peter Baker
@peterbakernyt22 Jan 2025
One of Biden's last, lesser noticed actions on the way out the door: Signing legislation that will create the Women’s Suffrage National Monument on the Mall, the first on Washington's national space honoring women and their history. @jennyschuessler nytimes.com/2025/01/20/arts/…

How a Monument to Women Finally Won a Place on the National Mall (Published 2025)

The Women’s Suffrage National Monument, which will be the Mall’s first dedicated to women’s history, overcame congressional and other roadblocks.

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Phil Klay@PhilKlay29 Oct 2024
Very nice @jennyschuessler piece on my favorite magazine, @commonwealmag “The commitments of Catholicism don’t line up very neatly on contemporary politics,” @Dorothy410berry said. “At its best, the magazine can create space for ideas to bounce around.” nytimes.com/2024/10/28/arts/…

For a Stalwart Voice of Liberal Catholicism, a Complicated Centennial (Published 2024)

Commonweal magazine, founded in 1924, wrestles with its mission at a moment of a continuing loss of faith in both the church and liberalism.

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200 years ago, the Marquis de Lafayette arrived in America for a year-long farewell tour, sparking a Beatlemania-like frenzy I wrote about America's top "Lafayette," & the odd business of being everyone's favorite fighting Frenchman for a living nytimes.com/2024/08/15/arts/…

For the Man Who Plays Lafayette, It’s a Marquis Event (Published 2024)

America’s favorite fighting Frenchman arrived for a farewell tour in 1824. A yearlong commemoration kicks off this week, and the country’s pre-eminent “Lafayette” is ready.

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