Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Elise Garritzen @egarritzen.bsky.social · 14d

Victorians loved writing fan mail. Celebrities - historians included - were not necessarily equally thrilled about this specimen of modern fan culture: cliosfootnotes.wordpress.com/2025/09/26/d...

Dear Historian: Agnes Strickland, Fan Mail, and Historical Knowledge as a Franchise

There was a group of ladies in Plymouth, Massachusetts, who were enthusiastic about Charles Dickens. In fact, their enthusiasm was so intense that they decided to write to their idol to request a s…

cliosfootnotes.wordpress.com

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Elise Garritzen @egarritzen.bsky.social · 20d

Wonderful chain and tribute to beutiful scholarly writing!

Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 21d

I’m having intro chats with dissertation students this fortnight, and one of them asked which historians I’d recommend for beautiful writing they could absorb to further develop their own writing style.

So, gang, which are your favourite *writers* among historians, any time, any topic, any place. 🗃️

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Elise Garritzen @egarritzen.bsky.social · 21d

Huippuväitös alkamassa 🤓 #humanistinentdkHY

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Elise Garritzen @egarritzen.bsky.social · Sep 5

#minätutkin miksi ja miten humanisttutkijoista tuli julkkiksia 1800-luvun Britanniasss 🌟✨️🎓

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Elise Garritzen @egarritzen.bsky.social · Aug 30

Just added this to my reading list!

Mari Välimäki @marivalimaki.bsky.social · Aug 30

My copies of the Academic Households in #EarlyModern Northern Europe have arrived 🎉

@routledgehistory.bsky.social

Book Academic Households in Early Modern Northern Europe on a box in which it arrived

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Reposted by Elise Garritzen

Patrick Leary @patrickleary.bsky.social · Aug 27

What a fun essay about photographs in middle-class parlours. I'm especially glad to know about Charlotte O'Conor Eccles and this piece in The Windsor Magazine about "the average hostess" babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=md... #victorian #19th-c

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Elise Garritzen @egarritzen.bsky.social · Aug 27

An ode to all the clutter in Victorian middle-class homes and especially to photographs in and about these homes cliosfootnotes.wordpress.com/2025/08/27/p...

Photographs, Victorian Homes, and the Comings and Goings of Trendy Interiors

Vases, porcelain figurines, mirrors, busts, statues, paintings, engravings, photographs, books, ornamental wallpaper, curtains, cushions, carpets, side tables, chests, lamps, chairs… It was “in” to…

cliosfootnotes.wordpress.com

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Reposted by Elise Garritzen

Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies @hcas.bsky.social · Aug 25

We've just opened our call for applications for fixed-term appointments starting in August 2026. We're seeking 10-15 Core Fellows and 1-2 Postdoctoral Researchers in the Arts. For more details, please visit our website: www.helsinki.fi/en/helsinki-...

Apply | Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies | University of Helsinki

Here you will find information on our application procedures

www.helsinki.fi

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Reposted by Elise Garritzen

Katariina Parhi @katariinaparhi.bsky.social · Aug 13

📣 Call for papers 📣
CONTENTIOUS TOPICS IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE
Apply by 31 August

#skystorians

acadsci.fi/en/news/even...

Workshop: Contentious Topics in the History of Science - Tiedeakatemia

Time and place: 16–17 December 2025, Helsinki, Finland By focusing on the uncomfortable legacies and darker aspects of the past, this workshop aims to bring together scholars interested in the problem...

acadsci.fi

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Elise Garritzen @egarritzen.bsky.social · Jul 4

"I am sure that ‘we authors’ require ‘boundless leisure’ [...] the best of air, no care, a walk and a drive daily, and times in which to read and lie fallow." Benjamin Jowett, 1892.
Time to switch off the work mode for a moment 🌞
cliosfootnotes.wordpress.com/2025/07/04/a...

