Hanging out with @ies-sas.bsky.social and @bibsoc.bsky.social at Firsts today. Celebrating all things bookish. #BookHistory

One city. 9 million people. All of us Londoners. We will never be divided.

We’re here, head on through to the back room when you enter and we’re on your left!

“People are always talking about what's wrong with the country - nothing is wrong with the country, I go there every summer.” Happy 100th birthday to Eric Morecambe.

‘So it was lumped in with the rest. But it was never, even on early lists, a ‘self-portrait’. It was always a ‘portrait of Turner’. Gradually, over the years, it became an assumption that it was by him.’

Spotted this morning on my journey to @icr.ac.uk as Roving Archivist @senatehouselib.bsky.social We are the official charity partner of @abararebooks.bsky.social at #FirstsLondon this year. Starting today, you’ll find us there with examples from our collections on the theme of “Revolution!”.

12 May is Mass Observation Day in the UK! If you want to be part of this cool ongoing social history project, read more here - massobs.org.uk/12th-may/

New exhibition open: When Britain Stood Still: The General Strike at 100 Explore how workers, politicians & trade unionists responded to the 1926 General Strike & how opposition was organised against it www.ncl.ac.uk/library/special-collections/exhibitions/when-britain-stood-still #GeneralStrike100

As thousands march opposing antisemitism today, we reaffirm London’s values. We will continue to stand in solidarity with our Jewish neighbours in the fight against antisemitism.

Sylvia Townsend Warner Fundraising Appeal - Dorset Archives Trust is leading a fundraising appeal to bring the Archive of #SylviaTownsendWarner (1893-1978) into the public domain through the creation of a full catalogue. Donations are being accepted until the end of June 2026. Full details here 👇

José Luis Rey Vila’s powerful sketches of street battles and wearied soldiers brought the conflict to the world. A new show in Barcelona celebrates his overlooked legacy. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

‘Beginning the journey’: a reflection on the Roving Archivist project @senatehouselib.bsky.social and the first placement at the Royal Academy of Music. #archives

A century and a half of history encased in more than 1,500 archive boxes After three years, conservation and cataloguing of the archives of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has been completed...

Really inspiring project @uclalibrary.bsky.social to survey and document their audiovisual collections. #archives

#OTD in 1517, rioters ran through the streets of London on Evil May Day, targeting immigrant workers. It’s a familiar story: nativist rioters felt that "strangers" (immigrants) were stealing their jobs. The riot itself was mild but the royal reaction was severe, resulting in many executions. 🧵 1/11

We're excited to announce our new exhibition: The Birds of America by JJ Audubon: A World Treasure at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/free-exhib...

A glimpse of everyday life in ancient #Greece: a terracotta figurine group depicting a barber cutting a man's hair. From Tanagra, Greece, dating early 5th century BC. On display at Altes Museum, Berlin 📷 me 🏺

In Oxford for one day between two trips - which is a little stressful. But glad I picked the moment when the wisteria and the lilac are doing their thing along Queen’s Lane. Sorry I can’t share the scent…

ilab.org/article/caxt... A nice overview of the current Caxton exhibition @senatehouselib.bsky.social from the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers. Open until 1 July 2026, so do pop by if you’re in Bloomsbury. It’s free!

🐢 The gigantic land tortoises of the Galapagos Archipelago San Francisco, Britton & Rey, 1914. [Source]

My book comes out next month and I'd love to talk to your research group/seminar series/PGRs about it! Potential talk topics: Why do we think natural history museums are for kids? How public are our public museums? Truth and fiction in the museum Looting: empire in the museum...

Day 29: #ArchiveFuture #Archive30 Like many archives worldwide, we are increasingly receiving material born in digital formats. Future plans will involve building expertise and resources to manage and preserve these materials. @arascot.bsky.social @falklandsinuk.bsky.social

What a glorious day! And happy graduation to those at #Birkbeck celebrating today.

Today is International Dance Day! We love this photograph from our University Archive of students dancing the night away at a Valentine's pyjama hop in February 1959! 📷 EUL UA/P/3h #InternationalDanceDay #UniOfExeterArchive #Archives

Great radio here on the death and life of “Shakespeare’s Master” Christopher Marlowe.

