Loving these fashion ideas from 1886. Tag your choice. I'm "Vampire Mantle," but I think all of these are fantastic. From "Fun" magazine, a competitor to Punch.

#OTD 27 March 1869, the Sporting Times reported that a "pretty factory girl" in Manchester NH responded to a "worthless loafer" catcalling her by spitting on him, knocking off his hat w/ her parasol, and saying "I'll teach you to insult young ladies, you puppy, move off."

Digital publication day! 🎉 I'm very proud of this little book on a difficult subject, one I take very much to heart (as I try to do with all my work, but especially this one). Gothic Dementia is free to download until April 12th! www.cambridge.org/core/element...

On the anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, John Sloan's searing March 1911 illustration for the New York Call, a Socialist newspaper, responding to the tragic event

Reading 1840s "flash press" for hilarious #Lowell content that ranges from "when is C.H. going to pay I.B. that five dollars he lent him" to "Bill B." was seen "with a young lady of notorious character" to a threat to "M" to stop reporting on "certain young men" or he "will get a flogging."

"The Factory Girl's Bloomers" appeared in Cotton Factory Times on 8 April 1898, telling the story of Lucy and her 2 suitors. Fred gets her a bicycle & encourages her to wear bloomers, scandalizing the other suitor and all the weavers at the factory who threaten to strike if Lucy isn't fired.

Many thanks to the organizers of the #SSAG @ssag.bsky.social conference! I saw tons of great panels & loved meeting other Gothic folks. If you're still in #Salem I highly recommend you stop by the Peabody Essex Museum #PEM to see the Edmonia Lewis exhibit. It's wonderful. www.pem.org/exhibitions/...

Anyone have recommendations of tools or tricks to organize research photos taken during #archive trips? My (many) photos of multi-page material from various archives are sitting around in google photos and I think there has to be a better way.

It is impossible to tell the story of #Lowell without focusing on women and immigrants, who are absolutely foundational to the city's founding, growth, and success. Today's Sun has more info on the erasing of history at Lowell National Historical Park. Enraging. www.lowellsun.com/2026/03/10/w...

Inspired by several threads sharing sources for public domain images, I looked for "factory" at the Public Domain Image Archive and was delighted to find this French illustration by Albert Robida: "Our Rivers and Atmosphere — The Multiplication of Various Pathogens, Microbes, and Bacteria" (1890).

Tomorrow! 7pm Irish time! Join us for a fab deep dive into the world of Irish spooky podcasting! All welcome: you just need to register via the link below:

FYI, Academia.edu has changed its terms of service to give an irrevocable worldwide license for anything uploaded to its site to be used for generative AI. I do not consent to this and have pulled all my papers.

Disability and the Gothic has now been published and is available online FOR FREE for the next 2 weeks. www.cambridge.org/core/element...

Can't believe it's already my last day in Belfast! Spent it in one of my favorite research spots -- Linen Hall Museum -- and then also (finally) went to Belfast City Hall to see their excellent exhibit on the history of the building and the city, and took a tour of the building. Recommend both!

Apply today for the Historic Children’s Voices K-12 Teacher Institute Monday, August 10 - Friday, August 14, 2026 americanantiquarian.org/k-12-teacher-institute-2026

I like to think that this establishment billing itself as "practical hatters" is distinguishing itself from all the "mad hatters." (from Adair's 1860-1 Belfast Directory)

Gave a little talk today for a colleague's class on historic images of mills & factories and was surprised again by the fact that this image is from 1881. It's a watercolor by Joseph Pennell depicting Bethlehem Steel Works in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a place I called home for a few years.

"The Factory Girl" as she appeared in The Sunday School Hive & Juvenile Companion 1 June 1878: "factory girls, although labouring under many disadvantages, compare favourably with any other of the working classes of young women for thrift, for intelligence, and for religion."

On request, the deadline for abstract submissions has been extended to 13 February, so you have two more weeks to get yours in! hullgothic.wordpress.com/cfp/

Just found a new factory girl serial: "Salome Price, the Gipsy Factory Girl" by R. T. Casson in Illustrated Chips from 6 Oct 1894. Salome opens by triumphing in a knife fight with a man who has "bought" her as his wife, and runs off to Preston to earn her living as a weaver.

Staying inside today due to threatening weather. Currently prepping my talk for tomorrow about two nineteenth-century industrial Gothic places: Cottonopolis (Lowell) and Linenopolis (Belfast). Wed 28 Jan at 4.15, Wolfson Room, Seamus Heaney Centre. If you're at Queens, you're very welcome to join!

Did everyone else know about researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/ already? Searches 7 million records at 1,400 archival institutions all in ONE PLACE

A beautiful story from a church graveyard well worth a read. Thank you @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social for sharing and for your great care with these remains.

Found a new (to me) "factory girl" poem in the Irish newspaper archives -- printed in the Derry Journal 11 Dec. 1895 but attributed to the Illinois Trades Unionist which I guess I'll now have to track down.

This bar insisting that it is indeed open during construction with multiple signs saying "business as usual" and "open as normal" really should consider re-creating Dante's "I assure you; we're open!" sign.

Thackeray in #Belfast in 1842: He sketched a girl working in a mill: "They work in huge long chambers, lighted by numbers of windows, hot with steam, buzzing and humming with hundreds of thousands of whirling wheels." "There is something frightful in the vastness as in the minuteness of this power"

Home from a day at Special Collections & now turning to fun reading: "The Queen of Clithorly Mill: A Tale of Lancashire" from Bow Bells of Wednesday July 17th 1867. It's a serial featuring factory girl Alice Gowerland who has gotten herself into trouble with a fellow thanks to her friend Judith.

