Few things are more enjoyable than taking a Zoom walk through Christmassy Rome in the company of @understandingrome.bsky.social . Do look at the details in her post about how to book for the 21 Dec walk. An hour of pleasure - sights and sounds - without stirring from the sofa

@britishlibrary.bsky.social I made arrangements some time ago to come to BL on 10 Dec and, although I now realise I won't actually be able to look at books (!!), because I'm also meeting people I would like to know if the Members' Room/cafes will be open? There is nothing on the website about this

I hope that the 115th anniversary of Black Friday is a suitable day to say how much I am enjoying reading my third book by @lissakevans.bsky.social.

I don't understand what is meant by 'unsealed' in this story. Since the 1980s Levy's papers were owned by Camellia plc & were open to researchers. Christine Pullen's biography of Levy, The Woman Who Dared (2010) was based on them. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...

Any takers?https://womanandhersphere.com/2025/11/17/closing-down-sale-a-few-more-offerings/

Article updated with wonderful new info from the archives of both Pierre Frey (Paris) and The Women's Library@LSE. wp.me/p2AEiO-245

As it's #newfriendsday, why not think about joining the Friends of the Women's Library? We hold monthly talks on zoom and in-person at LSE Library, sometimes purchase items for the collection and hold an annual essay competition. Find out more here: friendsofthewomenslibrary.org.uk/join-us/

One of my favourite columns on the Palatine this morning, here’s a post about the time I went to where it came from (no paywall) open.substack.com/pub/understa...

Well, the sale stock is flying off the shelves. So I am adding new items. Do have a look. wp.me/p2AEiO-2j5

After 41 years of selling books etc by & about women - here is my closing-down catalogue - Number 214. womanandhersphere.com/2025/10/16/f... More books will be added - so do check. Writing continues - new book from Bloomsbury in 2026 - The British Women's Suffrage Movement in 100 Objects

I'm giving an online talk tomorrow at 7pm for BALH - offering some ideas about how to research the women's suffrage movement in your locality. You've until 6.30 pm tomorrow to sign up for it. Have a look - www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-v...

September's (free) Postcard from Rome: a beach day at the tail end of summer, and a rediscovered Mantegna lost for five centuries and rediscovered lurking in Pompei

August's (free) monthly newsletter is out. Grotteschi and Grande Torino, after all one is never far from Rome! understandingrome.substack.com/p/augusts-mo...

We are excited to share a new opportunity to research with our unique archive collections. Our 3 Library Fellowships offer up to 6 weeks to conduct original research that will provide new perspectives on our collections. Applications open until 22 September. Read more www.lse.ac.uk/library/what...

(8) A Podcast about Rome. Episode 26: The Baths of Caracalla understandingrome.substack.com/p/a-podcast-...

And will the 1928 commemorations be decked in purple, white and green? An historian asks

📢 Just announced! The programme & booking is now live for our Annual Conference 2025. 🗓️ Join us online & free on 4–5 Sept for Hidden in Plain Sight: Women in Archives, Libraries, Museums & Personal Collections. 🔗 womenshistorynetwork.org/the-womens-h... #WHN2025 #WomensHistory #Archives #Heritage

If you’re in Rome on 27 July @rachelaliceroddy.bsky.social and I will be reprising our Film Jaunt, shade, refreshments & a gentle wander through favourite quartieri discussing Roman movies & ending with a slap up fishy lunch a là Pranzo di Ferragosto. understandingrome.substack.com/p/julys-mont...

Little did I think when, in 1999, I bought a letter from Millicent Fawcett introducing her friend Fanny Wilkinson to Dorothea Beale, & intrigued, then uncovered Fanny's working life in 'Enterprising Women: the Garretts & their circle' that 25 yrs later she'd be statued www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Today marks the anniversary of the birth of Harriet Grote in 1792. As @martinspychal.bsky.social has explored in his series, now available on the #HistParl site, she was able to establish herself as one of Westminster’s leading radical politicians. (1/8)🧵

My latest newsletter is about the extraordinary life of perhaps the finest intact Greek vase in existence, the heartbreaking depiction of the death of a young hero, and why a two-room museum in northern Lazio is exactly where it should be understandingrome.substack.com/p/from-troy-...

#OTD, 11 June 1847, Millicent Fawcett was born. Fawcett was involved with numerous suffrage societies before becoming president of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) in 1907.

So amazing to see a review of my book about Hannah Beswick, the Manchester Mummy in the Fortean Times! Apparently there are just 8 tickets left for tonight's launch event at the Manchester Museum. Do come along if you can!

