On hold to Royal Mail for 43 minutes so far, chasing yet MORE apparently undelivered post. Not sure how much more of this I can take (the waiting, the tinny music, or the lost mail) #MondayMorning

Great piece from @chrismpaton.bsky.social on Ancestry taking the NRS to court because they don't wish to have their records on the Ancestry platform. I'm backing the NRS all the way on this #genealogy #archives #FamilyHistory #history scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2025/09/ance...

100 years of women's lives and writings. Free online event from @natlibscot.bsky.social 23 Sept 2025, 2.30-3.30pm. #herstory #women 📚🗃️ www.nls.uk/whats-on/wom...

Almost home after our #DNA session in Liverpool yesterday. Thanks to the wonderful audience for their many & varied discussion points - both during and after! HUGE thanks to the organisers & volunteers for #bsf25 who've made the magic happen this past week. I'd love to join you again next year!

7am start today to head up country for my #DNA session at #bsf25. Hopefully into Liverpool for midday! May I also remind you that Awesome #Science demands the very best shoes. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise 😉

Well, folks - my first day back on social media in a while. Combo of a wildly busy year & an emergency medical incident in May (of the ambulance to hospital kind). Recovery is important. Consider this thread your virtual 'water cooler': tell me your news. Surprise me. What did I miss?

Exciting news to share here - I've been appointed as the inaugural Scientist in Residence at The Mixed Museum! My work will centre around the use of #DNA testing to unite #science and #history, in particular through parent & grandparent tracing #scicomm mixedmuseum.org.uk/news/the-mix...

As always, it's been a busy time here on the research front, but today's article is about new horizons - along with the announcement that I've stepped down from the Certificate programmes in #DNA and #GeneticGenealogy at IHGS. #FamilyHistory More below: parchmentrustler.com/genetics/cha...

It's back! Tonight it's Week 1 of my Research Skills Studio for Family Tree Plus: 4 sessions of #FamilyHistory training in #research methods. I'm aiming for fun & informative: each 60 minute webinar is followed by a 'Zoom afterparty' for chat & questions... www.family-tree.co.uk/store/geneal...

Enjoyed this long read. Physical objects really can tether us to parts of our past, people no longer with us, & all sorts of layered memories. One for the material culture and #FamilyHistory researchers methinks... www.theguardian.com/food/2025/ap...

About time for a little heads-up from me. I've been navigating some medical bumps in the road here, so social media has taken a back seat...and the #OccupationOfTheDay is taking a break too. Looking forward to some awesome #science & #history conversations with you once I'm back in action!

Genetic genealogy: science & the arts combined! I'm back on Zoom for more live #DNA teaching next week - and looking forward to returning to the Society of Genealogists @sogorg.bsky.social to share this session with you. Bookings link in the post below: I'll see you there! #FamilyHistory #Genealogy

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…COKE INSPECTOR: At a gas works, a worker who "investigates complaints from customers as to quantity and quality of coke supplied." Dict Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 Selling Coke at the Gas Works (Tidmarsh, 1893-4) c/o M'cr Art Gallery

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…SERVANT: "A person engaged to attend or wait upon, or to obey the directions & meet the needs of, a particular person, or to perform specified tasks in a particular household or establishment..." OED (2025), buff.ly/4RC18mz 📷 Hogarth's Servants (c.1750-5) c/o Tate

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…CALICO PLAITER: A textile worker who "folds calico backwards and forwards, in folds of a given length, for convenience in passing it through calico printing machines." Dict Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 Calico printing process (1835) c/o Wellcome Coll'n

One of the things I wanted to achieve with BBC You're Dead To Me was to change the public perception of 'typical historians', to show that expertise isn't just a man in a tweed jacket and bow tie

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…FLAP KEEPER: "greases and clears obstructions daily from iron flaps, fitted to sewer outlets to prevent entry of tidal wave." Dict Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 Sewer worker (1958) c/o Seattle Municpal Archives, CC-BY 4.0

Big news in the #DNA testing world this morning: genetic testing company 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy protection 'to facilitate a sale process' and CEO Ann Wojcicki has resigned... #GeneticGenealogy #FamilyHistory #Genealogy www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…CHAPE FILER: A skilled metalworker who made mountings for scabbards and/or small fixings such as buckles. 📷 Sabre with highly ornamented scabbard, c/o Met Museum

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…THREE BRANCH HAND: Term given to a workman who offers multiple skills, typically combining the work of a plumber, glazier and house painter. 📷 Jobs of a three branch hand, c.early 19thC

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…HAIR BLEACHER: "bleaches hair for wig making by immersion in solution of hydrogen peroxide, etc., to produce artificial white hair, or to reduce intensity of existing colour." Dict Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 Trade card (c.1765) c/o British Museum, CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is...ODD WORKER or ODD FILER (cycles): A worker who "finishes parts of cycles, with file, etc., at a bench." Dict Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 Inventor in bicycle workshop, Netherlands (1945) c/o Wiki Commons

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…FLOWER MODELLER & PLANT MOUNTER: Skilled worker (usu. temp) employed by the British Museum's Natural History dept. to mount & arrange displays of flora for models of animals shown in natural habitats. Dict of Employments Open to Women (1898) 📷 'Edward's Dodo'(c.1620)

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…PUNCHCLOD: "A low peasant, a ploughman, one engaged in agriculture." Dialect term, chiefly Yorks. English Dialect Dictionary (1898-1905) 📷 The Ploughing Lesson (c.1890) c/o North Lincs Museums, CC-BY-NC 4.0