Last week, Our Digital Director John Sheridan visited Marx Memorial Library to present their staff, volunteers and trustees with the archive’s first accreditation certificate! Congratulations to the team at Marx Memorial Library!

📢 Kafka events this term! ⏰ 8 May, 5.30pm - Kafka’s Dreams: A Fragile Legacy (Isolde Schiffermüller) 📍 Taylorian, Oxford or online ⏰4 June, 4pm - The Silent Songs of Josefine (Can Bilir) 🎼 📍 Holywell Music Room, Oxford Book your free place now: tinyurl.com/497z58aj #franzkafka

My PhD student Peter Wood wrote a brilliant dissertation on postwar homelessness policy that massively changed my understanding of the issues. He'll be speaking about it with other historians of homelessness at @rshc.bsky.social 22 May. Do sign up! homelessnessinpostwarbritain.eventbrite.co.uk

The Anatomy Uncovered event is now only a couple of days away so this is the final call to book your place. A completely unique opportunity to see a specially curated collection of historic anatomy books and enjoy expert talks to help contextualise the viewing experience go.glam.ox.ac.uk/anato

I'm in it too 😎

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....

Due to popular demand, we have added additional spaces for the roundtable discussion in memory of Helen Carr The event is free to attend and open to all, however, it is essential to register to secure your spot BOOK NOW: ies.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

Tulips have brought colour and joy to April for centuries. These hand-coloured glass plate negatives showcase a variety of tulip displays in the 1920s / 1930s. 🌷🎨 They were donated by the Wakefield Paxton Society in the 1980s. #Tulips #TulipSeason

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today’s episode in our series about how George Orwell tried to make sense of WW2 as it was happening looks at 1940 and 1941, from the collapse of France to Hitler’s invasion of Russia. How close did Britain get to revolution in the summer of 1940? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

You can now access electronic legal deposit journal issues, journal articles and books catalogued before October 2023 using the PCs in our Reading Rooms. Find out more about what content is available and how to access it here: link.bl.uk/9kt

And to read more, you can purchase the Bodleian publication ‘Titanic Calling’ here:

We have a new display in the library! Pop in to check out all the historical theatre memorabilia, including some war time gems and a lot of local nostalgia too! (Admission free) This display will be up until 25th April.

OTD 1912 RMS Titanic leaves berth 44, White Star Dock Southampton after taking on passengers, most of whom arrive at the Ocean Terminal train station. Ordnance Survey map from 1919, plan of Southampton Docks 1962. On route hundreds of nautical miles away the icebergs lie in wait @bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Great to talk to Robert Elms on BBC Radio London about my new book Slumlord: Peter Rachman and the Postwar London Underworld- if you'd like to listen my bit starts at 36.15 mins in- www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... And Slumlord is available to buy from all good booksellers! @BBCRadioLondon @IconBooks

For this theme we wanted to update you on the team’s progress with the Newport Rugby and Athletic Club collection which was the focus of our Collections week in January. #Archive30 #CataloguingCollections

Punk masks, Walkmans and Choppers: Museum of Youth Culture to open in London. Opening in May, Camden museum has 100,000-item archive telling story of British youth subcultures, from mods and rockers, to ravers and emo. www.theguardian.com/culture/2026... via @theguardian.com

This is terrific news! So important to have a history of the fight for equal franchise and universal suffrage post-1918 and to celebrate the centenary of the passing of the Equal Franchise Act in 1928. Congratulations @satisfactory20.bsky.social!

Good news! The National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded over £600,000 to Dorset History Centre. ‘The DHC will be given an initial funding amount of £603,777 to help it progress its plans before applying for a full grant of £3.8m.’ #Dorset #Archives

In case you missed it, we had an eventful Easter! 16 million of our records, including our massive collection of wills, are now available to search and view on Ancestry.com (and can be accessed for free onsite at the Borthwick). www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

On BBC Breakfast now: a boy who went on Swap Shop in 1981 to celebrate being the youngest person to visit all 92 football league grounds. He’s just finished visiting all 2,000+ non-league grounds, and they Zoomed John Craven in to talk to him again, just as he did 45 years ago. Heartwarming stuff.

We have leaflets #palaeography #Skystorians

Looking forward to #Uncanny cold cases!