Bob Henderson
@roberthenderson.bsky.social
Historian of the Russian revolutionary emigration. Formerly Russian curator at the British Library. Based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Latest book (pbk. ed.):
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/spark-that-lit-the-revolution-9781350344730/
Latest book (pbk. ed.):
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/spark-that-lit-the-revolution-9781350344730/
This looks fascinating. A new(ish) and, apparently, very well researched approach to 1917.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing!
November 13, 2025 at 11:43 PM
This looks fascinating. A new(ish) and, apparently, very well researched approach to 1917.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing!
What a delightful story.
@firthlass.bsky.social
@firthlass.bsky.social
The Man Who Gave Away His Birthday – a Useless Information podcast
Robert Louis Stevenson was born #OTD, 13 Nov – but it’s not, strictly speaking, his birthday: in 1891 he gave the day to Annie Ide, the 14-year-old daughter of the US Commissioner to Samoa
1/5
uselessinformation.org/annie-louisa...
Robert Louis Stevenson was born #OTD, 13 Nov – but it’s not, strictly speaking, his birthday: in 1891 he gave the day to Annie Ide, the 14-year-old daughter of the US Commissioner to Samoa
1/5
uselessinformation.org/annie-louisa...
The Man Who Gave Away His Birthday - Podcast #108
When Robert Louis Stevenson learned that Annie Ide disliked her Christmas birthday, he gave her his birthday. The story includes an interview with Heather Finn, the woman who inherited his birthday.
uselessinformation.org
November 13, 2025 at 1:03 PM
What a delightful story.
@firthlass.bsky.social
@firthlass.bsky.social
The Man Who Gave Away His Birthday – a Useless Information podcast
Robert Louis Stevenson was born #OTD, 13 Nov – but it’s not, strictly speaking, his birthday: in 1891 he gave the day to Annie Ide, the 14-year-old daughter of the US Commissioner to Samoa
1/5
uselessinformation.org/annie-louisa...
Robert Louis Stevenson was born #OTD, 13 Nov – but it’s not, strictly speaking, his birthday: in 1891 he gave the day to Annie Ide, the 14-year-old daughter of the US Commissioner to Samoa
1/5
uselessinformation.org/annie-louisa...
The Man Who Gave Away His Birthday - Podcast #108
When Robert Louis Stevenson learned that Annie Ide disliked her Christmas birthday, he gave her his birthday. The story includes an interview with Heather Finn, the woman who inherited his birthday.
uselessinformation.org
November 13, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Reposted by Bob Henderson
We're very excited to see this new book about W T Stead from Philip March that arrived in the post today! It draws on research including archives and publication about Stead that we hold.
November 11, 2025 at 3:23 PM
We're very excited to see this new book about W T Stead from Philip March that arrived in the post today! It draws on research including archives and publication about Stead that we hold.
Reposted by Bob Henderson
#OTD 1917 the 'October' Revolution took place in Russia
Our archives include significant primary sources on the relationship between Britain and Russia in the decade following the 1917 revolutions
650+ documents have been digitised and are freely available online at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...
Our archives include significant primary sources on the relationship between Britain and Russia in the decade following the 1917 revolutions
650+ documents have been digitised and are freely available online at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...
November 7, 2025 at 3:00 PM
#OTD 1917 the 'October' Revolution took place in Russia
Our archives include significant primary sources on the relationship between Britain and Russia in the decade following the 1917 revolutions
650+ documents have been digitised and are freely available online at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...
Our archives include significant primary sources on the relationship between Britain and Russia in the decade following the 1917 revolutions
650+ documents have been digitised and are freely available online at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...
Reposted by Bob Henderson
“We do not want an independent Scotland because we dislike the English, but because we want separation from that Union of financial, military and monarchic establishments calling itself Great Britain.”
—Alasdair Gray, “Independence: An Argument for Home Rule”, 2014.
—Alasdair Gray, “Independence: An Argument for Home Rule”, 2014.
November 6, 2025 at 12:35 PM
“We do not want an independent Scotland because we dislike the English, but because we want separation from that Union of financial, military and monarchic establishments calling itself Great Britain.”
—Alasdair Gray, “Independence: An Argument for Home Rule”, 2014.
—Alasdair Gray, “Independence: An Argument for Home Rule”, 2014.
"I am sitting with a philosopher in the garden: he says again and again ‘I know that that’s a tree’, pointing to a tree that is near us. Someone else arrives and hears this, and I tell him: ‘This fellow isn’t insane. We are only doing philosophy’." (OC §467)
October 29, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Reposted by Bob Henderson
#OtD 25 Oct 1882 German anarchist Johann Most was released from Clerkenwell Prison in London after spending a year and a half there doing forced labour for praising the assassination of Tsar Alexander II by Russian revolutionaries stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9781...
