It's been a while since I've published anything, and this is the piece that made me want to write again! If it gets to you the way it got to me, please share it with someone. open.substack.com/pub/marinaam...

Archaeologists discovered P. falciparum DNA in both 16th century Medici skeletons. 🦟🏺🧪

On the first morning of the Battle of the Somme, thousands of British soldiers had to climb out of their trenches and walk across open ground straight into German machine-gun fire. To keep his own men from freezing …

On the morning of Sunday 25 June 1848, the daguerreotypist Charles‑François Thibault made images of barricades on the rue du Faubourg‑du‑Temple from a window of his building; one of these plates was later used as the basis for...

Olive Edis was one of the first women in Britain to look at a camera and realize she could actually make a career out of it. She ran studios in Norfolk and London (the first opened in 1905), boasting a portfolio that ranged from local fishermen to history badasses like Emmeline Pankhurst.

Hello everyone, I have once again failed to post regularly.

This photo is one of the earliest photographic portraits of a human being ever made, and also - maybe - the second known self-portrait in history. The man looking back at you is Robert Cornelius, who took this in late 1839, in the yard behind his family's business in Philadelphia.

8️⃣ 'Pioneras 1850-1960', de Marina Amaral - Dan Jones @marinamaral.bsky.social 🔗 www.despertaferro-ediciones.com/revistas/num...

I have this print hanging on the wall of my office. Reminds me that school is for everyone and that’s something worth fighting for. Also, this amazing photo was colorized by the great @marinamaral.bsky.social

While I’m off traveling and soaking in the chaos beauty of new places (and collecting stories to bring back to you), now’s a good time to catch up on a past favorite. If you haven’t read my piece on the Titanic yet, it’s waiting for you right here! open.substack.com/pub/marinaam...

I colorize history for a living, but tell me a Greek statue wasn't originally all white and my brain just nopes out. I'm a total hypocrite, I know. Don't care. Keep your rainbow Zeus away from me.

Good morning indeed

I climbed the Acropolis. Brutal sun, way too many people. And at the top, the Parthenon - huge, perfectly designed to trick your eyes into seeing symmetry. I’ve seen it in books, in every documentary ever made about ancient Greece. I’ve written about it. But none of that actually prepares you.

This VE Day, I want you to remember these faces metro.co.uk/2025/05/08/t... via @MetroUK

For dog lovers, especially @marinamaral.bsky.social.

(This colourisation by @marinamaral.bsky.social in 2016 moved me a lot.) #OTD in 1943, innocent Czesława Kwoka, just 14 years old, died in Auschwitz extermination camp. #WW2 #HISTORY

Just finished reading “The Colour of Time” by Dan Jones and Marina Amaral. Fascinating worldwide walkthrough the historical context behind recolourised photos, making linkages between events as I had never read before, through daily life and drama 1850-1960. Really worth it if you can get it.

Een onvervalste Marina Amaral (Mata Hari)

Women’s achievements have always been met with resistance. Every profession, every right, and every space we entered was one we had to fight for, mostly during a time when something as simple as wearing pants or opening a bank account was once considered radical.

The Multangular Tower - one of the corner-towers from the legionary fortress at York (Eboracum). The smaller stones in the lower half are Roman, the upper portion dates to the medieval period. 📸 My own. #RomanSiteSaturday #RomanBritain #York

Questions & Answers Ep 23: In our latest Old Front Line #podcast we cover the military importance of Ypres in WW1, the French Cemetery and Memorials at Notre Dame de Lorette, weather on the Western Front, and the role of Women in the British Army. oldfrontline.co.uk/2025/02/15/q...

Te contamos sus historias en dos de nuestros libros, Pioneras (bit.ly/3GHgFTi), de Marina Amaral y Dan Jones, y en Historia(s) del siglo XX (bit.ly/4h3sX94), de Rafael Caballero y Diego Delgado, preciosamente ilustrado por Andrea Cid.

I think about ancient Roman graffiti a lot. My favorite has to be one from Pompeii that reads, 'Chie, I hope your hemorrhoids rub together so much that they hurt worse than they ever have before!'

Feb 13 1917 #OTD Famous Dutch Dancer Mata Hari was arrested at her room at the Hotel Elysée Palace on the Champs Elysées in Paris. Suspected spy codenamed Agent H-21 for Germany. She is executed on Oct 15 1917 On left is a colourization by @marinamaral.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/this...

Found books for in-conversation Hidden in Print on #InternationalWomensDay @porticolibrary.bsky.social. These are books by women that the 19thC artist Mary Severn Newton knew or read. The books needed some tlc.Then we’ll raise a glass to women on Sat 8 March 4.30pm 🙏 @artscouncilengland.bsky.social

The first in a two-part exploration of Shakespeare’s emotional and memorial associations with Stratford and the surrounding landscape open.substack.com/pub/mathewly...

