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Janny Scott’s new book, The Beneficiary, has come out to great reviews. I did research on an important, mysterious character in her book: her great-grandfather, Colonel Robert L. Montgomery. It was a real honor to work on this project.

Here is a little piece I wrote on indoor baseball, a game that once rivaled basketball in Chicago. I really hate to be the type of a historian who geeks out at celebrity endorsements, but this made my night. (It’s Buck Weaver, after all.)

When working on my dissertation, I came across some extraordinary letters from Chicago kids to Santa Claus–letters that showed just how cruel the city could be over hundred years ago. Here is the story of the man tasked with reading thousands of letters to St. Nick to match desperate children with charities, an assistant postmaster who became known as the Official Santa Claus of Chicago.

This morning I received word that ’63 Boycott has been shortlisted for an Oscar in the category of Documentary (Short Subject).  I have a credit in the film as an Archival Researcher.  

This is a piece I wrote about the unlikely partnership between the Daley Administration and Rogers Hornsby, the greatest right-handed hitter in baseball history (and also one of the orneriest.)  Even though Hornsby seemed to be on his best behavior teaching baseball to Chicago school kids, there were a number of fun details was able to dig up.