Striking how these new findings overlap significantly with the UK’s Nolan Principles for standards in public life first articulated in 1995: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.

Perhaps the 1st recorded use of “the saying of being kick’d upstairs” in @lampallib.bsky.social Fulham Papers vol II f. 79. Recently promoted as Governor of Maryland, Francis Nicholson laments his situation to his friend Archbishop Tenison in February 1697, several years before the 1st OED reference

This was an excellent event on academic publishing organised by @historylabplus.bsky.social with Palgrave. Several historians joined the call from overseas, despite the time difference in the US and elsewhere, an indication of how useful and welcoming this network is for early career historians.

For anyone contemplating a history research degree, or finishing one and pondering what to do next, Becoming a Historian by Penelope Corfield and @timhitchcock.bsky.social, published by @ihr.bsky.social in 2022, is an invaluable guide. I wish I’d kept Hugh Trevor-Roper’s short guide for comparison.

'What’s the value of a History PhD? A view from business' bit.ly/4elv1cW In this new post, Richard Marks charts the skills gained from completing a doctorate. From project design & management to data retrieval & analysis, History PhDs bring capacity and experience that are in demand #Skystorians

This is an excellent resource for anyone from Shropshire or interested in its particularly rich and varied history. One day I aspire to write the history of Mytton Mill. @shropshirelass.bsky.social

This week, we were also pleased to learn that historians perform well in a new @yougov.co.uk poll on the trustworthiness of experts bit.ly/49I9NV7 77% trust historians' expertise, placing them third in a listing of professions. This is a 6% increase on a similar poll in 2017 #Skystorians

A 1st visit yesterday to the Bibliotheca Capitolare in Verona. Despite WWII bombing (the bookshelves are postwar replacements, simplified for cost reasons), most of its treasures have survived, some predating Petrarch and Dante’s visits. Yet another library joy to add to my long list of favourites.

Dorian isn’t on Bluesky so perhaps @oxbowbooks.bsky.social you could draw this lovely recommendation to his attention.

So the next thing is, for those who agree, what can you do about it? Answers could be a) making sure you use your library card/s b) joining friends of a library association if you can afford it (one I know funds a library’s entire new books budget) and/or c) volunteering to help where you can.

In 2026, the House of Lords Library marks its 200th anniversary. This Libraries Week, step inside the House of Lords Library with historian Jenny Draper and uncover the stories behind its collections ⬇️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TuX...

One several joys about Pitlochry train station (direct trains between the Scottish Highlands and London take only six and a half hours) is this heron water fountain @everyheron.bsky.social. The wonderfully curated charity bookshop in the station even had a book on the history of Scottish psalmody.

This is so important. Academic history sustains so many affiliated sectors as well as providing training in the discipline of independent thought and analysis, on which our civil service and all branches of government depend.

Stellar keynote address by Michele Gabrielson in character as Mary Otis Warren in 1776 rounding off the 1st day of an excellent conference organised by @drmeganking.bsky.social @benfranklinhouse.bsky.social. A salutary reminder that democracy and government are shared responsibilities.

Excellent panels at today’s Remember the ladies conference @benfranklinhouse.bsky.social. A privilege to spend the day in the parlour he used for so many years in London. Photos taken on the stairs where he took his exercise.

In our latest blog post, recent Maddock Fellow Dr Joe Borsato @theecoalchemyst.bsky.social looks at how Indigenous peoples shaped Huguenot colonization in the seventeenth century. marshlibrary.ie/the-indigeno...

Looking forward to this tomorrow.

Leeds Institute for Medieval studies delighted to offer two £7000 scholarships for home applicants on low-income. Part- or full-time. Go to ahc.leeds.ac.uk/dir-record/s... and courses.leeds.ac.uk/7820/medieva.... #medievalsky #scholarships #doamasters

⏰️ Still time to apply for our £500 research bursary! It is open to masters students, doctoral researchers, ECRs, and independent historians who research women’s and gender history, particularly for those working on Scottish themes. 🗓 Deadline 31st May 🔗 womenshistoryscotland.org/projects-and...

New books time again which IHR library members can browse on the 1st and 2nd floors (P.S. becoming a member is easy and free - just fill out a form www.history.ac.uk/library/libr...)

This is a wonderful opportunity, providing a welcoming academic home and access to outstanding research facilities. As a current fellow I recommend the Fellowship warmly to those thinking of applying. I couldn’t have carried out much of my research this year without it.

On protecting what matters. @ihr.bsky.social @royalhistsoc.org @histassoc.bsky.social History UK www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Inspiring Festival of Social History hosted by @socialhistsoc.bsky.social & @ihr.bsky.social at Senate House yesterday. 8 super panel talks ranged from early modern wills by @lsangha.bsky.social to 20thc. China by @isabellajackson.bsky.social. Naomi Tadmor’s keynote used parliamentary texts superbly

monumentoffame.org For Women’s History Month: how Elizabeth & William Beauvoir navigated the social and financial consequences of her not knowing who her mother was, told through 100s of 18thc.letters @lampallib.bsky.social @royalsociety.org donor Godfrey Copley left her money and Hans Sloane helped

On Thursday I will be chairing our online session on writing history aimed at a wider audience with guests Elliot Prior and Sabhbh Curran from Curtis Brown Literary Agency. All welcome - sign up here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Good to be @somervillecollege.bsky.social today to hear fitting tributes to Barbara Harvey (1928-2025). Her major work on the history of @westminsterabbey.bsky.social will long be remembered. A photo of her in Somerville Library is a reminder of a great historian, a great teacher and a great friend.

