About: Jeff Nilsson

Jeff Nilsson is the director of Post archives and a website editor. He is a specialist in American History, with graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin, University of New Mexico, and Eastern Michigan University. He writes our website's weekly Retrospective feature, and is directing the program of digitally converting the magazine's 190 years of issues.

Posts by Jeff Nilsson:

The Plight of the Censor

Working as a state film censor, Helen Tingley knew the real trouble with movies wasn't immorality. It was the stupidity.... More

Making The Movies Behave

When Hollywood refused to tone down the violence and sex in movies, Americans began censoring them — and learned how difficult the job could be. ... More

Taking the Measure of Mr. McKinley

His assassination made him a legend and, to some, a martyr. But before his death 109 years ago, he was the complete politician. And perhaps... More

Lafayette’s Resurrection Tour, As Covered By The Post

By 1824, Americans knew what they owed Lafayette for helping them win independence. They also knew the price he had paid for his commitment to... More

“Lafayette Is Here”: The Post Covers A Hero’s Return

It was America's first, big celebrity tour. The country turned out in city after city to honor a revolutionary war hero and be reminded that... More

Conformity: The Ladies’ Model

Conformity weighed most heavily on women in the late 1950s. The list of social expectations that seemed to grow continually, yet offer no new... More

The Price Of An Organized Society: Conformity in the 1960s

Long before the protests of the late 1960s, there was a rising cry for greater individuality and freedom.... More

Did We Mortgage Our Identity? The 1960s Worries About Conformity

Mid-century Americans were beginning to wonder if they were paying too much for the comforts of modern life.... More

The Rise, Fall, and Rise of the Recording Industry

America's tinkerers and entrepreneurs took a business machine and turned it into a billion-dollar entertainment industry.... More

1969: The Post Listens To “The Soul Sound”

"The biggest thing in pop music today is a blend of folk, rock, and church music known as soul. It's spiritual home is Memphis, back... More

Sexy, Simply, Sad: How Mitch Miller Defined Pop Music in the 1950s

1956: "Mitch 'The Beard' Miller produces more hit records than any other man in the business." The Post explained the secret of his success.... More

Air Conditioning: From Luxury to Necessity

Sure, you depend on your internet and cell phone, but do they have anything near the importance in your life that air conditioning does? ... More

A Fiddler Keeps Hope Alive in 1920s Texas

When boll weevils and floods tore at the spirits of his Texas neighbors, Lewis Nordyke’s father could fiddle hope back into their hearts.... More

The Post Discovers Country Music… in 1944

"Uncle Art Satherley seeks out country music in the bayous, canebrakes and hills, and brings it back twangin' and sobbin' to 25,000,000 addicts."... More