A Note for Summer

Benjamin Jowett, Master of Balliol College, Oxford, had something important to say in his old age in 1892: I am sure that ‘we authors’ require ‘boundless leisure’ […] the best of air, no care…

cliosfootnotes.wordpress.com

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Reposted by Elise Garritzen

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · Jun 24

Just went looking for something at the excellent Hagley Digital Archives, and was greeted by the message below.

They're being overrun by bots, as "AI systems increasingly target sites like ours to train machine learning models."

The web is being murdered. So aggravating.

digital.hagley.org

"The Hagley Digital Archives is currently offline due to a sustained bot attack" begins a message from the archive, explaining that AI is using bots to train machine learning learning models.

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Elise Garritzen @egarritzen.bsky.social · Jun 23

Suuret onnittelut 🥳 Todella tärkeä ja (valitettavan) ajankohtainen hanke!

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Elise Garritzen @egarritzen.bsky.social · Jun 12

Great job opportunity for an emerging historian in global history of knowledge at the Lund University lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

Assistant Professor (Associate Senior Lecturer) at the Joint Faculties of Humanities & Theology, Lund University

We are looking for an up-and-coming researcher who wants to conduct pioneering research to take up a position as Assistant Professor at the Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology, Lund University.

lu.varbi.com

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Reposted by Elise Garritzen

Caitlin G. DeAngelis @caitlindeangelis.bsky.social · Jun 2

A lot of things clicked into place for me once I realized that, for a lot of journalists, podcasters, and popular nonfiction writers, "research" means "reading books other people already wrote."

Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · Jun 2

I get why publishers love the "untold story" framing, but I still really hate it.

Whether this book is a good re-telling of Elizabeth Van Lew's story, I don't know.

But the idea that it's "untold" is insulting to the historians who've told it many times before.🗃️

Civil War spy Elizabeth Van Lew defined courage fighting for what she believed

Elizabeth Van Lew, a Southern belle turned Union spymaster, exemplifies true heroism during the Civil War, challenging the diluted modern concept of a hero.

www.foxnews.com

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Elise Garritzen @egarritzen.bsky.social · May 30

What can Charlotte Brontë and Britney Spears possibly have in common? As celebrities, a lot! More about women celebrities pushing the boundaries of appropriate domesticity here: cliosfootnotes.wordpress.com/2025/05/30/s...

Scandalous Celebrities, Lousy Mothers: Victorian Women Writers and Perilous Celebrity

Robert Southey, Poet Laureate, wrote to Charlotte Brontë to warn her about the dangers of literary pursuits for women’s moral character. Southey advised (ordered?) Brontë to drop all literary aspir…

cliosfootnotes.wordpress.com

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Elise Garritzen @egarritzen.bsky.social · May 20

Kuka suomalaisartisti voisi olisi sopiva tekemään jotakin vastaavaa? Entä mitä biisi käsittelisi? Pähkinäsaaren rauhaa, Nuijasotaa, Turun akatemiaa, Porvoon valtiopäiviä, kieliasetusta, naiskagaalia, kieltolakia, peruskouluasetusta vai jotakin muuta 🤔 youtu.be/yoAeKvtY_dE?...

La révolution française de 1789 ⚔️Chanson Histoire 4ème 🎶

YouTube video by Equylia - Tes cours en chanson !

youtu.be

Reposted by Elise Garritzen

Colleen @librarycolleen.bsky.social · Apr 15

"...the records female students left behind at these early institutions created a genealogical window into women’s lives that had not previously existed. " 📜
College Records Add New Depth to Women’s Genealogy
blogs.loc.gov/loc/2025/04/...

College Records Add New Depth to Women’s Genealogy | Timeless

-This is a guest post by Candice Buchanan and Wanda Whitney in the History and Genealogy Section. Buchanan wrote the first entry; Whitney, the second. Lucy Lazear, the valedictorian of her 1853 gradua...

blogs.loc.gov

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Reposted by Elise Garritzen

Mikko Tolonen @tolonen.bsky.social · Mar 10

Join us in December 2025 at the Helsinki Centre for Intellectual History for a conference on “In and Out of the Canon in Intellectual History”. Paper submissions open until 17 April 2025. Spread the word: www.helsinki.fi/en/researchg...

