Ah, the stark horror of the TNA Reader's checkpoint saying a document has been in your box for 45 minutes but it most definitely isn't there and your knee jerk response to the lovely archivist is "Oh no. Oh nooooo. Am I trouble?" (Am I? Where did it goooo?)

This is my favourite find of the day. A file on publicity, feedback, and rationale for the volunteer Fire Guard wall sheet "The Midnight Watch" We already have some eager collectors in Shawinigan Falls, PQ. 🗃️ TNA HO 186/888 Part 2.

Having a very visceral reaction every time I see PTO at the bottom of a document now and I have to shuffle the file under my camera set up. 😑

That feeling when your bulk archive order just ain't producing the desired results. Ugh. I should have set up more time at individual borough archives than TNA. 🫠 Do I console myself with an overpriced jacket potato in the café?

We've spent our down time in the evenings soaking up the local culture.* *Terrible reruns of Tipping Point, The Floor, and Come Dine With Me.

Ramsgate: I suspect I would find you a charming seaside town if it was 22C with clear skies. Instead I was soaked and feeling like the wind would blow me off the pier.

Unabashedly love Cahoots. 🫠

The best/worst thing just happened: found an absolute corker of a research rabbit hole to fall into all thanks to one Molly Sedgwick, who kept copious notes during the war. Her mother was Elizabeth "Dolly" Shepherd, the famous ballonist/parachutist (?!) 🗃️ Photos from the Lewisham Archives

Leake Street Arches were a fun find on a dreary day.

Coming to you live (and very quietly) from the TFL Corporate Archives because I can't jump/shriek for joy in the reading room. I've been looking for 4 years to have confirmation that shelter newspapers were banned. And I finally found it. 🗃️

Photography wasn't permitted in the Chislehurst Caves; so here is a photo of Oscar, the neighbourly cat that likes to hang out in the outdoor seating area to greet guests.

All hail the tesco/sainsbury meal deals.

It's ok everyone. Found the Three Stags by the IWM and all is right.

Why did I pick a budget hotel with a stay that coincides with the last day of a heatwave in London.

Thrilled that I can finally append "this work is supported by an Ontario Graduate Scholarship" on my c.v. Only one more lap through the SSHRC/OGS ringer for me this fall. 🫠

I know these are all digitized but the glee I felt when I found these original trench newspapers just shoved in a box can't be overstated. #cdnhist 🗃️

ABD! Wooooo?!

Thesis proposal defense today. Everyone be cool. 🫠

For the third year in a row, a spring porch tenant has expanded their family. No idea if it is the same bird every year but we've taken to calling her Birb-erella and we have come to a mutual understanding that checking our mail is not a violation of her sovereign territory atop the light.

Toronto: your public transit signage in the Union Station hub between York/Bay concourses is a Kafkaesque experiment. I remain your obedient servant, K Jeanveau

This story, insofar as it deals with the National Railway Museum, is utterly absurd. If you rock up to a museum event expecting to dump a load of stuff on the staff, and are then surprised to be politely refused, then you clearly have no idea what museums are for. www.cityam.com/a-state-of-t...

Also if anyone has any article or book suggested about the Canadian Postal Corps in the Great War, let me know! Finally reading for fun and not comps. (No need to roast me for considering the postal corps as "fun". I know.)

"Per my last email" circa 1916 #cdnhist 🗃️

📢 CfP: Society for the History of War Conference 2026 📍 University of Limerick 🗓 26–27 Nov 2026 Papers & panels invited on all aspects of war & violence incl. gender, memory, civil wars, cultures of conflict, and lived experience. 🗓 Deadline: 3 July 2026 📩 [email protected]

There are significantly more movies in the Air Bud Cinematic Universe than I would have guessed.

More fun finds in the department archive. Leave the young women alone and let them read their saucy romance novels! Galt Collegiate Institute Record 1915 school paper. 🗃️ #cdnhist

Favourite find while tidying up the Wartime Canada archive today. Mmmm ten cent stewed prunes.

