I will never forgive LLMs for taking the em dash away from me

Today I made an appointment to apply for German citizenship under Article 116(2) of the Basic Law. This is the Reich newspaper that announced that my Jewish grandmother had been stripped of her citizenship.

Relatedly, if you haven't been in an archives you have no idea just how much historical material is not online, not even a digital record of it. An LLM cannot research data it doesn't have. It can't even extrapolate where to find that material.

Did you know the Glasgow Fire Brigade made a dog an accredited member in 1898? Wallace was a setter-collie cross and of "unusual intelligence". His dog license was paid by the Glasgow Corporation, a nod to his official role. He died in 1902 and was preserved and displayed at Central Headquarters.

Just spoke Italian to a flight attendant on my flight to Italy. Absolutely killing it.

For Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) I wanted to memorialise some of the Goldbergs in my family who were murdered in the Holocaust.

Many family history researchers try to prove links to nobility. But our less well-off ancestors can be even more interesting, if sometimes difficult to research. In Glasgow around the turn of the century, much attention was given to the plight of mothers living in slums. #genealogy

A few weeks ago I visited the archives at the Berlin Jewish Museum, where a lovely archivist showed me the collection from my grandmother's family. It was very powerful to see my family papers in a historical archive, and a reminder that everything is history. 🗃️

Most unhinged letter I've seen yet in my archival research😭 in YIVO's collection about the landsmanshaft mentioned in the letter. Undated.

This talk about a case study by @tammyhepps.bsky.social on the Chinese laundrymen of Homestead is going to be amazing.

Hannah Holtschneider's presentation was fascinating, drawing on the Oppenheim family archive held at the Scottish Jewish Archives Archives. I hope she finds a way to turn this into a larger work.

Looking forward to this Rootstech panel 'Scottish and Irish Genealogical Connections' with @cbgenealogy.ie, a fellow UL History of Family grad! #genealogy #Rootstech www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech...

This talk tonight by Hannah Holtschneider, 'Eavesdropping on other people’s conversations: German Jewish refugee family correspondence in Holocaust historiography' looks really interesting (particularly as I have German Jewish refugee ancestors who were prolific correspondents). Anyone going?

The Wiener Holocaust Library event at the Scottish Jewish Heritage Centre yesterday was great. I learned more about the International Tracing Service (ITS) and how to preserve my home archive. Plus a tour of the Scottish Jewish Archives and Garnethill Synagogue. @wienerlibrary.bsky.social

The previous Wiener Holocaust Library event in Glasgow was excellent, and I'm sure this will be, too. It also includes a visit to the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre. #genealogy

Years ago I lived in Spitalfields and never knew any details about its Jewish past (apart from the bagels). This memory map of the Jewish history of London's East End is wonderful, with photos, essays, and recordings from former residents. h/t @scientistsoph.bsky.social jewisheastendmemorymap.org

I'm researching a Jewish woman who fled to the US in 1941. While examining her passenger manifest I noticed that her contact person in the US was no less than Margaret Sanger at 501 Madison Avenue, NYC, the Planned Parenthood headquarters!

This is a wonderful place to visit if you get the chance - so beautiful - www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... #orkney #chapel

For anyone wondering, some possible dog names have survived from cuneiform sources. On tiny dog figurines found buried under a palace in Nineveh, Iraq are inscriptions that seem to be names. dan rigiššu “loud is his bark” munaššiku gārîšu “biter of his foe” mušēṣi lemnūti “expeller of evil”

I got my MA at University of Limerick in History of Family yesterday. So pleased to be done and very proud of all of my peers. Time to decide what's next!

This is the energy that I'm looking to bring to 2025

missing Italy, missing anchovies

This brings back fond (terrible) memories from the Strathclyde #genealogy course. Vert, a chef Azure fir-twigged, a dog statant Or and a sun in splendour Or

At King's Cross station there's something far more magical than Platform 9 3/4. Just next door in the Family Waiting Room is a pressed penny machine that has an out-of-service sign but actually works if you put the coins in while pushing the slot in slightly, and turning the wheel quickly.

Back in the Glasgow Archives for the first time since finishing my dissertation. It feels like being reunited with a long-lost friend.

