"These aren't the druids you're looking for"

UK history is at a crisis point in academia. More & more people are going freelance on a part time basis, or as a whole new form of employment. IHN is creating support network for all historians who work independently. We aim to bring people together, promote your work, and be a hub of information.

Lucy Delap@lucydelap.bsky.social · yesterday

Great discussion at the 'crisis in UK history' meeting hosted by @ihr.bsky.social, @royalhistsoc.org, @histassoc.bsky.social and History UK. Horror stories of closures and redundancies, balanced by new resources. Check out for ex. the new Independent Historians Network independenthistorians.org

Great discussion at the 'crisis in UK history' meeting hosted by @ihr.bsky.social, @royalhistsoc.org, @histassoc.bsky.social and History UK. Horror stories of closures and redundancies, balanced by new resources. Check out for ex. the new Independent Historians Network independenthistorians.org

Independent Historians Network

The place for independent and freelance historians to connect

independenthistorians.org

Thank you to all who attended today's meeting on the 'Crisis in UK HE: the Future for History'. Very valuable proposals in difficult times for history in HE / UK HE more widely. We've also a new guide bit.ly/4z1fAjO listing 100+ UK #history societies & networks supporting historians #Skystorians

Lucy Delap@lucydelap.bsky.social · yesterday

Great discussion at the 'crisis in UK history' meeting hosted by @ihr.bsky.social, @royalhistsoc.org, @histassoc.bsky.social and History UK. Horror stories of closures and redundancies, balanced by new resources. Check out for ex. the new Independent Historians Network independenthistorians.org

This was important meeting to attend today. I tried to articulate my belief that we must defend universities as engines for social mobility, soft power, and local economies. It was encouraging that some attendees are thinking about the current HE crisis in practical, realistic terms 🗃️

Royal Historical Society@royalhistsoc.org · yesterday

Thank you to all who attended today's meeting on the 'Crisis in UK HE: the Future for History'. Very valuable proposals in difficult times for history in HE / UK HE more widely. We've also a new guide bit.ly/4z1fAjO listing 100+ UK #history societies & networks supporting historians #Skystorians

Very short notice (deadline 18 August) but we're advertising a 0.5fte lectureship in public history for next year. Covers my 3rd year undergraduate course on public history of Rome (ancient to modern) plus some MA public history teaching.

Some hope and optimism, some dire realities, and still a feeling that the ECR community have to workshop their way to permanent roles that are no longer safe as departments get cut. But actually feeling positive after listening to this discussion! Above all #HistoryMatters!!

British History Online@bho.bsky.social · 3w ago

The Crisis in UK HE: the Future for History Open, online meeting for historians in UK higher education on what is needed to best support and protect the profession and discipline in a time of crisis. 2-4pm BST, Tuesday 4 August 2026 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-crisis...

"History involves sorting and organizing hundreds of thousands of facts" I remain astounded by how loud and wrong people are about what history actually is.

An Only Connect sequence (which I got right!) combining Thunderbirds and football - literally my jam! #OnlyConnect

Simpsons Bully Yells 'Nerd!'

ALT: Simpsons Bully Yells 'Nerd!'

static.klipy.com

Our latest “Document of the Week” was chosen by our Senior Curator, Dr Charlie Hall. It is an 1896 order for the arrest of Robert Baden-Powell, later the founder of the Boy Scout movement, for his actions during the Second Matabele War. Read the full post here: buff.ly/ywdtHdl

This should be self evident but clearly isn’t. From @lewisgoodall.com

So a whole lot of my talented Humanities colleagues are now unemployed as of today. A lot of understandable concern over Exeter. But for over two decades my Hums colleagues were in the top quartile for their research contribution to society. History top 10. Now gone with only a national whisper.

„Project Panama is our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world“ (Anthropic).

Daniel Bellingradt@dbellingradt.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Text mining before the age of LLM training.

Reminder...

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ@olivia.science · 6mo ago

Some tools for thinking about AI in a time when the companies making them are trying to destroy teaching and learning itself... 1/n 🧵

Sitting on the stage yesterday at graduation reminded me why, despite everything else, I love my job. Watching students walk across the stage to collect their degrees – knowing the difficulties many have overcome to get there, and the hard work each of them has put in – was beyond affirming 🗃️

Historical and Archaeological Studies at Lincoln Bishop 🗃️@lbishophisarch.bsky.social · 6d ago

It has been a privilege over the last two days to watch our History, Military History, and History-joint degree students graduate 🎓🗃️ We are so proud of everything they have achieved during their time with us and wish them every success in the future 🥳 📸 Pictured are some very thrilled staff!

conspiracy theorists: Fifa is trying to help Argentina win the World Cup! Fifa: how about we organise the next tournament without Europe?

