The 2026 special issue, edited by Naomi Lloyd-Jones is now live! The issue is the product of a 2023 conference at @durhamhistory.bsky.social discussing collective action and the politics of organisation in Britain and Ireland in the long nineteenth-century: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1750...

Turns out (says @jburnmurdoch.ft.com) it's not so much an oversupply of graduates in the UK (the same would be true of other similar countries but it's not) as an undersupply of the kind of jobs that a better-performing, more productive economy would supply.

Volunteer Opportunity: Fundraising Volunteer for Dunblane’s historic Leighton Library Leighton Library is seeking Volunteer Fundraising Lead to help secure long-term future of Scotland’s oldest purpose-built independent library Find out more: www.leightonlibrary.org.uk/news/volunte...

Come and join us!!!!!! Amazing experience for PGRs/ECRs in a v friendly and welcoming environment 🤗 There will be scope for progression for PGRs in more senior editing roles

📢 RRR Journal is on the hunt for new reviewers! If you'd like to express interest in writing a review of a monograph, conference, exhibition, theatre production, or film to be considered for next year's issue, please fill out the 'call for reviewers' form at www.rrrjournal.com/contact or email us!

Help us map science history for #InternationalDayofWomenandGirlsinScience. We've launched a new interactive map of landmarks across the UK connected to women from science history, and we want your suggestions. Explore the map and submit your landmark now: royalsociety.org/news-resourc...

Kirkwall 1798 map discovery orkneyarchive.blogspot.com/2026/02/kirk...

I urge you to fill in this consultation if you can - with this very helpful support from Amnesty International - although AND because ! it is heart-breaking that this country has sunk so low that Amnesty suggest in a number of cases to provide no answer as the terms of the question are so evil

Happy publication day to "Dance and Sociability in the Long Eighteenth Century"! So many thanks to Bloomsbury and all of the contributing authors who worked with Mark, Ian, and me to bring this volume together! We could not have done it without you! #dancehistory #18thcentury

And a DELIGHT to read this review of us! Thank you, @sophiecoulombeau.bsky.social ! 😍

I’ve had the unenviable task of writing some reviews lately for which it was hard to find words both true and kind, so it was a DELIGHT to be invited to review @books-borrowing.bsky.social for @abojournal.bsky.social. Review free to read here: digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcont...

Lovely to see this review of @books-borrowing.bsky.social! I'm so proud to have been a part of this amazing project. 📖 borrowing.stir.ac.uk

Transcription Tuesday everyone! Can you palaeography lovers help us out with this word? It should be a duration (of illness) - usually along the lines of 3 months, 4 years, instantaneous etc. Could be 'unknown' but we have to squint reeeaalllyy hard! What do you think? #TranscriptionTuesday

🗓️✍️ It’s #NationalHandwritingDay today. Many of Dunblane's historic Leighton Library books have handwritten notes by Robert Leighton in margins, smallest is "De imitatione Christi" by Thomas a Kempis #HandwritingDay ▶️ youtu.be/rGms2Gu50fk

Here’s the beginning of our film about Raeburn’s rediscovered portrait of Robert Burns. Watch the whole film at blackiehouse.org

Save the Date: 14th International Walter Scott Conference in Edinburgh, 2027 Details on the blog: www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6280

Some breaking art historical news for you - a lost portrait of Robert Burns by Sir Henry Raeburn was unveiled today at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh. It’s been missing for more than 200 years. 1/3

Okay my ‘radio voice’ made me cringe, I described an elegy as a sonnet (?), and flopped at the Austen question (!) but the whole show was a really great deep dive on Charli’s fans and my little segment touched on the nineteenth century’s contemporary relevance in pop culture 😊

Mark Carney's speech really is terrific: full text is here and very much worth your time.

"According to the poll book, one of those voting was William Fatt, who was identified as a ‘chimneysweeper’ from Pye Street." Dr Robin Eagles on identifying a new Black voter at the 1749 Westminster by-election. @georgianlords.bsky.social

And a massive thank you to our keynote speaker Dr Michael Shaw (@glaikitscone.bsky.social) who delivered a paper on ‘Queering Scottish Periodicals in the Long Nineteenth Century’. It was a real treat to learn about Michael’s research in local archives and to reflect on queerness and national idenity

Do any #18thC literary (specifically Pope) scholars out there, have an opinion about JW Croker's edition of Pope's correspondence, particularly with regard to dating? Trying to unpick an unhelpful March letter and work out whether Croker had located it in the correct year. Suspect not (by context).

The first great American 250th anniversary date of the year arrives this Friday: the publication of Thomas Paine's COMMON SENSE, which occurred on January 9, 1776. Many sources have the date as January 10, 1776. This is incorrect. But what accounts for the confusion???? Friends, follow me.

