Ultimately, the NEH has been gutted, professional historians are in the firing line for conservatives, and the (admittedly reasonable) focus on university educa

Ultimately, the NEH has been gutted, professional historians are in the firing line for conservatives, and the (admittedly reasonable) focus on university education as career development has truly destroyed history academia. Even Digital History work is barely funded. I've got a friend who has a PhD in history from a top department and the number of available Tenure Track positions in their field the year they graduated in the entire country was zero. Many of the history departments that I'm aware of are currently in a state of "we do not know if we will ever be able to hire a TT faculty member again." These sorts of weird scrappy things are compromises that can hopefully help reinvigorate a culture appreciation for history and build collaboration with science and technology, which may provide enough interest to justify a bit more institutional funding. I want history to be well funded. But it isn't. And it is perceived as an evil discipline by a stunning portion of our voting population. This weird side stuff helps.