We’re appointing a writer-in-residence! Join us to respond to our holdings related to the Bloomsbury Group (including the archives of Leonard and Virginia Woolf’s Hogarth Press) ahead of a major exhibition in 2027. Applications close 19 May. Best of luck! collections.reading.ac.uk/news-and-vie...

🗣️🗣️🗣️ There's a job at York! 1-year 0.5 FTE postdoctoral fellowship funded by MHRA, working with me on the Collected Works of Mary Wollstonecraft OUP edition. You have to be within 3 years of your PhD - unjust I know but a requirement of the MHRA. jobs.york.ac.uk/vacancy/rese...

Today feels like the other May day for shamelessly plugging my blog for @histparl.bsky.social asking why May for UK elections… I should also address what will surely be an FAQ: reading it is absolutely allowed (nay encouraged) outside polling stations… 👇

I mean, seriously? A silly & dangerous (I assume) paraphrase. Resist / challenge claims like this, #journalists! "LLMs are trained on the whole corpus of human literature", according to a #BBCNews account of Luke Nicholls's fascinating research @cuny.edu 👇 🗃️ #academicsky #skystorians #ai

Today is May Day, an ancient European festival celebrating the beginning of summer. May Day traditions (such as Maypole dancing) were reintroduced in the 19th century, and feature frequently in British political cartoons. Read @srwride.bsky.social guest article to find out more!

JOB: early modern global history jobs.royalholloway.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...

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

🎓 Postdoc Opportunity 🎓 Ph.D. scholars in any area of Irish studies are eligible to apply for our National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship. NEH Fellows continue their research while in residence at the Keough-Naughton Institute for up to three years. 👉 Apply here: go.nd.edu/neh-fellowship

Postdoc in Digital Humanities at WashU in St. Louis. Deadline is May 1. Also, St. Louis is wonderful. apply.interfolio.com/185361

Yes, Swiss scientist Fritz Zwicky coined the term “dark matter” which is impressive, but he also coined the term “spherical bastard” to describe people who are bastards no matter which way you look at them, and I think that should be celebrated more.

What a unique and beautiful, not at all scammy, message to get in my inbox this morning. I feel like the unique vibe of my music is the way it resembles a 2 hour lecture on 18th century theo-aesthetics

Advertising 2 more positions (doc/postdoc) as part of BLOCKADE. PhD cand to examine the heroization of blockade runners in the era of the world wars; postdoc to explore the transatlantic dimension of blockades. 4 year positions in beautiful Freiburg. Please SHARE! www.hsozkult.de/opportunity/...

It’s a big year for Creative Writing @uoyenglishrl.bsky.social, with new UG curriculum, our first cohort of CW PhDs finishing, a new creative research school, and our CW MA launching in Sept. I look forward to celebrating that history & future later today.

Last week, a gentleman returned this rather dilapidated copy of this famous book to us after 50 years. He had found it in his attic! Presumably this means there is a pristine copy somewhere in our libraries....

Hit a small snag in my research. Some of the records I need haven’t been digitized by the London Archives as far as I can tell. Anyone know of where I can find digitized lists of prisoners from the Tower of London from 1500 to 1700? #medievalsky #earlymodern

Learn more about protecting yourself from the threats of AI at our online event this week. This event is hosted by the Society of Authors Cymru and is free for all, but hurry – there are just a few days left to book your ticket. buff.ly/fdtNr56

Here is an obituary for Frank O'Gorman, an important historian of British politics and former president of @bsecs.bsky.social, who died last year. It will appear in a future issue of JECS. It was a privilege to help put this together. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

What's that? A rare permanent academic job? Come join me in our School of Arts as a Lecturer in Theatre! "We especially welcome ... candidates with practical expertise in theatre technologies, digital media, intermediality or related areas of theatre practice." hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

📢 Our next seminar is scheduled for Tuesday 21 April with our own Harrie Neal presenting a paper on: "The Edgeworths, Ireland’s Bogs, and Improvement" 🗓️ Tuesday 21 April, 5pm 📍 H/G09, Heslington Hall & Zoom 🔗 www.york.ac.uk/eighteenth-c...

An enormous thank you to everyone who shared Black History Walks' event and the fundraiser for Bill Richmond and Tom Molineaux's blue plaque. A story that's visible is a story remembered. New donations mean the campaign is nearly half way there! Good people! 🔵😊 www.gofundme.com/f/blue-plaqu...

