If you heard me cackling in the Map Room earlier this week, it's because I was adding this 1630 Court of Requests dispute about a wet beaver (hat) to the online catalogue 🫢 TNA REQ 2/402/73. discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2...

‘Exploring Digital Cultural Heritage’ is now out in the wild! You can download an open-access copy (PDF) or read the free digital edition on Manifold uolpress.co.uk/book/explori.... Loved working on this with Eirini Goudarouli, @amsichani.bsky.social & the @uolpress.bsky.social team.

This week’s free to read - Anyone else wonder what the naval career of HMS Trump was after the presentation last week? jerijerod14.substack.com/p/the-trump #history #navalhistory #ww2

What type of tea was destroyed during the Boston Tea Party? British Sovereign-tea... www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-...

Exciting new census-linking project about to start at @camunicampop.bsky.social !

Born in Iran, Ashkan Asadian came to the UK in 1999, and now has British citizenship. His two children live in Golders Green. He said that as he risked his life to save Moshe Shine, geopolitics had not crossed his mind. "Jewish or non Jewish, just [they are] human." www.bbc.com/news/article...

"Over the last 12 years Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo fundamentally reshaped (the city). As she leaves office, this is the story of how she reclaimed the city’s public spaces from cars, covered the city with trees, and made it a cycling paradise" (So impressive) www.fastcompany.com/91509506/how...

I have a suspicion that my reach here is near zero but if you see this, please do consider spreading the word about these London-based jobs for German speakers, if you feel so inclined:

Brace for the patch tsunami: AI is unearthing decades of buried code debt

I’m back with more burnt archives! 🔥 This register from the late C17th records admissions to the freedom of the City of London, damaged by fire in 1786. We keep it to show the effects of fire on parchment, but also because one day we may be able to read it. @thelondonarchives.bsky.social

"Since the release of ChatGPT in late 2022, submissions to Organization Science have risen 42%, roughly double the bump the journal saw during COVID. The editors attribute nearly all of that increase to AI. Submissions judged to be human-only actually declined."

In 2018 Microsoft opensourced the source code for 2 early versions of MS-DOS - 1.25 and 2.11 . MSDOS v 4followed in 2024. Amazingly the code for MS-DOS 1.0 wasnt at first released because they didnt have it. Now its been found, its been released too opensource.microsoft.com/blog/2026/04...

Applications now open for a fully-funded PhD studentship exploring Yugoslavia’s multifaceted role during the Cold War, co-supervised with @exeter.ac.uk . This is one of a number of studentships available as part of AHRC’s Collaborative Doctoral Partnership scheme. Find out more: link.bl.uk/q95

Some further reading, while you're here: endings.uvic.ca/index.html The Endings Project is IMNHO a really important resource on best practices for the afterlife of digital projects. kdl.kcl.ac.uk/about/archivin… Kings DIgital Lab's approach to the problem of maintaining unfunded sites.

“One mile on a bike is a $.42 economic gain to society, one mile driving is a $.20 loss.” “Which means that Copenhagen, a city of 1.2 million people, saves $357 million a year on health costs because something like 80% of its population commutes by bike.” #CityMakingMath Some costs are savings.

Cyclist in her 20s dies in horror crash with lorry in London as driver arrested! 😢 www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...

I read 'Beyond Control and Compensation' Open Future openfuture.eu/blog/beyond-... 'the question is not whether institutions should control their collections but whether it is legitimate to expect those who extract disproportionate value from a shared resource to contribute to its sustainability'

This should be a source of national shame & it’s happening because of a failure to tackle environmental & social influences on health & failure to design healthy environments www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Today is #NationalPenguinDay so we're remembering that time we made a Penguin out of Penguin Books. It's a Penguin Penguin. 🐧

As is traditional, I celebrate Liberation Day by reposting my thread on the final days of Mussolini for newer followers who may not have seen it. Buon 25 aprile a tutti! "Fascism is not an opinion; it is a crime." Sandro Pertini

this is great info to show to people who claim solar panels harm nature... #renewables

This should be an instant removal of his license and confiscation of his car. Anything less and the message isn’t showing that this will not be tolerated. I bet he reoffends.

Spuds under panels

One of the best things I've ever worked on!

The guy who made Chuckie Egg was only 15 at the time. He now works as a forecaster for a global firm www.theguardian.com/games/2026/a...

New blog post: Casting Wide https://anjackson.net/2026/04/22/casting-wide/

The online application system for Archive Service Accreditation has now re-opened! The revised application form reflects changes implemented as part of the 2023-2025 accreditation review. Explore the revised standard and instructions for applying here: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives-sec...

