Somehow, I doubt this...

Wishing you all a happy, exciting, and creative new year!

It's #MapMonday! Here's a #map of #workhouses, #asylums, hospitals and dispensaries in #London, 1900. Take a closer look on @layersoflondon.bsky.social at www.layersoflondon.org/map/... #VictorianHistory #BritishHistory #GIS #HGIS #MappyMonday

Make a Bond film academic Student Loans are Forever.

Excellent news indeed.

With thanks to @rs4vp.org for generously supporting the first steps of this project through the Patrick Leary Field Development Grant.

The Tammany Scrapbooks in display at the Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library's Treasures. A thought for the late Brian Maidment, whose illuminating writings on the subject helped me understand and enjoy nineteenth-century scrapbooks.

Back in Cambridge, with fantastic memories of that NYC Thanksgiving weekend. Within the space of 3 days, I saw more treasures than that cartoon pirate hoarded, at the top of one of the Parade's floats. I also walked like a marathon and am aching in muscles I did not know existed. Roll on, Xmas!

Punch's Pocket Book entry of the day: 'Nothing particular - Oyster dinner.' That may well be the title of my next paper. Fantastic day at the Robert D. Farber Archives and Special Collections, Brandeis University.

Just wondering about the 'etc'...

The great news of the day is that the New York Public Library holds W. M. Thackeray's very own Punch's Pocket Book for 1856, with ms. annotations about 'the fat of the land, claret in plenty & smoking too much.' What's not to like? Made an appointment to consult the resource next week.

At Nottingham University, students and academics have just been informed of the possible closure of the Departement of Modern Languages. I signed this petition.

Seen today. Fascinating connections between social and political struggles, past and present. Great exhibition.

Triumph of Religion, John Singer Sargent's extraordinary murals at @bpl.boston.gov Boston Public Library. Madame X nowhere to be seen.

Many thanks to our wonderful speakers and audience, last Friday at the British Library, for our "Pictorial Punch - Treasures from the Archive" event. Punch's Pocket Book Archive is now entering its second phase: keep in touch!

What a surprise to find a collection of Punches, today, on the shelves of the beautiful Kenwood House!

The V&A East Storehouse is a sort of IKEArt: you just wander between racks full of furniture, tableware and decoration until you are caught by surprise by a giant cello or a 16th century Spanish ceiling (set up without an Allen key). Extraordinary.

Today's treat was a private 'sneak peek' of the British Library’s forthcoming special display commemorating the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. Erudite and enlightening presentation by the BL curators. Enjoying that ATBL fellowship soooo much.

...has been treated to a wonderful private view of Sambourne House/Leighton House collections and archives: drawers full of uncatalogued letters, pull-out sliding racks replete with sketches, pictures, and diaries, stimulating conversations with experts. I feel so lucky.

Sean Penn. C'était ma critique de Une bataille après l'autre. #OneBattleAfterAnother #PTA

NEW ISSUE ALERT! It's a happy day when you find the latest VPR in your mailbox. This number includes the 2024 VanArsdel and Expanding the Field essays as well as articles on asylum periodicals and the bookselling trade. Treat yourself to some delightful reading: muse.jhu.edu/issue/55567 @rs4vp.org

A really fine summary of this important aspect of the 19th-c newspaper press. Thanks, too, to the always terrific Victorian Commons for the link to this splendid clip about Dickens's experience as a Parliamentary reporter: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AROf... #19thc #C19th @rs4vp.org

✨ It's official! We're now accepting proposals for #RSVP2026, "Movements and Migrations"! We invite scholars to examine the relationship between periodicals, migrations, and movements for our 2026 conference in Dublin. Full CFP and more details on our main website.

