Being at Chalke History Festival reminds me yet again how interconnected university-based history and other forms of history-making are. The thing we do in one place explicitly supports the thing we do in another. University cuts, closures and job losses harm the entire history eco-system.

Times are terribly tough for historians at the moment, but this is a wonderful scheme, a ray of light. #Skystorians

Bluesky launched in February 2023 as an invite-only platform. As of June 2026, we have 45 million users. For reference, that's almost the population of Argentina. Thank you for being here with us 💙 Here’s to the next 45 million accounts.

How stupid is it that the Google Books API has no date-range parameter. It was a mistake to let engineers design cultural heritage platforms.

Day 23 Tirana Albania — protesters are moving towards the central Skanderbeg Square. The streets are filled with thousands of citizens in what are now the biggest demonstrations since the fall of communism in 1991.

🧵“What she did…was to make me think why capitalism is not only efficient and practical, but also moral” - Alan Greenspan, speaking about his guru Ayn Rand in 1974. It's worth understanding the role that this partnership played in unleashing the savageries of the modern market.

Therapy ferrets used to kill rats at UK’s largest children’s prison

Come & hear about @histparl.bsky.social's Oral History of Parliament on 24 June @19:00. With clips from David Blunkett, Malcolm Rifkind, Gisela Stuart & others,the session explores who makes it to Westminster, how Parliament has changed & who challenged its ways www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/westminste...

June 25 marks the 150th anniversary of Custer's death at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. No matter how you think about it, you're probably wrong. I received a Pulitzer for "Custer's Trials," yet no one's asking my opinion. That should tell me something. Still, here's how to understand it. 1/🧵

Since I did do my PhD in cyanobacteria growth and treatment optimization modeling AND work in the water treatment industry, I’m gonna share my theory as to what’s happening here and how to fix it. People are focusing on the painted bottom of the pool increasing residual heat, and while that 1/19

A mid-19th century CE men's ceremonial attire from Kazakhstan www.reddit.com/r/ArtefactPo...

So exciting. Go Farringdon! (Also part of it is on the site of the old Smithfield Jazz Bistro which in the late 90s used to host the wonderful Happiness Stans and other great club nights)

Great to see that the opening date for the London Museum is now set for 28 November www.londonmuseum.org.uk/smithfield/ It has been a wild journey, I have had the privilege of watching from their academic advisory panel. Congratulations to the museum staff - it is a globally important development.

65% of US universities drop in QS 2027 ranking. 40% of UK universities drop. 61% of China's universities rise. Who knew that sustained investment might prove advantageous and persistent policy churn prove deleterious?

I know I'm late to the Bluesky Marc Bloch party, but I love his quietly passionate defence of the humble footnote*. ("The Historian's Craft", tr. Peter Putnam, 1954) * Or endnote; for once that is not the argument here.

I feel like digital humanities was this great 15 year moment of techno-optimism that created solid resources and showed how old media connected to new media. Whereas AI is going to introduce a period of techno-cannibalism designed to devour digital humanities labor and anyone else in its proximity.

at an event today at the Institute of Historical Research: a genuine reminder of how much amazing work is being done on history AND how fortunate we are to have institutions like this+ people whose work sustains them. just in case anyone wanted something to feel good about amidst the general gloom

new summer resolution: be more IHR

Americans married youngest in the mid-1950s www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeau...

You can go through the strait free, but it takes 2 days, or you can subscribe to Hormuz Plus.

For anyone contemplating a history research degree, or finishing one and pondering what to do next, Becoming a Historian by Penelope Corfield and @timhitchcock.bsky.social, published by @ihr.bsky.social in 2022, is an invaluable guide. I wish I’d kept Hugh Trevor-Roper’s short guide for comparison.

Nice to see Alex Shepherd on here. @shepardalex.bsky.social

This kind of historical 'Whaaaat???' reminds me of the times I see 'not your granny's' whatever or similar, and count on my fingers and estimate that 'granny', in context, is but a young thing compared to me.

A 2:1 or above 'in any discipline' is what employers in finance and insurance as well as trade and logistics look for. In Tech and IT: 'degrees ranging from nursing, biomedical science, art, languages, humanities, business, economics and law'. So study something you're genuinely interested in.

There was some discussion about "critical confabulation" as a method for dealing with gaps in the archive at this week's C18 British history seminar.

Solidarity with everyone having redundancy consultation meetings at the moment. And strength to all union reps in the collective consultation meetings.

