Monday-morning desk & bookshelf envy. This is John Nettlefold’s study at Winterbourne House in Birmingham. Nettlefold was a town planner & businessman, his aesthetic sense influenced by the Arts & Crafts movement.

happy International Archives Day! if you would like to make archives happy you could do worse than with some online volunteering for me – look at pictures! read 19th century minutes! very straightforward, very satisfying, no commitment necessary. www.sal.org.uk/about-us/vac... (scroll down)

"Men We Seldom See - Irish Migrant Legacies and the British Construction Industry" We are looking for Irish migrants who worked in any aspect of the British construction industry for at least one year, and are willing to be interviewed. ℹ️ www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie.... #oralhistory #SpéirGorm

I gave a talk about female public librarians at the University Women’s Club in Mayfair tonight. The whole evening was fabulous. The audience asked fascinating questions, and we had a really thought-provoking Q&A. But my favourite part of the night was the pleasing retro signage on arrival.

It’s nearly time for our national diary day! Every 12th May we ask people to write down what they got up to. This year we’re also really interested in experiences of nature and wellbeing, as well as what else you get up to on the day! #diary #journal #nature #skystorians #write #Archive

If you weren't able to make it to our online talk yesterday with Stella Moss and Phyllis Macfarlane from @amsruk.bsky.social (and kindly chaired by @historitage.bsky.social), do not fear! You can catch up on all you missed on our YouTube channel! www.youtube.com/playlist?lis... #skystorians

Being into plants/ natural remedies/ folkloric stuff (plus the social history of pockets), I recently conceived FOUR POCKETS FOR SEASONAL FORAGERS & learnt a little more about foraging while embroidering them. I started the cycle with AUTUMN, & stitched poke root, burdock, poke berries, & hawthorn.

This box of curiosities was collected by Dr Gains as a child in Brightwalton between 1870 and 1899. It contains shells, nuts, seeds, glass, pins, rocks, buttons, teeth, carved ivory, and more! #Archive30 #UnusualArchives

A beautiful day yesterday performing my William Morris song for William Morris Day at @antiquaries.bsky.social I met wonderful people including @erikocreativity who created her own William Morris Kimono with his famous quote written on the back (see photo) #WilliamMorris

Of interest to Belle da Costa Greene fans!!! In 1912, Greene was celebrated as “the most up-to-date” librarian type. The US media gleefully hailed the Morgan library manager as the antithesis of the longstanding cliche of a “dried-up” old male librarian 💙📚

Apply for our PhD placement scheme to get involved in extraordinary research at the Library. There are eight available placements exploring a variety of themes including war poetry, 21st-century digital tools, illustrated newspapers and decarbonisation. Find out more: link.bl.uk/PhDPlacements

Can anyone get me a job in the editorial offices of the ‘The Librarian and Book World’ in 1913? Imagine reading through the submissions for this prize scheme for librarians. Glossary! Machine-set Catalogue!! Bookbinding!!!! Pure library heaven #PubLibs 💙📚

19C librarians devised all manner of ingenious apparatus to make their institutions more efficient. Here’s a pioneering form of rolling stack to streamline storage systems at the British Museum, now the British Library. From the Library Chronicle, Vol. III (1886) #AlphabetChallenge #BforBooks 💙📚

If only there was a recent book about what Seven Dials was like in the first part of the twentieth century. Oh, hang on... manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526181954/

It’s another bitterly cold day. You’ll find me in the library at Alnwick Castle, flicking through a heap of literary journals in a desultory manner, occasionally gazing up at that STUNNING ceiling - planning to demolish a plateful of buttered toast & tea any minute now 💙📚

‘It was not in his nature to do anything by halves:’ Mary Booth on her husband’s work. No lie detected. I run a course that demystifies Charles Booth’s massive Life & Labour survey and the accompanying Poverty Map. Starts Tue 13 Jan at the Mary Ward Centre, nr Stratford High St DLR short.do/wLa3Vc

New Year’s Resolution. Always wear a hat to visit the library. Homburg, bowler, flat cap, no matter. As seen here in the new reading room at the Kensington branch building in Liverpool c.1900 #NYE #PubLibs 💙📚

Salisbury Cathedral Library, founded in 1445. The library collections date back to the 1100s. The chains originally used to secure the precious medieval manuscripts to the shelves now form an eye-catching display beside the librarian’s desk 💙📚 #chainedlibrary

In the 1870s, George Gissing & his brother William were furious at the ‘scandalous condition’ of #PubLibs in England, contrasting progress unfavourably with the USA - where every town had ‘its excellent Free Library’. From Letters of George Gissing to Members of his Family (1927). 💙📚

Thinking about the 130 or so British librarians killed in WW1. Their colleagues raised funds to create a lasting memorial to their sacrifice. Sadly, the tablet they commissioned is now displayed behind the scenes at the British Library, visible only to staff. #fwwhist #PubLibs 💙📚

CLOSED. My second failed attempt to visit the Morrab Library in Penzance last month. Founded in the early 19C, the library is one of only around 60 independent libraries still in existence in the UK (& the only one in the whole of Cornwall). I did admire this cute sign on the front door though.

Here I am, caught on camera at #HistDay25 getting over-excited about the fact that a 1960s folk-rock band named themselves after a medieval legal document!! I was at the event with my fab @antiquaries.bsky.social colleagues & we chatted to over 100 students & history-lovers. A truly inspiring day.

Do you dare stare into the eyes of spooky child this Halloween? Take your chance today at our Haunted by the Past event until 3.30pm today! www.sal.org.uk/event/haunte...

