Quite. The lack of coverage of the BL cyberattack and its consequences has been dispiriting. There are multiple angles to it but apparently none of that has been found by editors to be especially newsworthy.

Fascinating seminar last night by @satisfactory20.bsky.social on ‘The Speaker’s and the Suffragettes’. I especially enjoyed hearing more about the ‘suffragette chain’ which was recently donated to the Parliamentary Art Collection @ihr.bsky.social @histparl.bsky.social

This was an absolute pleasure! Many thanks to @histparl.bsky.social for having me, and to all who came in person and online

There is still time to book for what promises to be a great talk by @satisfactory20.bsky.social - join us at 5:30 tomorrow (Tues) in person or online.

Looking forward to the IHR Parliaments, Politics & People seminar on 28 October. Dr Mari Takayanagi @satisfactory20.bsky.social will be sharing new research, inc. a recently discovered ‘suffragette chain’. FREE in-person in London & online. More info here: historyofparliament.com/2025/10/21/t...

My new blogpost for @histparl.bsky.social on ‘The Speakers and the Suffragettes’ is now up! Do read historyofparliament.com/2025/10/21/t...

This is a recently discovered 'suffragette chain'! Want to know more? Come and hear me speak on 'The Speakers and the Suffragettes', online and in person at the @histparl.bsky.social seminar at the @ihrlibrary.bsky.social on Tues 28 Oct at 5PM! Free - book here www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Fantastic piece by Kate Murphy responding to the devastating change of policy at the @BBC Written Archives Centre, which will make it impossible to undertake new independent research using the collection. cstonline.net/defending-th... #mediahistory

Thoroughly enjoyed my week at @gladlib.bsky.social. Strongly recommend to anyone wanting to do some reading, writing or just pondering, in the stillness and companionable quiet of a Grade 1 listed reading room, surrounded by Gladstone’s own books. Great food too.

I was really delighted to speak about #NecessaryWomen to an attentive and enthusiastic audience at @gladlib.bsky.social yesterday! Today it was full tilt research looking at as many files as I could during my last day of archives consultation. Phew!

Looking forward to this! If you missed me at the Women's History Conference it's a welcome chance to discuss the world of activism and collecting digital #archives ✊

Yep, but it's a brilliant way to show how the building was absolutely not designed as a legislature! And @satisfactory20.bsky.social's insights are always worth sharing 🙌

TIL from a talk at @gladlib.bsky.social by @satisfactory20.bsky.social that almost all MPs' and Peers' offices in the Palace of Westminster weren't designed as such by Charles Barry. They were originally living quarters for the large residential staff of maids, cooks etc. Only converted later.

I climbed Snowdon last week so was entranced to find this 1864 account by Helen Gladstone, age 15 @gladlib.bsky.social; ‘we set off at 1/2 past 8 and drove 22 miles… from there we ascended Snowdon with the help of four rather bad ponies; such a long way up, and so hot. At the top we had some tea- 🗃️

Last week I climbed Snowdon to find the Gladstone Rock halfway up the Watkin Path, where Gladstone spoke to 2000 people in 1892, aged 83 - today I thought to look up @gladlib.bsky.social what Gladstone said in his diary - 🗃️

My desk this week researching in @gladlib.bsky.social archives - some nice stuff today on Women’s Liberal Federation split over suffrage in 1892, when Catherine Gladstone was President. Still time to book on my #NecessaryWomen talk on Thursday! www.gladstoneslibrary.org/event/talk-n...

Oxford people: a talk for the diary. @roseteanby.bsky.social has done brilliant research on C19 female photographers

Exhausted after my first day researching in the @gladlib.bsky.social archives! Learning lots about the Gladstone family women. Also being very well-fed…

@dohertyta.bsky.social spotted in St Asaph’s cathedral yesterday; WW1 Welsh nurses memorial and WW2 memorial inc a Nurse Margaret Owen #HistNursing 🗃️

Looking around St Deiniol's Church next door to @gladlib.bsky.social I was pleased to find stained glass windows to Gladstone’s daughters Helen, vice-principal of Newnham Cambridge, and Mary, his political secretary #WomensHistory 🗃️

Archivists Assemble @gladlib.bsky.social! Great to see @heritageadrian.bsky.social here by sheer coincidence

I have arrived at @gladlib.bsky.social ! Very much looking forward to spending the next week here thanks to the Daisy Ronco Scholarship. If you’re in the area on Thursday come and hear my #NecessaryWomen talk!

#HistNursing 💙 Sarah Mullally named as new Archbishop of Canterbury www.bbc.com/news/article...

I’m giving a talk about #NecessaryWomen next week @gladlib.bsky.social including Jane, goddess of Bellamys; May Ashworth, Victorian entrepreneur; Jean Winder, Hansard reporter who fought for equal pay, and more. Booking details below - do come! 🗃️

Hello Bluesky! We are an independent group of Friends that support The Women's Library at LSE through fundraising, donations, publicity, advice, and activities. Find out more about our history and our work here: friendsofthewomenslibrary.org.uk

Glad you enjoyed it @satisfactory20.bsky.social! And, due to the success of the exhibition, I’m pleased to report that it has been extended to 19 September!