My latest (free) newsletter is about sirens and Aeneas, mozzarella and sea bream, and a coast dense with the all-pervasive tentacles of mythology

After a couple of hours of being unreachable, I can now access the BL site. Can't believe it was just me who was having this problem???

@britishlibrary.bsky.social Has anybody else found it impossible to reach the BL website at the moment? 'Too many redirects' is the message I get....

#OTD 1913 - Derby Day - Emily Wilding Davison met her fate. What is the significance of that return ticket? Here's one view wp.me/p2AEiO-oe

I have 2 books by her - and one about Charmain and George - in stock, if anyone's interested...

“Cerco l'estate tutto l'anno, e all'improvviso eccola qua” The air is heavy with the scent of jasmine, oleander in bloom & summer around the corner. The best Italian song (probably) captures summer perfectly (post now liberated from its paywall) understandingrome.substack.com/p/vespa-tune...

& that means most academic books pub. since ?2015 - or earlier? Because BL only takes e-books, as academic books invariably are. Noted the breezy way the latest email suggested I should just travel to another copyright library. Surely they must buy hard copies of all the books we are being denied?

With thanks to @lizgloyn.bsky.social for tracking down and sharing the publicly available update and @themedievaldrk.bsky.social for flagging it on BlueSky, confirmation that "non print legal deposit" sources are gone for foreseeable future at the British Library 😐 bl.libguides.com/electronic-l...

It's 111 years today since Mrs Pankhurst made a last stand at the gates of Buckingham Palace. Diarist Kate Frye was there to observe and you can read what she saw here wp.me/p2AEiO-DB

Oh, I see it's International Tea Day..and with tea you're never far from a suffragette. There are a number of related articles on my website, but, at random, here's one wp.me/p2AEiO-8l

@donnalferguson.bsky.social Hello ~ following yr Guardian piece @ Fanny Wilkinson, you might be interested in how I 'discovered' her -for all info comes from my book 'Enterprising Women: the Garretts and their circle'. There's a story in how this group is now being recognized wp.me/p2AEiO-2hn

Born #OTD 1806, John Stuart Mill, influential philosopher and Liberal MP for Westminster, 1865-1868. In 1866 Mill presented the first mass petition to the Commons in favour of women's suffrage, as Dr Kathryn Rix explored in a recent #HistParl article. historyofparliament.com/2025/03/21/w...

Yesterday Pompeii looked glorious

A day at Tivoli. It’s a tough job, etc etc

Overjoyed to find that @ukparliament.parliament.uk #VE80 display on Parliament’s War Effort features no fewer than 4 #NecessaryWomen! Find out about these pioneering women who worked for Parliament- on in Westminster Hall to 19 Sep

There is still time to join our film jaunt on Friday 16 May. All details here, and feel free to send me a DM with any questions. understandingrome.substack.com/p/marchs-pos... @understandingrome.bsky.social

Fanny Wilkinson is rising high www.theguardian.com/society/2025... She has 3 plaques & soon a statue. Before I discovered her c 1999, thanks to a short letter bought on the internet, & wrote of her in 'Enterprising Women: the Garretts & their circle', she was forgotten. No mention of book, alas

“Caravaggio 2025: Part II” looking at the big show at Palazzo Barberini has been sent to subscribers to my substack. From paintings featuring (probably) Filide Melandroni to the murder of Ranuccio Tomassoni. The final part will be coming next week

Bernini’s Pluto and Persephone at dusk on yesterday evening’s private after hours visit to the Galleria Borghese. It’s a tough job, etc etc

Glimpses of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere on this morning’s Medieval Rome tour

My monthly postcard from Rome is about an evocative Etruscan jaunt and (possibly) the tomb of the father of (perhaps) the fifth king of Rome understandingrome.substack.com/p/aprils-pos...

Exactly. I've been amazed there hasn't been more fuss about this. Do authors realize that if their book was produced as an e-book it's not available to BL readers? Because that is the only edition now accepted under the legal deposit scheme. Which, alas, totally negates the purpose of the scheme

Just a few glimpses from this morning’s Field of Mars tour. A veritable soup of centuries, and what a blue sky (so to speak)!

We're holding an open archives session for #womenshistorymonth today at 5-7pm in LSE Library Gallery. You'll be able to look at material from the archives of Sheila Rowbotham and of Sally Alexander and other archives of the 1970s and 1980s. Just pop in. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/womens-his....

OK, I'm a Philistine, but I can't help thinking that the dire plunge in numbers walking through the doors of Tate Britain is not unconnected with the closure of their excellent restaurant.

(4) Spring Exhibitions in Rome - by Agnes Crawford understandingrome.substack.com/p/spring-exh...