Andrew Wehrman

@profwehrman

History professor at CMU and author of "The Contagion of Liberty: The Politics of Smallpox in the American Revolution" Vaccination is patriotic. New book project(!) tentatively titled: Afterlife and Liberty: New York City’s Doctors’ Riot of 1788

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Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· 5d

True, but he did still get nearly twice as many votes as Mike Rogers did in Wayne County.

Wayne county primary election results: Stevens: 150,593 votes, El-Sayed, 133,292 votes; Roger’s 72,819 votes.

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· 6d

Eww, teacher submitted multiple choice questions!

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· 6d

The historian in me couldn’t leave this alone. Here’s another article from 1986 (“CHS chilli chatter!”) describing the format of northern Missouri quiz bowls. Still no idea why they mentioned 20,000 questions, ha

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· 12d

Sprite saved us all from an invasion this morning. Our little hero…

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· 29d

Sprite has announced that this game is over and it’s time for *him to play ball.

Our black and white cavapoo named Sprite climbing over the back of the couch to get my attention while the World Cup match is on the tv behind him.

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Jul 3

Today is the 250th anniversary of Boston’s mass inoculation against smallpox on July 3, 1776. The city was effectively closed to commerce from July through September 1776. The mass immunization effort was cheered as evidence of true independence. Here's how I described it in my book:

While John Adams and fifty-five men in Philadelphia debated a resolution on independence and the final wording of the Declaration of Independence, the people of Boston declared their own independence from smallpox. The measures taken in both cities provided hope that America would not only be a republic free of a king but also a country free from disease. On July 3, 1776, a day after independence was declared in Philadelphia, the Massachusetts General Court voted to allow inoculation. Despite the dangers of infection, the people of Boston and the surrounding areas cheered the news. Ezekiel Price, a court official and insurance broker, declared “Liberty is given for to inoculate for the small-pox; many begin upon it this afternoon.” Hannah Winthrop described the scene: “Boston has given up its Fears of an invasion & is busily employd in Communicating the Infection. Straw Beds & Cribs are daily Carted into the Town.” She wrote that “Men Women & children eagerly crowding to inoculate is I think as modish as running away from the Troops of a barbarous George was the last year.” Dr. James Warren wrote to John Adams that the “rage for inoculation” had “whirled me into its vortex.…” Warren and his wife Mercy Otis joined Abigail Adams and her four children who had been invited to be inoculated at Abigail’s uncle’s house in Boston along with Abigail’s sisters Elizabeth Cranch and Mary Shaw and their families. Even though Boston was teeming with the sick, the prospect that the city could conquer smallpox made it "a scene delightful indeed." Cotton Tufts was satisfied that he could now "take my leave of Earth, satisfied that the Day of American Redemption was at Hand."

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Jun 30

I very much endorse pretending to read my book while lying in a hammock. Thanks, Library of Virginia!

In a post on Instagram the Library of Virginia writes: “Looking for something to pretend to read while lying in your hammock?” And it shows the cover of my book The Contagion of Liberty

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Jun 20

I showed this with a shocked face to my wife (who is not a soccer fan), and she too looked shocked and said “how did they get half a goal?!”

From ESPN am image of the Germany Ivory Coast game showing Ivory Coast surprisingly up 1-0. The headline reads “ivory Coast hold lead over Germany after first-half goal.”

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Jun 19

Here’s a police dog that I saw in France. There’s no need for police dogs to be intimidating if their job is just to smell.

A hard-working brown dachshund looks for any unusual smells at a French train station.

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Jun 17

I hope you catch that inside straight! I’ve had a poor streak lately too. I’m not factfueling, but here’s a pic from Geneva today.

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Jun 16

And here’s another full view of the Hotel de Ville in Lyon (Bloch’s birthplace) and its tribute to Marc Bloch and Simonne Vidal.

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Jun 16

I was happy to see these large banners in Lyon commemorating the lives of historians Marc Bloch and Simonne Vidal in Lyon this week.

A large banner on Lyon’s Hotel de Ville explaining the lives and executions of March Bloch and Simonne Vidal (in French)

Another banner with a photo of March Bloch and Simone Vidal outside the Hotel de ville in Lyon)

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Jun 15

Currently in France and wondering if these are lawyers for octopi or indeed octopus lawyers.

A sign in French reading “Cabinet d’Avocats” This first name on the list is “Octopus Avocates”

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· May 21

Someone is upset that he’s not coming on our upcoming trip…

Sprite the black and white cavapoo with our Rick Steves France guidebook, that he snatched off of my nightstand, in his mouth. He’s holding it hostage until we give him a treat, which is his way.

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· May 17

My wife has been painting bricks for our garden to look like classic books. Here are a couple of favorites:

Two brinks painted like books on a table full of paints. The first is The Contagion of Liberty and the second is The Lord of the Rings

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· May 8

She looks like my Sprite who was the dunce of his obedience class (we made him a hat), but is otherwise the best pup. Here he is after stealing my son’s wallet.

A black and white cavapoo with my son’s black and white wallet in his mouth.

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Apr 25

My freshman year at the University of Arkansas, my professor wrote this on my first ever research paper. He made copies and put them in other history professors’ mailboxes to read what this freshman had written. (But he still only gave me a 92, ha!)