I just went to the Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum in Dunfermline, where he's considered something of a hometown hero. He was a major philanthropist and generous benefactor to causes around the world, but also a union buster and rapacious factory owner whose employees lived in near poverty. 🗃️ 1/

The first instances of the term 'Scotch pie' I could find were not in Scotland, where the Scotch pie was simply called a pie or a mutton pie. The earliest mention I could find was at a very grand farewell dinner to Sir Willoughby Cotton on New Year's Eve, 1850, in Bombay (Mumbai), India. 1/

I managed to verify myself on Bluesky, so my username has changed. I'm hoping this will give me a renewed sense of urgency about updating my blog.

Sounds about right

Struggling to think of anything I do that isn't objectively useless

Is anyone familiar with Polish historian Dominik Flisiak? I'd like to get in touch with him in the hopes of getting my hands on a digital copy of his new book 'Anti-Jewish Crime in Przedbórz' so I can read it in English. 🗃️

I was never able to conclusively determine where Jack Pairos, identified in this 1936 article as a "man without a country" was born. It is likely that he himself didn't know, which is how he evaded being deported from the UK. 1/7

Day out in Parma today. This is the wall of the city comune building. #italy

Relatives not US citizens in 1940 (or some who were but weren't sure themselves), you need to check out AR-2s, newly available from NARA. You may get maiden names, arrival info, signatures+more. And you get them quickly! #genealogy #ancestry #familyhistory larasgenealogy.blogspot.com/2024/08/alie...

Our 👉🏻 400th 👈🏻 registered #OnePlaceStudy, and our first in #Ukraine. Lina Goldberg @lina5.bsky.social is researching the history of the Jewish community of #Volochysk. We have a profile page for the OPS www.one-place-studies.org/volochysk/ but do visit Lina's website to learn more & offer support 👇🏻

On my way to Italy. Just asked an Italian a question, in Italian. Killing it.

A few days ago I found this 1939 Polish marriage record for my cousin's uncle Jakob and his wife Jagda. In the sidebar it gives a terse summary of the bride's previously unknown, tragic fate. 1/11 [🗃️ genealogy]

A few days ago I found this 1939 Polish marriage record for my cousin's uncle Jakob and his wife Jagda. In the sidebar it gives a terse summary of the bride's previously unknown, tragic fate. 1/11 [🗃️ genealogy]

Have you ever found a low-res English will at the National Archives or on Ancestry and wished you could find a more readable copy? In this blog post I have step-by-step instructions on how to download a crisp, clear copy to save your eyesight and your sanity. 🗃️ #genealogy

Have you ever found a low-res English will at the National Archives or on Ancestry and wished you could find a more readable copy? In this blog post I have step-by-step instructions on how to download a crisp, clear copy to save your eyesight and your sanity. 🗃️ #genealogy

Over the past week I've wiped all of my Twitter content and accounts. If you're looking to keep the account but remove the content (to prevent an imposter taking the URL, but also stopping the company from using your content to train AI), I can recommend this free solution.

In my study of deserted wives in early twentieth-century Glasgow, only a handful obtained a divorce. One was Elizabeth Harvie, the wife of a formerly prosperous house factor who had been brought down by drink and deserted her and their children repeatedly. 1/6 🗃️

Hello to all new members of the Bluesky #genealogy community, historians and #skystorians! I'm based in Scotland but researching worldwide, including 19th-century Italy and Jews in the Russian Empire. My recently completed dissertation was on deserted women in Glasgow in the early 20th century.

The only reason I occasionally check in on Twitter is because the algorithm magically turned my entire feed from toxic sludge to Moo Deng. But now we're getting a local star in Scotland. Meet Haggis!

Remembering the time I came home on Halloween to find my disproportionately long dog dressed like a Viking Longship. 🗃️

An interactive map displaying the known residences and detention, trial, and death locations of over 3000 accused witches in Scotland. Witchcraft Prosecutions In Time and Place in Scotland. 🗃️ #skystorians witches.is.ed.ac.uk

Excellent thread about the historical (and contemporary) bile spilled at Madison Square Garden over the years. 🗃️

You may have heard of a major Russian influence operation against Moldova's EU referendum. We just did a detailed story on a key mechanism behind that operation: a Russian NGO called Evrazia, linked to fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor. The org has a lot more planned.  www.occrp.org/en/feature/a...