Only a few days left to register for our "Pictorial Punch - Treasures from the Archive" study day, to be held at the #BritishLibrary on November 7. Information and registration here: pictorial-punch.sciencesconf.org/registration

Une trame commune, trois histoires singulières et des personnages qui circulent entre les films comme ils parcourent la ville. C'est drôle, très poétique, onirique par moments. J'au beaucoup aimé. #LaTrilogiedOslo

Looking forward to meeting again the lovely @rs4vp.org community in Chicago! conference.rs4vp.org

Honoured and delighted to have been selected for an American Trust for the British Library Research Fellowship 2025-2026! I am very grateful for this opportunity to spend time working on the Punch Archive at the BL and on the extraordinary C19 collections at the Houghton Library, Harvard University

CFP: Essays in Honor of Brian Maidment (Proposals due May 15; Essays due Nov. 1). Guest editors Mary Elizabeth Leighton and Lisa Surridge invite proposals for a special issue of VPR. For full details, visit rs4vp.org/cfp-vpr-spec... @rs4vp.bsky.social

Many thanks to everyone who joined us online and on campus for our seminar on Wednesday afternoon! So proud of the amazing 19C research undertaken by our staff & students. We're especially grateful to Jereon Salman from Utrecht for his fascinating plenary on European penny prints and modernist art.

Thrilled to announce that I have been awarded a Houghton Library Visiting Fellowship, Harvard University, for 2025-2026! Very grateful for this opportunity, and looking forward to a bookworm year 📚

Excellent news! 'Pictorial Punch - Treasures from the Archive' has received the support of the @paulmelloncentr.bsky.social Don't miss our November 7, 2025 study day at the British Library. CFP available below.

What a lovely surprise, today, to learn that @universite-caen.bsky.social holds complete runs of The Yellow Book and The Savoy! The collections will now be given pride of place among our Victorian holdings. #TheYellowBook #TheSavoy

simultaneously horrific and amazing www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...

Wonderful findings in Punch's Pocket Book today: a child's multicoloured collage and a student's sketches (1879 & 1880). Also found: a coded message!

Six years ago our MP of the Month for February was Charles Tilston Bright, a pioneering telegraph engineer, who laid the first Atlantic telegraph cable. He was Liberal MP for Greenwich. Find out more about him in our blog: victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2019/02/20/m...

Going through some absolutely wonderful boxes of preparatory sketches for Punch by Leech, Tenniel, Furniss and many others. Seeing art in the making is just fantastic (and very moving). #BritishLibrary #ArchivesandManuscripts #PunchArchive

A Victorian take on gender terminology from Punch's Pocket Book for 1854.

Lewis Carroll collection given to his Oxford college in surprise US donation

How I think I look when teaching / How I actually look

🚀📈 Making Victorian visual culture searchable: Introducing an open-access and AI-powered dataset of 72,000 illustrations from the Illustrated London News (1842-1890). (w. Bethany Warner, @pfyfe.bsky.social and @bcgl.bsky.social) openhumanitiesdata.metajnl.com/articles/10....

The great historian of the early 19th-c. comic press, Brian Maidment, died last week. He was as deeply appreciated for his personal kindness as for his brilliant work, and I treasured his friendship. @pritijoshi.bsky.social has written a lovely tribute: rs4vp.org/in-memoriam-... #C19

Ne ratez pas l'expo consacrée aux 600 ans d’histoire de notre @universite-caen.bsky.social avec des documents d’archives, des plans de Caen (1575-2025) et de nombreuses photos. Un projet labellisé Millénaire Caen 2025 📅Du 04 au 26/02 📍 Église du Vieux St Sauveur caen.fr/evenement/hi...

Oxford University Press will be awarding as many as 10 ECRs the opportunity to publish their first book in fully open access as well as in hardback. Today the website was revised to make clear that independent/unaffiliated scholars are eligible. Deadline March 3. academic.oup.com/pages/early-...

RIP David Lynch. Dang. This is devastating.

🥁 Announcing the Public Domain Image Archive! 🥁 We are v excited to share our new sister-project, the Public Domain Image Archive (PDIA), a curated collection of 10k+ out-of-copyright historical images, all free to explore and reuse: pdimagearchive.org @pdimagearchive

How did developments in adult education from 1823 shape Birkbeck, and how has the college adapted to survive over time? Read Laurel Brake's fantastic article, followed by Robyn Jakeman's timeline, at 19.bbk.ac.uk