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magiclantern.bsky.social
James_AL_Downs
@magiclantern.bsky.social
1.9K followers 1.7K following 5.1K posts
Writer: 'Anton Walbrook' (2020) 'Joseph Pike' (2018) & 'A Carnal Medium' (2012), photohistorian, archivist of Middle East collections at Exeter University, runs the Digital Archive of the Middle East (https://dame.exeter.ac.uk/), collector & bibliophile
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magiclantern.bsky.social
We recently had one of these a few days ago at @exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social and I suspect it'll only get worse
December 8, 2025 at 5:55 PM
magiclantern.bsky.social
Popped into Dorchester to see 'The Images of Harry Burton.' Although I missed @christinajriggs.bsky.social' original exhibition in Oxford in 2018, I'd only seen these images in books or online, so it was a great opportunity to view these duotone 8" x 6" prints produced from the Met's negatives
View of exhibition boards for 'Tutankhamun's Photographer. The Images of Harry Burton' with an information text panel and two framed photos to the right
December 7, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Reposted by James_AL_Downs
exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social
We hope you've enjoyed delving into our archives with us for Explore Your Archive week! 💫

As a final note, we just want to say: our archives are also your archives. We look after them for you, and everyone is welcome - for research, interest or enjoyment!

#EYAYourArchives #ExploreYourArchive
Collage of 40 images of archives and rare books held at the University of Exeter Special Collections.
December 7, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Reposted by James_AL_Downs
fotofacade.bsky.social
✨ A few years back I stood outside Wells Cathedral for a full day and photographed the impact of the light on the front facade. I was amazed at the outcome - at how a single entity could morph and change under the changing light. 🌅 #thread
November 28, 2025 at 7:13 AM
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generalwitch.bsky.social
You can now buy our most recent zine from the small but perfectly formed independent bookshops Teasle & Skylark in Dorchester, Dorset. Support your local indie shops if you want to keep them. They have a fantastic selection.
Front of Teasel and Skylark, an independent bookshop in Dorchester, with its white shop sign, window display of books and gifts, and a pavement sign outside. Overlaid images show the cover of General Witchfinders Issue 3 with the felt creature on a brick wall background and text announcing it as their newest stockist.
December 6, 2025 at 2:17 PM
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scotrefugeecouncil.bsky.social
Today we launch our winter appeal.

For those starting again in Scotland this winter, let’s make sure they begin their new chapter with safety, dignity, love & solidarity.

Donate today & help us support those seeking safety as they rebuild their lives here in Scotland.🧡

🔗 ow.ly/szZE50XyG4S
December 1, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by James_AL_Downs
exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social
Creating subject guides also offered us the chance to review language in our catalogue descriptions. We made sure inverted commas were used to clearly distinguish words from the source text, & replaced outdated or offensive terms in the archivist's voice with more inclusive language.

#EYAInclusion
LibGuides: Archives and Special Collections: Subject Guides
LibGuides: Archives and Special Collections: Subject Guides
libguides.exeter.ac.uk
December 5, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by James_AL_Downs
exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social
The lived experiences, perspectives & voices of individuals from diverse backgrounds are represented within our archives, but are not always easily identifiable via our catalogue. Our online subject guides aim to address this imbalance by providing easy access points into the archives. #EYAInclusion
LibGuides: Archives and Special Collections: Subject Guides
LibGuides: Archives and Special Collections: Subject Guides
libguides.exeter.ac.uk
December 5, 2025 at 10:00 AM
magiclantern.bsky.social
We do some work with science departments at @exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social but I'd like to see us doing more
December 5, 2025 at 7:20 PM
magiclantern.bsky.social
There are some excellent speakers on this, beginning with Dr Mahmoud Balaawy, cultural heritage preservation leader in Gaza, talking about the efforts to document damage to ancient, medieval and Ottoman monuments and buildings, in preparation for eventual restoration
December 5, 2025 at 12:45 PM
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sidhepress.bsky.social
#WeKeepTelling is back on 7 December at 7 pm GMT! Tickets are free, donations are encouraged & welcome. These readings have been called medicinal, so get yourself some much needed medicine to soothe your weary soul. Take a breath, listen to beautiful Palestinian poetry & prose.
🧵
Title: “We Keep Telling: a reading series for Gaza.” Text: “Online on Zoom. 7th December 7pm GMT, tinyurl.com/wekeeptelling.” In the background is a painting of a dancing Palestinian woman in a white, short-sleeved thobe with red tatreez and a keffiyeh tied around her waist. Her long black hair is swirling around her and covering her face. A dove stands on one of her outstretched hands, and another dove dances around her other hand. In the lower left, the painting is signed “Marah.”
December 5, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Reposted by James_AL_Downs
sarahdesigns.bsky.social
Do you agree that AI should p*** off this Christmas!

My mini linocuts make great, affordable little gifts. They're totally handmade; from drawing, to carving to printing and are also on handmade khadi paper (not made by me). #humanmade #shopsmall #handmadeisbest

www.etsy.com/shop/SarahRo...
This is a photo of 4 mini linocuts, printed in black ink on textured khadi paper. They feature a sun with a face, a bird on a branch, an oak twig with leaves and acorns and a spotty toadstool in some grass.
December 5, 2025 at 7:59 AM
magiclantern.bsky.social
Having been fascinated, thought & spoken about these topics for years in an amateurish way, I'm glad at last to have picked up my own copy of @stephenniem.bsky.social's very fine volume which I'm looking forward to reading tonight
Front cover of 'Imagining Antiquity in Islamic Societies' with this title in gold letters over a black and white photograph of the Mosque of Tadmur
December 4, 2025 at 6:57 PM
magiclantern.bsky.social
Thankfully I can also confirm that the DAME project has been extended for another year, with many more exciting developments planned for 2026
exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social University of Exeter Special Collections @exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social · 4d
To help make our archival materials relating to the MENA region more accessible for research, the Digital Archive of the Middle East (DAME) has made thousands of images & documents available online with metadata in English, Arabic & (where relevant) Sorani Kurdish.

