A Slice of #Watermelon, 1825, by #SarahMiriamPeale (American, 1800-85). Held by the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art; source, www.pubhist.com/w11357 #NationalWatermelonDay #artherstory #womenartists

Paris copy of the 1516 Genoa Psalter (which presents the text in Hebrew, Latin, Arabic, Greek, and Aramaic) from the library of the Couvent des Jacobins de la rue Saint-Honoré. Interestingly, a reader vocalized a portion of the Arabic translation. BnF, RES-A-491

This is amazing-- a page of Mi'kmaq hieroglyphs or gomgwejui'gasit, with their meanings in Mi'kmaq and some in English; these were written by a Naskapi-Innu man named Gabriel in the 1790s.

Sunken Ships, Shakespeare, and Whale Watching open.substack.com/pub/shakespe... An evocative post from Callan Davies on all things watery and Shakespearean, from a Swedish warship to whales in Suffolk.

Sunken Ships, Shakespeare, and Whale Watching

Maritime Shakespeare, Stockholm's extraordinary Vasa Museum, and whales in early modern East Anglia

open.substack.com

‘In English markets, items misleadingly claiming to be made entirely from desirable North American beaver pelts might turn out to include lower-grade rabbit fur.’ Clare Jackson on an account of American influence on English material culture in the Renaissance. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Clare Jackson · Jaguars over the Seine: Early Modern Americana

lrb.co.uk

Flesh. Blood. Friends. Enemies. The worst of enemies. The best of friends. In how many daies will there come hither any more English Ships?

The Treason records of Anne Boleyn and the Gunpowder Plotters, together at last for Archives Fest 2026 at The National Archives.

On 11 Sept 1640, the city authorities of Leuven granted the Irish Franciscans living there permission to brew four times a year without having to pay the usual tax. (Still Life with a Glass of Beer and Nuts, Georg Hainz, 1645, National Museum Sweden)

***job klaxon!*** Postdoctoral Research Associate on ERC-funded project TextDiveGlobal at QMUL 12 month post from 1 September 2026 Apply by 28 July: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSG130/p...

Postdoctoral Research Associate - 'TextDiveGlobal' at Queen Mary University of London

Apply now for the Postdoctoral Research Associate - 'TextDiveGlobal' role on jobs.ac.uk - the leading job board for higher education jobs. View details.

jobs.ac.uk

Christophe Plantin printed a number of school editions, including Virgil’s Aeneid, with wide margins & generous line spacing for students’ notes. This copy is especially remarkable: it belonged to his grandson, the young Balthasar I Moretus. Judging by his aannotations, he was a diligent student!

This makes me so sad, weighs in my heart and memory, but it is reversible if we act NOW as the rewilding if the Knepp Estate shows. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Listen to Britain’s dawn chorus of 1976: the dramatic loss of birdsong in 50 years

Guardian recreates audio landscape of past filled by loud morning symphony before 73m wild birds were lost

theguardian.com

Actually, it was a volunteer archivist at The National Archives, Kew called Michael Scurr who found it, not the "UK" that found it. (with a sharing link for 3 non-subscribers). giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

UK finds lost US Declaration of Independence copy after 250 years

Document revealed by National Archives ahead of its anniversary on Saturday

giftarticle.ft.com

The same “Indian woman” also played matchmaker to two aristocrats… one of whom was later assassinated in Pall Mall by a rival lover. 👀 👀 Who needs fiction when reality is more interesting!! You can read more about her in my new book: bsky.app/profile/sara...

Sarah Bendall@sarahabendall.bsky.social · last mo.

New article has just been published OA @womenshistoryrev.bsky.social ! Lots of archival work in here tracing the the women who ran “Indian houses” in #17thc London. Including one woman who may have helped plot the Glorious Revolution!! #earlymodern www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Four of the boldest Shakespeare adaptations on the US–Mexico border — a narco Macbeth, a post-apocalyptic Henry IV, a queer Hamlet on the turntables, and a Tempest in a hurricane — now free for everyone to read in the third volume of The Bard in the Borderlands. Dig in now: https://ow.ly/9UWc50ZjlWv

Also working-class autodidacts didn't just read alone - they read in groups, set up libraries and reading rooms, and battled for Mechanics' Institutes (many long ago merged into unis) to teach music, history, and politics. They built the public adult education infrastructure that's being destroyed

Peter Whitewood@pwhitewood.bsky.social · last mo.

This misses the point. Self-education has become more accessible in the last 20 years than at any point in history, though not through ‘amateur reading’. The problem isn’t access to information but learning how to evaluate it critically - and that brings us back to universities (and Humanities)

Market towns didn’t just serve themselves, they influenced the surrounding villages too. Before railways transformed travel & trade, local economies revolved around these centres. An invaluable perspective when studying the history of any place, including #Rillington. #OnePlaceStudy #LocalHistory

How-to History@howtohistory.bsky.social · last mo.

Markets, by Joe Saunders. Markets have historically fulfilled a key role in the economic life of Britain with most towns prior to the nineteenth-century existing as market centres. how-to-history.com/2026/06/24/m...

