Little bit of a flex in the reading room today. First Paris and first London eds, former acquired in 1939, latter in 1922. The patron was thrilled and took a selfie with one of them.

We put on an all-Yiddish community production of fiddler on the roof in Philadelphia and cast member and local artist Sofie Rose Seymour created the most amazing show poster that ever was

This is very bad, on so many levels. I know at least one of the departments losing multiple people is already operating on a shoestring.

"As always, none of this is the fault of the overworked, beleaguered staff of the IMLS." 📚 buttondown.com/wellsourced/...

In 2021 I was telling people in my field of art history to stop legitimizing the use of image recognition, to stop applying for grants to use AI in identifying the subjects of portraiture bc this was what such work was being used to further. All this was obvious. theconversation.com/how-ai-is-hi...

In today’s cataloging pile, a small group of handbills and posters relating to an 1888 US railroad strike. These were posted in Superior, Nebraska.

Boston has completely forgotten how to clean up snow. And it’s only one storm’s worth! Deeply unpleasant trying to get around on foot today.

The pumpkin bread I baked yesterday took a whole 15 minutes longer than the recipe said. If I’d not looked closely and touched it, it would have been a raw, gooey mess. (But look how pretty it turned out!)

I wrote about how the success of the story feels, to me, a little bit like getting some revenge.

Mary Markos of NBC Boston is in Lynn, so of course used a tub of Fluff to show us how much snow has fallen.

Applications for our programming track which focuses on librarians and other education professionals will be closing on Tuesday, March 3, 2026! Discounted badges are available in limited supply. >> bit.ly/AB26_Librari... #AnimeBoston #AnimeBoston2026 #librarian #education

It’s not so much that Trump & co don’t think slavery was important, they want to remove this history precisely *because* of how important it was. They don’t want people to learn about slavery because then people would understand how it continues to shape the landscape of inequality in America today.

Can’t believe this marvel has been on here for over a year and I’m only seeing it now.

Can we get to $15,000 by tomorrow? The Black Zine Fair will be great and we need $$ - gogetfunding.com/black-zine-f...

Please join me in helping the Black Zine Fair organizers hit their fundraising goal!

Happy 107th anniversary of Boston's Great Molasses Flood to all who celebrate! etsy.me/3JcHwfr

@wynkenhimself.bsky.social are you still gathering pomegranates? Just saw this lovely painting today at the Harvard Art Museums.

Amtrak just dropped a $50 “we’re sorry the train broke” coupon in my account. Is this something they do now???

Love to watch train crew reboot a train while I’m on it.

Absolute clusterfuck of a boarding process at NYP/Moynihan, and I’m not talking about the SOP one escalator down to the track. Only 2 doors open on the entire 9-car train. 2! Wtf!

Some ways for people to access articles if you can’t pay for them: *A public library card! Maybe your library has PressReader or subscribes to the publication in question! Go investigate! *BlueSky Gift links feed (below) *Archive Today, at archive.ph or archive.is Good luck!

This is useful. open.substack.com/pub/cardcata...

For the last few months, I kept a document where every time I saw reports of fed immigration agents shooting or pointing their gun at someone, I made a note. The list grew and grew. It now includes 4 deaths. Here is what I noticed keeping that list. www.themarshallproject.org/2026/01/07/i...

A cataloger at the Morgan on cataloging, book curses, and the need for a controlled vocabulary term so we can describe and find said curses. 📜📚

Blueberry muffins for new year’s day.

Need to find something not tedious or difficult to work with today, I think.

Broadsides in the cataloging pile today so far have been 18th century tax warrants, and the first break in those is a racist 19th century broadside. Looking forward to my lunch break. :/

And since I posted the muppets, I’m also posting my carrot from April 2020. Yes, it arrived like this. And yes, I’m an art historian so my FIRST thought was Courbet.

You forgot one (might be the best one tbh)

a muppet twist on iconic art: thread

Answering a reference question about our uncataloged copies of Hakluyt’s Voyages means I gotta catalog them now 😭😭😭🎄🎄🎄😭😭😭

You absolutely will not read a better academic thread on BlueSky this week. This sort of thing is what makes having an account here worthwhile 🗃️

Went to the Norton Simon Museum for the first time, too. What a lovely place. Smitten with this Toulouse Lautrec.

Went to NM for the first time and saw some things.

Went to the 45th annual Black Doll Show in LA, at the William Grant Still Community Center. The show is called Sower of Seeds, and artists responded to Octavia Butler’s work Parable of the Sower. An amazing exhibit, with some incredibly talented artists. wgsac.wordpress.com/the-45th-ann...

Hey #booksky or #rarebooksky, if you want to join @bibsocamer.bsky.social but can't afford it, let me know and I'll try to cover your membership dues. (I'll do as many as I can afford, but I may not be able to cover everyone if the demand is too high. Thanks for understanding).

Reposting request now that more people might be back in the office. :)

Do I know anyone who is 1) at work today, 2) has access to Digital Evans, and 3) would be willing to check something for me? I have access to ECCO, but would like to know if there’s a different copy of Evans 35793 reproduced in Evans. (ECCO has BPL’s copy.)

Postin’ memes, days late

They go Well you know,if you wanna talk about it, I'll be here, you know & you'll probably feel a lot better if you talk about it So why don't you talk about it? I go No I don't want to, I'm okay, I'll figure it out myself But they just keep bugging me They just keep bugging me & it builds up inside

A zillion bait boxes around but seems pointless if there’s also a regular rat & sparrow buffet like this.

I guess at least a lot of people are learning a new word?

Get on your library board, folks. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

My colleagues and I had a busy few weeks, and acquired some wonderful things for BPL’s collections… 🧵

In Nashville & got to take a tour at Hatch Show Print, which has designed & printed letterpress posters for music shows & other events since 1879.

This is amazing and I kinda wanna see video of it moving.

A few years ago, I wrote a piece about Walker's Appeal, it's various editions, and digitizing archives. A good little intro to a text worthy of a much deeper dive: daily.jstor.org/comparing-ed...

Is it four-year-old-surgical-site pain from nerves deciding to do some more regenerating? Or is it nascent shingles? Super fun trying to figure it out! #giftsthatkeepongiving

Takes a certain kind of perversity to put dairy in a hospital cafe hummus & pita cup. Like, take the usually reliably vegan thing and fuck it up. Thanks, Sodexo. Truly special decision.