➡️ dame.exeter.ac.uk

#EYADigital
Homepage of the Digital archive of the Middle East, displaying a high-resolution image of an Arabic manuscript, with links to pages including 'About', 'Dame', 'Kurdish Digital Archive', 'Links' and 'Blog', and options to view the website in English, Arabic, or Sorani Kurdish.
December 4, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Reposted by James_AL_Downs
saracharles.bsky.social
Booking is now open for Making Medieval Manuscripts! A practice-based course where we make ink, cut quills, illuminate, make pigments and bookbind, using #medieval techniques and materials. We also explore early medieval art. No experience necessary! #bookhistory ies.sas.ac.uk/study-traini...
Introduction to Making Medieval Manuscripts (Practice Based)
This course introduces students to the complicated and messy processes of production through which pre-modern manuscripts were created
ies.sas.ac.uk
December 3, 2025 at 12:43 PM
magiclantern.bsky.social
There's not much left of Dunkeswell Abbey (f.1201 as a daughter house of Forde) bar a few wall fragments, and these old fishponds which I drove past the other day
Photograph of a grassy field with visible traces of a rectangular indentation, behind a closed gate with a sign 'Fishponds. Cistercian. 1201 ad'
December 3, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by James_AL_Downs
exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social
The Cornish poets and writers Charles Causley and Jack Clemo were close friends - and they also loved their pets!

Two of the most documented pets in our archives are Causley's cat, Rupert, and Clemo's Pomeranian, Spark!

#EYAPets #Archives #ExploreYourArchive
A ginger tabby lying comfortably on Charles Causley's (face not visible) lap. Cropped image from a black photograph album page showing a black and white photograph of Jack Clemo leaning over a light-coloured Pomeranian in the foreground. The dog looks majestic, but his eyes look slightly alarmed! In the background is the cottage Goonamarris. The typed caption underneath reads: 'JACK CLEMO WITH SPARK Goonamarris August 25, 1950'. Cropped image from a black photograph album page showing a black and white photograph (slightly blurry) of a light-coloured Pomeranian. He looks very regal and the wind is billowing through his fur! The typed caption underneath reads: '"SPARK" August 25, 1950'. Colour photograph of a large ginger tabby cat lying in bright sunshine in a flowerbed. His tail is hooked around a small plant. He is looking towards the photographer with his eyes half closed.
December 3, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Reposted by James_AL_Downs
ncdominie.bsky.social
I gather that the British fash are playing the "Christmas is for white people" game.

As a small (but perhaps not meaningless) form of resistance, anyone who's looking for Advent and Christmas imagery might like to consider the Ethiopian manuscript tradition.
The Annunciation, from a C18th/C19th manuscript.
December 3, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Reposted by James_AL_Downs
lsangha.bsky.social
📢CfP: DIFFICULT COLLECTIONS📢

What can practitioners & researchers do with difficult heritage preserved in galleries, libraries, archives and museums?

- Paper Trails (a Book as Online Open Content) Special Issue
- Proposal deadline: 31/01/2026
- Details: blogs.ucl.ac.uk/special-coll...

🗃️ #GLAM
Call for Papers: Difficult Collections | UCL UCL Special Collections
UCL Homepage
blogs.ucl.ac.uk
December 3, 2025 at 8:24 AM
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clairecansick.bsky.social
Geese by the thousand at dawn this morning. What a sight.
Arrival airbrushed dawn, pink sky and threads of geese
December 3, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Reposted by James_AL_Downs
araukie.bsky.social
ARA and IRMS sign historic mutual partnership agreement! Find out all about it here www.archives.org.uk/news/irms-and-ara-sign-an-historic-mutual-partnership-agreement
IRMS and ARA sign an historic Mutual Partnership Agreement — Archives & Records Association
Information and Records Management Society ( IRMS) and the Archives and Records Association (ARA) sign an historic Mutual Partnership Agreement (MPA) In November 2025 the Information and Records Ma...
www.archives.org.uk
December 2, 2025 at 3:12 PM
magiclantern.bsky.social
Slemani by night
Photograph of a stone building at night
December 2, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Reposted by James_AL_Downs
isleofmanpro.bsky.social
Archives play a vital role in ensuring that the lives of vulnerable people in society are not lost in the silence of the past. Pictured is the earliest patient casebook from Ballamona Hospital, which opened in 1868: tinyurl.com/4bxwcdnj #EYASilence #ManxArchives #IsleOfMan
Colour image of an 1875 Ballamona Hospital patient casebook opened to show detailed entries for two patients: Catherine Kelly and William Corteen. A small photographic portrait of Catherine Kelly has been pasted onto her case history page.
December 2, 2025 at 11:29 AM
magiclantern.bsky.social
Come on @dhlabexeter.bsky.social there's still time before Christmas
plach.bsky.social pam lach @plach.bsky.social · 12d
Every #DigitalHumanities space should have a disco ball IMO. In all seriousness, what better way is there to emphasize the importance of play and infuse joy in our work? 🪩👯
plach.bsky.social pam lach @plach.bsky.social · 12d
Years after being gifted a disco ball, our #DigitalHumanities Center is now ready for a dance party (we just need some lights)🕺
December 2, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Reposted by James_AL_Downs
pccgb.bsky.social
This should be well worth attending - and the book will be reviewed in the next issue of 'Photographica World'. Those interested in previous book reviews on the subject of World War One photography should check out our online review section here: pccgb.net/new-book-rev...
December 2, 2025 at 8:10 PM