Zachary Schrag
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zacharyschrag.bsky.social
Zachary Schrag
@zacharyschrag.bsky.social
1.8K followers 350 following 700 posts
Professor of History, George Mason University. Currently researching history of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project. Views my own.

zacharyschrag.com.
historyprofessor.org
https://orcid.org/my-orcid?orcid=0000-0003-1420-551X
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zacharyschrag.bsky.social
William Murin claims a racial motivation but provides no footnote, and I don't fully trust his account. I think the bigger picture is that when you run a line to secure cheap right-of-way—be it the Penn Central tracks or the Dulles Access Highway median—you have to compromise on station locations.
"To assure their continued support, each suburban area was given virtual veto power over the placement and alignment of route within its boundaries. Thus, Alexandria's demand that the Huntington section south of the city be given direct service was written into the plan adopted in 1968. Similarly, Prince Georges County was able to secure the re-routing of the line serving the eastern portion of the County thus assuring service to the white middle class areas of Cheverly and Landover." William J. Murin, Mass Transit Policy Planning: An Incremental Approach (Heath Lexington Books, 1971), 87.
November 21, 2025 at 10:49 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
This showed up in a 1962 issue of Air University Quarterly Review. I have questions, especially concerning the Algeria-Hudson Bay corridor.
Map captioned "A Communist concept for world revolution, 1953 to 1973," showing arrows from Algeria to Hudson Bay and a circular pattern around New Guinea. Accompanies Col. Robert W. Fish, "USAF Role in the Cold War," Air University Quarterly Review 13, no. 4 (Summer 1962): 75-83, https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/ASPJ/journals/1962_Vol14_No1-6/1962_Vol13_No4.pdf
November 8, 2025 at 3:41 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
It's here!
#PhillyIsGreater
GREATER PHILADELPHIA: A NEW HISTORY FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, volume 3, held by Zachary Schrag, contributor of an entry on the Nativist Riots of 1844
October 30, 2025 at 5:25 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
Screen shot of Zachary Schrag, George Mason University, saying his three words: "for accurate history."
October 25, 2025 at 1:02 AM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
Well, yes.
Chicago at night as seen from a 737
October 14, 2025 at 1:00 AM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
Heavy rail wayfinding vs BRT wayfinding. Union Station, Los Angeles
Rail entrance with enormous line symbols BRT (line J) entrance with microscopic sign hidden among trees
October 12, 2025 at 8:40 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
Coins are 31 USC 5112, not 5114
Contents of 31 U.S. Code Subtitle IV Chapter 51 Subchapter II - GENERAL AUTHORITY https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/31/subtitle-IV/chapter-51/subchapter-II
October 4, 2025 at 3:04 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
Fun with the wide angle lens
Wide angle lens photo of cat whose prominent ruff hides her body, making her appear to be decapitated
September 28, 2025 at 8:47 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
Well, the crankset and rear derailleur won’t be joining the 31,000-mile club. But thanks to the good folks at @bikenetic.bsky.social for getting me back on the road, as well as the snazzy new handlebar tape.
Butterfly handlebars featuring black tape with a white hexagonal pattern
September 27, 2025 at 7:09 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
Robert Redford as The Great Waldo Pepper
September 16, 2025 at 1:30 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
Firefox + Virginia Chronicle teamed up to give me a side-by-side comparison of the original microfilm image (far right), Virginia Chronicle's OCR (center), and Claude's attempt (far left). Claude is pretty good but adds hallucinations like "in the Glebe Road-Route 50 area" & "for the longest time."
Screenshot of a section of "Arlington Subway Pondered," Northern Virginia Sun, July 14, 1961, from the Library of Virginia's Virginia Chronicle site, https://www.virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=NVS19610714.1.1&e=--1960---1963--en-20-NVD%2CNVS-21-byDA-txt-txIN-subway+Arlington+-------- . In the FIrefox sidebar, Claude.ai's effort at reading the text.
August 31, 2025 at 5:12 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
Caturday it is, then.
Long haired tabby cat lounging on the top platform of a cat tree.
August 30, 2025 at 3:27 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
www.chronicle.com/article/virg...
Soundtrack album of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, mutilated to read A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Quorum
August 29, 2025 at 11:54 AM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
F'ing Strava won't let me set up my nephew's new Hotwalk.
Pull-down menu from Strava, with options for Road, Mountain, TT, Cross, and Gravel bikes. No balance bikes!
August 8, 2025 at 9:24 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
Who's in the 30,000-mile club?

Frame
Fork
Headset
Stem
Seatpost
Cranks
Pedals
Two chainrings
Derailleurs
One shifter
Rack
One cage
What’s left of the fenders
Historian
Zachary Schrag with 2013 Specialized Sirrus Sport
August 8, 2025 at 12:28 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
Nice to know that Claude is back to doing OCR again. Last month he was on strike.