Want to strengthen support for digital preservation? The new #N2KH: Advocacy training helps you make your case and develop a practical Advocacy Action Plan 🧭 👉 buff.ly/ET6nLYd Conceived and funded by The National Archives UK | Delivered by #DPC

It's nearly 200 years since the birth of a British aristocrat who became the first Muslim member of the House of Lords. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

'Guillon de Prince said on Saturday that other French families must confront their historical allegiances to slavery and the state should go beyond symbolic gestures to address the past, including through reparations.'

A long read, but a fascinating exploration of why #History is complicated. It gets to the heart of the difficulties in establishing one of the most fundamental *facts* in #FamilyHistory, a date of birth. #Genealogy

Here's the link to the #1926Census of #Ireland which just went live, in case anyone is looking for it. Happy searching! nationalarchives.ie/collections/... #IrishFamilyHistory #IrishGenealogy

"Over an 18 year period, someone who cycles to work has nearly 50% less chance of dying from *anything* than someone who drives"... including being knocked off by a motorist (based on UK census data). Passive travel is bad for your life expectancy and pollution inside the car is worse than outside.

As a supplement to the piece in The Times Literary Supplement (@thetls.bsky.social), www.the-tls.com/regular-feat..., here’s a (rather long!) thread on Shakespeare’s house in the Blackfriars, what we knew, and what we now know, with some links to key documents. (1/20)

In the wake of Lord Roberston’s report, a quick reminder that spending on #defence v. #welfare has never been a zero sum game: historyandpolicy.org/opinion-arti...

Inspired by this video youtu.be/etwt75kYYhk I thought I'd explore some of the statistics around car access and deprivation with some #datavis and analysis. Usefully, the 2021 Census in the UK asked questions around car ownership as well as many aspects of 'deprivation'. So here is 📊 🧵... [1/8]

We're currently recruiting for five (yes five!) Collaborative Doctoral Partnership awards at IWM See the full list of projects and partners here, with further details of how to apply: www.iwm.org.uk/research/doc...

Bombay through the centuries: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

My new post on Substack examines Lincoln's fine postwar Ermine Estate, built by a Conservative and Independent council but described by some as 'social democracy in action'. (Photo credits: @ianwaites.bsky.social) municipaldreams.substack.com/p/the-ermine...

Are you a student with an interest in the history of German refugees in the 1930s and 1940s? EHRI-UK is offering a student placement with the terrific team at @hartleyspecialc.bsky.social curating a refugee archive. For more information on eligibility visit www.ehri-uk.org/ehri-uk-plac...

New blog post: Random File Format https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/04/random-file-format/ This was an idea I had back in the days of Naptster. At the turn of the century, it was common to listen to an "acquired" music file only to find it was missing a few seconds at the end due to a prematurely …

One of the problems with the PC landscape is how much legacy it carries with it. (Mac's not included, not even Intel Macs, which have the advantage of sweeeping away lots of legacy, sometime). Blog account of someone delve into a current problem, finding it dates to decisions in 1982. ...

This has delighted me ... not sure why! #tinyjoys

Do you know of someone who might be interested in doing a #PhD on the urban, architectural and environmental history of the University of Liverpool? If so could you point them in my direction?

I want to talk to you about cycling and hip arthritis It surprises a lot of people, and needs to be more widely understood I have a hip replacement next month, this thread is my experience, but I know others have found the same 🧵

Really enjoying this panel on AI at #SMH2026. Lots of tools to make use of, but I'm also looking forward to sharing what IWM has managed to do so far

Check out our latest blog, all about Sellotape! You may know it and love it, but when we see it on records, we know there will be a lot of work to do to remove it. Find out why using the link below!

A fab little discovery today as we continue to list the archive of printing firm, Sessions of York. These drum kit cards and guitar stickers were made by Sessions for a toy firm in the early 1960s - intended for fans of some little known band called 'The Beatles'😉

🌍 New from DPC: the draft Carbon Footprint Toolkit is now open for comment and testing! Read it, try it, and share your feedback: buff.ly/Bd7ccCb #DigitalPreservation #Coalition #community #digipres #carbonfootprint

tomorrow I'm giving a training called "What is AI and why is it happening to me" for my colleagues. I'll do it again later in April, and will likely offer this more broadly to my campus soon, but in the meantime, if anyone else would benefit from this info, here it is hfroehli.ch/2026/03/24/w...