The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, with Two Donors
Juan de Valdes Leal
Probably 1661

(National Gallery, London)

George Washington’s Woke Vaccines What the Founders would have thought about Pete Hegseth lifting the requirement that service members get the flu vaccine.

Hegseth's repeal of universal flu vaccines is nonsense on so many levels, but his claim vaccine mandates were an "era of betrayal" irked me as a historian. Here's my response, in @thebulwark.com this morning;

www.thebulwark.com/p/george-was...

If You Missed It The First Time (May 2020): Gender Variances and Sexual Diversity in the Caribbean: Perspectives, Histories, Experiences - Edited by Marjan de Bruin and R. Anthony Lewis | University of the West Indies Press | More information can be found here: www.uwipress.com/978976640741...

A photo of a parish register with the following text over the top: 'An Introduction to Parish Registers 10:30am, Saturday 2nd of May, Buckinghamshire Archives'

We've got plenty of parish registers in our collection, but how can you use them in your research?

Come along to this free talk and learn how to get started in using this fantastic resource!

Spaces are limited, so make sure you email us to secure your spot at archives@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

Master's Scholarships programme 2026-27: supporting groups underrepresented in academic history - RHS Each year the Society awards Scholarships to support students who will study for a Master's degree in history at a UK university. Master's Scholarships, each of £5000, seek to support students from gr...

Today we also open the call for applications to our 2026-27 Master's Scholarships programme: bit.ly/4dTHmXe

Scholarships of £5000 are for students from groups currently underrepresented in academic history to study for an MA in history or a related subject. Closing date: Friday 5 June #Skystorians

French man, 86, issues historic apology for family’s role in transatlantic slavery Pierre Guillon de Prince believed to be first in France to formally apologise for ancestors’ connections to slavery

'Guillon de Prince said on Saturday that other French families must confront their historical allegiances to slavery and the state should go beyond symbolic gestures to address the past, including through reparations.'

Just for the record: UW history has more majors and minors right now than at least since 2015, maybe 2010, and we are starting to hear people leaving, say, computer science, and explaining that the job market is uncertain everywhere so they may as well do what they enjoy

My enslaved ancestors did not think white people were better than them! It was the enslavers who were convinced. They did not bear torture thinking the ones who tortured them were better than them as people! That was a delusion their oppressors needed to oppress them. It's the same today.

Exploring the Prize Papers, a global early modern archive Using language skills, examine previously unknown records from the Prize Papers collection and produce descriptions to support digitisation.

Dream positions: 3 (!!) PhD placements at the Prize Papers with emphasis on finding students with the following language skills: French, Spanish, Dutch, and Scandinavian languages. (Of course, I emphasize the Dutch language!)
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/professional...

no one likes historians because every time someone says “oh this is unheard of”

historians are all like “well actually”

and fundamentally it just doesn’t sound as impressive if you have to say
“in these slightly precedented times”

The 21st century will be won by the states that, in a developed world where skilled young people are increasingly in short supply, are able to overcome their own xenophobia to welcome the future

We need historians because evidence doesn’t explain itself.

Context does not simply exist. It is built through research, interpretation, and critical analysis.

What stories have you uncovered in the historical record?

#TalkAboutHumanities 🗃️

I've addressed the topic of Just War and international law and how the US government (and others!) are flaunting these deeply rooted traditions in a recent blog post: empirespastdotblog.wordpress.com/2026/04/07/p...

The Red Historia Venezuela website has added a collection of indexes and guides for the Venezuela documents within the Archivo General de Indias. A huge undertaking in which @gonzalezsilen.bsky.social has played a very important role. You can find it here: redhistoriave.org/real-audienc...

Out today! Many congratulations to @catherinefletcher.info on her publication day! 🗃️ Looking forward to getting a copy ☺️ uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

Important issues. Link to original article: academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...

We need historians because the past is never just the past.

Every policy debate, public conversation, and cultural shift is shaped by what came before. Historians help us understand context, trace change over time, and recognize what’s at stake.

#TalkAboutHumanities 🗃️

A great and hopeful day to be a European. 🇭🇺🇪🇺

Ronald Reagan truly was the Trump of the Reagan administration.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_begi...

New Donation – South Indian Temple Photographs For this week’s blog, we’re delighted to share some exciting news about our collections. Professor Christopher Fuller, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science, has generously donated a small but remarkable collection of material relating to Hindu temples in Tamil Nadu, South India, especially the Minakshi…

We’re delighted to have received a collection of photographs documenting Hindu temples in South India, especially the Minakshi Temple in Madurai, taken between the 1970s and 1990s.

Read more about the collection in our latest blogpost: royalasiaticsociety.org/new-donation...

Policies like these make me glad I've been in and out of the UK university system already. This is not tenable.
I'll also point, though, to my thoughts on the deep historical paradoxes of current European (including British!) anti-immigrant sentiment: empirespastdotblog.wordpress.com/2026/02/14/i...

Assistant Professor in Turkish Cultural History at Yunus Emre Enstitüsü Start your UK & international job search for academic jobs, research jobs, science jobs and managerial jobs in leading universities and top...

Assistant Professor in Turkish Cultural #History- Yunus Emre Enstitüsü - School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies #skystorians 🗃️www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRC705/a...

Postdoctoral Researcher positions in History Se annonsen i sin helhet på engelska nedan.

Postdocs X 2 in #History Åbo Akademi University. The location of work is in Turku, Finland.

abo.rekrytointi.com/paikat/?o=A_... #skystorians 🗃️

Science is good. We should fund it.

Fantastic Targeted Research Panel today on US magazine culture at the Glasgow @officialbaas.bsky.social 2026 conference with Katie Burke @benoitmes.bsky.social! Huge thanks to @emilybrady.bsky.social for chairing too. 🙏 Excellent papers all around, it was a blast! See you next all BAAS 🫡

I am excited to be in such good company as an Eccles Visiting Fellow (2026-7) at the British Library. This summer I will be in London pursuing research on Indigenous sovereignty in the cartography of New France and the colonial Caribbean.

www.bl.uk/stories/blog...

Postdoctoral Researcher positions in History Se annonsen i sin helhet på engelska nedan.

2 Postdocs for historians of minority nationalisms (all periods): abo.rekrytointi.com/paikat/?o=A_...

I'm thinking about all the people googling "Avignon papacy" or looking it up right at Wikipedia, and I love this for all of us.

It gives me hope.

Giving this post another whirl because I'd like folks in the US to see it, too. This one's for you (among others).