It’s a huge one! Today we publish Paradise Lost in the Oxford Milton, ed by Thomas Corns & David Loewenstein. I can’t begin to describe the herculean effort & sheer commitment that the project has demanded of the editors - it’s awe-inspiring to witness this triumph global.oup.com/academic/pro...

Along with almost all of my colleagues in history, this afternoon I got an email telling me that I am at risk of redundancy. It looks like the University of Exeter sent this email to the vast majority of people in Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty. Bit hard to breath right now.

samuel pepys' diary

Our Finding Aid of 18th-century women in the Stationers' Company is LIVE! Here I reflect on some of the pitfalls facing the scholar of female apprentices. Let me know if it's useful! www.amdigital.co.uk/insights/blo...

🚨NEW Blogpost🚨 For James VI/I's birthday & tonight's #Scotland match: ⚽👑 Did James like #football? Would he have liked the #WorldCup? Where were the first recorded football stands? How did #earlymodern elites come to embrace the sport? Asking the big questions👇 drtayloraucoin.com/2026/06/17/j...

Maybe they were just waiting for another King Charles to show up? www.theguardian.com/environment/...

At last!!

Next Weds 10 June we welcome @jamie-gemmell.bsky.social (KCL) to our seminar, who will present their paper titled ‘John Satia and the 1731 ban on Black apprenticeship’ Register below to join us either in person at the IHR or online from 17:30. www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Making a rare appearance on here to ask for thoughts on an embroidery from 1668. Do you have any idea what Old Testament story/stories these panels represent? Previously labeled as Abraham and Isaac but I’m not convinced. I think they may be the same figures in both. Thank you for your ideas!

The Bodleian Library has a children’s space called The Toddleian. Best library pun since Magdalene christened their automatic rentals/return machine “Samuel Beeps” 🤖 📖 👶🏻

Pepys events coming up at St Olave’s, London 🪶 saintolave.com/index.php/20...

"The Univ. of Hertfordshire has decided to close all eight Humanities undergraduate programmes in English Language and Linguistics, English Literature, Creative Writing, History and Philosophy.... PLEASE sign this petition to support staff and students in Humanities" www.change.org/p/save-the-h...

COMING SOON! imaging of john milton’s copy of holinshed’s CHRONICLES (1587) is complete! thanks to the staff @ransomcenter.bsky.social for doing the work & to our friends at the phoenix public library for transporting the book. 📷: natasha zoghlin, digital imaging technician with the book

New blog post 📢📢 MEMOs team member Dr Nat Cutter (@natcutter.bsky.social ) gives us the true and gripping tale of an Englishwoman in Ottoman Tunis, Edith Stedham. Part Two next week! #earlymodern memorients.com/articles/edi...

Following the recent successful launch of the London Book Trades wiki (LBT: lbt.bibsoc.org.uk), the Bibliographical Society is pleased to announce its latest electronic venture. Our goal is to promote the use of MediaWiki software as a suitable vehicle for bibliographical databases.

Pleased to see an article by Bob Shoemaker and myself now out in Social History: The geography of Old Bailey crime prosecutions, 1720–1820 www-tandfonline-com.sussex.idm.oclc.org/doi/full/10.... The underlying work was supported by @londontopsoc.bsky.social

I’ve been talking on Nicky Campbell’s podcast about how we talk about Pepys www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

This is unusual: 'Mrs Athersuch a sister of this Companie'

We’re welcoming applicants for a fully funded history PhD project researching the first 100 years of the UK's Public Record Office, ahead of its bicentenary in 2038. Find out more and apply here by Friday 8 May: phd.leeds.ac.uk/project/2475... (1/2)

25 June 1593 “Robert Clarke & Jone his whore married” at All Saints, Leicester. 👀 Go Jone!

“Alice the late wife of Robert Bilbrooke was buryed” at St Martin’s Leicester in 1582. That’s either a uniquely spurious use of “late” or there were some really interesting burial practices in Elizabethan Leicester.

MA Scholarship Award for scholars of colour. In 2026, we plan to offer two scholarships of £4,000 each, to contribute to the costs of postgraduate study. This scholarship is open to candidates studying on either a full time or a part time basis. Apply by 15 July 2026 rensoc.org.uk/apply/schola...

Fully-funded three-year PhD Scholarship: Living with Print in the Eighteenth Century Based at @sydney.edu.au (with Nicola Parsons) and @glasgow.ac.uk (with me), working with collections in Australia and Scotland. Deadline April 21st - please circulate! www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships...

