I love my @findmypast.bsky.social subscription & it’s become an integral part of my research. Not surprised I’ve spent a lot of time among the ‘30s newspapers but surprised #CountryLife is my top source tho it does have a key article on B’casting House by Christopher Hussey.

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Season’s Greetings to all. (Original artwork by my infants’ school self).

Delighted that Women & Architectural History was recognised by a Colvin Prize commendation last week. www.sahgb.org.uk/features/sah...

@thesahgb annual awards: www.sahgb.org.uk/features/sah...

Researching an article on EKCO & had a moment when my different research areas intersect. Reading on early plastics like Beatl/Beetl I find this was made by British Industrial Plastics - f. By A.M. Chance. His son married Janet Whyte, subject of my recent article on the women of 7 Charlotte Sq!

Well this was an excellent film! Recommend.

New book of interest to those who work on women (especially tiresome and difficult ones!) and architecture. Dott did much interesting work in housing. www.selfpublishingpartnership.co.uk/2024/09/09/l...

Title reveal … countdown to June 2026.

EVENTS: This Thursday we’ll be joined by Emily Gee IHBC FSA for a seminar exploring campaigns to house a new generation of working Victorian and Edwardian women, the specialised design of their buildings, and the lives transformed by this architectural movement. Register Now: sahgb.org.uk/whatson

One of the good 70s BHS shopfronts on Fishersgate, Preston. The busker was singing the Stone Roses - in homage to Mani, RIP.

In Preston so of course I visited for bus station! Very nicely detailed! But hardly anyone waiting for a bus! (Preston seems to have a gazillion car parks).

SAHGB has conferred the inaugural Colvin Special Award 2025 on the editors of the Pevsner Architectural Guides, recognising their renewal of this landmark series for readers across the British Isles. Full press release on our website. www.sahgb.org.uk/features/col...

New by me - part of my ongoing & evolving work on women’s social activism in late Victorian & Edwardian Edinburgh: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

V grateful to @iashedinburgh.bsky.social for recognising my scholarship with this Fellowship & delighted that this article is now out online. Jane Whyte was a remarkable member of a remarkable network of Edinburgh activists, & an undoubted influence on her radical daughter Janet Chance.

On Armistice Day I remember my granpop Andrew Darling (on the left in pic 1) , member of the BEF, captured at St Valery and then a POW. Recently found this photo of a poster he designed while a POW at Stalag 383 - in catalogue of National Library of NZ.

Tidying up and reunited with no 32 of @themodernist.bsky.social journal as edited by #RuthLang. My contrib was an exploration of the contemporary not-seeing of Elizabeth Denby.

Super time yesterday evening learning all about early cinema in Hove - within weeks of the Lumieres’ films being shown in London, Bertie & Laura Smith had started film making in St Ann’s Well Gardens! #filmarchivesoutheast

Just up: a great contribution to CST's ongoing Defending the WAC series by James Jordan. Thoughts on Cartier, Dimbleby and the unknowns of archive research. cstonline.net/defending-th...

Enjoyed this programme about one of my favourite book series: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Nice to see my name in the local paper - tho’ I prefer To think of my work as germinal!

www.sahgb.org.uk/whatson - @thesahgb.bsky.social has a busy autumn events programme - our seminar series with @IHR kicks off this Thursday!

MUST READ! In the latest CST blog about the damaging changes going on at the BBC Written Archives Centre, @marklewisohn.bsky.social delivers his cri de cœur squarely at those who came up with or are signing-off on this policy shift. Please read and share widely. cstonline.net/defending-th...

RIP Dave Ball.

Looking forward to speaking about the multiple modernities of BBC Broadcasting House next Feb.

Just out: Factory tourism in inter-war Britain: the spectacular construction of social-democratic mass production: academic.oup.com/tcbh/article...

📯📯 Important blogpost!

Well it’s with the publisher! My manuscript & its many marvellous illustrations is now at the beginning of the production process. Look out for a new history of #BBC Broadcasting House early next summer.

Important new update on RIBA collections move on @thesahgb.bsky.social website. www.sahgb.org.uk/features/the...

Some good #20s30s stuff on radio 4 at the mo.

In town yesterday for the launch of @ejngee.bsky.social excellent new book. Beautifully researched & with great illustrations. An important contribution to our understanding of how working women occupied the late Victorian and Edwardian city.

‼️‼️‼️‼️⬇️⬇️⬇️‼️‼️‼️ And paging all those involved in practising architectural history in the U.K. and indeed elsewhere! Whether that be in an academic context, in practice or in the museums and archives sector.

Enjoying the 90th birthday celebrations at Embassy Court today.

Thank you to @theobserveruk.bsky.social for giving attention today to the campaign for independent access to the BBC Written Archives. The Corporation is still yet to engage with our argument and properly defend the policy shift. That is because it is indefensible. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

I just signed the open letter & joined the campaign. Access to the written archives was vital to the book I’m completing about BBC Broadcasting House.

The Vanessa Bell show at Charleston in Lewes is worth a visit. The pre-1914 work is for me most interesting & convincing. Would like to know what her income was in these early years - how much came from private income (she can’t have sold enough work to live on those sales).

RIP Terence Stamp. www.theguardian.com/film/2025/au...

Hoping what I wrote on Wednesday makes sense …

With less than two weeks to go, now is the time to nominate work for SAHGB - IHBC Heritage Research Award. The award celebrates the quality of architectural-historical research produced by colleagues in heritage and conservation practice. Deadline: 18 August 2025

Hurrah for housing activist Elizabeth Denby on #YorkshireDay - Born 1894 in Bradford to a doctor father and mother who was a former nurse. Educated at Bradford Girls Grammar before heading to LSE & then a career in housing.

Nominations Now Open: Hawksmoor Essay Medal We welcome submissions that demonstrate critical and innovative approaches to architectural history. The competition is open to current postgraduate students, and to early career researchers. sahgb.org.uk/hawksmoor-essay-medal

Super Paule Vézelay show at Towner Gallery. Recommend.

The shortlists for two of the most important prizes in architectural history – the Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion and the Colvin Prize – have been revealed for 2025.  sahgb.org.uk/features/2025-shortlists

The SAHGB is pleased to announce that we are now an Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC) accredited CPD provider. IHBC members now have the opportunity to attend our paid events at a preferential rate. @ihbc.bsky.social sahgb.org.uk/whats-on

The Bloomsbury Global Encylopedia of Women in Architecture 1960-2020 is now online! A huge achievement by Karen Burns & Lori Brown. Pleased to have had the chance to write some of the entries. preview31.sspbloomsbury.co.uk/bloomsbury-g...

Super pleased to be here in Leith to hear about the #VoicesofExperience Project.

Just published in the ODNB my entry on Jane Priestman.

Chuffed to see myself quoted by Suzanne Ewing in her excellent paper on the brilliant Voices of Experience project @thesahgb.bsky.social annual conference this afternoon.

Excellent start to @thesahgb.bsky.social ‘Future Heritage’ conference — sustainability & heritage first, then diversity & heritage. An excellent series of papers and more tomorrow.

Mella Shaw’s installation at McManus Gallery Dundee is well worth your time.