I think about ancient Roman graffiti a lot. My favorite has to be one from Pompeii that reads, 'Chie, I hope your hemorrhoids rub together so much that they hurt worse than they ever have before!'

I actually wrote about that a few days ago: marinaamaral.substack.com/p/how-art-th...

Who cares about historical accuracy in a history magazine c'mon

Good piece. Worth noting that the Knights also operated a highly effective franchise system out of Malta. They'd provide seed capital, loans to buy goods/a ship from their dockyards and crew training. Also (effectively) liability cover and legal support if the Venetians nabbed you for piracy.

Edgar Allan Poe was paid $9 for "The Raven" when it was first published on January 29, 1845. That's around $370 in today's money. For perspective, a first edition of his 1827 work, Tamerlane and Other Poems, sold for $662,500 at a Christie’s auction in 2009.

Edgar Allan Poe was paid $9 for "The Raven" when it was first published on January 29, 1845. That's around $370 in today's money. For perspective, a first edition of his 1827 work, Tamerlane and Other Poems, sold for $662,500 at a Christie’s auction in 2009.

This reading list brings you our top History titles of 2024 as picked by critics. Read the full list here: yalebooksblog.co.uk/2025/01/23/h... You can shop this selection with 30% off on our website by using the code Y2501 at checkout.

Three years later, there was a copycat series of killings in London. In The Italian Boy, I tell the story of Bishop and Williams’ anatomy killings – this is the case that finally got the law changed to put an end to bodysnatching and burking shorturl.at/zNBRp

Mona Lisa will have a room of her own at the Louvre under an €800m plan announced by President Macron on Tuesday to upgrade the world’s most popular museum⬇️

“Those tiny details matter because they reflect someone’s lived experience. That’s the kind of nuance AI doesn’t get and perhaps never will.” @marinamaral.bsky.social is one of the few people in the world that does the same job as me, and she’s right.👇 open.substack.com/pub/marinaam...

Finally emerging from my cave after what feels like forever! I had no choice but to take some time off because - who knew - obsessively questioning my entire career thanks to the rise of AI in the creative/artistic sphere wasn't doing wonders for my mental health. BUT... /1

cc @dfisman.bsky.social @whysharksmatter.bsky.social @scopedbylarry.bsky.social @lonniemarcumpt.bsky.social @drkimshepherd.bsky.social @marinamaral.bsky.social @liliebayer.bsky.social @howardlovy.bsky.social @facinghistoryuk.bsky.social @andrewstroehlein.bsky.social @landmanspeaking.bsky.social

One of my first articles for @euronews.com was an interview with colourist @marinamaral.bsky.social about her crucial work bringing life to b+w Auschwitz prisoner photos. Today, on Holocaust Memorial Day, it’s more important than ever to remember #neveragain👇 www.euronews.com/2020/01/28/t...

12th January 1942. U-123 fired the first torpedoes of Operation Drumbeat, sinking the cargo vessel SS Cyclops off Nova Scotia. Up to the end of June, 240 merchant ships and escorts had been sunk off the US East Coast. By then the tide had begun to turn against the U-Boats. #NavalHistory 🧵1/3

Great discussion of a painting from Glasgow showing the links to the transatlantic slave system. Slavery’s legacies are everywhere! 🗺️🗃️ glasgowmuseumsslavery.co.uk/2020/07/29/s...

After his death in 1868, Thaddeus Stevens became the third person to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda – after Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln. Members of the Butler Zouaves, a militia company of Black DC residents, composed the honor guard. 🗃️ www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

I'm looking for panellists (UK, USA and beyond) to talk on WW2TV about the pros and cons of awarding gallantry medals retrospectively decades after WWII. I have very mixed feelings about this and it's definitely worthy of discussion

New Year = more archives! 200+ archives & library special collections now on Bluesky?! Too many to fit in one pack... so we've now got three: 1: Archives & Special Collections in UK & Ireland (@araukie.bsky.social areas) 99 UK & Irish accounts so far (who'll be the 100th?) go.bsky.app/6Qz8qG3

I'm working on a cataloguing resource for the Digital Preservation Community Archives Toolkit (www.dpconline.org/digipres/imp...) today. If you could tell Community archives #JustOneThing about cataloguing hybrid collections, what would it be? Do you have any rules for cataloguing digitised content?

Today, a brush fire started in Pacific Palisades fueled by extremely high winds. At the Getty Villa, some trees & vegetation on site have burned, but no structures are on fire, and staff and the collection remain safe. The Villa is closed to non-emergency staff and the public.

Hey guys, I know I’ve been quiet for a while. I promise I haven’t been living off the grid or anything. I’ve just got some things to say, and I’ll get to it in the next few days. Thanks for sticking around - you’re seriously the best!

Oh no! www.latimes.com/california/s...