Leslie Howsam
@lesliehowsam.bsky.social
Book historian. Special interests in history books (as material objects) and Eliza Orme (Victorian lawyer). Past president of SHARP (2009-2013).
https://lesliehowsam.ca/
https://lesliehowsam.ca/
Pinned
Leslie Howsam
@lesliehowsam.bsky.social
· Nov 16
Eliza Orme’s Ambitions: Politics and the Law in Victorian London
Why are some figures hidden from history? Eliza Orme, despite becoming the first woman in Britain to earn a university degree in Law in 1888, leading both a political organization and a labour investi...
www.openbookpublishers.com
I’m mostly about #bookhistory but my latest publication is about an interesting Victorian woman who was a lawyer even before the @first100years.
www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.116...
www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.116...
Reposted by Leslie Howsam
📚 New Book Review!
Ellen Barth reviews:
The Edinburgh Companion to Women in Publishing, 1900-2020, edited by Nicola Wilson et al. (Edinburgh University Press, 2024).
Read it here: sharpweb.org/sharpnews/20...
#BookHistory #Publishing #WomeninPublishing #WomeninPrint #FeministBookHistory
Ellen Barth reviews:
The Edinburgh Companion to Women in Publishing, 1900-2020, edited by Nicola Wilson et al. (Edinburgh University Press, 2024).
Read it here: sharpweb.org/sharpnews/20...
#BookHistory #Publishing #WomeninPublishing #WomeninPrint #FeministBookHistory
November 20, 2025 at 4:45 PM
📚 New Book Review!
Ellen Barth reviews:
The Edinburgh Companion to Women in Publishing, 1900-2020, edited by Nicola Wilson et al. (Edinburgh University Press, 2024).
Read it here: sharpweb.org/sharpnews/20...
#BookHistory #Publishing #WomeninPublishing #WomeninPrint #FeministBookHistory
Ellen Barth reviews:
The Edinburgh Companion to Women in Publishing, 1900-2020, edited by Nicola Wilson et al. (Edinburgh University Press, 2024).
Read it here: sharpweb.org/sharpnews/20...
#BookHistory #Publishing #WomeninPublishing #WomeninPrint #FeministBookHistory
A #bookhistory academic’s review of @biblioasis.bsky.social bestseller, The Notebook. 📒. 🇨🇦
sharpweb.org/sharpnews/20...
sharpweb.org/sharpnews/20...
Roland Allen. The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper. – SHARP News
sharpweb.org
November 22, 2025 at 4:43 PM
A #bookhistory academic’s review of @biblioasis.bsky.social bestseller, The Notebook. 📒. 🇨🇦
sharpweb.org/sharpnews/20...
sharpweb.org/sharpnews/20...
Reposted by Leslie Howsam
This arrived in the mail today. My essay analyzes Greg’s Bibliography of English Printed Drama and its idiosyncratic taxonomies for “Collections,” which prioritized canonical authors like Shakespeare but completely excluded dramatists like Margaret Cavendish.
November 17, 2025 at 9:29 PM
This arrived in the mail today. My essay analyzes Greg’s Bibliography of English Printed Drama and its idiosyncratic taxonomies for “Collections,” which prioritized canonical authors like Shakespeare but completely excluded dramatists like Margaret Cavendish.
Reposted by Leslie Howsam
Writing about teaching book history:
November 17, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Writing about teaching book history:
Reposted by Leslie Howsam
"Historical analysis is fundamentally different and more complex than producing a mass of visualizations and statistics that are the lifeblood of many A.I. programmes."
Gordon McKelvie @gordonmckelvie.bsky.social on the problematic use of A.I. within historical research.
Gordon McKelvie @gordonmckelvie.bsky.social on the problematic use of A.I. within historical research.
Artificial Intelligence: A Warning for History
Does A.I. have the potential to simplify, and ultimately impoverish, our study of the past? Gordon McKelvie considers the recent explosion in A.I. and what it means for historians facing the current H...
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
November 11, 2025 at 12:45 PM
"Historical analysis is fundamentally different and more complex than producing a mass of visualizations and statistics that are the lifeblood of many A.I. programmes."
Gordon McKelvie @gordonmckelvie.bsky.social on the problematic use of A.I. within historical research.