October 25, 2025 at 5:10 PM
#OtD 25 Oct 1882 German anarchist Johann Most was released from Clerkenwell Prison in London after spending a year and a half there doing forced labour for praising the assassination of Tsar Alexander II by Russian revolutionaries stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9781...
Reposted by Bob Henderson
New in Transactions: 'Russian History without Russia: Archive Encounters in an Era of Restricted Access', by Jamie Bryson bit.ly/3IUFMr5
What's the experience of an independent early career historian of Russia today? What are the challenges since 2022 of conducting research at distance? 1/2
What's the experience of an independent early career historian of Russia today? What are the challenges since 2022 of conducting research at distance? 1/2
October 14, 2025 at 7:47 AM
New in Transactions: 'Russian History without Russia: Archive Encounters in an Era of Restricted Access', by Jamie Bryson bit.ly/3IUFMr5
What's the experience of an independent early career historian of Russia today? What are the challenges since 2022 of conducting research at distance? 1/2
What's the experience of an independent early career historian of Russia today? What are the challenges since 2022 of conducting research at distance? 1/2
Reposted by Bob Henderson
Herman Melville in his Ancestral Leven
10 Sep, Methil Heritage Centre – free
Featuring talks by Alan Riach: “Melville in Scotland: From the Pacific to Glasgow, to Fife & Beyond” – & Jana Laiz: “Inspired by Melville”
www.onfife.com/event/herman...
10 Sep, Methil Heritage Centre – free
Featuring talks by Alan Riach: “Melville in Scotland: From the Pacific to Glasgow, to Fife & Beyond” – & Jana Laiz: “Inspired by Melville”
www.onfife.com/event/herman...
Herman Melville in his Ancestral Leven - OnFife
HERMAN MELVILLE (1819-1891) was the American author of the world-famous 1851 novel Moby-Dick. Melville was of Scottish and Dutch descent: his great-great grandfather, the Reverend Thomas Melville (c17...
www.onfife.com
September 8, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Herman Melville in his Ancestral Leven
10 Sep, Methil Heritage Centre – free
Featuring talks by Alan Riach: “Melville in Scotland: From the Pacific to Glasgow, to Fife & Beyond” – & Jana Laiz: “Inspired by Melville”
www.onfife.com/event/herman...
10 Sep, Methil Heritage Centre – free
Featuring talks by Alan Riach: “Melville in Scotland: From the Pacific to Glasgow, to Fife & Beyond” – & Jana Laiz: “Inspired by Melville”
www.onfife.com/event/herman...
Reposted by Bob Henderson
This would be funny if it wasn’t so serious! Why are the police even involved in this madness?
August 11, 2025 at 4:45 PM
This would be funny if it wasn’t so serious! Why are the police even involved in this madness?
Reposted by Bob Henderson
Did a small excursion around Lenin-related spots near @britishmuseum.bsky.social
#RussianRevolution
telegra.ph/Lenins-Place...
maps.app.goo.gl/DK4aM7MEvH7Z...
#RussianRevolution
telegra.ph/Lenins-Place...
maps.app.goo.gl/DK4aM7MEvH7Z...
Lenin’s Places in London
Since I found myself near the British Museum, I couldn’t resist walking through some of the historic Bolshevik landmarks. Surprisingly, this rather respectable part of London still bears quite a few t...
telegra.ph
August 6, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Did a small excursion around Lenin-related spots near @britishmuseum.bsky.social
#RussianRevolution
telegra.ph/Lenins-Place...
maps.app.goo.gl/DK4aM7MEvH7Z...
#RussianRevolution
telegra.ph/Lenins-Place...
maps.app.goo.gl/DK4aM7MEvH7Z...
Reposted by Bob Henderson
#OtD 25 Jul 1867 Karl Marx wrote the preface to the first German edition of his masterwork, Capital. A "weapon in the hands of workers" (as Harry Cleaver called it), it remains the most powerful critique of capitalism ever written shop.workingclasshistory.com/en-gb/collec...
July 25, 2025 at 5:55 PM
#OtD 25 Jul 1867 Karl Marx wrote the preface to the first German edition of his masterwork, Capital. A "weapon in the hands of workers" (as Harry Cleaver called it), it remains the most powerful critique of capitalism ever written shop.workingclasshistory.com/en-gb/collec...
Reposted by Bob Henderson
#SkyStorians Question for you: Anyone recently/currently researching the British General Strike of 1926? It's not my field, but thinking of organising a small event in May 2026 to mark the centenary. If you'd be interested or know people who would be, then get in touch on here or by email. Thanks!
July 24, 2025 at 8:33 AM
#SkyStorians Question for you: Anyone recently/currently researching the British General Strike of 1926? It's not my field, but thinking of organising a small event in May 2026 to mark the centenary. If you'd be interested or know people who would be, then get in touch on here or by email. Thanks!