I love that the "Big Fish" statue in Belfast has a sign that reads: "In the interests of safety climbing onto the big fish is prohibited." The gentle tone (it's not "keep off big fish!") suggests that the sign writer understands our deep yearning to climb on big fish.

Enjoyed a terrific 2-hour walking tour of #Belfast street art. HIGHLY recommend! Sharing just two of my favorites: "Deep Love" by ADW and "Pretty Little Thieves" by Friz, but there are so many more! Book the tour here: www.seedheadarts.com/street-art/w... See map: www.seedheadarts.com/street-art/map

Carrickfergus Castle showing up rather nicely today. Take need of the many warnings.

Belfast City Hall looking gorgeous in the early morning dark and damp. Heading out on the tour bus to Giants Causeway.

Friday afternoon seems a good time for this important reminder about "Leaving work before Stopping Time," as outlined in this handwritten book of notes for the No 2 Room of an unknown linen mill in 1883. "Workers are not to be seen, grouped in the long pass of the room, before the engine stops."

Are you also spending a chilly day in the archive? Why not grab a "Smart Shoulder Cape" as demonstrated in the London Journal Ladies Supplement of July 1, 1890? Practical and fashionable!

Starting my morning working behind this door at Queen's library. Sadly it doesn't seem to have granted passage to Narnia, but it's a nice room nonetheless with a view of the Botanical Gardens. Figuring out what to request from Special Collections and I'll head there later. Fingers crossed.

Reading pamphlets at Linen Hall library today. First up: "An Address to Millworkers" from 1873 by a doctor with criticisms of the workers' diet ("tea and bread three times a day") as well as a warning that they avoid "pernicious literature -- another cause of ill-health and premature decay."

Today in QUB Special Collections: Mary, the Factory Girl, published in Belfast, 1838. Poor Mary is Catholic. Her mother sells her to an acting troupe, but she is saved from assured hellfire via school and religion, and of course God's grace. She works in a factory, gets consumption, and dies.

Had a marvelous first day at Queens University in Belfast. I'll be dropping into Special Collections at the library tomorrow. Will share any exciting finds. This city and this campus are beautiful. I'm here for a month, so hit me up if you're local or have local recs!

"Julianna" a Lowell mill girl knew what was up, in 1845 @kassiejo.bsky.social - mill girl alert

#OTD 6 Jan 1887 the Boston Globe and the Bangor Daily Whig reported on the suspicious death of Manchester (NH) mill girl Mary Sullivan. Among concerns: she was buried hastily; there was an insurance policy; C. A. Trask, her boardinghouse keeper was an astrologer. Still looking for follow-up stories.

Everybody getting back to work today after the winter break reminded me of some of the stereoscope images of textile workers. Here are a few favorites: the first two are from Lawrence Hosiery in Lowell, the third from Philadelphia. All maybe 1880s (links to originals in alt text).

Still time to send me an abstract for Sensation Fiction and the Health Humanities. It’s shaping up to be a fascinating day!

In honor of my departure for a family holiday gathering, and for your entertainment, I share with you something from my own archive: Me (red dress) with my brother (red hair) and Santa (red suit), circa 1981. Wishing you all safe travels and festive fun in the coming days!

Love this thread. Love going to archives. Going to the Center for #Lowell History showed me that many digitized issues of the Lowell Offering are missing their covers, and the text on the inside of the covers included obituaries for mill girls, like these 4 women who died in just the previous month.

A little later than my usual fare and a bit of a different tone, but I wanted to share this charming and shapely ad from The Garland Globe (Garland, Utah) from December 1906.

#OTD 21 Dec 1879 various newspapers reported on the burning of a shoddy* mill in Bennington, Vermont. Two men were badly burned, another man died, and the wife of the dead man "has since become a raving maniac." *"Shoddy" refers to the mill's product -- cloth made by recycling shredded textiles.

#OTD 19 Dec 1825 London's Sussex Advertiser reported that the Hanover-Street #Ghost, who had thrown "Bottles, boots, bricks, and red-hot coals" into a house had been captured! Miss Ann Page acknowledged her ghostly crimes, but then retracted her confession. Earned 1 month in Brixton Prison.

I'm delighted to announce that I'll be co-editing a special issue of Gothic Studies: Arctic Gothic with Monica Germanà and Sara Wasson. Check out the CFP here: www.globalgoth.org/blog/arctic-...

#OTD 18 December 1915, 17-year old factory girl Pauline Walton was found with her throat cut in her bed in Paris, Texas. Initial news reports called it a mystery, but within a few days, police arrested her father for the murder. Later reporting revealed Pauline had been in a "delicate condition."

Can't emphasize enough the delight of the "find similar items" button when searching the catalog of @amantiquarian.bsky.social Looking for more George Washington Dixon, I found this promotion for Polythanos. "Jupiter & Clergymen!" Had to look up "defalcation." Definitely worth 3 cents. Dec 8, 1838.

#OTD 17 December 1895 the Western Mail published "Seasonable Stories of Ghosts" recounting tales of numerous ghosts who appeared at various collieries both before (as warnings) and after disasters, including the ghost of a woman searching for her husband at the Albion, & a ghostly red dog at Morfa.