Screenshot from Zachary Schrag BlueSky post from July 2025, showing that Claude was reporting "I don't have the capability to . . . Perform OCR on image or PDF files."
August 6, 2025 at 5:15 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
The power of putting events in chronological order.
Trip Gabriel, “Sandra Grimes, Who Helped Unmask a C.I.A. Traitor, Dies at 79,” New York Times, August 3, 2025. Aldrich H. Ames, the C.I.A. mole whose betrayal led to the execution of at least eight Russian double agents who spied for the U.S., a devastating setback for American intelligence, was discovered from bookkeeping entries. He was identified by a counterintelligence analyst, Sandra Grimes, who was once in charge of C.I.A. secretaries and clerks. In 1992, merging data from two spreadsheets, Ms. Grimes noticed that Mr. Ames made bank deposits of up to $9,000 on three occasions just after lunches with a Soviet Embassy official in Washington. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell what is going on here,” she exclaimed to her colleagues. “Rick is a goddamn Russian spy.”
August 6, 2025 at 1:11 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
All good writing is rewriting. 😬
Excerpt from Laurie Winer, Oscar Hammerstein II and the Invention of the Musical (Yale University Press, 2023), 303. IN THE HAMMERSTEIN PAPERS at the Library of Congress there are many drafts of well-known lyrics that can teach any writer about the importance of revision, but this one is my favorite. On a slip of paper, in pencil, is written: Doe is a [very] word For feminine [female] deer Ray is a very bright light Me is what I call myself Fa with an R very long way It's always good to remember that someone sweated over lines that now seem effortless and inevitable. Here's another draft: Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, Curling my finger in warm woolen mittens, Riding down hill on my big brother's bike— These are a few of the things that I like.
July 29, 2025 at 8:56 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
God help us.
From Jasper Smith, "Where to Draw the Line on DEI? This University Is Asking a Lawyer," Chronicle of Higher Education, July 25, 2025. The review has stoked concern in some corners that nearly all university practices — including many defensible ones — are now open to inspection. VCU’s own website has become a symbol of the state of flux: Pages that display scholarships, every page on the College of Humanities and Science website, and faculty profiles have been flagged with a banner indicating their contents are under review. Diversity has already been stricken from the university’s admissions page, which now states simply that “a welcoming community is ingrained in our culture.” Screenshot of Virginia Commonwealth University Department of History webpage. Photographs of Frida Kahlo, Mildred and Richard Loving, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Maggie Lena Walker, along with artistic representations of Sun Tzu, Robert E. Lee, Queen Elizabeth I, and Tukankhamen, including the antiracist graffiti on Lee's pedestal. Above it all, a warning, "All CHS websites are under review after the issuance of the "Dear Colleague" letter from the U.S. Department of Education and the Notice of Civil Rights Term and Condition of Award from the National Institutes of Health."
July 25, 2025 at 7:36 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
Early in my time Arlington, I was overflown by an F-117, presumably on its way back from the Andrews Air Show. At least a Tri-Motor looks like something that can fly.
F-117 Nighthawk, seen from below. Looks more like a failed origami project than an airplane. https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a28399364/f-117a-nighthawk-new-role/
July 21, 2025 at 6:18 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
OK, that's funny.
Washington Post front page, top of fold, July 20, 2025. A photograph of riders in the Tour de France, surrounded by headlines with phrases "led by club," "long line of tests," and "set to hit high gear."
July 20, 2025 at 1:04 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
Google Maps offers a cool satellite view of the Fed construction project.
Google Maps satellite view of Federal Reserve Building renovation, with four cranes at work and significant excavation and supports visible.
July 19, 2025 at 5:31 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
Me and my book project
Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library. "Actors Angela Lansbury and George Hearn in a scene from the Broadway musical Sweeney Todd" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/2e059280-db72-0130-f459-58d385a7bbd0 Sweeney looks skeptically at Mrs. Lovett, who explains that "Bright ideas just pop into my head."
July 19, 2025 at 2:58 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
I was surprised to learn that this is apparently a legal use of DC bike lanes: a pedal-assistance bike (?) with a top assisted speed of 15.5 mph.
www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
"UPS worker Dyghton Anderson drives an eQuad electric bike while delivering packages in New York in 2022. (Ted Shaffrey/AP)' From Rachel Weiner, Delivery apps broke our streets. New tech might fix it, Washington Post, July 13, 2025
July 14, 2025 at 4:00 PM
zacharyschrag.bsky.social
The Reston station areas are works in progress, but Rosslyn-Ballston took about 30 years to build out as well.
Photograph of Halley Rise development, south of Reston Town Center Metro station. A big leasing banner and a sign pointing to the Wegmans (opened 2023) suggest the newness of the place.
July 14, 2025 at 12:40 AM