Hey @stwajda.bsky.social, are you interested in legal pie? I come across a fair few pies in civil suits, such as this 1818 debt action over "three pies sold & delivered" by Nancy Princess to her lodger Mary Roberts, at 25¢. Roberts didn't own enough property to pay for the pies & was imprisoned.

🗃️

Typical multi-tasking morning, Chez Tulip

Apparently, some type of sporting thingy has been happening this evening, but since I don’t follow sports, my TL has been pretty cryptic tonight. So, congratulations / condolences to the sporters I follow. You did great / better luck next time. And now, a picture of my sporty dog.

Yet another Boston cross-dressing prosecution: this one from 1840. Mary Perkins was charged with wearing men's clothing & also with theft of clothes, including pantaloons. The cross-dressing charge was dropped, but she was sentenced to 2 months in the House of Correction for Larceny 🗃️

With 10 days to go until the US release of THE CROWN’S SILENCE on 1/27, I’m giving away TWO signed pre-release copies!! 🚨To enter: share this post b/n now & noon (ET) tomorrow 1/18. I’ll randomly choose 2 winners (US-based). The book is also available for pre-order now! bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

my mitzvah for the day

It’s been 𝐳𝐞𝐫𝐨 days since this nerd snuck a branch into the house and chewed it into a splintery mulch in my bed

The Haiku Machine is doing a residency at Kitty Deluxe thru January 30. Come by, and for just 50¢, you can get a capsule with one piece of candy and one #haiku from my #poetry collection: Minor Transient Documents of Everyday Life. learn more http://katherinemont...

Heads up #bookhistory people! This looks incredible!

Sleep tight, BlueSky friends. Let’s try again tomorrow.

Post-mmr checkup from Dr Mishmish

Here are 8 successful *proposals* for academic books/monographs. I am hoping that these help someone who is starting out trying to write one and wants to see what worked for me. They are provided as examples, rather than exemplars. A lot of it was just finding my own way eve.gd/2026/01/16/s...

‘Washington Post’ Publishes Editorial Defending FBI Raid On Its Reporter https://theonion.com/washington-post-publishes-editorial-defending-fbi-raid-on-its-reporter/

It has been 𝐳𝐞𝐫𝐨 days since this dingbat last ate cat poop 🙄

I just muted the dollar symbol in my settings, and - *voilà* -- the 'cashtags' are gone.

I have a 40lb dog ensconced on my lap and chonky orange cat draped across my trachea, and I could not be happier

Enough Wednesday. Let’s try again tomorrow.

If you ever wondered how much stationary it took to administer a large town in late C18 America, wonder no more! Ink by the pint, pens by the hundred, reams of paper, and red tape aplenty appear in this receipt submitted to Boston’s Selectmen for 1798-1800. Bureaucracy: a literal ‘rule by desk!’ 🗃️

Half a dozen local pd cars and sheriff's dept cruisers with K9s parked outside my house on my tiny cul-de-sac atm. Apparently, they're hunting for a fugitive felon on foot. So that's cool. (I don't think it's ICE related, but honestly, these days, you can't tell)

A Mishmish-based timeline cleanse! 🧡

Update! Catalina is now at the PAWS Old City adoption center. I dropped her off today. It was hard to say goodbye. We've been together almost a yr. But I am hopeful this will give her more visibility and that someone will adopt her soon. THANK YOU to all who have helped promote her. Stay safe.

Deadbert

Hey @historygirl.bsky.social, I've been looking into it, and I'm pretty certain that Robert Newman the constable I've been seeing crop up in the Boston night watch reports from the 1790s is, indeed, the famous sexton of Old North Church! Good catch there!

It’s an absolutely beautiful day on campus, and my classes are awesome. I truly, truly love my job!

my snoozy apricat says sleep tight and let’s try again tomorrow

First class of the new semester at 8.30 tomorrow morning, and I feel like I've been gargling razor blades. I hope my voice holds up long enough to cover the cover the basics . . .

i can haz cookie?

Another wonderful research trip in the books. Thank you, amazing archivists for making my visits so productive and fun!

Oh no! I knew that this day would come, but now that it has, I'm absolutely gutted to learn that Bob Weir has passed away. Brilliant rhythm guitarist, on stage raconteur, and perfect yin to Jerry Garcia's yang, he was at very heart of the Grateful Dead. Fare thee well, Bobby 💀🌹

Tulip (on the left) is having fun at her doggy sleep away camp, but I can’t wait to get home and see her and Mishmish!

I'm so sad to learn that Dan Howe has passed away. The Unitarian Conscience was a huge influence on me as a newbie grad student, and I was absolutely thrilled when I learned that he would be the examiner for my DPhil. I was looking at Political Culture of the American Whigs just the other day. RIP.

There’s something incredibly poignant about the way these water stains have erased portions of this 1819 deposition, which, itself, concerns a mislaid writ. History is fragile, and, often, rendered illegible by circumstance 🗃️

It’s been a wonderful research trip, but I’m finishing it up not in an archive, but bundled up in bed with a vile cold. Nothing worse than being ill while on the road. Hopefully, I’ll have recovered a bit before my flight home on Sunday 🤒

Happy @rezekjoe.bsky.social Day! You’re entering a world of Paine!

Congratulations, @sethrockman.bsky.social! A richly deserved award for a richly written book!

Wait for it

This week, I’ve been looking at the Selectmen’s records for the 1790s in the Boston Town Collection @bpl.boston.gov. Here’s a night watch report mentioning that an African American and an Irishman were caught stealing a barrel and, after giving the watch “Very Bad Language,” were arrested 🗃️

Any thoughts, @drsepinwall.bsky.social?

It’s OK to look away from politics for a moment, and if you need something softer to look at, here’s Mishmish when she was a baby apricat. Innocence and beauty nourish the soul and help us replenish for the struggle ahead.

With an hour left before the archive closed today, the data card on my camera became corrupted. Fortunately, I managed to salvage the 2,000+ pictures I took today, but yikes! This happened (traumatically) once before, years ago, and I lost everything, so I always travel with a spare data card now.

Hey folks, does anyone have access to this book chapter? "The Link Between Climate Change and Digitization of Archives in South Africa" - I'd be your best pal if you could get access and send it over... 🙏 www.igi-global.com/chapter/the-...

Sometimes a case just stops you in your tracks, like this 1816 Boston investigation of “a Woman personating a Man, by being dressed in Men’s apparel and parading the Streets.” The case never made it to trial, & I can find nothing else abt her. Not the only crossdressing case I’ve seen but rare! 🗃️

Chester, Guardian of the Massachusetts Archives! Bestest of archive dogs! 🗃️🐶

Sitting on the subway and taking a tiny glimpse of Tulip on the web cam at her sleep away doggy camp from my phone, I might have said "Aww!" aloud in embarrassingly loud voice 😬

After eight solid hours reading criminal warrants, I feel like this doodled dude looks!

Cutest 👏 dog 👏 ever 👏

I started out my research trip with a quadriceps strain, so I'll be hobbling through the archives this week. Fortunately, I always travel with kinesiology tape, so it'll be a discrete hobble, but I will take all the sympathy and naproxen 💊

Behold, Vader! CLT->BOS. A Very Good Boi!

There’s a puppy on my flight! I repeat, there’s a puppy on my flight! ✈️🐶