A look back at my big conference & research trip to London & Edinburgh in July. open.substack.com/pub/sthosdka...
A Month in Britain
A reflection on the 27 days I just spent in London and Edinburgh
open.substack.com
Seán Thomas Kane
@sthosdkane.bsky.social
Historian of 16th century French natural history focusing on three-toed sloths (Bradypus sp.). Ph.D. Candidate at Binghamton University. Fellow of the Linnean Society. Gaelgeoir. All opinions are my own.
This last week I was delighted to attend #ESHS2026 #HSS2026 in Edinburgh alongside nearly 2,000 other historians of science. I had my first run organizing & chairing a panel, Contested Conceptions of Atlantic Animals, which brought together 3 disparate papers in dialogue. #histsci #earlymodern
#HSS2026 #ESHS2026 come to “Contested Conceptions of Atlantic Animals” chaired by @sthosdkane.bsky.social from 2:30-4pm for a trio of animal talks, including mine! typo alert 😭 it’s “Coatis: From the Americas TO Europe, From the Familiar to the Exotic” convention2.allacademic.com/one/hss/hss2...
Coatis: From the Americas the Europe, From the Familiar to the Exotic
As endemic animals of the Americas, coatis have co-existed alongside Indigenous populations for millennia. The coati is named in the Popol Vuh as the daytime animal avatar of the Maya creator grandmot...
convention2.allacademic.com
Two weeks ago I had the pleasure to attend the @sochistnathist.bsky.social meeting at @zslofficial.bsky.social celebrating ZSL’s 200th anniversary year. Today then, I’m off to Edinburgh for the big #HSS2026 #ESHS2026 #HistSci conference. Looking forward to seeing so many friends & colleagues.
I’m proud to announce that I was selected to join the Friends of Art Council at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. It’s an honor to serve my community with this group of fellow museum members. #kansascity
open.substack.com/pub/sthosdka... A letter I wrote this morning after I was almost hit by a car walking through my neighborhood.
Dear Drivers
Written after I was nearly hit by a car this morning.
open.substack.com
Of the handful of analyses I've read about the end of Colbert's run on CBS, this one from #Commonweal might be my favorite. #Colbert #LiberalCatholic www.commonwealmagazine.org/schlumpf-col...
Colbert the Critic
By serving as a voice for truth and challenging Americans to think critically about complex political issues, Colbert will go down in history as more than a comedian.
commonwealmagazine.org
I'm launching a new Substack, "Nótaí as Staraí • Notes from a Historian." I'll publish essays, stories, and occasional poetry at least monthly about my work in #earlymodern #histsci in an informal outlet. #skystorians open.substack.com/pub/sthosdka...
New Publication
An Announcement
open.substack.com
I have an article in the review process which addresses the provenance of two Tupi artifacts at #QuaiBranly that Thevet brought to France in 1556. It's interesting that this law excludes pre-revolutionary contributions to the national collections. #frhistory #museums www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/a...
France Passes Law Easing Process of Returning Looted Art
nytimes.com
I'm proud to announce that my dissertation defense is scheduled for Friday, 15 May at 10:30 am EDT, 9:30 am CDT. Those of you in Bing are welcome to attend in person (LN 2200). Everyone else can watch on Zoom on mute if interested. Please let me know and I will share further details with you. #PhD
"Sometimes science 'progresses' in terrible ways...Brushing off these practices as unscientific implies that 'true' science is, and always has been, unimpeachable." Today's #histSTM lunch read: @wbarlowrobles.bsky.social's @contingent-mag.bsky.social piece on the dangers of Whiggish #histsci 🗃️📜
They Thought What?
Unpacking the history (and present) of science
contingentmagazine.org
Happy Easter to everyone celebrating today! 🐰 Have a wonderful day. 📷 aprilmunday.wordpress.com/2022/06/19/t...
Tonight as my parish choir was doing a final rehearsal before the Easter Vigil Mass I noted to the tenors & altos around me that “O Filii et Filiae” is a French hymn “from just before the time I study.” It’s attributed to one of Thevet’s fellow cordeliers. Felt a sense of timelessness tonight.