A suitably beautiful Lambeth Palace last night for Lenten Music sung by the superbly blended St Martin’s Voices. My own favourite of many lovely pieces was Eleanor Daley’s setting of Seal upon thy heart. Hopefully the first of many concerts in the Great Hall following the accessibility renovations.

It is lovely that the Art Gallery of Ontario can now name the Black woman in the gorgeous #18thc portrait they acquired 6 yrs ago & also date the painting. It's from 1775. She is Eleonora Susette, enslaved by the Dutch governor of Guyana, accompanying his widow on her return to the Netherlands.

Music for Lent this Thursday 19 March in Lambeth Palace Great Hall. Hildegard of Bingen and Lucy Walker as well as Allegri Misere. Super programme, super singers and super venue. www.stmartinsvoices.com/event-detail...

The 2026 Holberg Prize is awarded to Australian-British scholar Lyndal Roper of the University of Oxford for her ground-breaking research into early modern European history. holbergprize.org/laureates/ho...

Are you a mid-career historian researching 17th & 18th-century British Protestant dissenting traditions? 🏛️ Apply for the Dr Williams's Trust Library Bursaries at the IHR! Three awards of £3,500 are available to support your research in London libraries and archives www.history.ac.uk/fellowships-...

Another excellent report from the House of Lords Digital & Communications Committee. Lords committees have been assessing the likely impact of AI on a range of fields over the past decade.

New exhibition @senatehouselib.bsky.social!

Happy St Philippa’s day to all who celebrate! She died otd 1236. This later fresco shows her with a large book, perhaps representing her Bible reading or her records of her friend Santa Chiara, also influenced by St Francis. A happy coincidence that reformer Philip Melanchthon was born otd 1497.

Thank you so much for sharing. Absolute news to me and the De La Motte dynasty is fascinating. Of interest to @huguenotsociety.bsky.social

It is a mystery why or when composer and conductor Imogen Holst wrote 14 quotations in this vellum-covered book, but still delightful. From the lovely Church House collection accessioned at Britten Pears Archives in 2025. HOL/8/15/2/52

Archives are a treasure trove of expressions of love. Here is William Beauvoir, chaplain to the British Ambassador in Paris, writing to his wife in England in 1716. “Hand-drawn heart, but without pretence, for absence doesn’t lessen the ardour of love at all”. @lampallib.bsky.social MS 1556 f.109.

Well this is a very touching local news story.

Super blog by @huguenotsociety.bsky.social about the drainage of the fens, an enduring feature of the Cambridgeshire landscape, by a Protestant immigrant workforce. “The French” are still remembered at Thorney Abbey, where they later worshipped.

Even in this rainy weather the mimosa tree in Archbishop’s Park, next to the wonderful @lampallib.bsky.social, is spectacular. The photo can’t capture its scent, but it must surely be the largest mimosa in London.

Born #otd in Boston, Massachusetts, 320 years ago, Benjamin Franklin, polymath, printer, scientist, diplomat, writer & US Founding Father. For those in central London wanting to celebrate, a visit to @benfranklinhouse.bsky.social, where he lived, wrote and experimented for years, is inspirational.

Delighted to announce the launch of a new seminar - Race and the Early Modern - in collaboration with @folger.edu. A monthly, transatlantic, online seminar for research on race, racialisation, and racemaking across #earlymodern Studies. Sign up to attend! kingsearlymodern.co.uk/race-and-the...

@ihr.bsky.social events may sound too good to be true but there really isn’t a catch. They are just excellent.

This is such good news from @nationaltrust.org.uk. When visiting historic houses I always try to spend as much time as possible looking at book spines, particularly for the periods in which I’m most interested. Being able to read them would be a big step forward for book lovers of all ages.

@historytoday.com’s 1st co-editor Alan Hodge died in 1979, when his family founded a travelling fellowship in his memory @somervillecollege.bsky.social, where his wife Jane had studied. I was the beneficiary in 1979, visiting France for the first time aged 21 to research 16th-18thc MSS. So grateful

Looking forward to this. A reminder that online @huguenotsociety.bsky.social lectures are free to all. Membership of the society is also open to all (some Huguenot societies elsewhere require members to be of Huguenot descent). I couldn’t imagine my research without access to their member resources.

2nd exhibition visit of 2026 to « Henry VIII’s Lost Dagger » @strawberryhill.bsky.social. Horace Walpoles attempt to outTudor the Tudors didn’t quite work (his now-lost bejewelled dagger was Ottoman) but the daggers on display are spectacular, as is his house. Ends 15 Feb. Train station nearby.

My 1st exhibition visit of 2026 was to A Grand Chorus @foundlingmuseum.bsky.social. Recommend for (1) choir singers (2.8m of us in UK, apparently), (2) Handel’s Messiah lovers, (3) outstanding art lovers and (4) historians of illegitimacy in 18th century England. 1-4 all apply to me, I’ll revisit.

Free all day event for early career antiquaries on Friday 16 January @antiquaries.bsky.social. Details here: www.sal.org.uk/event/early-...

A new year’s gift for @deeplyclassical.bsky.social and all other Haydn fans who like to celebrate.