This evening @petermandler.bsky.social gives the 2026 UCL Neale Lecture: ‘Eight Reasons to Study History: The Rise (and Fall?) of History as an Undergraduate Degree’. In-person and online from 6pm bit.ly/4n8KcKE #Skystorians @ihr.bsky.social @histassoc.bsky.social

Fun to see this piece is finally out in print! Prison reform from below: London, c.1780–1830* academic.oup.com/histres/arti...

Next week!

Keen to meet a new generation of historians researching British history in the (very) long 18th century? Join us for our annual Lightening Talks presentations and Q&A on 29 April at 5:30pm. All welcome. Free. In person at the Institute of Historical Research in London or online on Zoom. #Skystorians

The London Group of Historical Geographers resumes (in person and online) on 12 May, consuming school dinners with Heather Ellis's 'Feeding the Nation's Children: School Meals, Inequality & the Politics of Care in Modern Britain'. All welcome, free and intellectually fun. Registration link below.

Another day, another violation of academic freedom in Texas. This time a university is firing a philosophy professor owing to complaints about an off-campus talk he gave on the Israeli-Palestine conflict...

This looks like a great PhD topic with funding - working with Adam Crymble (UCL) and the V&A - Invisible Hands: Migrant Labour and British Craft in the 18th Century www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

Sorta obsessed with prison inventories at the moment. Should I write a material history of the eighteenth/nineteenth-century prison…

We are hiring postdoc researchers to join our #WrittenWorlds project at Birkbeck, with Sue Wiseman, @mdpowelldavies.bsky.social, @richardjansell.bsky.social and I. 0.5FTE, 13 months, focus on women's or provincial non-elite writing #EarlyModern 🗃️ cis7.bbk.ac.uk/vacancy/post...

Come hear me chat about everyday crime and its punishment in Southwark (1770s-1830s) - AND look at some really amazing original records - on 6 May! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/crime-and-...

CFP: Race, Law and Empire

One for #Skystorians interested in teaching up-to-date histories of slavery in the classroom. From the @royalhistsoc.org blog.

New in Transactions: 'Show Me the Data: New Practices for Historical Sources', by @ruthahnert.bsky.social, Katherine McDonough & @danielwilson.bsky.social: bit.ly/460nrkM As the ecosystem of historical research data expands, how do we keep control of source materials, esp digital? #Skystorians 1/2

The latest issue of Erasmus Studies is out and features an article from me about the efforts of Polydore Vergil to compete with Erasmus in print. Lots on proverbs, republic of letters and petty quarrels. Should be of interest to #BookHistory and #EarlyModern people! brill.com/view/journal...

Legal history people: the ASLH conference will be in the Canadian Rockies in Nov.2026! Panel proposals are due March 24, 2026. The Call links to google sheets where you can find co-panelists & chair-commentators 👇 You can @ me if you're looking for fellow panelists, too.

Delighted to announce the launch of a new seminar - Race and the Early Modern - in collaboration with @folger.edu. A monthly, transatlantic, online seminar for research on race, racialisation, and racemaking across #earlymodern Studies. Sign up to attend! kingsearlymodern.co.uk/race-and-the...

Very grateful to find that this India Office despatch did not, in fact, contain arsenic, as threatened. @britishlibrary.bsky.social #skystorians

📣 We’re hiring! The History of Parliament are seeking a Research Fellow for our House of Lords 1660-1832 project. @georgianlords.bsky.social We’re looking for a historian with a PhD in 18thC British political or cultural history to join our expert team. 🔗 Details below: #AcademicJobs #HistoryJobs

Reading government letters about convicts in 1840s Madras who claimed to find “hidden treasure” while compelled to work on the railroads 👀👀

"To my students and to anyone who might listen, I say: Don’t surrender to AI your ability to read, write and think when others once risked their lives and died for the freedom to do so." www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/set-tr...

This year, History Workshop Journal will celebrate two milestones: its 50th anniversary and its 100th issue. To mark the occasion, eleven historians share how they've used the journal in their own teaching.

He saw what legible handwriting looked like and thought: not for me. (National Archives Kew, Prison Commission records 1895)

Not just a national asset but an international asset. Trashed, ignored, diminished.

Going back to my (research) roots #skystorians #prisonhistory

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...