Gordon McKelvie @gordonmckelvie.bsky.social on the problematic use of A.I. within historical research.
Reposted by Leslie Howsam
Does anyone in the #bookhistory or #history space know of a good article about the “publishing war” between the Old Farmer’s Almanac and the Farmer’s Almanac?
November 10, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Does anyone in the #bookhistory or #history space know of a good article about the “publishing war” between the Old Farmer’s Almanac and the Farmer’s Almanac?
Reposted by Leslie Howsam
Have you heard about our new Archie L. Dick Research Grants? If not, take a look and see if you qualify! Even if you don't, maybe someone you know does? Deadline to apply is December 1, 2025.
sharpweb.org/grants-prize...
sharpweb.org/grants-prize...
The Archie L. Dick Research Development Grants – SHARPweb
sharpweb.org
November 10, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Have you heard about our new Archie L. Dick Research Grants? If not, take a look and see if you qualify! Even if you don't, maybe someone you know does? Deadline to apply is December 1, 2025.
sharpweb.org/grants-prize...
sharpweb.org/grants-prize...
Reposted by Leslie Howsam
For Remembrance Sunday, a short reflection on the life and death of my great grandfather in the twenty years after his return. botheringmiancestors.substack.com/p/the-trench...
The Trenches, the Tram and the Trolley Bus
A twentieth-century story
botheringmiancestors.substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 10:55 AM
For Remembrance Sunday, a short reflection on the life and death of my great grandfather in the twenty years after his return. botheringmiancestors.substack.com/p/the-trench...
“She spent her spare time studying law”!
Henrietta Edwards established many organizations in the fight for women's rights in Canada.
Best remembered as one of the Famous Five who argued the Persons Case, she also worked to get the Dower Act passed in Alberta.
This is her story.
🧵 1/11
Best remembered as one of the Famous Five who argued the Persons Case, she also worked to get the Dower Act passed in Alberta.
This is her story.
🧵 1/11
November 9, 2025 at 6:28 PM
“She spent her spare time studying law”!
Reposted by Leslie Howsam
"Here is an exciting new way to think about the century that produced Darwinism."
Janet Browne's review of Martin Hewitt's Darwinism's Generations: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
@vicmanch.bsky.social
Janet Browne's review of Martin Hewitt's Darwinism's Generations: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
@vicmanch.bsky.social
November 6, 2025 at 3:48 PM
"Here is an exciting new way to think about the century that produced Darwinism."
Janet Browne's review of Martin Hewitt's Darwinism's Generations: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
@vicmanch.bsky.social
Janet Browne's review of Martin Hewitt's Darwinism's Generations: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
@vicmanch.bsky.social
Reposted by Leslie Howsam
I've seen an alternative argument going around that academics should instead step back and essentially see how things play out with AI, having confidence that if it sticks around (and doesn't go the way of the MOOC) it'll be adapted to academic needs and vice versa, like email, the internet +
Wrote a short piece arguing that higher ed must help steer AI. TLDR: If we outsource this to tech, we outsource our whole business. But rejectionism is basically stalling. If we want to survive, schools themselves must proactively shape AI for education & research. [1/6, unpaywalled at 5/6] +
Opinion | AI Is the Future. Higher Ed Should Shape It.
If we want to stay at the forefront of knowledge production, we must fit technology to our needs.
www.chronicle.com
November 5, 2025 at 1:43 PM
I've seen an alternative argument going around that academics should instead step back and essentially see how things play out with AI, having confidence that if it sticks around (and doesn't go the way of the MOOC) it'll be adapted to academic needs and vice versa, like email, the internet +
Reposted by Leslie Howsam
Are you a social media savvy book historian with a talent for sharing news in the digital sphere? We might have a role for you! SHARP News is looking for a new editor, details below👇🏼
@sharpnews.bsky.social is looking for a new Editor-in-Chief!!! Applications are due on November 14th. Get in touch if you have any questions!