Dropped in to see display on Medieval Jewish Cemetery at St Giles Cripplegate - had no idea it was right under the Barbican! Thanks to organisers inc @medievaljews.bsky.social On until 16 Sep www.thejewishsquaremile.org/exhibition

Pleased I managed to get to @antiquaries.bsky.social #MagnaCarta2525 exhibition this week and see the Meeting Room transformed into a lush green space, evoking the Charter of the Forest! On until 19 Sep

Currently researching Duncan McLaren, Liberal MP for Edinburgh from 1865. On holiday in 1868 the men of the family went to a Liberal meeting at Oban, but the women did not. McLaren's wife Priscilla Bright McLaren wrote: 'As we have the misfortune to wear petticoats we are not to go’.

#womenshistory @womenshistnet.bsky.social #CallToAction 1/ To Nominate women’s websites for archiving 1st check what the British Library collected in their Women’s Issues Collection web.archive.org/web/20230510...

I learned a lot at the very interesting @womenshistnet.bsky.social conference, but unsurprisingly this was my favourite panel! Many thanks to all the organisers and speakers.

I have been glued to my laptop for the last 2 days at @womenshistnet.bsky.social annual conference online! So many highlights inc @dohertyta.bsky.social on the digital challenge, @helenantro.bsky.social on a waistcoat made from 70 gloves, @tudorfp.bsky.social on Vally Lasker, Holst’s amanuensis…

I was delighted to be on this panel, sharing some of my #NecessaryWomen research on Parliament’s earliest women librarians and archivist, plus new research on Ada Forward, first woman in the House of Lords bindery!

More great papers from @womenshistnet.bsky.social #WHN2025 conference with critical theme of archives & archiving women’s history. Chaired by @satisfactory20.bsky.social panel on women & archival practice includes fascinating paper by Susanne Jobling @qubhistory.bsky.social on equal pay legislation.

Looking forward to day 2 of the @womenshistnet.bsky.social conference online. Especially looking forward to the parliamentary themed papers from @chloechallender.bsky.social and @satisfactory20.bsky.social

She’s out today! The remarkable and unfairly forgotten Duchess of Atholl, Scotland’s first woman MP and the Conservatives’ first woman minister, turned the most unlikely rebel in British politics.

Should anyone be in the least interested, I found the blogpost I couldn't remember whether or not I'd made (labelling fail, bad archivist) and updated my recent post to include a link: lesleyahall.blogspot.com/2025/08/invi...

Loved ‘Heiress’ John Singer Sargent exhibition at Kenwood House today. Amazed to learn 102 American women married into the British peerage 1870-1914! Inc Nancy Astor of course, and Mary Chamberlain, wife of Joe. On until 5 Oct www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/whats-...

Lovely spread in today’s Glasgow Herald for Red Duchess (though why they used a large picture of Nancy Astor I do not know - sort of makes my point that the duchess really ought to be remembered alongside, or ideally ahead of, Astor)

So sad to find that Son is literally in the shop window this morning. He will always be a legend #coys

LIONESSES!!! Oh penalty shoot-outs are so miserable!

Great to visit the Joyce Butler exhibition curated by @teadevotee.bsky.social at Bruce Castle Museum today! On until June 2026 so plenty of time to plan your visit

Well that was great fun! I contributed 72 of the 3494 classifications - I’m sure I could have done more, but I was listening to all the talks at the same time! Great project

#History #SkyStorians @lselibrary.bsky.social are launching a Library Fellowships scheme to work with their archives and special collections, includes funding for travel/accommodation/subsistence up to £5k. 3 themed fellowships available. www.lse.ac.uk/library/what...

Great thread. I looked at the numbers for this division for my PhD many years ago, and concluded turnout for it was actually *above* average for this session. Lots of MPs just not voting on lots of things!

The right-wing press is going mad over votes at 16 ("a naked attempt to twist democracy in Labour’s favour", an "election-rigging move"...) Oddly, they said the same 100 years ago when the voting age for women fell from 30 to 21. Let's revisit the Mail's campaign to"Stop the Flapper Vote Folly"...

Trying something new over on Substack. I just can't express it all on a social media post! Check out Woman Walking for my adventures as a walking tour guide and lover of history, books, art, and architecture. michele706559.substack.com?r=kymtg&utm_...

📢Still time to register for our Transcribathon (next Thursday)📢 - Join us to transcribe on Zooniverse, discuss interesting findings, hear talks from the research team, ask questions - Attend in person or online, for all or part of the afternoon willstranscribathon.eventbrite.com #EarlyModern 🗃️

Listen through to the very end of this fab podcast from @histparl.bsky.social oral history project - there are audience vox pops, and mine is the very last voice! It was great to hear clips and get the MPs reflections live in the room 🗃️

Proud to be celebrating completing my first piece of freelance work - dusting off my palaeography skills to transcribe some 18th/19thC wills! Find me here www.maritakayanagi.com 🗃️