Justin Colson
@justincolson.bsky.social
780 followers 430 following 79 posts
(Digital) historian of fifteenth and sixteenth century cities, communities, trade, guilds, maps
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Reposted by Justin Colson
brodiewaddell.bsky.social
Who did what in early modern England?

New #OpenAccess book, 'The Experience of Work in Early Modern England' by @jwhittle.bsky.social, @markhailwood.bsky.social, @hkrobb.bsky.social & @aucointaylor.bsky.social, based on thousands of #EarlyModern court depositions 🗃️

Read it: doi.org/10.1017/9781...


This book applies the innovative work-task approach to the history of work, which captures the contribution of all workers and types of work to the early modern economy. Drawing on tens of thousands of court depositions, the authors analyse the individual tasks that made up everyday work for women and men, shedding new light on the gender division of labour, and the ways in which time, space, age and marital status shaped sixteenth and seventeenth-century working life. Combining qualitative and quantitative analysis, the book deepens our understanding of the preindustrial economy, and calls for us to rethink not only who did what, but also the implications of these findings for major debates about structural change, the nature and extent of paid work, and what has been lost as well as gained over the past three centuries of economic development. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.
Cover of Whittle, Jane, Mark Hailwood, Hannah Robb, and Taylor Aucoin. The Experience of Work in Early Modern England. of Cambridge Studies in Economic History - Second Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025.
Reposted by Justin Colson
bucksarchives.bsky.social
We're increasing the capacity of our current geotagging project to take on new volunteers!

Help us to refine our collection by adding geographic data to historic photos, completed entirely remotely at your own pace.

Interested? Get in touch with us at [email protected]
A black and white photo of a computer lab with the following text added:

'Remote Volunteering

New opportunities now available in our geotagging project'.
justincolson.bsky.social
I'm afraid I suspect not, as @thelondonarchives.bsky.social are handling bookings (as a paid event) and have only advertised in person details. Plus I think part of the point is to see the manuscripts in person as part of the event
justincolson.bsky.social
Hi @tracelarkhall.bsky.social - good question. I think Symeon at @thelondonarchives.bsky.social is looking after this side of it, and they are out of office this week. Hopefully they will be able to get back to you once confirmed
justincolson.bsky.social
@ihr.bsky.social and @ies-sas.bsky.social are partnering with @thelondonarchives.bsky.social to run a new series of public lectures, featuring the chance to see the original records first hand. First lecture by @patrickwallis.bsky.social on "Apprenticeship and the Rise of London", Weds 15th October!
SAS and The London Archives: Apprenticeship and the Rise of London, 1500-1800
ies.sas.ac.uk
justincolson.bsky.social
Working on pre-modern customs records, in any context? We're running a session "Quayside and Custom House: Customs Accounts as a Source for Medieval and Early Modern Urban History" at EAUH 2026 Barcelona. Paper submissions very welcome! www.eauhbarcelona2026.eu/sessions/#se...
Sessions - EAUH2026
Sessions go to quick Sessions’ overview Session 1 Main Session The Cities that made the Empire: Connectivity and Urban Networks from Late Republican to Imperial Times Organizers Noelia Cases MoraUnive...
www.eauhbarcelona2026.eu
justincolson.bsky.social
Apparently working time is decreed to be over ... But loved hearing @vch-home.bsky.social colleagues celebrating their 250th Big Red Book!
Reposted by Justin Colson
jessiewhchen.bsky.social
Printed copies of Everlasting Flowers are gorgeous! But the digital version is #openaccess for anyone to read: brill.com/display/titl....

A book presentation takes place at the KB in The Hague on 3 December. You are warmly invited! To register: tickets.kb.nl/nl-NL/Show/D...

Please share!
Printed copies of the book, with one copy open to pages 196 and 197, and the two that are stacked showing the cover. Flyer for the book presentation, with the text reads as the following.

Left-hand side:
Book Presentation, 3 December 2025, KB, National Library, Prins Willem-Alexanderhof 5, The Hague

Right-hand side:
Programme
14:00 Walk-in
14:30 Welcome and opening, Esther van Gelder (KB, nationale bibliotheek), Editors of series Emergence of Natural History and De Gruyter Brill.
14:50 Book presentation, Jessie Wei-Hsuan Chen (Huygens Instituut/KNAW).
15:10 Gifting of physical copies
15:15 Panel discussion:
State of the field(s) and practical knowledge
Moderator: Marieke Hendriksen (Huygens Instituut/KNAW)
Panelists: Marlise Rijks (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Sietske Fransen (Bibliotheca Hertziana/Max Planck Institute), Trude Dijkstra (Universiteit van Amsterdam), Jessie Wei-Hsuan Chen (Huygens Instituut/KNAW).
16:00 Introduction to pop-up show. Display of reconstructions and creative projects related to the book.
16:15 Drinks / Borrel, Opportunity to see the pop-up show and book table featuring volumes from the Emergence of Natural History series.
17:00 End of event

Free admission with limited space.
Please register at https://tickets.kb.nl/nl-NL/Show/Details/Book-presentation-
Everlasting-Flower-Between-the-Pages--3-dec-134063.
Link to book: https://brill.com/display/title/70483
Reposted by Justin Colson
clairelanghamer.bsky.social
Very much this. The IHR really is open to everyone and this includes our common room and our library as well as our wonderful seminars. All free, all welcome!
eicathomefinn.bsky.social
History curious? You don't need to be in London (or the UK) to attend many Institute of Historical Research seminars, although if you're in Bloomsbury you'll enjoy doing so. Most are hybrid (online/in person). They're free, usually fortnightly and open to the public.