Call for Applicants: SHARP News Editor-in-Chief
mailchi.mp
October 28, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Are you a social media savvy book historian with a talent for sharing news in the digital sphere? We might have a role for you! SHARP News is looking for a new editor, details below👇🏼
Reposted by Leslie Howsam
Are you doing #19thC attribution research? Do you have DH skills and nowhere to use them? YOU could be the next editor of the Curran Index! We're still accepting applications thru next week on 15 Oct. Lead this ongoing + fully supported DH project into its next iteration! rs4vp.org/curran-edito...
Lead the Curran Index as Our New Editor – RSVP
RSVP seeks a new Editor or Editors to lead the Curran Index! Applications should be sent to VP Alison Chapman by October 15.
rs4vp.org
October 8, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Are you doing #19thC attribution research? Do you have DH skills and nowhere to use them? YOU could be the next editor of the Curran Index! We're still accepting applications thru next week on 15 Oct. Lead this ongoing + fully supported DH project into its next iteration! rs4vp.org/curran-edito...
Knowledge of 19th century women’s lives is the reward of painstaking research.
Have posted a short blog discussing what we now know about Sarah Lewis, author of Women's Mission (1839).
Sarah Lewis, author of Woman’s Mission (1839)
Sarah Lewis must have strong claims to be most widely-known unknown person in Victorian Britain. Her book Woman’s Mission, first published in 1839 and reprinted 16 times in the next 15 years was enormously influential. Along with the contemporaneous works of Sarah Stickney Ellis (1799-1872), including the Women of England (1839), Lewis’ book formed the bedrock of early Victorian ‘separate spheres’ ideologies.
profmartinhewitt.com
October 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Knowledge of 19th century women’s lives is the reward of painstaking research.
Reposted by Leslie Howsam
For 150 years, Africville, sitting right next to Halifax, was a thriving Black Canadian community.
Halifax refused to provide city services, and eventually forced residents to move as they bulldozed their homes.
This is the story of that community.
🧵1/12
Halifax refused to provide city services, and eventually forced residents to move as they bulldozed their homes.
This is the story of that community.
🧵1/12
September 25, 2025 at 1:02 PM
For 150 years, Africville, sitting right next to Halifax, was a thriving Black Canadian community.
Halifax refused to provide city services, and eventually forced residents to move as they bulldozed their homes.
This is the story of that community.
🧵1/12
Halifax refused to provide city services, and eventually forced residents to move as they bulldozed their homes.
This is the story of that community.
🧵1/12
Reposted by Leslie Howsam
It’s not the same point, but related: our academic advisor looked at the high school records of who did/didn’t do well in their first 2 years as History u’grads. Among the ones doing well, high HS grades in English were a far better predictor of who did well in uni History. They’d learned to write.
September 21, 2025 at 4:25 PM
It’s not the same point, but related: our academic advisor looked at the high school records of who did/didn’t do well in their first 2 years as History u’grads. Among the ones doing well, high HS grades in English were a far better predictor of who did well in uni History. They’d learned to write.
This (wonderful, inspiring) 🧵 again makes me think that departments of History should teach skills in non-fiction prose about the past — the way departments of English teach creative writing. #bookhistory #authorship
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. 🗃️
So, gang, which are your favourite *writers* among historians, any time, any topic, any place. 🗃️
September 21, 2025 at 4:10 PM
This (wonderful, inspiring) 🧵 again makes me think that departments of History should teach skills in non-fiction prose about the past — the way departments of English teach creative writing. #bookhistory #authorship
Reposted by Leslie Howsam
Influencers of a bygone era: How late Victorian women artists mastered the art of networking
Influencers of a bygone era: How late Victorian women artists mastered the art of networking
Excluded from a male-dominated art world, women artists in early 20th-century London pioneered their own social networks.
theconversation.com
September 14, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Influencers of a bygone era: How late Victorian women artists mastered the art of networking
Reposted by Leslie Howsam
📣 Registration is open for 'The future of research in Bible Society collections' @biblesoccollfuture.bsky.social on 26&27 Sept
Become part of a network of scholars and experts in Religious Studies, material culture, and Medieval to Modern collections
https://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/47443/
Become part of a network of scholars and experts in Religious Studies, material culture, and Medieval to Modern collections
https://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/47443/
The future of research in Bible Society collections - CRASSH
Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities
www.crassh.cam.ac.uk
September 9, 2025 at 2:53 PM
📣 Registration is open for 'The future of research in Bible Society collections' @biblesoccollfuture.bsky.social on 26&27 Sept
Become part of a network of scholars and experts in Religious Studies, material culture, and Medieval to Modern collections
https://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/47443/
Become part of a network of scholars and experts in Religious Studies, material culture, and Medieval to Modern collections
https://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/47443/
Required reading for #bookhistory and “fembib. Collaboration, mentorship, “data intimacy” and research.
