Can honestly say this was up there among the most positive experiences of my career so far. A rare, invaluable time to sit down and discuss with wonderful, interested colleagues a book that will be so much better for it.
Cannot recommend it enough.
Floridaβs Board of Governors is made up of βpolitical appointees from the business world, from insurance executives to roofing contractors, who are dictating how professors must teach their courses and even providing state-created textbooks for doing so.β
My new piece in @truthout.bsky.social
Who was smuggling in 18th century Britain? My refreshed database for prosecutions for smuggling in England and Wales c. 1721-1732 is live with over 4,000 entries. From naval officers to farmers, smuggling was big business. #twitterstorians #earlymod #history
www.davidchansmith.net/smugglingdat...
*last day of teaching, not my only day of teaching! The tech issues have moved over to Bluesky, evidently
A whiteboard drawing in black ink of a cat, which has been given a top hat and a monocle with blue ink along with some love hearts and stars. Legend says: Cat of the day!
Yesterday was my day of teaching until October - first, the smart board and PC wouldnβt switch on; when they were on, the lecture recordings wouldnβt upload to the server and I had to restart the PC three times for thatβ¦ but I *did* get to see this little bit of whiteboard art left in the room
Working with criminal justice records
Wed, 25 March | 13:00 GMT | Online
π€ Charlotte Smith, The National Archives
π€ Dr Jessamy Carlson, The National Archives
π€ Miles Wright, The Law Commission of England and Wales
Reserve your spot here:
shorturl.at/KlsVm
Forgive this historian and editor a small ambition, but I would love to be able to expand the kind of high quality local history research @vch-home.bsky.social does a bit further west.
So, if you have a suitable place-based history in mind, drop me a line. ποΈ
The great Stratford mystery: When is an international station not an international station?
Dydd GΕ΅yl Dewi hapus i ti!
Congratulations, Dr Michell!!!
Worrying headline today in Irish Times. Experiencing maelstrom of cuts to humanities & social sciences in UKHE at first hand means that this is a clear warning sign that the crisis could spread to Ireland. Ignore at peril to these subject areas & the right to study them. @royalhistsoc.org @ria.ie
It is self-evident looking around cities, towns and the smallest villages that there are places of worship no longer used by those that built them. ποΈ
Some, of course, are houses. Others remain in devotional use. Some examples from our volumes, supplemented by other information - a short thread π§΅
And if you want to know more about the history of helplines in the UK, hereβs a link to my (open access) chapter on their origins in the 1960s: link.springer.com/chapter/10.1... 2/2
Today is #HelplinesAwarenessDay in the UK. Whether over the phone, via chat or online, helplines support millions of people each year: youtu.be/M6-9_tulps8?... You can also find a helpline here: www.helplines.org/helplines/ 1/2
Congratulations!!! Looking forward to reading this!
The book is out! Race on Screen: Audience Racism in Twentieth Century Britain is on the shelves. Get yourself a 20% discount and use code GRANDY26 at www.cambridge.org/9781009650939
Single coolest rock ever found?
On Weds we'll be with historians at Sheffield Hallam University & University of Sheffield for the next RHS visit with academics and history practitioners in the city.
Our visit ends with a guest lecture by Prof David Stack (Reading) to which all are welcome www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/history-an... 1/2
About to embark on the long journey to #RenSA26 and San Francisco.
I'll be there as @rsaorg.bsky.social Religion Discipline Rep and as co-editor of the Transactions of @royalhistsoc.org.
If you have ideas for an article or just want to talk about submissions, please send me a DM!
#earlymodern
Iβm glad you are feeling better already a third of the way through - itβs a long old haul, but so worth it.
Yeah, itβs grim! On the other side of my loading dose I lost aches and pains, and my hair thickened up, too. How long have you got left to go on the loading dose?
Iβm so sorry for your loss.
On 16 April, we co-host 'History and Archives in Practice, 2026' with @ihr.bsky.social, The National Archives, and University of Sheffield Library.
For #HAP26 our theme is: βShaping Societies, Improving Lives: the Impact of Archives and Historical Researchβ bit.ly/4tvKUnX. Booking now #Skystorians
Flyer for lecture with Professor David Stack on the subject of 'History and Well-Being. A Historian's Perspective', Sheffield Hallam University, 5.45pm on Wednesday 18 February 2026. All are welcome to attend.
Next Wednesday, the Society visits historians at Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Sheffield.
Our visit closes (5.45pm) with a guest lecture by Prof David Stack (Reading) on 'History and Well-Being: a Historian's Perspective' bit.ly/4aa4Yoe
Open to all and followed by a reception.
I'd missed that the government last week ordered the deletion of the site Courtsdesk. It's hard to describe how impossible it is for journalists to find court listings in UK. There's countless hearings I'd send a reporter to... if I knew they were happening. www.legalcheek.com/2026/02/mini...
Contested Commons
Formidably erudite, compellingly argued, and dryly humorous, Contested Commons will change the way you think about the politics of space, the "myth of the commons", and the history of England since the eighteenth century: MATTHEW KELLy, author of The Women Who Saved the English Countryside "Starting with Kennington Common, and ranging from Steeple Bumpstead to Sheffield, Stonehenge and Brixton, and with a cast that includes ramblers, ranters, revolutionaries and ravers, this is a superb, sweeping but fine-grained history. It's also a highly necessary, politically urgent reminder of what public space is - places for everyone, owned by everyone, accessible to everyone, whether carefully tended or wild - and what it isn't, the tradition of pseudo-public space that runs from Victorian parks to privatised malls.' OWEN HATHERLEY, author of A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain
A reminder that my book on the history of protest is now published. It is superbly produced with a great cover. Buy it now from @reaktionbooks.bsky.social
My new book, An Injury to All: The Unmaking of the British Working Class, is now listed in Verso's trade catalogue for 2026.
You can find it here: versobooks.com/en-gb/pages/...
Weβve been warning about this since the start.
A hardback book with an orange dust jacket with black text and print of a photo. Text states: The Log Books: Voices of Queer Britain and the Helpline that Listened. The photo is of a white man and a white woman sat next to each other taking phone calls.
Super exciting postal delivery today from @gaystheword.bsky.social: The Log Books by Tash Walker and Adam Zmith! Iβm really looking forward to reading it. The Log Books podcast is also brilliant: auntnell.com/projects/the...
Thank you!!