In and Out of the Canon in Intellectual History | Centre for Intellectual History | University of Helsinki

The Helsinki Centre for Intellectual History devotes its 2025 conference to exploring the question of being in and out of the canon of intellectual history. We welcome proposals for panels and individ...

www.helsinki.fi

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Reposted by Elise Garritzen

Rens Bod @rensbod.bsky.social · Mar 4

Almost all Dutch universities will go on strike next week, against the budget cuts. Join us!

10 March: Leiden
11 March: Utrecht
13 March: Nijmegen
17 March: Amsterdam
18 March: Groningen
25 March: Twente
8 April: Rotterdam
10 April: Tilburg
14 April: Wageningen
15 April: Maastricht

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Elise Garritzen @egarritzen.bsky.social · Mar 4

❤️‍

Elinne Becket, PhD @bielleogy.bsky.social · Mar 3

Friendly reminder: if you are waiting on something from a US-based scientist/reviewer/editor, please realize that we're barely making it through each day putting out non-stop fires and trying not to collapse into tears. We're trying our best, but things will take longer right now. Give grace.

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Reposted by Elise Garritzen

Andrew Burchell @andrewburchell.bsky.social · Mar 3

If you know anyone looking for a funded PhD, Uppsala Idéhistoria is recruiting two - in "history of ideas" and "history of science" (both *very* broadly defined).

International applicants welcome! You can write in English or Swedish. 1/4

www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...

www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...

PhD student in the history of ideas - Uppsala University

PhD student in the history of ideas, Department of History of Science and Ideas, Uppsala University

www.uu.se

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Reposted by Elise Garritzen

Riikka Taavetti @rtaavetti.bsky.social · Mar 3

OBaMa - Osallistumisen esteiden yli -hankkeessamme on avoinna tutkijatohtorin tehtävä Turun yliopistossa. Tule tutkimaan kanssani eduskuntakeskusteluissa rakentuvia osallistumisen esteitä ja niiden purkamista. Hakuaikaa 8.5. asti #STN_OBaMa #STN_DEMOC #tutkijatohtori #rekry

Tutkijatohtorin määräaikainen tehtävä

Turun yliopiston humanistisen tiedekunnan historian, kulttuurin ja taiteiden tutkimuksen laitoksessa laitoksessa on haettavana tutkijatohtorin määräaikainen tehtävä ajalle 1.9.2025 – 30.11.2027. Tutki...

ats.talentadore.com

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Reposted by Elise Garritzen

Johan Östling @johanostling.bsky.social · Feb 18

On 8–10 October 2025, LUCK will organise the second international History of Knowledge Conference.

Our Call for Papers/Panels has now been published and we encourage you to submit an abstract: newhistoryofknowledge.com/2025/02/17/t...

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Elise Garritzen @egarritzen.bsky.social · Jan 15

Business as usual in an early modern library 🫢

Daniel Bellingradt @dbellingradt.bsky.social · Jan 15

Nothing to see here, dear #skystorians, except a human skeleton (with a hat and a feather) riding a #unicorn skeleton that is positioned next to two other animal skeletons (of a bear? and a deer?).

Did I mention yet that the 4 skeletons are standing in an #earlymodern library? #LibraryHistory

A seventeenth- or eighteenth-century library interior with 4 skeletons. Source: http://diglib.hab.de?grafik=graph-a1-1762

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Elise Garritzen @egarritzen.bsky.social · Jan 12

Awesome 👏

The Public Domain Review @publicdomainrev.bsky.social · Jan 8

🥁 Announcing the Public Domain Image Archive! 🥁

We are v excited to share our new sister-project, the Public Domain Image Archive (PDIA), a curated collection of 10k+ out-of-copyright historical images, all free to explore and reuse: pdimagearchive.org @pdimagearchive

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