For our final spotlight in the Research in Reflection series, join PI Michelle Levy and Lead Editor Kandice Sharren as they muse on 10 years of the WPHP—their regrets, their accomplishments, and how they have tried to keep the humans involved at the forefront of of the project: tinyurl.com/23ajexte
September 8, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Required reading for #bookhistory and “fembib. Collaboration, mentorship, “data intimacy” and research.
#bookhistory and library history. (Although as we’re reading on SHARP-L, the card catalogue is far from obsolete.)
I hadn't known about this bit of history.
The Library Innovator Who Made the Card Catalog Obsolete buff.ly/jvNsPrx
The Library Innovator Who Made the Card Catalog Obsolete buff.ly/jvNsPrx
September 2, 2025 at 5:32 PM
#bookhistory and library history. (Although as we’re reading on SHARP-L, the card catalogue is far from obsolete.)
Reposted by Leslie Howsam
In Kate’s contribution to our “Research in Reflection Series” she reflects on how the WPHP (delightfully, inevitably) shaped her her PhD work—and provided her with the opportunity to drop books in the British Library. Oops. Read about her ongoing love story with the WPHP here: tinyurl.com/5k55cpxm
August 29, 2025 at 7:19 PM
In Kate’s contribution to our “Research in Reflection Series” she reflects on how the WPHP (delightfully, inevitably) shaped her her PhD work—and provided her with the opportunity to drop books in the British Library. Oops. Read about her ongoing love story with the WPHP here: tinyurl.com/5k55cpxm
#bookhistory Yvan Lamonde was co-general editor of the History of the Book in Canada. 📕
Un bref mot d'hommage en l'honneur d'Yvan Lamonde, qui vient de mourir. Il a été un pionnier de l'histoire intellectuelle québécoise (dans la foulée de Claude Galarneau, son maître), il a patiemment défriché le terrain, à coup de monographies costaudes, pendant cinquante ans.
August 27, 2025 at 2:45 AM
#bookhistory Yvan Lamonde was co-general editor of the History of the Book in Canada. 📕
Reposted by Leslie Howsam
A marvelous thread about the ethical framework within which practicing historians operate. It is so second nature to us that it usually goes unsaid so it’s bracing to see it laid out so clearly here—a necessity in these times when there are so many deeply dishonest appeals to “history.”
There was an interesting question I saw from someone recently that was asking why there are no historians writing "for the other side." Essentially, why are there no "pro-Trump Heather Cox Richardsons?" The answer lies in our training.
August 24, 2025 at 2:10 PM
A marvelous thread about the ethical framework within which practicing historians operate. It is so second nature to us that it usually goes unsaid so it’s bracing to see it laid out so clearly here—a necessity in these times when there are so many deeply dishonest appeals to “history.”
Reposted by Leslie Howsam
🗃️Open-Access Alert #3: The ENTIRE Spring 2024 Issue of the JWH is open access. See Bonnie G. Smith's remembrance of Natalie Z. Davis, articles by Mytheli Sreenivas, Iris Berger, Michelle Arrow, Mary Louise Roberts, Tamika Nunley, María Martín Gómez, and Frances Luttikhuizen: muse.jhu.edu/issue/52077
Project MUSE - Journal of Women's History-Volume 36, Number 1, Spring 2024
muse.jhu.edu
August 22, 2025 at 7:32 PM
🗃️Open-Access Alert #3: The ENTIRE Spring 2024 Issue of the JWH is open access. See Bonnie G. Smith's remembrance of Natalie Z. Davis, articles by Mytheli Sreenivas, Iris Berger, Michelle Arrow, Mary Louise Roberts, Tamika Nunley, María Martín Gómez, and Frances Luttikhuizen: muse.jhu.edu/issue/52077