1 week to go until History Day - don't forget to sign up! Read about why History Day is such a fantastic event in this blog by Claire Langhamer: buff.ly/ySfBuWR #HistDay25 @senatehouselib.bsky.social

1850. The Public Libraries Act means councils in England & Wales can now spend local taxes on libraries. Some London regions are VERY slow to adopt the act. St Pancras rate-payers object to “wasting” money on “showy luxuries”. Fifty years pass before a free library opens in the district #PubLibs 💙📚

Utterly fascinating talk. Exciting new book about 1920s and 1930s London (and beyond). I’ll never refer to ‘interwar’ again. Sadly no #PubLibs featured at the event but we were surrounded by beautiful art books & you can’t have everything ha ha.

I left school at 15 without qualifications but educated myself via the Harold Hill library and ended up with three university degrees.

I’ve been discovering David Ackles via Mark Brend’s beautifully-written biography. Down River (2025) details the curious recording career of a relatively unknown US singer songwriter in the late 60s & early 70s. Elton John was a fan. Sadly, no #PubLibs are featured in the biog. Excellent otherwise.

Also published this week in 'Transactions of the Royal Historical Society' "Us and Them: Disability Ethics, Oral History and Inclusive Praxis in the Reuse of Asylum Photography", by Alana Harris & Laura Mitchison bit.ly/4gH9e0f What are the ethics of historical research using asylum photography?

A line of Yale University librarians carry rare 18C volumes from the old library to the brand new Sterling Memorial Library building in July 1930. I love the way library staff turned this humdrum task into a celebratory piece of street theatre!! #WeekLforLines #AlphabetChallenge 💙📚

From the 1930s, Britain’s #PubLibs were increasingly staffed by female librarians - usually overseen by a male manager. This fab photo (from the archives at Havering Libraries) shows a group of smartly-dressed assistants shelving books at the shiny new Upminster Library building in Essex c.1963 💙📚

Join us on 12 Sept for a free evening which includes performances that re-voice & unravel the Magna Charter’s most famous clauses, has creative workshops using oak gall ink, features longsword demonstrations, personalised crown workshop, dressing up, sweets & more! www.sal.org.uk/event/age-of...

Railway reads. Found near the train track not far from Lincoln station 💙📚

My autumn adult ed Sept-Dec courses are now booking. Here’s what I’m up to: 1/ Borderlines of ‘Madness’ in 19th-Century Fiction, the Mary Ward Centre, East London, starts Tues 23 Sept, 6.30pm, 6 weeks. Includes Charlotte Bronte, Poe, Wilkie Collins and Gogol www.marywardcentre.ac.uk/course-detai...

The American Women’s Club was a philanthropic organisation set up in London in 1898. Members incl. the wives of Herbert Hoover & Gordon Selfridge. In 1916, a clubroom opened in Mayfair complete with Italian-style gardens, a ballroom with a huge pipe organ (v fashionable at this time) & a library 💙📚

Our #Objectoftheday is this ancient Egyptian little blue faience seal in the form of a crouching oryx gazelle. Interestingly the stamp on the underside also depicts an oryx . It would have been used to mark ownership. E.5426 #ancientegypt #gazelle #sealstamp #museum

Come and join us for Chartism Day 2025. All welcome; booking required. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/chartism-d...

Come for the new history of 1920s and 1930s London, stay for the discount... Waterstones are offering 25% off pre-orders Songs of Seven Dials this week: just enter SUMMER25 at checkout. Book is out on 21 Oct – in time for autumnal nights & Christmas gifts. www.waterstones.com/book/songs-o...

In 1969, ‘shapely’ library assistant Deborah Kerr failed to bring the Miss Book World title home to Upminster Library in Essex. Never mind. Losing the contest gave Deborah more time to focus on her studies. #PubLibs💙📚 📷 Havering Express, 19 March 1969, from Havering Libraries - Local Studies

The female gaze Herbert Putnam, c.1900 Librarian of Congress (1899-1939) 💙📚

Applications for 2 artists' residencies now open at Thin Ice Press! Deadline 25th July www.thinicepress.org/research/pri...

Meet John Mullins, the mildly terrifying chief librarian of Birmingham Free Library from 1858 to 1898. Mullins was famous for his Daily Routine Book. The book listed 100 checks the library staff were expected to complete each morning before opening the reference room doors to the public #PubLibs 💙📚

It’s 1900. A lavishly-illustrated history of Fulham is published. John Henry Quinn (librarian in neighbouring Chelsea) only orders one copy for readers since ‘interest [among Chelsea people in Fulham is] so little’. Anyway, here’s the famous cork tree planted by Bishop Compton, on p.137 #PubLibs 💙📚

The brand new Peckham library on Peckham Road c.1904. Leonard Hurdon was the sub-librarian. His hours were 10.30am to 9pm with a 2-hour break for lunch, which he took in his lodgings (a short walk from the library) to save money. At £90, his salary was too low to support a wife & family #PubLibs 💙📚

We're excited to be looking for our first ever Maker in Residence this summer! We're seeking a MiR who can inspire our audiences through their creative response to our exhibition #MagnaCarta1225. All the details are on our website, closing date 14 July. www.sal.org.uk/about-us/vac...

Are you a researcher interested in histories of collecting and 19thC Victorian decorative art? This wonderful short-term fellowship is an opportunity to research the Albert Dawson archive in Cultural Collections and Galleries at the University of Leeds jobs.leeds.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx... #jobfairy

Here’s the adorable reading room at the Kingsley Hotel in London c.1912. The Kingsley was a temperance hotel, situated round the corner from the British Museum. A guest from Glasgow described it as: “The most satisfactory Hotel I have ever visited in London during 25 years.” 💙📚

Kettering Library, Northants, c.1908. Inside, the FIRST example of radial shelving in a British public library!! Unusually, Kettering employed a female manager. In 1915, Kate Pierce was the first woman elected to the Library Association Council. Pierce ran Kettering Library for 40 years #PubLibs 💙📚