“What is obvious is not always known, and what is known is not always present.”

— Samuel Johnson (1755), cited by Edward Samuel Farrow, Military Historian(1885)

 

Homefront Archives: Behind the Uniform explores the unseen side of American military history from the Revolution to the present. For more than two centuries, the U.S. military has relied not only on those who wore the uniform, but on the spouses and families who built the world that sustained it.

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This project argues that the military home front was not a civilian backdrop to war, but a durable institutional system—one that produced continuity, culture, and governance within the armed forces across generations.

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Every battle fought abroad has had a quieter campaign unfolding at home. Military spouses were not just “supporters,” footnotes, or dependents, but historical actors—stakeholders and architects who shaped war, policy, traditions, and military memory.

Drawing on archival research, museum work, material culture, and lived experience, this space brings together long-form essays, work-in-progress research, and critical reflections—alongside conversations about why military spouse history matters now, especially as we approach the American 250.

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The blog serves as the archive; Substack is where I think out loud: a place where hidden histories meet interpretation, critique, and connection.

Thank you for reading! See you soon!

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