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…GAITNER: A skilled agricultural worker whose job it was to reshape bound sheaves into a configuration which allowed for ease of carrying and good drainage and drying. 📷 'Summer' (c.1644), Teniers the Younger, c/o National Gallery

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is...ROTARY KILN BURNER: "in charge of rotary kiln [for cement manufacture]; regulates supply of slurry (mixture of limestone/chalk & clay with water) to kiln...regulates heat from furnace." Dict Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 Rotary kiln burners (1926) c/o Wiki Commons

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is...LORRY MAN or LURRY MAN (or woman!): "drives a heavy four-wheeled vehicle known as a lorry, or, in the North of England, a lurry." Dict of Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 17 yr old lorry driver (1958) c/o Nat'l Library of Wales, CC-BY-SA 4.0

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is...SYRINGE COTTONER: "binds cotton, by hand, round plungers of syringes; usually also boxes and wraps up syringes" Dict of Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 Enema syringes c/o Wellcome Coll'n, CC-BY 4.0

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is...SCHOLASTIC AGENT: "advises parents as to choice of school, arranges placing of children at school chosen; also acts as employment agent for schools and teachers" Dict of Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 'Hygiene of the Schoolroom' (1911) c/o Wiki Commons

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is...INSIDE HAND: "engaged in workshop where organ builders specialise in different branches; makes & fits up action controls, sound board and similar [on] inside of pipe organ" Dict of Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 Church organ, Coggeshall, Essex (c.1895) c/o Met Museum

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is...FAULT FINDER: "in [electrical] test room makes various tests (for insulation, resistance, etc.) on cable to ensure it reaches standard specification, using galvanometer." Dict Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 Galvanometer room, Edison lab (1915) c/o Wiki Commons

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is...DAILY GIRL or MORNING GIRL: A female general servant who did not live in the household of the family for whom she worked. Dict of Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 The Servant Girl, Gertler (1923) c/o Tate, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is...BIBLE DEPOT KEEPER: "a retail shopkeeper who sells bibles, texts, tracts, and religious publications; sometimes sells from private house instead of from shop." Dict of Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 Bible (1683) c/o Wellcome Collection

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…FLORAL DECORATOR: "decorates ball rooms, tables, churches, etc., with flowers, ferns, palms, etc., in various designs or colour schemes for special functions." Dict Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 The Bouquet, Bland c/o M'cr Art Gallery, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…GRAFTER: "a white mender [mender of bleached lace] who works a patch of net into a damaged place, to cover defect." Dict Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 Women Making Lace c/o Wellcome Collection

"Don't be fooled by this frock that I got, I'm still, I'm still Dolly of the Chop..."

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…PUBLIC LETTER WRITER: A literate worker who wrote letters on behalf of illiterate clients. Tasks might vary from penning love letters for sweethearts, to composing requests for employment or demands for money. 📷 The Public Letter Writer (1880) c/o York Museums Trust

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…PRIVATE POLICEMAN: "a watchman usu. wearing uniform; is frequently an ex-police constable on pension; sometimes specifically designated, e.g. private constable, river policeman (water supply)." Dict Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 Night watchman (1943) c/o Library of Congress

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…TACKLE MAKER: "erects ship masts & derricks; takes over duties of ship's crew in port when seamen are paid off; moves ship about in dock; splices hemp, wire running & standing rigging..." Dict Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 'Double Corner' (1889) c/o Manx National Heritage

Reading time here is rare and precious...and following my first book recomm from Bluesky did not disappoint. Thank you @thesusanito.bsky.social for an absolutely stunning read in 'I Would Meet You Anywhere' - far more wonderful things to say about this than I can fit in a single post! #BookSky

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is...DRAGHER or WIRE-DRAWER: A metal-shaper involved in drawing out soft metals into extruded wires, which could then be used in combs, wool carding pads or jewellery. 📷 Wire drawers (c.1425 and c.1807) c/o Wiki Commons

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…DOLAR or DOLER: "folds cotton yarns in hanks of skeins, for dyeing or for transport." Dict Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 Cotton factory, Israel (c.1948-1951) c/o Wikimedia Commons

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…FANCIER: "buys and sells birds, dogs, cats, or other animals, usually from a shop; sometimes also breeds them." Dict Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 Poultry Fancier magazine (1912) c/o Wiki Commons

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…STEVEDORE: "A workman employed either as overseer or labourer in loading and unloading the cargoes of merchant vessels." OED, June 2024, buff.ly/411xceU 📷 Loading the Ship by Nevinson (1917) c/o Aberdeen Art Gallery

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…MOULDER (metalwork): "general term covering any metal moulder; may be designated by metal or article to be cast, e.g. aluminium moulder, chair moulder; or moulding medium, e.g. green sand moulder." Dict Occp'l Terms (1927) 📷 Moulder (1953) c/o Archives NZ, CC-BY-4.0

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…CROPMAN: "collects scrap iron and steel about hot saws and shears; loads it into trucks or barrows, and sometimes wheels it away to scrap heap." Dict Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 Cropmen loading a freight wagon (1937) c/o Library of Congress

Roger Monks looking for a museum to take on his mining collection which he collected over 40 years. He started working at Allerton Bywater near Castleford Surprised that the @ncmme.bsky.social have not jumped at this 👇 'My 40-year mining collection should be in museum' www.bbc.com/news/article...

Great to see the first signs of the Mitotree rollout for mtDNA at Family Tree #DNA ...I've been looking forward to this one #GeneticGenealogy

Today's #OccupationOfTheDay is…WOOD GRUBBER: "extracts stumps of trees from the ground by means of jacks or explosives when woodland is to be used for agricultural purposes." Dict Occup'l Terms (1927) 📷 'Labor' (c.1896) c/o Library of Congress