Looking forward to discussing The Strange History of Samuel Pepys's Diary at the Boswell Book Festival in May. I’ll be talking with Gordon Turnbull, editor of Boswell’s journal. In person or tune in to the live stream! You can find out more about what's on offer at www.boswellbookfestival.co.uk

Once again reminding all academics in the UK that they really, really, really, really should sign up to @alcs.co.uk Lifetime membership is £36 and they take it out of the money they collect for you so it really is "free money". I'm getting a little over £100 *every year*. Do it!

It’s been out a while now, but Rosemary Sweet and I have written a book about #18thcentury British travel to Spain and Portugal that is free to download here! uclpress.co.uk/book/no-coun...

It is lovely that the Art Gallery of Ontario can now name the Black woman in the gorgeous #18thc portrait they acquired 6 yrs ago & also date the painting. It's from 1775. She is Eleonora Susette, enslaved by the Dutch governor of Guyana, accompanying his widow on her return to the Netherlands.

Very pleased to announce that TAKE YOUR RESEARCH PUBLIC is back for 2026. It's a practical course supporting PhD students and academics working on historical topics to translate their work into public-facing scholarship. Runs 2-23 June online. Apply by 20 April @dcahf-met.bsky.social

Thanks to everyone who came to our inaugural seminar! It was wonderful to hear from Dr. Akhimie and to discuss the upcoming exhibition @folger.edu. Our next session will be on 2nd March. We'll be joined by Dr. Elise Mitchell. Full details below. kingsearlymodern.co.uk/race-and-the...

My new article, 'Selling Education in England, 1650-1715' is now out (open access) in the English Historical Review! academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-...

The London Topographical Society funds £1,000 prize in honour of the late Dr Ann Saunders (1930–2019) for an original research essay on the topography, development or buildings of London in any period. 8,000 word submissions should be made by 1 April 2026. #skystorians #18thC #londonhistory 🗃️

Astonished to learn that my book Contesting Earth's History is suddenly, perhaps for a brief window, almost affordable. Why? Who knows.

The Georgian Lords welcomes in the new year with a post by Robin Eagles on the likely identification of new Black voters in 18th-century London and Hertfordshire: historyofparliament.com/2026/01/05/s... #HistParl #skystorians

Cheese, wigs, and even some Shakespeare as I discuss Pepys’s diary on the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast for @folger.edu! www.folger.edu/podcasts/sha...

From the FT

'I wish it could be Christmas every... er... month?' We all know that Parliament abolished Christmas in 1647 (boo!), but they also created a new monthly holiday (yay!), enforceable by magistrates. The actual Christmas ban caused riots later that year, but after that was barely enforced.

‘Although he can’t pay the rent on “my poor little house” without going into debt, he can see the future: himself a great man, his wife no longer obliged to keep household accounts “even to a bunch of carrot”.’ @deborahfriedell.bsky.social on the deciphering of Pepys. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Absolutely nobody asked for this BUT English Anglican cathedrals that have burned down, fallen over, and sank into the swamp: a thread.

Thank you for this generous review! A lovely end to the year ☺️

It was a packed out event for our lecture on Samuel Pepys’s diary of the 1660s by @kateloveman.bsky.social FSA. You can watch the recording at the following link. Please note that this talk contains sexual content and references to assault. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zrsh...

Weren’t these 2 married at some point?

On Thursday I’m talking at the Society of Antiquaries about how 19th-century editors dealt with the scandalous contents of Pepys’s diary (and who leaked the unpublishable bits) 👀 The talk is live-streamed and tickets are free www.sal.org.uk/event/samuel...

I enjoyed being interviewed by Suzannah Lipscomb for Not Just the Tudors, now on BBC Sounds! www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Day 7 of our Books of the Year dives into British history, scandalous secrets and even buried wheels of cheese! 🖋️📖 Kate Loveman’s (@kateloveman.bsky.social) 'The Strange History of Samuel Pepys’s Diary', the winner of the 2025 Samuel Pepys Award, reveals private details never before published! 🤩

1620: seeking predictions from an angel, Richard Napier asks whether one of his clients will 'live long & prosp[er]' #earlymodern 🖖

Second row, top right ☺️

Really pleased to announce the launch of the all-new, all-dancing, London Lives website - www.londonlives.org It has been thoroughly re-engineered to facilitate more types of search, and redesigned for phones and tablets. The team very much hopes peope like it. 1/

PhD position, project: LangPro Women in the Early Modern Language Sector careers.universiteitleiden.nl/job/PhD-posi...

Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching