CFP 📢📢📢 *New Approaches to Teaching the Gothic*, co-edited by myself & @factorygothic.bsky.social Critical practice; pedaogical reflections; case studies; particularly in a relation to these times/spaces of crisis. VERY broad cfp. Qus welcome 👇👇👇 call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/07/...

Delighted to find reciprocard.com for more Libby access. For #Massachusetts folks: anyone who lives in or is a student anywhere in Massachusetts can get a Boston Public Library @bpl.boston.gov e-card, which gives access to some great historic newspaper databases, too! www.bpl.org/your-library...

Your Library Card

Your Library Card Getting a Library Card …

bpl.org

Andromeda Yelton@thatandromeda.bsky.social · 4w ago

OH MY GOD EVERYBODY I just learned about reciprocard.com , which lets you enter your public library and find out all the places you can get a card on Libby. I had not known my Minuteman card actually gave me *every network in the state*, including the flawlessly-named CLAMS?!?!

We want hear about your critical practice, your pedaogical reflections, your case studies, your collabs, particularly in a relation to these times/spaces of crisis. You can be a "traditional" HE/FE lecturer, work in a prison, work in community centres, outreach, online, in-person - a very broad cfp!

Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall@factorygothic.bsky.social · 3w ago

Do you teach courses or modules on the Gothic? @jendeavour.bsky.social and I would love to hear from you for an edited collection we're developing: New Approaches to #Teaching the #Gothic! Full info here: call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/07/... Message or email us with queries or proposals!

Do you teach courses or modules on the Gothic? @jendeavour.bsky.social and I would love to hear from you for an edited collection we're developing: New Approaches to #Teaching the #Gothic! Full info here: call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/07/... Message or email us with queries or proposals!

Simpsons: Homer and Bart Say 'Join Us'

Alt: A Simpsons gif in which Bart and Homer are sitting on a couch and Homer is patting the seat beside him saying 'Join Us'

static.klipy.com

Are you in New England and in need of a delightful dog companion? Check out Gigi, currently in Kentucky but ready to move north. She's currently with @kassiejo.bsky.social who can give you more details. Get this pup! www.petfinder.com/dog/gigi-had...

Spent yesterday enjoying the diary that mill girl Susan Moore Wetherbee kept from 1836 to 1841. She notes that her family includes father, mother, 8 children, grandmother and "two boarders" (though she names three). The diary is in the collection of #Lowell National Historical Park. A treasure!

July 4th options: 1. Is it 1882? Check out the Balloon on Boston Common! 2. Is it 1840 - 1856? Visit the Lowell Museum, first opened on July 4th 1840. Mill Girl Susan Brown visited on July 4th 1843. 3. Are you Nathaniel Hawthorne? Happy Birthday! Go eat gingerbread & see a monkey, as per your diary.

Today's charming letter from 1867: woman in Wisconsin writes to her mother in Vermont saying that her husband bought her a "new delaine dress" (fancy!) which she sold to subscribe to The Atlantic: "I had rather have a good book, and a common, plain gingham dress, than a nice dress without the book."

Why Not Both? The Iconic Meme

Alt: Why Not Both? The Iconic Meme

static.klipy.com

Thoughts on whether this letter's date is 1847 or possibly 1849? She writes "I expect to be married Tuesday morning if nothing happens to prevent." Records indicate she was married in November of 1849. So curious to know if something (and what!) happened in 1847, or if the letter is from 1849.

Excited about this Nov 1849 letter from someone in Lowell in which they explain "I got Currer Bell's Shirley this morning -- its more voluminous than Jane Eyre, containing 296 pages." Brontë's Shirley, which features Luddite uprisings, had just been published 26 October 1849. Looking for more info!

Archive work today: letter sent to a #Lowell mill girl: Miss Matildia Chandler, who worked on the Suffolk Corp, received a letter in Dec 1843 from family back home in Contoocookville, NH. It recounts illness, asks her to send 24 yards of calico fabric, and informs her of the deaths of many locals.

Currently transcribing this curious letter from Harriet Staples who wrote it while "standing by my work in the Mill" in Manchester (NH) in October of 1848. She confesses to a variety of sins, including stealing candy. She's distraught and begs her sister's forgiveness.

I worked at the Center for #Lowell History yesterday, transcribing some mill girl letters, but I know the content you really want to see: Early photos of Percy suggest he's at least partly an Australian cattle dog; he seemed unimpressed by the cow statue at the vet yesterday. He's doing great!

Important personal announcement: I'd like to introduce Percy, who joined our family last night. He is a delight. He came from Great Dog Rescue New England (gdrne.com), and we are grateful to them and to Percy's foster family.