Starting this week:
Events
Stay up to date with the upcoming events organised or hosted by the Institute of Historical Research
www.history.ac.uk
justincolson.bsky.social
I've been re-reading some Terry Pratchett recently, and this passage seemed particularly apt ...
Reposted by Justin Colson
sharkabytes.bsky.social
The stark, monochrome beauty of an Apple Mac Paris in an alternate 1995. Be sure to visit the arcology on your next visit!

📺: Sim City 2000, Maxis, 1993
A screenie of Sim City 2000 running on a virtual machine Apple IIfx and OS 7. It's got a stark, sharp, monochrome quality to the isometric rendition of Paris.
justincolson.bsky.social
The @ihr.bsky.social Late Medieval Seminar series for autumn 2025 is now published. Themes from ladies in waiting to the custom house, and a roundtable on editing sources. All seminars are hybrid (or fully online), also, I'm now one of the convenors! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Late Medieval
Seminar
www.history.ac.uk
justincolson.bsky.social
"Not a bug but a feature". Alas naivety about AI seems proportional to seniority in most organisations, not least universities
wolvendamien.bsky.social
How many times, in how many contexts, from how many internal and external researchers, or from how many CEO's are people going to have to receive this message before they believe it:

"Hallucinations" are an inherent part of the large language model architecture.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Can researchers stop AI making up citations?
OpenAI’s GPT-5 hallucinates less than previous models do, but cutting hallucination completely might prove impossible.
www.nature.com
Reposted by Justin Colson
lauramorreale.bsky.social
How widespread were medieval technological objects, and who owned them? Read about where they were found in medieval households in a new DALME feature essay by Dan Smail. dalme.org/features/a-n...
A sceenshot of a webpage with an essay entitled "a navigational compass". An illuminated image depicts a maritime scene.
Reposted by Justin Colson
thelondonjournal.bsky.social
New article, now available to read online: '‘To prevent the great influx of poor people into this parish’: Local Responses to the Rate Problem in the Suburbs of Early Stuart London', by Aaron Columbus: www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Abstract
While arrears in the poor rate was a distinctive feature of Westminster and London’s more immediate suburban parishes in the first half of the seventeenth century, it has not been discussed in great detail by historians. This article shows that it was a worsening problem exacerbated by plague. Understanding the rate problem helps elucidate the growth of urban inequality and the resultant variegated perceptions of belonging and communal obligations in London’s suburbs. The article explores the dimensions of the problem and the response of parish vestries to rate refusal, which includes the ways in which plague and poverty intersected. Problems with the collection of rates impacted the available resources of parishes to manage the poor and plague, which influenced hardening perceptions of belonging. The article also considers the increasing preoccupation of suburban vestries with those taking accommodation in the parish without recognised residency and the landlords who provided that accommodation.
Reposted by Justin Colson
urbanhistorygroup.bsky.social
Setting up for #UHG2025

Thank you @royalhistsoc.org for helping us show we know the value of history @uniofleicester.bsky.social!
Conference programme with Royal Historical Society badges reading ‘I know the value of history’, ‘trust me, I’m a historian’, and ‘this is what a historian looks like’
justincolson.bsky.social
Yeah, only available at Christmas? None available at Tesco or Ocado now. Hardly the thing that is changing how British people cook, I think! Funny the thing you picked is pretty damn difficult to cook well, and a classic English dish (Churchill's favorite etc.)
justincolson.bsky.social
I'd love to see this mythical easily available pre-packed Beef Wellington!
Reposted by Justin Colson
lsangha.bsky.social
📢WILLS WEBSITE UPDATE📢

I've just added some new 'tags' to the index page of our blog, making it easier for you to find posts and full transcriptions about the wills we've featured

#EarlyModern 🗃️

sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...
A list of the tags used on the wills project blog: 

16th century

17th century

18th century

Women’s wills

Men’s wills

Full transcriptions

Animals

Books

Burial

Charity

Clothing

Creative Fellow

Digital Humanities

Financial devices

Furniture

Global goods

Grandchildren

Jewellery

India

Jewellery

London

Making wills

Maritime

Project methodology

Rural

Silverware

Slavery

Tableware

Teaching

Urban

Volunteers

Work tools
Reposted by Justin Colson
kmcdono.bsky.social
1. Modeling data does not a historical argument make.

2. Lefebvre might have written an early classic, but his sources are not the complete 'archive' of Great Fear rumors.

1/n
Reposted by Justin Colson
adamchapman.bsky.social
Interested in the historic environment? Want to help research, support and develop histories of place with the oldest and most ambitious (arguably) national local history project anywhere? Come and work with us!
ihr.bsky.social
Job alert! Come and join us for 12 months in our lovely @chppc.bsky.social team. We're seeking a fixed-term Lecturer in Historic Environment, who'll work on our projects, including research, publishing and digitisation. Closing date 29 August. Please share!
www.jobs.london.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
Lecturer in Historic Environment:London Senate House
The University of London
www.jobs.london.ac.uk
justincolson.bsky.social
When we had a webinar with the new 'corporate travel provider', their staff were shocked that we were all there as academics who'd be using the system directly - "but where are your admins and secretaries who will be doing the bookings?" ... The mask slips ...