I just stumbled across Backstory with the American History Guys on WHYY today. This is an NPR show featuring Peter Onuf, Ed Ayres, and Brian Balogh animatedly discussing topics with resonance throughout U.S. history. They draw on scholarly knowledge, but it is definitely an accessible show for the public. Worth a listen (or an iTunes podcast subscription).

Today I lectured on Alexander Hamilton's Report on Manufactures. A good time was had by all.

These two maps viewed together pretty much stand on their own. The race-income relationship is pretty direct throughout the city, especially starkly illustrated in the Chestnut Hill area. However, I'm somewhat intrigued by the black-but-affluent area on the Delaware River just south of (part of) Torresdale.

Following my advocacy for using quantitative data, I'm preparing some materials for fall classes. Another of these projects is mapping the largest cities as measured in the decennial census. I'm teaching a course on the development of the American city and this will help illustrate where they were, as well as providing entry points for discussing what contributed to city growth (and what cities were like).

Northern Liberties was the town immediately north of old Philadelphia and Southwark was immediately south. See Birch's Views of Philadelphia.

I'm diving into the now-digital repository Historical Statistics of the United States (Millennium Edition), a compilation of U.S. census publications over the years. This is just an awesome source.

I think historians need to reacquaint ourselves with quantitative data and integrate it more into our teaching and research. Of course there are many who already do it, but we need to be able to use quantitative historical data as easily as we do qualitative textual sources.

Via Balloon Juice comes word that Dwayne's has processed the last roll of Kodachrome, shot by photojournalist Steve McCurry. I bought my own roll of Kodachrome over the winter (my first and last) and just finished shooting it recently. I'm sending it into Dwayne's, which will process Kodachrome until December 30th of this year. I'll offer any decent results here.

Whether intentional or coincidental, this review of Mary and Russel Wright's modern design book seems particularly poignant with the return of Mad Men this weekend.

Yet the most fascinating part of the Wrights’ book is how thoroughly most of their ideas have been absorbed into our lives. Who doesn’t own placemats? What could be more useful than Formica? They saw, and described in the most accessible language, our material and casual future.

Here at Temple we're seeing a process I saw at Loyola in Chicago -- second-tier universities leading neighborhood redevelopment, investment, and even gentrification. Philadelphia Weekly illustrates the role of the university's private police force in making off-campus neighborhoods safe for students.

As its influence continues to expand outward into the neighborhoods, Temple is treading down a path the University of Pennsylvania has already blazed. In the last decade, University City has undergone a complete makeover, unrecognizable in commercial complexion and neighborhood safety. The changes were brought about largely through security supplied directly or indirectly by Penn (116 private cops) and, to a lesser extent, Drexel, which just unveiled its own police force last year.

The latest mapping effort to track federal resources devoted to the expansion of higher education.