Would you like a peak inside Queen Victoria's carriage from the 1860s?

A regular museum day is such an odd thing: Meeting Paperwork Handle Victorian Suitcase Emails Answer obscure press inquiry Paperwork Have existential crisis about severe lack of funding Paperwork Argue about c18th oil painting Emails Find out more about moths than you ever wanted to Meeting

Most amazing defense I've ever come across in years of looking at Old Bailey records today from a man accused of stealing sheep in 1815:

Maybe after a decade or more of culture war nonsense, the more useful thing to do regarding the Dickens museum story of the moment would be to simply ignore it. Its a bad faith story being pushed by people with no interest in any of the relevant debates just looking for a reaction.

Hive mind, I’m looking for Victorian guides to London buildings and monuments, preferable around the 1840s. Can anyone recommend?

I loved having the chance to sit down for our Railway Museum podcast and talk to my much more talented other half @wromantichistry.bsky.social about the connections between Royals and Rails. Do come and have a listen! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccqr...

Royals on Rails: A History of Royal Trains | National Railway Museum Podcast Episode 2

YouTube video by National Railway Museum

youtube.com

I've nothing necessarily against him, but honestly... Find someone who looks at you the way that certain parts of the Labour Party look at Andy Burnham!

Deeply normal curatorial teams chat on a Wednesday morning...

If you were interested in a short, fun, engagement with research and collections across our museum group, what format would you prefer that to take? - A blog? - A short video (2-3 mins?) - A c5mins bitesize podcast? - Something else? It would be really useful to hear from you!

Seen in the British Museum recently. Imagine thinking you'd done a good job on that artwork only for a curator 4500 years later to bad mouth your work!

JOB KLAXON - National Museums Scotland is looking for a Keeper of Global Arts, Cultures & Design. Amazing team & collections. If you have senior management experience and expertise in one of these areas, apply! Salary - £76,093 – 86,275 FT 35 hpw Deadline - 30/04/2026 careers.nms.ac.uk/job/856993

Can any historians of empire please recommend reading that connects regional history to global histories of empire? Bonus points if it touches on the role of/ relationship between England's north east or Midlands and the British empire!

If you were interested in a short, fun, engagement with research and collections across our museum group, what format would you prefer that to take? - A blog? - A short video (2-3 mins?) - A c5mins bitesize podcast? - Something else? It would be really useful to hear from you!

Historians of Post-War Britain, who should I be reading if I'm interested in modernization efforts (both failed and successful) as well the public reception of those? Any pointers gratefully received... Thank you!

Support the development of our major exhibition on the Norman Conquest through this extraordinary PhD placement opportunity. Available to students currently registered at a UK HEI, three full-time, six-month placements. Applications open until Monday 6 April. Find out more: link.bl.uk/dnv

When you work with a large advertising archive you get used to lots of things being sold as "Rivieras" but the idea of a DANISH Riviera is a new one for me! Franz Sedivy for LNER c.1930 (c)SMG

It's always a little disconcerting to miss a couple of emails about an object move and then walk into something that wasn't there yesterday. Especially with objects as big as ours!

Its only a month or so into 2026 and I've already spoken on two podcasts about the Rainhill Trials - at this rate 2029/2030 is going to be intense!

Love the blink-and-you-miss-it exasperated side-eye from this young woman working the computers for the delegates from British Railways Head Office. Clearly a woman who has spent her entire day being patronised by male senior managers. British Pathe 1957 - A Computer for British Rail

I've worked at the Railway Museum for over a decade and I'm still mystified why Britain's railways are allowed to sell more tickets than seats in each carriage. At this point regularly having people standing in the vestibules is dangerous and unnecessary.

Strange sense of deja vu looking over these locomotive enthusiast books. Railways were never my obsession as a child but I did have books exactly like this with colour plates of Napoleonic uniforms...

Great news! 🙌 Art UK will be relaunching our crowdsourcing platform Art Detective, thanks to a grant from @wolfsonfdn.bsky.social Find out more 👉 artuk.org/discover/sto... 🧑‍🎨 Mary Winifrid Smith (1904–1992) © the artist's estate. 📷 @nationaltrust.org.uk

Art UK to relaunch crowdsourcing platform Art Detective with funding from the Wolfson Foundation

Art UK is preparing to relaunch its innovative artwork knowledge crowdsourcing platform Art Detective. The rebuild is being made possible thanks to a £65,370 grant from the Wolfson Foundation, with ad...

artuk.org

This massive programme of training which might largely de-value current worker skills and the never-ending intrusion of AI into computer systems for office and home workers means that there's going to be an amazingly relevant thesis on the Luddites to write in the near future!

Thinking Andy Burnham is the solution to Labour OR the country's woes is like thinking swapping to decaf tea in the evening is going to be THE thing to fix your health...

Would you like to hear some c1920s railway jokes I found tucked into a book this morning? "The last train tonight does not start until the first thing tomorrow morning" "A description of a petrol loco on the Castlederg and Victoria Bridge Tramway which 'never derailed when running normally'"

Nice little piece of Luddite history on display at Nottingham Castle Museum - the sword of a Luddite leader captured in 1817.

Our Special Issue @genderandhistory.bsky.social is now out!! Many congrats and thanks to stellar co-editors @writinghelena.bsky.social, Lisa Hellman & Rachel Jean-Baptiste, and to all our fabulous authors. Fab seeing all 140,000 words brought together! 🌟 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14680424...

Special Issue: Gender and Segregation: Gender & History: Vol 37, No 3

Gender & History is a global gender studies journal publishing research on femininity, masculinity and gender across eras and territories.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

A little Christmas treat to you from us at the Railway Museum - watch us make (and judge) early c19th mince pies from George Stephenson's own recipe book: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQMz... Caution: may contain curators...

How to Bake George Stephenson’s 200-year-old Mince Pies | National Railway Museum’s Bakeoff Showdown

YouTube video by National Railway Museum

youtube.com

Good to see the BBC leading with a story on essay writing mills at University level, but its also depressingly predictable in its details. *of course* the guy they interview is now based in Dubai. *of course* he's absolutely unrepentant about the work. and *OF COURSE* he's now using AI.