A ceramic Zapotec vase-effigy depicting a priest carrying a bag of copal. 200-600 CE, now housed at the Museo Amparo in Mexico www.reddit.com/r/ArtefactPo...

Some stray thoughts on gap-filling. Take them for what they are 1. Gaps in archives are not like rips in clothing; they don't have a well defined and wholly known, or in the broadest sense wholly knowable, shape or extent. You can't cut a patch for them or fill them with putty and smooth them over.

Human Rights Day 1975/1976 Rupert García www.nga.gov/artworks/172...

Native North America, Northwest Coast, Alaska, Tlingit, circa 1900 www.clevelandart.org/art/1979.83

'OfS spent a total of £446,477 on legal advice and representation as a direct result of the judicial review. In the build-up to the litigation, the regulator spent £216,178, while costs related to external lawyers during litigation totalled £230,299.' 1/2

Complaining about nightlife when you *checks notes* choose to live in Soho is like living in South Kensington and complaining about the museums. Or moving to Hackney and grumbling about creatives. Living in Richmond and hating green space. It's all getting a bit silly, isn't it?

“Bugs are lucky” . “People leaving houses condemned under a Huddersfield slum clearance scheme are reported to have taken a few bugs with them, boxed up, for release in their new homes.” UK government intelligence report on public health, 1943.

Shaman mask created by the Dorset people (often identified in oral histories as the Tunit or Sallirmiut), a Paleo-Inuit culture that inhabited the Arctic regions of North America, including present-day Nunavut, Canada, and Greenland.500-1200 CE www.reddit.com/r/ArtefactPo...

'The number of university students who view their course as “value for money” has risen to the highest level in a decade, reflecting widespread positivity among current undergraduates despite public concern around graduate debt and jobs.' 1/3

Out today! 🥳 The King's Dinner: Family, nation, and identity on the British table, 1760-1820: uclpress.co.uk/book/the-kin.... My book with Rachel Rich, @sarahfoxhistory.bsky.social & @adamcrymble.bsky.social. It is #openaccess so come take a look! cc @uclpress.bsky.social #skystorians #foodhistory

John Satia and the 1731 ban on Black urban citizenship

Famous authors asking you out

'The UK’s 18-year-old population peaks in 2030–31 and then falls sharply, returning to 2016 levels by 2040. Immigration is declining by deliberate policy choice, fertility has been falling since 2012, and healthy life expectancy is at its lowest point since 2011.'

Join us on Wednesday 10 June at 5:30pm for Jamie Gemmell (KCL) speaking on 'John Satia and the 1731 ban on Black apprenticeship'. Free and open to the public in person at the IHR in Bloomsbury or online on Zoom. Please register (link below). #Skystorians

Don' miss Prof. Lucy Delap's paper on Disabled Women, the Labour State, and Enterprise In Twentieth Century Britain this Friday 12 June at 5:30 pm in person at the IHR, London and on Zoom. #Skystorians

'Across China, a marked rise in people driving electric vehicles has led to a drop in air pollution in many cities. As a result, fewer people are dying from pollution-related diseases.'

Happy weekend! Ancient clay pots with octopus decoration from Bronze Age Crete some 3,500 years ago! 🐙❤️ Heraklion Archaeological Museum 📷 by me #Archaeology

'The bathing ponds at Hampstead Heath in north-west London will remain trans-inclusive after a public consultation overwhelmingly favoured its existing rules.' Good news. 86% of 38,000 respondents in favour of retaining trans-inclusive policies.

'a new study shows that since 2010 the world has been gaining more mangroves than it has been losing - driven by stronger legal protections and increased public awareness of their importance, sparked by disasters such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.' 1/2

Very much looking forward to Jamie Gemmell (KCL), talking about John Satia and the 1731 City of London ban on Black apprenticeship @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihr.bsky.social All welcome in person or online, but please register. www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Join us in person at the Institute of Historical Research in Bloomsbury or online on Zoom Tuesday 9 June for 'The Man Who Made Planets: Kenneth S. Fagg's Journey from Air Age to Space Age'. Free and open to the public. #Skystorians

'Demand for flexible higher education in Wales is growing rapidly but a lack of funding could threaten future access to study, the Open University has said.'

Happy Eid. www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...

Very much enjoying Anna Harrington's talk on Empire's Imagined Spaces @long18thsem.bsky.social