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 💙📚

The Society welcomes applications for two Centenary Fellowships, 2025-26, to support PhD students in completing a doctorate in #history. Fellowships are held in association with @ihr.bsky.social and are for £8500 over 6 months. Applications, by 31 May, are via the IHR bit.ly/4mybVDV #Skystorians

Here’s the Shoreditch Public Library in East London. It’s 1895. The chief librarian William Plant is the self-educated son of a silk twister. Plant lives in a flat ‘over the shop’. Among his regular borrowers are rope makers, metal workers, ivory turners, tie makers, and stone masons. #PubLibs 💙📚

Today's #ArchiveObject is one of our favourites. This collapsible brass viewer for stereoscopic images. Owned by Dorothy Pilley and donated to the club with a set of her photographs. Amazing to see images from the early 1900s in 3d! #Archive30 #Climbingdays

Call for artists: We are looking to collaborate with a graphic novelist to create a graphic novel about people's experiences of sexual health in 20th century Britain. Please share widely!

This week, the Society advertised two Centenary Fellowships, 2025-26, to support PhD students in completing a doctorate in #history. The Fellowships are held in association with @ihr.bsky.social and are for £8500 over 6 months. Applications, by 31 May, are via the IHR bit.ly/4mybVDV #Skystorians

This Friday is our William Morris Day! Free entry between 11am-3:30 pm, featuring a striking tabletop display of manuscripts and more from our collections that shed light on the life of Morris and Kelmscott Manor, as well as live performances from musician @kategarnermusic.bsky.social!

Still time to apply for the Head of Collections (Library, Archives & Museum) job at @antiquaries.bsky.social. Closes this Sunday night! www.sal.org.uk/about-us/vac... #lisjobs #museumjobs #archivejobs #heritagejobs #library #archive #museum #collections #heritage #rarebooks #specialcollections

Diaries can be typed, handwritten, photo diaries, art or whatever form you'd like! You can either post physical day diaries to us or use our online form to submit digital diaries. More info on submitting can be found on our website: massobs.org.uk/the-archive/...

There are limited spaces left for our free workshop next Monday! Hear expert talks from the Project FRRAnt team and enjoy a show and tell of Roman objects from our collections, with opportunities to reflect on the meaning of Magna Carta then and now. www.sal.org.uk/event/law-be...

In 1929, a huge international conference of librarians took place in Italy. Delegates were treated like celebrities. They were invited EVERYWHERE as special guests - including the Vatican Library, where they enjoyed an audience with the Pope. #PubLibs 💙📚 📷 Yale University Library

It’s fifteen years since we revived 12th May as an annual diary day! 📝 It’s almost that time of year again where we ask you to tell us what you got up to on the 12th May. Diaries can take any form, written, typed, drawn or photographs. Whatever feels most fun and interesting to you!

Remembering pupil teacher John William Blakey, who died on this day in 1859, aged 13 years. ‘This stone was erected as a testimony of respect and affection by the pupils of the National School of St. Andrews, Lister Hills, Bradford, in which school J.W.B. was a teacher."

New book spotted in the wild ( well, Waterstones on Gower Street). Thanks to Atlantic for the beautiful cover. And to all those Mass Observers who kept such lovely diaries.

Hot off the press! 🔥 Grab the latest issue of The Book Collector to read about my exciting discoveries on the Rawlinson #printingplates

We are recruiting! An exciting new opportunity has opened up here at Gladstone’s Library. We are looking to recruit a Reading Room Assistant who will work front of house in the Library’s busy Reading Rooms. 1/4

In 1881, electric lighting was introduced in the circular reading room at Liverpool public library. Some readers complained of headaches, brought on by the excessive brightness - but staff appreciated the removal of gas lights, which had made the room stuffy & almost unbearably warm. #PubLibs 💙📚

I've spent today 'at' the 1893 American Library Association conference in Chicago. Hilarious that Peter Cowell of Liverpool mentions the weather before starting his paper. So British! His comments on female delegates are spot-on though - the UK lagged behind the US in recruiting 'the fairer sex'. 💙📚

We have diary templates for schools and community groups on our website, along with an online submission form for anyone who wants to send us a digital diary: massobs.org.uk/the-archive/...

Naturalists' Notebooks exhibition at the lovely Linnean Society, London (11 March-20 September 2025, Tuesdays to Fridays). @linneansociety.bsky.social