Also, on Saturday we had 75°F (24°C) temps and beautiful sunshine. Great weather for my neighborhood St. Patrick’s Day Parade and tonight it’s sustained 60 mph winds and snow. I keep saying how nice San Francisco was a few weeks ago during the RSA. My video from the valet drive at my place of work.
I usually bring light reading material to fill the downtime in my theatre job. It’s easier to follow the plot than the scholarship we read professionally when you’ve got a radio going off in your earpiece. On Friday I was able to make progress reading one new book during a symphony dress rehearsal…
Took a break this morning from #RenSa26 to visit the SF Zoo. Sharing the history of animals with readers everywhere. #earlymodern #histsci #animalhistory
I’m excited to present my paper “Parlaying Parrots and Sighing Sloths: Animal Utterances in Thevet’s Singularitez de la France Antarctique” about cultural interpretations of animal expression. Come hear my paper this Thursday at 14:30 PST at the #rensa26. #earlymodern #histsci
Bhuail mé leis nuair bhí 14 bliana d'aois. Bhí guth aige a chaint sé chuig an anama. I met him when I was 14. He had a voice that sang to the soul. RIP, a Seáin Ó Sé.
TG4@tg4.bsky.social · 7mo ago💔
I got the opportunity this morning to do some research in the Field Museum Library for an upcoming diss. chapter. I didn’t take any photos up there on the 3rd floor yet it was neat getting to see the professional side of the museum, somewhere I’d love to work if the opportunity arises. #histsci
If the Bears can win that game all of us ABDs can finish our dissertations and earn our PhDs and maybe even find a good job on the other side. From this Chicago area native at the #AHA2026, Bear down!
Spent the morning reading Guillaume Rondelet’s “De piscibus marinis” in the UChicago Library’s Special Collections. I’ve been working on sorting out what sort of marine mammal was Thevet’s “marousin,” when that name applied to dolphins, orcas, and porpoises alike. #earlymodern #histsci
This Friday @ 8:30 am, I’m presenting “Sufficiently Strange Beasts: André Thevet’s Catholic Comprehension of Neotropical Animals” in the @achahistory.bsky.social meeting adjoining the #AHA26 conference in the Chicago Hilton. A strange paper to write means it should be fun, right? #earlymodern
youtu.be/8Qq9MhGJv2A?... #envhist #irishhistory This video touches on a lot of questions that are central to my own research on what counts as native, and the impermanence of nature, and the colonial impact upon island ecologies which André Thevet discussed in his #earlymodern cosmographies. /1
Ireland's Invisible Rainforest
YouTube video by Aidin Robbins
youtu.be
/1 Can Apple’s AirPod Translation Get You Through Tokyo? We Tested It. — A couple thoughts in this thread. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/t...
Can Apple’s AirPod Translation Get You Through Tokyo? We Tested It.
nytimes.com
The International #Bibliography of #Humanism and the #Renaissance (IBHR) has been updated. 3,022 records were added More Info: bit.ly/4o8eWKH #EarlyModern #RenaissanceSky #HumanismSky #Bibliographies #DigitalHumanities
Last day of this trip and I decided to make one final stop at NYPL to read their Parisian edition of Marco Polo published in 1556. Another fascinating mile marker in the history of the European perception of everyone else that will be useful in my dissertation. #earlymodern #skystorians
I'm making a quick stop on the way home from #HSS2025 in NYC to read the NYPL's copy of Vespucci's 1503 "Mundus Novus" and look through some of the objects on display at @amnh.org that relate to my current research. #earlymodern #histsci #skystorians
I’m making a quick stop in NYC 🍎 on the way home from New Orleans ⚜️ to see Alie Ward do her first @ologies.bsky.social podcast live show. This is one of my favorite science podcasts that’s been a regular feature of my weekly listening since the pandemic.
I'm not at #HSS2025 but wrote a #NOLA -themed newsletter, anyway - with registration info for an online #histsci talk on HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY. Fans of @danielkraus.com - this is for you, too! #horror 💙📚 🗃 buttondown.com/surekhadavie...
Join me online on Thurs Dec 6th! And a horror novel even for scaredy-cats
Hallo, nerds with a conscience - and thanks for subscribing! This week’s newsletter: Event newsflashA horror novel recommendation, even for scaredy-catsNew...
buttondown.com