#earlymodern Writing about blanks in almanacs and how they are annotated and especially love this tortoise appearance (this is a 1649 Lilly almanac in the Emerson Collection)

Our 2026 Supplement (#18) "Medicine, Race, and Slavery in the Transatlantic World, 1600–1850" Edited by @hsmurphy.bsky.social (@kingshistory.bsky.social @cemskcl.bsky.social) Has now been published by @academic.oup.com academic.oup.com/past/issue/2...

I’ve just finished as external for English Literature and Creative Writing at Exeter. It’s a superb department with an amazing array of modules and brilliant teaching staff. Any sensible University management team would see it as a jewel in their crown. I’m disgusted by these proposed redundancies.

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · last mo.

'About 150 academic roles are set to go at the south-west institution, which said it was targeting areas that are “no longer sustainable” or have seen changes in student demand.' History and English are name-checked. 1/3

My latest post for the Kings Women follows the archival traces of two women in the 1580s who ran their own businesses and took on apprentices, Anne Collins and Annabell Baye, paid up members of the Grocers Company. www.kingswomen.org/post/the-sis... #earlymodern #womenshistory #londonhistory

The Sisterhood of Grocers

by Meryl Faiers, 9 June 2026My most recent post (20 April 2026) offered a reconstruction of the life of Rebecca Heminges, the wife of a grocer (and actor - John Heminges). Now I'm looking at two of th...

kingswomen.org

On advance access: "Colonial world-making and global knowledges at the early modern Cape of Good Hope" by @gianamar97.bsky.social (@uvahumanities.bsky.social) #OpenAccess doi.org/10.1093/past...

Colonial world-making and global knowledges at the early modern Cape of Good Hope*

Abstract. As the Cape of Good Hope was integrated into early modern colonial world-making projects, it came to be regarded as ‘the western part of the East

doi.org

Fellowships run from September 26 to August 27. Deadline 15 July. Please RT and get in touch with any questions!

Alice Marples@alicemarples.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We have two new 12-month postdoctoral fellowship opportunities at the British Library! Applications open soon to co-design projects in the following areas: - Colonial Deposit and our Newspaper Collection - Local Large Language Models and Personal Born-Digital Archives www.bl.uk/services/res...

The best kind of book owner: Edward Lightbourne left not only his lovely signature, but also the year he bought this collection of John Milton's pamphlets, and the cost.

**Final call to sign up for my book launch happening tomorrow, in person and online, 6-8pm** Come and celebrate 'Body Size in Early Modern Germany' with me, Lyndal Roper and Felix Jäger!

Holly Fletcher@drhollyfletcher.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I'm having a book launch on 9th June 6-8pm for my book 'Body Size in Early Modern Germany' 🎉 I will be discussing the book alongside Profs. Lyndal Roper and @stefanhanss.bsky.social. It would be great to see you there (in person and online)!! Register here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ias-book-l...

📜 New 'Will of the Month' blog over at @materialwills.bsky.social 👇 Read all about Mary Skelton's 'undutifull' son - cut off with only a shilling 🪙 @uoearchhist.bsky.social @uniofexeterhass.bsky.social @cemsexeter.bsky.social #history #skystorians #EarlyModern

The Material Culture of Wills Project@materialwills.bsky.social · 2mo ago

📢 In Case You Missed It! 📢 📜 Our latest 'Will of the Month' post is live on our blog: sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult... It explores the will of an C18th widow of Greenwich who bequeathed land, property, and bonds in the East India Company, but left only 1 shilling to her 'undutifull son' 🪙

I have two spaces left on this month's workshop. Get in touch if you're interested!

Claire Turner@claireturner.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I'm delighted to finally share details of a workshop series I'm hosting with @thackraymuseum.bsky.social! 'Researchers in Museums' is open to a wide range of early career researchers and offers the opportunity to go 'behind the scenes' in a fantastic medical museum. Please share widely!

It's not much to look at, but this 1618 Star Chamber decree is pretty noteworthy, because James I was sitting as a judge in the court, in direct judgment over his subjects. STAC 8/196/25

Reminder. There's an early modern pub night for PhDs & ECRs (& others interested at any stage of their careers) held in London every month. To be added to the mailing list, send me a DM. It's an informal welcoming event. We meet at different historic pubs across central London. #earlymodern

Many congratulations to @emilymayvine.bsky.social whose excellent 'Birth, Death & Domestic Religion in #EarlyModern London' has been shortlisted for the RHS first book prize! 🗃️🥳👏

Royal Historical Society@royalhistsoc.org · 3mo ago

The Society is pleased to publish the Shortlist of its 2026 First Book Prize for early career historians: bit.ly/4dARJO1 This year's list includes eight monographs published in 2025 and follows an open call for submissions. Our two prize winners will be announced in July #Skystorians

Closing soon! 👇🤩

Nadine Akkerman@misswalsingham.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Claxon 📣 for English lit. graduates: here's a fully funded 4-year PhD position at Leiden led by the fabulous Dr Lotte Fikkers, and co-supervised by yours truly, on literary representations of wardship in early modern English drama. bit.ly/4bEeH7a Apply by 31 May 2026; starting date 1 Jan. 2027