100th Post

In his often-read book about historical thinking and doing, E. H. (Edward Hallett) Carr (1892 – 1982) counseled “study the historian before you study the facts.”¹ We don’t just find facts lying around. We pick and choose our topics, our sources and our analysis. Think of Carr’s book, What is History?, like “History with Ed.” When historians research and write about the past, we are not writing fiction. Our histories are stories intended to be true. We cannot choose all the past. When you are reading “History with Jim,” you are learning about the past. When are we not? And you are learning about my choices, my emphasis and my research.

There’s a digital copy of this book at the Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/EdwardHallettCarrWhatIsHistoryPenguinBooks1990

As the title of this Wednesday’s post declares, I have now written one hundred posts. The category of the Camino de Santiago includes 46 posts. Almost half of the posts are about the Camino or our preparations for the Camino. The first post on November 23, 2023, announced the initial purpose of the Substack – my invitation to follow the daily updates about our walk along the Way of St. James. Between late September and throughout October of 2024, I wrote a daily post about our time in Spain. Since then, “History with Jim” has become a weekly report about my research, reading and writing as a historian.

I created categories about all hundred posts and now report about my choices, my emphasis, and some of my research.

People - 15 posts, Professor Poll, Karen Marie Pedersdatter Clove

Events - 10 posts, The Day the Piano Fell, On This Day

Historian’s Tips - 13 posts, Historiography, Epistemology

Things - 11 posts, Cumin, Time Zones

Books/Readings - 12 posts, Sources, The Sun Also Rises

Food - 2 posts, Adobo, Sumo Citrus

Places - 24 posts, Places in Spain, Mount Kaʻala

Paintings - 4 posts, Museums, Las Meninas

University Life - 2 posts, Opportunities at Universities

The movers at Calle Eduardo Dato, N° 19 in Madrid, Spain in October 1981.

Crossing the Pyrenees on September 30, 2024, the first day between St. Jean Pied de Port, France and Roncesvalles, Spain.

Most posts have between 100 and 200 views, Cumin posted on 21 May 2025 had 1,494 views, Roncesvalles on 30 September 2024 had 575 views, Continuity in History with Catherine of Aragon as an example was third with 240 views. The post about Vernice Wineera on 13 September 2024 had 219. In the statistics page, the Reach column indicates who opened the email. The Cumin entry, for example, has one friend viewing the post more than 1,300 times. Maybe the refresh button was stuck.

A few other details – “History with Jim” Just recently passed 100 subscribers. It’s increasing slowly but steadily. And yet, the ”reach” on the internet offers surprises. I think most of the readers connect through family and friends. But the post about Vernice Wineera lead to a Maori author in New Zealand who contacted me about Vernice’s poetry. I helped him get in touch with Vernice’s family and her poem will soon appear in an anthology of Maori literature. I am pleasantly surprised by the friends and family who have subscribed without me asking or prodding them. I also am very happy when current and former students subscribe. The BYUH connections will offer insight into my day-to-day work, inside the classroom and alone in my office.

If I keep with my weekly schedule, I will write the 200^th post in July 2027. I’m encouraged by Substack to post more, but for now I will not clutter your inboxes. I do hope you will continue reading. You could even invite others to read “History with Jim.”

Thank you.

A favorite activity with some favorite people at the Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections, Utah State University in Logan, Utah – Diane Tueller Pritchett, Anna Tueller Stone, Jan Tueller Lowman and James Blaine Tueller, 28 July 2025. Photograph by Grace K. Tueller.

1. Edward Hallet Carr, What is History? The George Macaulay Trevelyan Lectures Delivered at the University of Cambridge January - March 1961 (New York: Vintage Books, 1961) 26.