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?
The Booksellers’ Staircase, built in 1480.
📍Rouen Cathedral, France
Although not relevant to my research, the scribbles left by clerks on the endpapers and back covers of volumes are always the most fascinating. Quick sums, lists, and handwriting practice left by City of London clerks in official records ✍🏼
📷 @thelondonarchives.bsky.social - CLA/002/05/012
The Elizabethan Hall @middletemple.bsky.social completed in 1574.
The Hall has a double hammerbeam roof, and a minstrels gallery.
I was lucky enough to visit the hall before it was closed earlier this year for inspection and preservation, which takes place every 10 years.
Workshop Announcement: Practical Archival Skills Training (PAST) Workshop on English High Court of Admiralty Records. 18 June 2026 at the UK National Archives. Banner with an archive image in the background.
Our colleague, Dr Oliver Finnegan, records specialist for the Prize Papers at @nationalarchivesuk, holds a workshop on 'Practical Archival Skills Training (PAST) Workshop on English High Court of Admiralty Records', more info below & tickets can be booked here www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/practical-...
Glad you found the session useful, Alex!
The intriguing story of a Victorian 'lady burglar', presented by @thelondonarchives.bsky.social. I look forward to visiting their Londoners on Trial exhibition when I'm back in the UK this summer. @https://tinyurl.com/397vrca6
Recently visited York Art Gallery to see the Japanese Woodblock exhibition, with beautiful prints from the Edo Period and later. I even got to make my own Great Wave off Kanagawa print!
Some photos from a visit to Mansion House back in January, including the beautiful Egyptian Hall used to host banquets, and the collection of 17th century Dutch and Flemish art.
Thanks, Philippa!
The new ‘Londoners on Trial’ exhibition @thelondonarchives.bsky.social is now open!
You can find out more about the research I did on women and theft, including the fascinating life of Minnie Pheby, in the exhibition and on The London Archives website
#history #skystorians
Visited the Love Letters exhibition at TNA last week, and it was great to see them address the fact that documents expressing love and affection end up in state archives because of war, persecution and colonialism. A great example of a simple topic approached in a thoughtful and considered way.
Lovely to see this review of our 'London in the Second World War' exhibition published on its last day. Huge thanks and congratulations to our staff who worked hard to curate it 🥳👏
Our next exhibition, 'Londoners on Trial' opens on the 9th March.... 👀
www.thelondonarchives.org/visit-us/exh...
Very excited to be giving one of the talks on the ‘Researching 17th Century Ancestors’ course run by the @sogorg.bsky.social in the summer!
We have more Skills Training in Archival Research (STAR) workshops coming up!
Join staff at The London Archives for a hands-on workshop designed to help postgrad students and researchers make the most of archival collections.
📍 The London Archives
📅 1 April + 3 June
🕛️ 1-4:30pm
Petition from the seventeenth/eighteenth century with signatures at the bottom and strain from a seal in the middle.
Very intrigued to know the gossip about the dispute between the Mayor of Liverpool and the London cheesemongers in the late 17th or early 18th century… 🧀
📷 COL/CA/05/02/002
@thelondonarchives.bsky.social
I wrote a short blog on the Court of Orphans probate inventories held @thelondonarchives.bsky.social
A fascinating source for anyone researching early modern social history or material culture 📜
Link below 👇
www.thelondonarchives.org/blog/the-pro...
⚡ Lightning Talks at The London Archives ⚡
Are you a student or ECR? Need feedback on your work? Can you summarise it in 5 minutes? Join us for Lightning Talks at The London Archives - a friendly event open to researchers of London and its history!
📆 Wed 11 February
🕔 5pm
Just a reminder that we will be closing at 4.30 today for the last Wednesday before Christmas. 🎄
British Library staff asked for a decent pay. Instead they got ‘a few money-saving present ideas’, such as ‘consider not giving presents this holiday season’. They are on strike this week. I wrote about it for @lrb.co.uk. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
✨ The York Magic and Witchcraft Conference is back for 2026! ✨
Join us in historic York from 24–26 June as we explore the mysteries of Nature and the Supernatural. 🪄🌿
Submit your abstracts by 14 March 2026 to magicwitchcraft2024@gmail.com ☺️
Some great books and articles on archives and libraries that came out in 2025.
In no specific order.
🧵
The Worshipful Company of Curriers essay prize on London for early career scholars, in association with The London Journal Trust and the Institute of Historical Research.
The author of the winning submission will receive £1,000, and publication, subject to peer review, in The London Journal.
I've read quite a few married women's wills but never one made during childbirth. Great find! #EarlyModern 🗃️
Remember guys, @pcsunion.bsky.social staff at the BL are on strike for the next two weeks. Please don't cross the picket line to go to reading rooms, attend exhibitions or anything else. They've endured so much on low pay since the cyberattack in 2023 and the least we can do is have their backs now.
#OTD in 1540, Fountains Abbey was sold to Sir Richard Gresham after being seized by the Crown. An inventory of the abbey valued it at over £1100, making it the wealthiest Cistercian abbey in England
#Yorkshire #History #Skystorians
#OTD in 1880 the Royal Portuguese Cabinet of Reading in Rio de Janeiro was inaugurated.
I was lucky enough to visit the library during a trip to Brazil in January and the space is truly breathtaking!
#Libraries #Skystorians #Brazil
No thoughts this morning, just this picture of the ceiling in the Henry VII Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey
#History #Skystorians
Had a fascinating trip to
@westminsterabbey.bsky.social last week to visit their library and archive collection!
The white hart painting in the Muniment Room (the symbol of Richard II) was a personal favourite, and I think the Abbey wins the award for best view out of an archival storage space…
Always the way 😭😭