As a result of the recent news, we have received an extraordinary number of messages, and it has been incredibly moving to read so many heartfelt expressions of support. www.jodrellbank.net/explore/stor...

A message of Thanks from Jodrell Bank Observatory - Jodrell Bank

As a result of the recent news, we have received an extraordinary number of messages, and it has been incredibly moving to read so many heartfelt expressions of support.

jodrellbank.net

Seeing - and smelling - actual rain after well over a month of no rain at all. It won’t last and it’s not enough for the garden (only the tomatoes seem to not mind the hosepipe ban). But for the moment the rain is very very welcome. Putting a coat on for the first time since early May less so!

Pengu Pudgy Praying in Rain

ALT: Pengu Pudgy Praying in Rain

static.klipy.com

Given the boomlet of interest from the federal courts in history, this is an intriguing move on Penn's part and smart to lean in to their faculty' strengths in legal history.

Karen Tani@kmtani.bsky.social · last wk.

One history-related course at the Law School, 3 in the History Department! Plus attendance at 4 History-sponsored events. www.law.upenn.edu/live/news/17...

The William and Mary Quarterly forum on the recently discovered John Dickinson documents, revealing his previously unknown secret attempt to prevent the American Revolution, is now available online! The WMQ has generously made the issue open access for the next month. muse.jhu.edu/issue/57168

Are you starting a new research degree in history from Sept? If so, come along to our in-person IHR workshop & learn about our fantastic @ihrlibrary.bsky.social, our 60 IHR seminars & how you can join @ihrhistorylab.bsky.social, our national postgraduate network! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

IHR Workshop for New Research Students in History | 2026

IHR Research Training

history.ac.uk

It’s that time of year again: here are some of the books I’ve enjoyed this summer. If you’ve read any good ones, let me know!

The British Newspaper Archive has moved to a search system which mirrors that used by FindMyPast, introduced Workspaces (with the Bookmark system no longer working as it did), and dropped the list of recent additions. Better, worse, or a bit of both? Share your thoughts on #OnePlaceWednesday!

British Library@britishlibrary.bsky.social · last wk.

Exciting news - the British Newspaper Archive's new platform is here Explore millions of digitised pages of newspapers and other publications from our British and Irish collections, dating as far back as the 1700s We can't wait to get exploring 🗞 link.bl.uk/7ci

I'm not sure if this refresh will take getting used to or is a downgrade. BNA was always easy to navigate, that was a plus. But its OCRs were really poor, which made it difficult to discover something unless you had a very good idea of what you were looking for and when it happened.

British Library@britishlibrary.bsky.social · last wk.

Exciting news - the British Newspaper Archive's new platform is here Explore millions of digitised pages of newspapers and other publications from our British and Irish collections, dating as far back as the 1700s We can't wait to get exploring 🗞 link.bl.uk/7ci

It's a poor new design and, particularly, I've a whole dataset built through examining papers in the "North East" and "Yorkshire & Humber" regions The new design doesn't group papers this way, so going back to the data and replicating my methods is harder What we actually wanted BNA was better OCR

British Library@britishlibrary.bsky.social · last wk.

Exciting news - the British Newspaper Archive's new platform is here Explore millions of digitised pages of newspapers and other publications from our British and Irish collections, dating as far back as the 1700s We can't wait to get exploring 🗞 link.bl.uk/7ci

Historian of abolition here. Yeah about time we gave these unsung heroes of American democracy their due! I write about him in #theslavescause

Patrick McCray@patrickmccray.bsky.social · last wk.

Remembering Silas Soule, born OTD in 1838. American abolitionist, conductor on the Underground Railroad, military officer, and hero for disobeying orders to participate in Sand Creek Massacre and then giving evidence against his commander. Murdered 1865. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_S...

Odd, how Republicans are so angry at the *pretend* notion that Dr. Fauci undermined our health but are not even slightly interested in RFK Jr’s *actual* undermining of our health.

Gotta shut down the factory that makes this kinda guy

French sailors when they spot the boat carrying Chris Philp:

Unofficial BBCNews (UK) Bot@bbcnews-uk-rss.bsky.social · last wk.

French patrol boat heard firing shots during BBC interview in Channel, MP says