The top of the first page of a 15-page research paper I wrote in May 2000 for an upper level course on Andrew Jackson taught by Dr. James Chase. His comment reads, “Well-written and organized—unusually so—92”

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Apr 22

Gas prices are already high and now I also have to look a bald eagle in the eye to get it. MAGA, I guess.

A marathon gas pump with a bald eagle instructing you to look it in the eye and tell it you’re in the marathon rewards program.

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Apr 18

The master criminal just stole my son’s wallet too.

Our black and white cavapoo Sprite, who loves to steal things to trade for treats, has my son’s black and white checkered wallet in his mouth.

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Apr 17

So it’s come to this. My dog forced me to give him a treat at (nerf) gunpoint.

My black and white cavapoo sprite holding one of my kid’s nerf guns and hoping I’ll be willing to trade a treat for it.

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Apr 4

One of the cooler collections in CMU’s Clarke Historical Library is the Dick Enberg Papers (a CMU alum and longtime sports broadcaster). Here are Enberg’s handwritten notes for a classic NCAA tournament game in 2005 between The University of Illinois and the University of Arizona.

Extreme detailed handwritten notes for each member of the Illinois team and its coach Bruce Weber

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Mar 28

I just bought my own copy of the PBS American Experience DVD of “A Midwife’s Tale” that I’ve been checking out of the library for years. It’s great and it still holds up! But is there a similar but more recent documentary/dramatization of the historian’s process?

The DVD cover of “A Midwife’s Tale” featuring Martha Ballard in her canoe.

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Mar 28

This log cabin hotdog food truck is for sale near me, and I have a strong urge to show up at history conferences wearing a stovepipe hat and selling “Lincoln Dogs”

A foodtruck (well, a trailer really) that is made to look like a log cabin with a huge hotdog on the roof)

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Mar 18

Kaplan also writes that Congress banned inoculation after the invasion of Canada. It did no such thing. It was Washington who banned inoculation from the outset in the Army. He supported the jailing of inoculators and called for any who inoculated "an enemy and traitor to the country" in May 1776.

An order from Washington praising the New York Congress for jailing an inoculator. Washington wrote that "any Officer in the Continental Army, who shall suffer himself to be inoculated, will be cashiered and turned out of the army, and have his name published in the News papers throughout the Continent, as an Enemy and Traitor to his country."

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Mar 18

This is all wrong. Howe and the British famously evacuated Boston on March 17, 1776. There was no direct confrontation with Washington's troops. Washington only sent 1000 immune troops after the British left and not into Boston but to control Dorchester Heights just outside the city.

Letter from George Washington to John Hancock on March 19, 1776. It reads in part "As soon as the Ministerial Troops had quitted the Town, I order'd a thousand Men (who had had the Small Pox) under Command of General Putnam to take possession of the Heighths, which I shall endeavour to fortify in such a manner as to prevent their return should they attempt it."

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Mar 18

My wife slyly altered this car for me for my birthday. She’s the best and knows me so well.

A Disney princess birthday card meant for a 5 year old. My wife wrote in a “4” in front of the 5s on the card to make it a Disney princess card for a 45 year old man. It comes with “palace pets stickers” which I feel are pretty sweet.

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Feb 17

I appreciated the thorough report! *Thank you* The book doesn’t have a timeline (I’m sure it was harder to keep up with as an audiobook!), but it does have maps and images. Here are a couple of them.

Map of the locations of inoculation facilities in New England prior to George Washington’s order to inoculate the troops in 1777.

A page with two images from my book. The top is a portrait of Benjamin Franklin’s son Francis who died in 1736 after the Franklins failed to inoculate him, something Franklin bitterly regretted and caused him to advocate for inoculation throughout his life. On the bottom is the Essex Hospital or Castle Pox that was burned by sailors because it was only serving the wealthy.

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Feb 14

This is what happens when you ask Google if there’s school in our town on Monday.

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Jan 29

Leave it to MAGA and MAHA to bring us back to the measles outbreaks of the Roaring 20s.

New York Times article from April 2, 1926. "Increase in Deaths From Measles. Special to the New York Times. TRENTON, N.J., April 1--A huge increase in the number of deaths from measles during February was set forth in a mortality report issued today by the State Department of Health. During the month there were seventy-three deaths due to measles, while the average for the previous twelve months was twenty-nine deaths. Measles caused twenty-nine deaths in January. In February 1925, there wree ten deaths."

New York Times article from Tuesday June 5, 1928. "DANGER IN MEASLES, Disease Now Prevalent May, if Neglected Have Serious Results. To the Editor of the New York Times: Nineteen thousand cases of measles have been reported in New York City already this year and 176 deaths from measles have occurred since Jan. 1. Let us remember that 176 homes have been darkened by death; that if simple precautions had been used in all these cases few if any of these young lives would have been destroyed."

Andrew Wehrman@profwehrman· Jan 24

Here's an example of a report from the commission that Gadsden was a part of from 1760. The law required that Gadsden’s committee report all smallpox cases, quarantine them, and keep the public updated on their condition. Gadsden was opposed to arbitrary, lawless government not all government.