The long down escalator (not working) that leads down towards the research library
I’d forgotten how gloomy it feels to head down towards the salle de recherche at the BnF. It’s been a very long time since I was last here…
Advertisement for 'Keapot Urns' made by Sumerling & Co., Ltd. Features a drawing of a wheeled trolley with an urn, mugs, milk jug and bowls.
Advertisement for the 'Tea Infusing Apparatus' capable of making '400 pints of tea in thirty minutes'.
We're not saying that the MRC staff drink a lot of tea but....
'A problem solved'
Why is #NationalTeaDay a month before National Biscuit Day? Everyone knows you can't have one without the other!
Fascists and Nazis hate history, and historians; but understand the power of history. Thats why, across the world, they work so hard to control HOW we tell stories about the past, to drive out diverse critical voices and perspectives, to ensure a narrative that makes them look good.
😢
It’s such a grim landscape for humanities in HE but increasingly the learned societies and charities are mobilising to support research outside of HE - presuming that your friend was interested in HE for research, that is. Obviously if they’d like to be swamped in meaningless admin, and precarity…
Ouch - that’s so brutal.. what a mess HE is in at the moment… and so much expertise being jettisoned…
A picture of a rather dilapidated copy of "The picture of Dorian Gray" There is visible water damage to the cover and the plastic cover is yellowing. Obviously, not evident from the picture but there is a truly foul musty smell emanating from it!
Last week, a gentleman returned this rather dilapidated copy of this famous book to us after 50 years. He had found it in his attic!
Presumably this means there is a pristine copy somewhere in our libraries....
On that note, really loved @gregjenner.bsky.social's You're Dead To Me episode on Alexandre Dumas with @historianmemory.bsky.social & Celya AB
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
This one might be hard to beat!
Jean Piaget sits in his home-office in Pinchat, near Geneva, where he is surrounded by stacks of papers
When I worked at the Jean Piaget Archives in the University of Geneva, the family donated the intellectual contents of his home. Fortunately, my supervisor decided to retain the locations of the papers. Because Piaget's own "filing system" was to add new desks and shelves when the old ones filled up
A sobering start to a fascinating training session for PhD supervisors on alternatives to academic careers with @naomityrrell.bsky.social
I feel this photo should set up a whole thread where we all share the most chaotic boxes of archival material we’ve come across! I just need to find the photo I’ve got of a particularly disorganised but oh so promising box at the UK national archives first…
This really is a lovely piece - an uplifting story of shared memories of going to football matches and collecting autographs.
I've been working as a freelance professional academic editor for over 15 years and have finally got around to creating a website. If you're an academic writer seeking experienced editorial help on a writing project (e.g. book, chapter, journal article), get in touch! And please spread the word ✏️📖
This is presumably the scaled down and evolved version of the mentoring scheme that the UK department of education pulled out of? Warwick was lined up to provide mentors under Cardiff’s guidance until the project was shelved. Just think how very different the GCSE landscape might look…
As an Exeter fan and Trust member I’m obviously biased, but this was a really good header by the keeper!
As my maternity leave comes to an end, a reminder that I’m now offering an archive photography service primarily for museums/archives in the south east England (IWM, TNA, BL etc etc) to help make ends meet. Details below:
lucybetteridgedyson.com/archive-rese...
i have followed the evolution of the wikipedia AI detection guide with interest and regret to say that i still bombed their quiz.
i think there are grounds for quite extensive pessimism about how this is going to play out in both teaching and research.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiped...
In two months I’ll be giving my first online talk about Norman Cross! So if you’ve ever wondered what the prisoner of war camp was like or what the prisoners made, now’s your chance to find out
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/prisoners-...
You can still “see” a 1100-year-old Viking frontier in England through place names. “-by” and “-thorpe” cluster in the former Danelaw, while “-ton” and “-ham” dominate elsewhere. Not a clean border, but a lasting cultural imprint. Source: buff.ly/NlTRNKY
I'm pleased to announce I'm a founding co-editor of the new @manchesterup.bsky.social book series, Radical Histories.
Do let me know if you have a proposal for a book that fits our inclusive remit on radical histories.
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/series/radic...
Quite something to think we are staring down the barrel of a crisis which will end high level research and teaching as something spread evenly across the country's cities and towns, accessible to all, and both UK and devolved governments just don't seem to particularly care?
Call for papers for Law, race and empire conference: By popular request, we are pleased to offer an extended deadline of Tuesday 28th April for proposals for this exciting event. The law and its authority has always been a contested space. From the adversarial trial and debates on legal reform to discretionary decision making on who was tried, and pleas for clemency, the way people have navigated legal landscapes has always been both fraught and multi-faceted. This complexity is exacerbated in the imperial context, where the law could be both a symbol of the metropole’s control and, conversely, a safeguard against oppression. Over the last half century studies of legal practice, race relations and the maintenance of empires have flourished, deepening our understanding of these aspects of 18th and 19th century life. Yet this was an age where the abolitionist movement ensured that race and the law were a key part of the social agenda. Simultaneously, European militaries engaged in imperial expansion and policing, often forming racialist attitudes in the process which were both adopted, and influenced, by the metropole. Race, law and empire, therefore, should not be considered in isolation. This conference, which forms part of the Leverhulme Trust Funded ‘Sepoys and Slave Soldiers’ Research Fellowship, aims to take a holistic view of the intersections between race, law, armed forces and imperialist projects. In doing so, it seeks to widen our understanding of constructions of race, the rule of law and the operation of empires. This international, hybrid conference welcomes proposals for 20 minute papers, or full panels of three papers, which explore any two of the conference’s three core themes of race, empire and law between 1750 and 1850. 300 word paper proposals, with a 150 word biography and a stated preference for in person or online attendance, should be submitted to Dr Zack White (zack.white@port.ac.uk).
Race, Law and Empire, 1750-1850 Conference
University of Southampton AND online
17th - 18th July 2026
Call for Papers extended by popular request.
Full details below. Please share widely.
Established, emerging researchers are very welcome.
Supported by @leverhulme.ac.uk
How about giving a few quid to support a new blue plaque in London celebrating Black history? Only takes a minute to do your good deed for the day 🗃️
#CFP: RADICAL PRINT CULTURE IN THE LONG 18TH-CENTURY
Join us for a day long discussion of the political power of print, featuring keynote lectures by Dr Helen Williams & Dr Esther Chadwick & a handling session inside the Borthwick Archives.
More Info:
www.york.ac.uk/eighteenth-c...
#18c #18thC
What will you discover?
It's our first open day of the season today and we would love to show you around our medieval house and garden!
Sunday April 12th. 10am-4pm
Free to visit.
You'll find the Weaver’s House at Black Swan Terrace, 121 Upper Spon Street, Spon End, Coventry CV1 3BQ