This Saturday May 9th is Doors Open #Lowell: www.doorsopenlowell.org Check out the map to see which weird buildings are going to be open. I recommend the Masonic Temple, Moody Street Feeder Gatehouse plus all the churches, plus the Tremont Yard for creepy tunnels. It's a great event

In "May-Day Musings" Lowell Offering contributor Serena wrote that "My ramblings are limited to the walls of a factory; yet, in thought, I wander to far other fields and other forms and scenes surround me." Although "buried deep within the walls of a factory," she thought of flowers & friends.

I have been thinking about this issue a lot lately, and it impacts the kind of work I can do going forward. One of my own past digital archive projects disappeared (I'm still working on recovering). I've abandoned a plan I had for a DH project even though I think it would be fun and useful.

Sharon Howard@sharonhoward.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I don't think people fully understand yet just how fragile university-hosted digital resources are after external funding ends (especially if the lead academic retires or moves or is made redundant).

Today I'm transcribing some "mill girl" letters from Harriot Curtis to Mehitable Eastman, in which I've discovered a huge rift between Curtis and Farley, the co-editors of the Lowell Offering: “Every time I have met Miss F. there has been some new and unexpected development of her rascality!”

*Very* excited that vol.1 of New Directions in the Ghost Story, edited by myself, @henrybartholomew.bsky.social & @joanpassey.bsky.social is out! Well done to all the contributors, and thanks for bearing with us! :) Please recommend to your academic libraries! link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

New Directions in the Ghost Story, Volume I

Discover New Directions in the Ghost Story, Volume 1, a landmark collection of essays exploring haunted narratives and Gothic fiction.

link.springer.com

I'm having a wonderful and busy week in Portugal. I have five talks in five days here at the University of Minho in Braga (thanks, U Minho and Erasmus!). I had a free day today and filled it with a ton of museums, gardens, and churches. It is an incredibly beautiful and historic city.

Woohoo, here's my essay with my fav co-author on 30,000 fellowship wins across the Guggenheim, Stanford CASBS, NAEd, National Humanities Center, RSF visiting scholar, and Harvard Radcliffe. Spoiler: it's the people working at prestigious universities www.publicbooks.org/who-gets-gug...

Who Gets Guggenheims? - Public Books

Unfortunately, 100 years of data show that those whom such fellowships might represent the greatest departure from their everyday experience—that is, those not at elite institutions—are least likely t...

publicbooks.org

10 April 1880 the National Police Gazette reported on Sarah Hallock of Middletown, NY who received "a hair-pulling that nearly proves fatal" when her hair caught in the belts at the factory where she worked. "One more revolution would have broken her neck," but she survived.

Loving these fashion ideas from 1886. Tag your choice. I'm "Vampire Mantle," but I think all of these are fantastic. From "Fun" magazine, a competitor to Punch.

#OTD 27 March 1869, the Sporting Times reported that a "pretty factory girl" in Manchester NH responded to a "worthless loafer" catcalling her by spitting on him, knocking off his hat w/ her parasol, and saying "I'll teach you to insult young ladies, you puppy, move off."

Digital publication day! 🎉 I'm very proud of this little book on a difficult subject, one I take very much to heart (as I try to do with all my work, but especially this one). Gothic Dementia is free to download until April 12th! www.cambridge.org/core/element...

Gothic Dementia

Cambridge Core - English Literature 1700-1830 - Gothic Dementia

cambridge.org

On the anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, John Sloan's searing March 1911 illustration for the New York Call, a Socialist newspaper, responding to the tragic event

Rachel Holliday Smith@rachelholliday.bsky.social · 4mo ago

it’s the anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the site of which — it’s easy to forget — is an active classroom building our Lilly Sabella went there to talk to professors and students about what it means to study on the same floors where the fire took place

Reading 1840s "flash press" for hilarious #Lowell content that ranges from "when is C.H. going to pay I.B. that five dollars he lent him" to "Bill B." was seen "with a young lady of notorious character" to a threat to "M" to stop reporting on "certain young men" or he "will get a flogging."

"The Factory Girl's Bloomers" appeared in Cotton Factory Times on 8 April 1898, telling the story of Lucy and her 2 suitors. Fred gets her a bicycle & encourages her to wear bloomers, scandalizing the other suitor and all the weavers at the factory who threaten to strike if Lucy isn't fired.

Many thanks to the organizers of the #SSAG @ssag.bsky.social conference! I saw tons of great panels & loved meeting other Gothic folks. If you're still in #Salem I highly recommend you stop by the Peabody Essex Museum #PEM to see the Edmonia Lewis exhibit. It's wonderful. www.pem.org/exhibitions/...