2 history 🗃️ Postdocs in Tampere up for grabs: tuni.rekrytointi.com/paikat/?o=A_...

Full vacancy text here: werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...

i just think it’s really sad that we just accept greenwich mean time and never think about greenwich kind time

Hello Bluesky! My new book, THE FIREARM REVOLUTION, is out on 14 April. It’s about how a new technology changed society, and how hard it was to control. Here’s a little thread of what’s inside:

Replace every how-to-publish panel with one on the material realities of publishing. This is where I’m at.

📢The 2026 Richard Deswarte Prize in Digital History is open for nominations until the end of May. Nominate your work or a work you love published since Jan 2026. All formats welcome. Help us celebrate the best of digital history internationally. Details ➡️ ihrdighist.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2021/12/the-...

Looking for a third person to join a panel for WSFH in Memphis. Currently both papers touch on the Dreyfus Affair and after, organized roughly around moral claims and political action. 🗃️

The first series of my podcast is finally at 'COMING SOON'! & I'm very excited about this.

We're delighted to be collaborating w/ @ukiedh.bsky.social's CIG PeTRA for our next big event: if you're an #ECR #skystorian handling #difficultdata as part of your research or practice, consider joining PeTRA today to advocate for greater safeguards! 👇 @ihr.bsky.social @ihrhistorylab.bsky.social

Calling all #ECR #skystorians! Follow HistoryLab+ here & sign up to become a member there (👇) to discover job & training opportunities, resources, & a community as you find your feet #postdoc! @ihr.bsky.social @ihrhistorylab.bsky.social @royalhistsoc.org

I'm always on the lookout for old books with great titles (and sometimes use them as prompts for short stories) and this is a terrific one

I cannot recommend @the-ciep.bsky.social's core copyediting courses & its amazing tutors - particularly my own, @janesimmonds.bsky.social - more highly. Get thees to one, #AcademicSky editors!

Thank you so much to @bookishbeck.bsky.social for this generous review of ‘The Way the Water Held Me’ 💙🌊

CFP: Belonging to the Victorians? Community, Collections, and Care - 4 September 2026 - Keynote Address @janehamlett.bsky.social 🌟This conference examines how the 19th century shaped ideas of belonging through its landscapes, laws and collections, and how its legacies still shape heritage today 1/7

🔔⏰Just over 1 month to go! ⏰🔔 Call for papers: Modern British History and the 'Environmental Turn' A two-day workshop organised by @andrewseaton.bsky.social and myself at Lincoln College, Oxford, 16-17 September. Deadline for abstracts is 15 May. Details in poster below!

Bit of an ominous sign

Proust, finding lost time in the last place he looked.

Erm, they're called palaeontologists, actually.

Thank you for making my heart lift as I open the blinds.

Current mood.

Very much enjoyed this sentence in doctor's letter I received today: "You are a historian and a non-smoker." Feel strangely affirmed.

The new @bavs-uk.bsky.social newsletter is here and it is ✨stunning ✨ This refresh has been a long time in the making, with lots of work behind the scenes from me and @ireadoldbooks.bsky.social - we hope you love it as much as we do! Read the spring issue here: bavs.ac.uk/wp-content/u...

Our Parliaments, Politics and People seminar is a very friendly place, as Sarah attests! We're already starting to put together our speakers for the 2026-7 programme - get in touch with us if that is of interest.

I had a joyful time presenting at @ihr.bsky.social’s #histparl seminar yesterday: a BIG thank you to @martinspychal.bsky.social & Dr Robin Eagles for making me so welcome, to all who came along in person & online, & to Martin, Robin, & Drs Philip Salmon & Naomi Lloyd-Jones for some terrific leads!

JOB ALERT Lecturer in Scottish Literature @standrewsenglish.bsky.social seeks a scholar with a growing international research reputation within Scottish Literature ca. 1760–present. Deadline for application: 16 April www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...

📣 Job advert 👇 Postdoc in English Literary Studies at University of Zurich (UZH) Deadline: 30 March #AcademicSky #ECRs

Really looking forward to hearing about May Day, the folkmote & reform debates in the 18/19C from @srwride.bsky.social at the IHR Parliaments, Politics and People seminar on 17 March. The event is FREE in-person in London and online. @ihr.bsky.social Details: historyofparliament.com/2026/03/10/r...

Come and join us for Sarah's seminar next Tuesday - sign up now to attend in person and online.