Met some wonderful historians, presented a tiny paper of my own to a tiny audience, and saw some fascinating panels at the Laurier Military History Colloquium. Did I remember to take photos of any of them? Whoops. But hark! Gaze upon two books I picked up and am excited to read. #cdnhist 🗃️

A thing I don't recommend: rewriting a conference presentation you're due to give in ten hours only to find out the hotel printer doesn't work. 👍

Priorities before hotel room check-in: scouring the antique store. Do I need to spend $120 for a trench art shell? Time will tell. 🗃️

Ah, the time-honoured tradition of finishing a conference paper the day before conference starts. Come see me bright and early in Session 5D @ 8:30 on Saturday at the Laurier Military History Colloquium for a talk on something that has absolutelt nothing to do with my dissertation! 🗃️ #cdnhist

Great work by researchers at the University of Waterloo to identify the remains of four members of the Franklin Expedition. (Note: link has a photo of a skull being excavated.) uwaterloo.ca/news/media/d...

I have a spare day in London during my research trip: what do I spend it doing? Context: Already hit the big tourist stops (Tower, Hampton Court, V&A, Tate, British Museum, Transport Museum, seeing a West End show etc.) Not a huge drinker but if there is a fun cocktail bar I'm open!

....there is a new hardware store in the south end of town. Wonder who made their signage.

Believe me when I tell you that -this- is equivalent to a play-off season bracket for me and I check the setlist stats daily out of curiosity. I've seen Tori 10 times and she played 117 different songs which is ridiculous when most artists play the same set every night on a given tour.

Team Horse Problems trotted to a resounding victory today and for the first time in ten years of trivia-ing there was FINALLY A TORI AMOS QUESTION.

Stopped by South Collegiate today in London as I heard they had a memorial to their Second World War Dead and was not disappointed. Found Harry's portrait and his name was inscribed on the sword. My thanks to the bewildered staff member that let me in! 🗃️ #cdnhist

Some wonderful art in this thread; I'm going to have to check this out in June!

Doing prep for my colloquium presentation at Laurier and came across this gem. Asked my hockey and Leafs aficionado office-mate to look up the score and they stayed true to their nature and lost 1-0 to Boston. Letter from HG Dickson Jr to his mother, 25 Jan 1941.

Apparently the good graces are boundless because we're going to ride that train to the end of the line where the sun don't shine. Any suggestions for pre-matinee lunch or post-matinee dinner near the Lyric Theatre?

Extremely Online Elder Millennial™ SportsPerson (Canadian = hockey, UK = footie expert) Historian (Note: not just a Gen X Ken Burns War Dad) Gen Z Pop Girlie (gender non specific) God Tier Geoguesser

This has no relevance to my research but I came across it on the microfiche reader today and felt that it needed to be shared. I'm just annoyed that I didn't increase the dpi scan rate. cc @darthbluesky.bsky.social & @weratedogs.com: Sgt. Rex was a good boy in 1941. 🗃️ 12 Aug 1941 London Free Press

Felt very old as I eagerly scampered over to a collection of Tori Amos cd singles from the mid 90s at an ~ antique store~ today.

Wondering how much of Jay's good graces I can use up to go see Hadestown in the West End on a trip already filled with five days spent in archives. 🤔

Hey #skystorians, sending some feelers out - I manage a registered heritage site in BC. We are working on a Historian in Residence project: -FREE 2-3 week stay at a lakeside heritage home on 5 acres -some $$ to help with your flight -you get to write your manuscript in a peaceful setting

I felt obligated to try this even though I don't love green tea.

I was showing my husband the location of a hotel we'll be staying at in London and he pointed excitedly to say that we could walk across the bridge and say hello to "Large Benjamin" and now I'm wheezing.

Runner up: All I Need by Radiohead at 2:45 🫠 youtu.be/FM7ALFsOH4g?...

Back half of the bridge in Spark: 2:40 youtu.be/jVMwDd8V_kY?...

When I found out the teahouse was down the road from John McCrae's birthplace, I was obligated to check it out. (House/museum was closed, alas!) The wrought iron "failing hands" holding torches was a bit much, no?