My article “‘In Just Seven Days, I Can Make You a Man’: Queerness and Masculinity in Frankenstein (1818) and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)” has been published in the Keats Shelley Review! 👇🏼 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Did you spot news segment on tonight’s STV News programme about Dunblane’s historic Leighton Library with STV news reporter Joanne Bonnar, speaking with library’s Josh Smith, Alastair MacDonald, Celia Aitken & Dan Gunn. Watch it on STV Player on 5.20pm News programme for Sunday 28 December…/👇

#ArchiveAdventCalendar theme 18 is #ArchiveElves. Perhaps Archives Elves for Dunblane’s historic Leighton Library this year have to be project team of Books & Borrowing 1750-1830 (in which Leighton Library collection & borrower records feature, & several members of team are…/👇

A nice surprise this morning: my article on prison reform from below is out! I believe it’s open access but let me know if you can’t get a copy and would like one. academic.oup.com/histres/adva...

#ArchiveAdventCalendar theme 1 is #presents. Dunblane’s historic Leighton Library shop has host of present ideas, from place-mats & coasters, to mugs, tote-bags & more ☕️ Support us at our Christmas Coffee Morning on Sat 6 Dec 10am-12 noon in Dunblane Cathedral Hall …/👇

This was such great fun. Listen below for some highlights from the PhD including the only individual to be fined for a late borrowing from the Leighton, an unlikely library friendship, and the conspiracy theories of library members.

📢 Happy to announce that registration is now OPEN for our conference, 'Sex in the Long Nineteenth Century' (15 Jan. 2026) 📢 Register here: www.eventbrite.com/e/sex-in-the... Provisional Programme here: www.rrrjournal.com/_files/ugd/d... Please share widely!

#Museum30 theme 27 is #achievement. It’s been remarkable achievement for Dunblane’s historic Leighton Library to have undertaken major restoration of 17th century building. Help us achieve next phase to redevelop Undercroft to create accessible welcome, interpretation, engagement and exhibition…/👇

Dunblane’s historic Leighton Library is open for Dunblane Christmas Extravaganza, and we’ll have a stall also at St Blane’s Church Hall

Newly available, here’s recording on Leighton Library YouTube channel of Leighton Library 2025 Geraldine Goddard Memorial Lecture, “Enlightenment & Conspiracy at the Leighton Library, 1780-1832’ presented by Dr Josh Smith on Sat 15 Nov ▶️ youtu.be/rFYkUOsluyw

Want to learn more about Scots in the British Army in North America? #HATM Matthew P. Dziennik Fatal Land: War, Empire, and the Highland Soldier in British America Nicola Martin, The British Army in Scotland and North America 1745-1775: militarisation on the fringes of the empire,

View the programme on our website here. So many fun and important papers, really demonstrating the quality and originality of research happening at this critical moment in the field. www.rrrjournal.com/_files/ugd/d...

Registration for @rrrjournal.bsky.social's annual conference is now open! Please join us for what will be an intellectually stimulating and rewarding day for PGRs, ECRs, and academics to connect and discuss 'Sex in the Long Nineteenth Century'! www.eventbrite.com/e/sex-in-the...

Come visit our excellent Archives & Special Collections! Especially strong in eighteenth-century and Romantic-period books due to the copyright privilege. Awards cover costs up to £2500.

This Saturday! Do come along if you're about in Dunblane!

It's a lifeline, not a comprehensive solution to the crisis, but if you're a UK-based PhD (or equivalent) in a SHAPE subject within 10 years of your viva, do join the British Academy's ECRN. It's free, has resources & you don't need to be employed in research or academia to be a member. 3/3

I don't know anything about fantasy and sci-fi as genres - is there crossover? I feel like they share a lot of similar traits and I'm wondering if time travel narratives can be classed as fantasy 🤔 (does it depend on if the method is magical or scientific?) Any recommended reading?

All welcome on Sat 15 Nov at 10.30am in Dunblane Cathedral Hall, to free 2025 Geraldine Goddard Memorial Lecture, “Enlightenment & Conspiracy at the Leighton Library, 1780-1832’ presented by Dr Josh Smith www.leightonlibrary.org.uk/calendar/202...

Any transcription help, please, lovely bluesky? My language skills don't extend beyond the place and date 🙏

Excited to be speaking in Dunblane on 15 Nov for the Leighton Library. I'll be sharing findings from my PhD and the @books-borrowing.bsky.social project. Do come along to hear more about Enlightenment and conspiracy in the reading habits of Leighton members!

Don’t miss the opportunity to learn about the fascinating historic library, as Dr Josh h shares findings from his project completed at @stir.ac.uk

A date for your diary! All welcome, Sat 15 Nov at 10am in Dunblane Cathedral Hall, to 2025 Geraldine Goddard Memorial Lecture, “Enlightenment & Conspiracy at Leighton Library, 1780-1832’ presented by Dr Josh Smith, Leighton Library Volunteer Guide www.leightonlibrary.org.uk/calendar/202... …/👇

Here’s something to look forward to! In celebration of the publication of Medieval Manuscripts in Bristol Collections: A Descriptive Catalogue / Kathleen E. Kennedy @themedievaldrk.bsky.social & Melek Karataş - 📚 Bristol Central Library are having an exhibition! 🗓️ 4-18 December

And we're away. Bridget Phillipson is introducing the Post-16 Education and Skills paper. 1/x

I’d rather Sam did not do so much participant observation in hospitals but when he does he gets more insights into the problems of the NHS (this post is free). samf.substack.com/p/on-the-edg...?