Opened book containing two inserted watercolour illustrations. The watercolour on the left shows a kingfisher sitting on a branch with a body of water behind it, and the watercolour on the right shows a male pheasant sitting on a branch. The Latin and English names of each bird is noted by hand at the top of each illustration.

Did you know that our collections include artworks & records of artists?

Artists featured in our archives incl. Leonard Baskin, Charles Tunnicliffe & John Gendall, as well as unknown artists, such as the creator of this 'Bird Book'.

📷 EUL MS 23; digitised by @dhlabexeter.bsky.social

#WorldArtDay

Street plan of Exeter, with roads marked in yellow. 'Exeter' is typed in red ink at the top of the plan. Dotted around the edge of the street plan are six illustrations of Exeter landmarks, including the Guildhall, Exeter Cathedral, Northern Hay, the Post Office and St. Sidwell's Church. Two borders frame the street plan.

This plan of Exeter by John Rapkin dates back to c 1851-1854, and features illustrations of landmarks by Henry Winkles.

Which landmarks do you recognise? What has changed?

📷 Townsend Maps T19f; digitised by
@dhlabexeter.bsky.social

#MapMonday #MondayMaps #Maps #MappingOurExeter #Exeter #Devon

Watercolour illustration of a curlew in side profile, standing next to a body of water in front of a part-grassy, part-sandy landscape. It has a down-curved bill, brown and grey plumage, and long legs. The handwritten caption above reads: 'Scolopas acquata The Curlew - Jan 18[16?]'.

Good morning to everyone, but especially to all the curlews, for today is their special day!

This early 19th century watercolour illustration of a curlew by an unknown artist comes from our 'Bird Book'.

📷 EUL MS 23; digitised by @dhlabexeter.bsky.social

#WorldCurlewDay #CurlewDay #Archives

Rachael said: 'I’ve enjoyed comparing local place names from the 1500s to now and seeing the changes over time. The challenging part has been taking photos of the fold-out maps. It involves lots of experimenting to capture fully! I’m grateful to contribute to such important and interesting research'

Katie had this to say: 'This project has required lots of careful handling and close attention to detail. It’s taken lots of patience and problem-solving to find the best way to photograph each item, and it’s been really exciting to contribute to the project. I can’t wait to see how it develops!'

Our undergraduate DH Interns, Katie Mills and Rachael Harrison, are working to produce high-quality digital images of the printed volumes of the Valor Ecclesiasticus using our 150MP cultural heritage camera, A0 Copystand, and CaptureOne software.

As part of this £1.5m AHRC project, the DH Lab is excited to be collaborating with partners at The National Archives, the National Trust, Reading and to make available Henry VIII's Valor Ecclesiasticus, his survey of the property and wealth of religious houses in England and Wales

This week marks the start of the fantastic 'Rediscovering The Tudor Domesday' project, which is being led at Exeter by Prof James Clark with Co-Lead Dr Charlotte Tupman

#Digital #Humanities #DigitalHumanities #Tudor #TudorDoomsday #AHRC #ExeterUni #Digitising #DHLab #DigitalHumanitesLab #Internship

Last night the 98th Oscars Ceremony saw some great films recognised.

We have numerous programmes of past Academy Awards in our collection, including this one from 1964 that saw Sidney Poitier win for best actor [EXEBD 19152]

#academyawards #oscars #oscars2026 #film #hollywood #filmsky

He is very lovely! 🐈😸

It is starting to feel very spring like here in Exeter 💐

Napoleon decided to pay the DH Lab a visit this morning - he seemed to be enjoying the flowers! 🌼🐱

📷 Emily (DH Intern)

#DH #DHLab #DHInterns #Digital #Humanities #HASS #DigitalHumanities #Cats #Cat #CatsofBluesky #Spring #March #Research

Thrilled to be involved in this fantastic project!

#WomensScreenWork #Digital #Humanities #DigitalHumanities #DHLab #IWD #InternationalWomensDay #Film #TV #WomenFilmmakers #Archives #FilmArchives

Plan of Exeter, decorated in shades of red, yellow, green, brown and blue. The map was engraved by John Roper and dates to 1810. A reference key on the right lists the places of worship in each ward. At the bottom of the plan is an illustration of Exeter Cathedral.

This colourful plan of Exeter, dating back to 1810, was engraved by John Roper. It includes a lovely illustration of Exeter Cathedral.

Which landmarks can you identify that still exist today? And what has changed?

📷 Townsend Maps T17

#MapMonday #MappingOurExeter #Maps #Exeter

Therefore, digital preservation is an ongoing process of adaptation. To archive the web is to try to preserve something that never stops evolving. This makes the work both equally difficult and vital!

#Digital #Preservation #Archives #InternetArchive #DH #DHLab #DigitalHumanities #HASS #Humanities

Despite these challenges, there are major initiatives that work to archive digital history. For example, Internet Archive is dedicated to capturing snapshots of websites over time, and communities are developing new tools and ethical frameworks that respond to constantly shifting digital landscapes

Digital preservation is cultural memory work. Websites disappear. Platforms shutdown. Links rot. Online creativity can vanish!

For digital humanities, archiving the web means safeguarding historical records of the cultural moment, but preserving something so dynamic & vast is technically complex!

Green book cover of 'Umbrellas and their History' by William Sangster.

Opened book showing the title page of 'Umbrellas and their History', and the frontispiece, which includes an illustration of Jonas Hanway, 'The First Englishman Who Ever Carried An Umbrella'.