Next year we are co-hosting a celebration event with @rshc.bsky.social to mark the 100th issue of History Workshop Journal. 📍Birkbeck, University of London 🗓️Saturday 31 January 2026 ⏱️14:00-18:00 Everyone welcome! Please make sure to book via the link below.

#CfP Call for Papers Organised by Global History and Culture Centre, University of Warwick: Between Thompson and the Global: Reflections on Labour History Today Workshop: 26-27 June 2026, University of Warwick Deadline for abstracts: 30 January 2026 Submit to [email protected]

I’m expecting this new book by Jake S. Richard’s to be amazing: ‘The Bonds of Freedom tells the forgotten story of people seized from slave ships by maritime patrols, “liberated,” then forced into bonded labor between 1807 and 1880.’ yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...

Some are saying my book on London prisons is the perfect holiday gift AND if you DM me before the end of the year I’ll happily share the discount code so you can get 25% off. #skystorians www.mqup.ca/Books/T/To-D....

Once again: this is not something that "threatens" academic freedom, though it will doubtless be reported that way. This is only possible where academic freedom has already ended.

Some are saying my book on London prisons is the perfect holiday gift AND if you DM me before the end of the year I’ll happily share the discount code so you can get 25% off. #skystorians www.mqup.ca/Books/T/To-D....

Recordings are now available of Jane Ohlmeyer's excellent RHS Anniversary Lecture: 'Visible | Invisible: Voices of Women in Early Modern Ireland' bit.ly/3MdjXEn Jane's lecture was given on 21 November and is available to watch or listen to again. #Skystorians 1/2

CFP: 'Difficult Collections' Special issue of 'Paper Trails' @uclpress.bsky.social. Focus on challenges of working with troubling heritage collections (colonialism, eugenics, representation, etc). Proposals: 31/01/26; Submissions: 31/05/26. Details: blogs.ucl.ac.uk/special-coll... #GLAM ##HistorySky

In the nineteenth century, British officials became obsessed with collecting and codifying 'secret languages' across northern India. In our latest article, Vipin Krishna explores how linguistics became a tool for classification, surveillance, and control.

Do any #skystorians or #EarlyModern people have experience of publishers asking for an author’s institution to contribute to publishing a monograph? (Not an open access fee) Some people have told me this is increasingly common at uni presses, others say they’ve never heard of it!

This was a fun recent find: a new book from the library of the Tudor playwright Nicholas Udall, which tells us something about his sometimes elusive religious views. Read all about it in N&Q: doi.org/10.1093/note... #BookHistory #EarlyModern

Really looking forward to Samia Khatun's talk next wk: What is the Human? Recuperating Histories of Textiles Workers in Bengal from British East India Company Archives @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social All welcome, online or in person, register here. www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Read our response to the Government’s announcement that university maintenance grants will be reintroduced for certain courses, funded through a levy on international student fees https://bit.ly/4gPz7uO

How has paperwork served as a tool of empowerment for people who often find power elusive? In our latest podcast, a group of historians, archivists, and activists met at the Raphael Samuel History Centre (@rshc.bsky.social) to discuss the hidden history of paperwork 🗃️🎙️

Happening tomorrow! Join me and Simon Devereaux. We’ll be chatting about my new book on London prisons and more generally about the history of imprisonment.

I got to talk to @npr.org about sheriffs, jails, and all the ways people have made money from locking up migrants. (Featuring many stories from my book!)

Just back from a trip to Cambodia and I cannot over-emphasize how amazing the Angkor Wat complex is. Look at these outstanding carvings at Bayon temple! Late 12th ce!

Looks like the death knell for academia .edu. Another corner of the internet that is dead. Is it worth creating an account somewhere else? Where do people gather these days? #skystorians #academicsky

Don’t forget to sign up to hear me chat about my book with Simon Devereaux online on 24 September! #skystorians www.nacbs.org/event-detail...

The first term's programme for the IHR Migration and Mobility Seminar is now live! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/.... We're hybrid, so if you're interested in migration and mobility across space and time - but also in how we can write better histories of mobility - sign up from anywhere!

Thanks to everyone who came out last night!

Join us, at 6.30pm on Friday 12 September, for our next RHS Lecture: Professor Yasmin Khan on 'Mars and Britannia: the British Imperial Way of Warfare' bit.ly/3Hv2jK8 Booking for in-person and online attendance is now open. All are very welcome #Skystorians

There are only a few tickets left! 🏃‍♀️ 📅Wednesday 3rd September 🕠5:30pm 📍The London Archives