Flipboard + History Club = exciting new collaboration
History Club and Flipboard team up for a series on photography and history
Years ago I owned an Android phone, and it came pre-installed with an app called Flipboard. The app was terrific; I remember being impressed with its elegant design and how simple it was to browse news stories or topics of interest. I was so impressed, in fact, that I suggested to some of my colleagues at the Library of Congress that we integrate our content into Flipboard (amid other priorities and several government shutdowns, that idea got placed on the back-burner).
Fast-forward a few years and Flipboard is the world’s first social magazine with millions of users. And now, a collaboration with Flipboard has come to fruition. As alluded to in this past week’s newsletter, History Club and Flipboard have joined forces for a series of History Club conversations about the intersections of photography and history.
The collaboration made sense for a number of reasons:
Photography has had an extraordinary influence on documentation of the past, as well as what we know about—and how we think about—past events;
Particularly in our digital age, images from the past on social media play an enormous role in public knowledge of history. I have a chapter on this in my new book, a chapter I call the “The Visual Past” (you can preview it here);
History and photography are two of the most engaged topics on Flipboard, so it made sense to unite them into a conversation series with Flipboard as the sponsor.
It turns out, too, that Flipboard is an ideal place to create companion exhibits to the topics we cover in History Club. For example, this week we spoke about photography and the Holocaust with Michael Glickman, founder of JMuse and former CEO of the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Michael mentioned a number of photographic collections held in museums around the world, including the remarkable Henryk Ross collection buried in the ground for sixty years in the Lodz ghetto, and the stunning and shocking Höcker album that depicts the lives of German soldiers and workers at Auschwitz amid mass murder and destruction. These photos—and more—are now assembled into a mini-online exhibit on my Flipboard account called, “Photography and the Holocaust.”
In February, we’ll host a similar conversation about photography and the Civil Rights movement. Then in March, we’ll examine photography’s role in the women’s suffrage movement. Throughout, I’ll curate companion exhibits on Flipboard. Check out my account, and if you’re an educator or a concerned citizen, consider whether Flipboard can be a tool for you to learn about different topics or curate your own stories.
“The Art of Curation” podcast
To kick off our collaboration with Flipboard, I was featured on their “Art of Curation” podcast this week. We talked about what it’s like to work in museums, libraries and archives; my book, History, Disrupted: How Social Media and the World Wide Web Have Changed the Past; and the responsibilities of curating exhibits about the Holocaust and Jewish history. Listen here »
Bringing people together through history
Also this week, Flipboard posted a blog post about me and History Club. They asked me for:
My book recommendations, which include As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner;
My favorite movies, which include “The Big Lebowski” and “Gladiator”; and
What I do for fun, which includes watching comic book movies and lamenting the current state of the New York Jets (4 wins to 13 losses this season 😞).
Check out the entire feature, titled “Bringing People Together Through History: Jason Steinhauer, History Club.”
“Photography and the Holocaust” episode now available in our new ⭐ podcast section ⭐
Missed this week’s conversation with Michael Glickman on photography and the Holocaust? The show is now available in our new podcast section.
Topics we discussed during the show included:
The alarming trend of Holocaust imagery being appropriated into debates around vaccines and lockdowns;
How history institutions must use Holocaust imagery in responsible ways;
Photograph collections such as the Henryk Ross collection and the Höcker album;
Social media trends of selfies being taken at Holocaust sites;
The general state of Holocaust education in the U.S.
More than 700 people joined us live for the event.
Listen to the episode in the History Club’s new podcast hub »
Or, listen to the replay on Clubhouse »
Happy listening, reading and Flip(boarding). Have a great week.
History Club meets Thursdays at 10 pm ET exclusively on Clubhouse. Want to participate? Download the app and join the club. You can also suggest a topic.