Today is National Umbrella Day - very apt for this continuously wet weather! ☔

Our book collections include 'Umbrellas and their History' (1871) by William Sangster, which seems like an ideal read for today!

📷 Reserve 391.44 SAN

#NationalUmbrellaDay #RareBooks

Colour image of an early 17th century map of Exeter. This bird’s-eye view from the southwest shows Exeter surrounded by a city wall with gates. Exeter is dominated by the Gothic cathedral of St Peter. At the top left is the castle of Rougemont. People are walking towards and through the city.

Today is International Map Day!

One of our favourite maps in the collections is this map of Exeter, engraved by Frans Hogenberg in c 1618.

Can you identify any landmarks that still exist today?

📷 Constable Maps 27; digitised by @dhlabexeter.bsky.social

#InternationalMapDay #MappingOurExeter

We did have quite a few startled reactions to the spirit suddenly looming overhead! 🩻👻

We were very excited to welcome students from the EAS3502 Shakespeare and Crisis module to experience Hamlet in VR!

After donning the MetaQuest Headset, students got to step into Shakespeare and meet the ghost of Hamlet's father!

#VR #VirtualReality #Digital #Humanities #DigitalHumanities #Hamlet

A map showing the route from Barnstaple to Ilfracombe in six vertical strips. Decorated in red, blue, green and yellow inks.

This strip map by John Ogilby shows 'The Road From Exeter to Barnstable & Thence to Ilfracomb', and dates back to c 1675.

Can you spot Exeter on the map? 🔍

📷 Townsend Maps T4; digitised by @dhlabexeter.bsky.social

#MapMonday #MondayMaps #Maps #MappingOurExeter #Exeter #Devon

📷EUL UA/P/1

Check out this link to @exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social's record of the @exeter.ac.uk Photograph Archive:

lib-archives.ex.ac.uk/Record.aspx?...

#Digital #Humanities #DigitalHumanities #DH #DHLab #Digitisation #HASS #Exeter #Devon #Negatives #GlassNegatives #Photography #PhotoNegatives

'I have enjoyed seeing how the labs are adapted for a wide variety of materials with additional specialist equipment or simple everyday items. Positioning the negatives and choosing the appropriate camera settings took some practice, but the end result was really rewarding!' - Holly, DH Intern

'It is interesting to see the University's development unfolding with each photograph - from the construction of the Physics tower to cars from across decades. It was great to learn how to handle this material and how to detect forms of decay like Vinegar Syndrome' - Molly, Assistant Technician

The process involves our 150MP cultural heritage camera, A0 Guardian Copystand, and a lightbox that we modify with black card to block out the light around an image.

#Digital #Humanites #DH #DHLab #DigitalPreservation #Digitisation #Photography #PhotographyNegatives #Interns #Internships #Exeter

We have been working on lots of exciting projects in the DH Lab so far this term! Recently, our DH Interns and GBP Assistant Technician have been working with images from the @exeter.ac.uk archive to learn how to digitise glass negatives

#Digital #Humanities #DigitalHumanities #Digitisation #DHLab

Archives strong room showing roller racking.

Today is World Logic Day!

Chess is often described as a game of logic. Did you know the writer William Golding and the literary critic Anthony Curtis played postal chess? Our collections include cards and letters through which they exchanged moves!

#WorldLogicDay #Archives

Black and white photograph showing the Chancellor of the University of Exeter (centre) - Mary Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire - with two honorary graduates on either side of her. A small boy also stands to her left. The honorary graduates - Agatha Christie (far left), Theodor Heuss, William Hodge and Bernard Leach - are wearing velvet bonnets.

Information box containing a cropped image of a letter signed by Agatha Christie on the right hand side, and on the left hand side, the following text: "This collection is from the offices of Hughes Massie and Co. Ltd. relating to Agatha Christie's literary estate. Throughout her career her agent was Edmund Cork, and these files were created by him to reflect his dealings with publishers, film-makers and other professional persons with an interest in the Christie estate, including Agatha Christie herself, and her husband, Sir Max Mallowan. Each file of correspondence relates to a particular year, and may include correspondence between Agatha Christie and Edmund Cork, correspondence between Cork and American literary agent, Harold Ober, and other interested parties. There are between 5,000-6,000 letters in the collection. Further information is available on the archive catalogue."

Agatha Christie died on 12 January 1976 - 50 years ago today.

Did you know our Agatha Christie business papers comprise thousands of letters, incl. from the novelist herself?

📷 EUL UA/P/5i: Christie receiving an honorary degree from @exeter.ac.uk in 1961

#AgathaChristie #OnThisDay #OTD #Archives

#HappyNewYear! We are excited to welcome back to all the students for this new term!

Whether you are a student or a member of staff, feel free to get in touch to see how we can support your HASS teaching and/or research - we’re always happy to support creative challenges!

#DHLab #DH #Digital #HASS

Green background with snowflakes. In the centre is a cropped image from a newspaper featuring a black and white photograph of the view towards the Washington Singer Building, with the grounds and trees covered in snow. The headline reads: 'Here Today - Gone Tomorrow' and the caption underneath the photograph reads 'South Western Winter'. White text under the newspaper image reads: 'Source: 'South Westerner' student newspaper, 29 January 1958'.

After a very wintry week in Exeter, here's a snowy throwback to Streatham Campus in January 1958! ❄️

This photograph was published in the student newspaper 'The South Westerner' on 29 January 1958.

📷 Exeter University/SOU

#ThrowbackThursday #UniOfExeterArchive #Archives