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Leslie Howsam

@lesliehowsam.bsky.social

560 followers 540 following 130 posts

Book historian. Special interests in history books (as material objects) and Eliza Orme (Victorian lawyer). Past president of SHARP (2009-2013). https://lesliehowsam.ca/

lesliehowsam.ca

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Leslie Howsam @lesliehowsam.bsky.social · Nov 16

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...

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

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Research Society for Victorian Periodicals @rs4vp.org · 2d

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

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Leslie Howsam @lesliehowsam.bsky.social · 2d

Knowledge of 19th century women’s lives is the reward of painstaking research.

Martin Hewitt @vicmanch.bsky.social · 2d

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

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Leslie Howsam @lesliehowsam.bsky.social · 11d

I like to call it “the so-what question”. Always needs asking, however deflating.

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Canadian History Ehx @cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social · 15d

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.

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A black-and-white photograph depicting a rural village with a row of modest houses on a hillside. In the foreground, there is a dirt road bordered by rocks and sparse vegetation. A tall utility pole stands on the left side, with power lines stretching across the scene. The houses appear weathered, and the landscape is dotted with small sheds and overgrown grass, suggesting a remote or older settlement.

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Leslie Howsam @lesliehowsam.bsky.social · 18d

Thank you for this, Rohan.

Reposted by Leslie Howsam

Daniel Samson @ruralcolonialns.bsky.social · 19d

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.

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Leslie Howsam @lesliehowsam.bsky.social · 19d

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

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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Reposted by Leslie Howsam

The Conversation Canada @ca.theconversation.com · 26d

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

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CRASSH @crasshlive.bsky.social · Sep 9

📣 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/

The future of research in Bible Society collections - CRASSH

Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities

www.crassh.cam.ac.uk

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Leslie Howsam @lesliehowsam.bsky.social · Sep 8

Required reading for #bookhistory and “fembib. Collaboration, mentorship, “data intimacy” and research.

The Women's Print History Project @thewphp.bsky.social · Sep 2

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

A classic meme: Hugh Laurie's head on top of a giant manatee that is crashing into an air station. The caption reads, "OH, THE HUGH MANATEE."

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Leslie Howsam @lesliehowsam.bsky.social · Sep 2

#bookhistory and library history. (Although as we’re reading on SHARP-L, the card catalogue is far from obsolete.)

TTU Book History and Digital Humanities @ttubhdh.bsky.social · Sep 2

I hadn't known about this bit of history.
The Library Innovator Who Made the Card Catalog Obsolete buff.ly/jvNsPrx

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The Women's Print History Project @thewphp.bsky.social · Aug 29

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

A woman pushes a the book cart of shame, laden with old books, through the Rare Books and Manuscripts reading room at the British Library.

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Leslie Howsam @lesliehowsam.bsky.social · Aug 28

A date of birth at the midpoint between two not-at-all-randomly chosen people’s birthdays?

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Leslie Howsam @lesliehowsam.bsky.social · Aug 27

#bookhistory Yvan Lamonde was co-general editor of the History of the Book in Canada. 📕

Michel Lacroix @lacroixm.bsky.social · Aug 27

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.

Reposted by Leslie Howsam

Patrick Leary @patrickleary.bsky.social · Aug 24

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.”

Lauren MacIvor Thompson @lmacthompson1.bsky.social · Aug 24

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.

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Reposted by Leslie Howsam

Journal of Women's History @jwomenshistory.bsky.social · Aug 22

🗃️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

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Reposted by Leslie Howsam

Kandice @kandicedarcia.bsky.social · Aug 16

Clever "title page" design is all Kate!

Leslie Howsam @lesliehowsam.bsky.social · Aug 16

Reposting the podcast news as I finally appreciate the clever design of the “title page”.
But it’s also worth listening to.
womensprinthistoryproject.com/blog/post/147

The WPHP Monthly Mercury, Season 5: Episode 5, "Finding, Building, Sustaining, Supporting"

womensprinthistoryproject.com

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Reposted by Leslie Howsam

Research Society for Victorian Periodicals @rs4vp.org · Aug 16

📣 Curran Fellowships are now OPEN! Per our most recent newsletter, we've moved up our Curran awards to allow recipients time to plan summer travel. Applications due Oct. 15. As always, guidelines and more info are on our website!
rs4vp.org/awards/curra...

The Curran Fellowships – RSVP

The Curran Fellowships are travel and research grants intended to aid scholars studying British magazines and newspapers from the long nineteenth century in making use of primary print and archival so...

rs4vp.org

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Leslie Howsam @lesliehowsam.bsky.social · Aug 16

Reposting the podcast news as I finally appreciate the clever design of the “title page”.
But it’s also worth listening to.
womensprinthistoryproject.com/blog/post/147

The WPHP Monthly Mercury, Season 5: Episode 5, "Finding, Building, Sustaining, Supporting"

womensprinthistoryproject.com

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Leslie Howsam @lesliehowsam.bsky.social · Aug 14

I had forgotten quite how long I’ve been doing #fembib #bookhistory till this lovely podcast opportunity with @thewphp.bsky.social .

The Women's Print History Project @thewphp.bsky.social · Aug 13

In the penultimate (!!) episode of The WPHP Monthly Mercury, we’re joined by three scholars whose work has been vital to our research—Isobel Grundy, @lesliehowsam.bsky.social, and Maureen Bell. Listen here: womensprinthistoryproject.com/blog/post/147 (1/3)

A graphic in the style of a nineteenth century title page that reads: "The WPHP Monthly Mercury No. 5.5 FINDING, BUILDING, SUSTAINING, SUPPORTING feat. Isobel Grundy, Leslie Howsam, Maureen Bell | VANCOUVER: Hosted by Moffatt & Sharren, Vancouver and Saskatoon 2025." Pencil annotations note the names "Kate & Kandice) and the date "Aug. 13."

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Rebecca @jeybecques.bsky.social · Aug 8

descriptive bibliography can be a wild ride

Two posters leaning against windows; one says Keep Calm and Collate On and the other says WWBD: What Would Bowers Do? with a photo of Fredson Bowers

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Reposted by Leslie Howsam

The Future of Research in Bible Society Collections @biblesoccollfuture.bsky.social · Aug 6

A Q&A with our organising committee is now up at the @crasshlive.bsky.social blog: www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/blog/the-fut...

Tell us about ‘The future of research in Bible Society collections’ - CRASSH

Convenors Joshua Fitzgerald, Lucy Sixsmith, and Harry Spillane (University of Cambridge) provide insights into their upcoming workshop 'The future of research in Bible Society collections'.

www.crassh.cam.ac.uk

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Leslie Howsam @lesliehowsam.bsky.social · Aug 5

I’m glad you’re reading it!

Leslie Howsam @lesliehowsam.bsky.social · Aug 4

Nice to see the archive behind my first book being celebrated. #CheapBibles #bookhistory

The Future of Research in Bible Society Collections @biblesoccollfuture.bsky.social · Aug 4

Join us in September for two days of interdisciplinary papers, practical workshops and discussion around the Bible Society's rich collections! For full info, and our call for papers, see: 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

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Leslie Howsam @lesliehowsam.bsky.social · Aug 4

Why no printing presses for girls?! #fembib #bookhistory

Yun Xie @yunxie.bsky.social · Aug 4

Since mid-19c small printing presses became popular. They could sit on a desk and print items like business cards. These presses were called Boys’ Presses, sometimes even with ads “No Boys Should be without a Printing Press.” Prices were usually low, even with 1 dollar (in 1889) could have one!

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