Remarkable!
#libraries
#libraries
Did you know Scotland's first free public lending library is nearly 350 years old? 🤔
Innerpeffray Library in rural Perthshire has welcomed readers from all walks of life since 1680, when it was founded by local landowner David Drummond, the third Lord Madertie.
Innerpeffray Library in rural Perthshire has welcomed readers from all walks of life since 1680, when it was founded by local landowner David Drummond, the third Lord Madertie.
July 22, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Remarkable!
#libraries
#libraries
Reposted by Bob Henderson
#OtD 10 Jul 1914 27-year-old suffragette Rhoda Fleming leapt on the footboard of the king and queen's limousine in Perth, Scotland, and tried to break its windows stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8199...
July 10, 2025 at 3:56 PM
#OtD 10 Jul 1914 27-year-old suffragette Rhoda Fleming leapt on the footboard of the king and queen's limousine in Perth, Scotland, and tried to break its windows stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8199...
Reposted by Bob Henderson
James Hogg & Mikhail Bulgakov
In the latest @lrb.co.uk podcast, @marinawarner.bsky.social & Adam Thirlwell look at how James Hogg’s JUSTIFIED SINNER & Bulgakov’s THE MASTER & MARGARITA represent fanaticism, & ask why both writers used the fantastical to test reality
www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and...
In the latest @lrb.co.uk podcast, @marinawarner.bsky.social & Adam Thirlwell look at how James Hogg’s JUSTIFIED SINNER & Bulgakov’s THE MASTER & MARGARITA represent fanaticism, & ask why both writers used the fantastical to test reality
www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and...
Podcast: Marina Warner and Adam Thirlwell · Close Readings: James Hogg and Mikhail Bulgakov
London Review of Books
www.lrb.co.uk
July 2, 2025 at 5:17 PM
James Hogg & Mikhail Bulgakov
In the latest @lrb.co.uk podcast, @marinawarner.bsky.social & Adam Thirlwell look at how James Hogg’s JUSTIFIED SINNER & Bulgakov’s THE MASTER & MARGARITA represent fanaticism, & ask why both writers used the fantastical to test reality
www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and...
In the latest @lrb.co.uk podcast, @marinawarner.bsky.social & Adam Thirlwell look at how James Hogg’s JUSTIFIED SINNER & Bulgakov’s THE MASTER & MARGARITA represent fanaticism, & ask why both writers used the fantastical to test reality
www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and...
The British Museum Library was regarded by many, including Lenin, as the best in the world. This was due in no small part to the exhaustive collection of reference works available to readers on open access in its famous Round Reading Room.
(1912 plan showing arrangement of books.)
#libraryhistory
(1912 plan showing arrangement of books.)
#libraryhistory
![Plan of the Ground Floor of the Reading Room of the British Museum. "A Guide to the use of the Reading Room", London: [British Museum Trustees], 1912, p.50](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yhefjacgfk6k2b5ctyllyuns/bafkreidt5unwpn6sy3cgeyzlo5iuedycsys6cshory73l6akxmvvia6l6e@jpeg)
June 30, 2025 at 7:04 PM
The British Museum Library was regarded by many, including Lenin, as the best in the world. This was due in no small part to the exhaustive collection of reference works available to readers on open access in its famous Round Reading Room.
(1912 plan showing arrangement of books.)
#libraryhistory
(1912 plan showing arrangement of books.)
#libraryhistory
Many thanks. Brings back fond memories of evenings spent in the Room on duty behind the Readers' Enquiries desk.
For those who remember working at the Round Reading Room of the British Museum under the great rotunda, a recording from the BBC of what it sounded like -- the echoing voices, the footfalls, the trolley. Scroll down to 'British Library - British Library reading room...' tinyurl.com/4mpj3ctk
tinyurl.com
June 27, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Many thanks. Brings back fond memories of evenings spent in the Room on duty behind the Readers' Enquiries desk.
Reposted by Bob Henderson
I never stop using it
From the first newspapers established by Peter the Great to the fall of the Romanovs, the Imperial Russian Newspapers collection chronicles 189 years of Russian history. Available for free via Open Access here gpa.eastview.com/crl/irn
June 27, 2025 at 5:07 AM
I never stop using it
Reposted by Bob Henderson
300 Years of Libraries in Scotland
15 July, Edinburgh – free, ticketed
How do you like your books? Old or new? Paperback or hardback? Borrowed or bought? Take a trip 300 years into the past to hear how Scotland’s libraries evolved into what we know today.
www.ticketsource.co.uk/edinburgh-ce...
15 July, Edinburgh – free, ticketed
How do you like your books? Old or new? Paperback or hardback? Borrowed or bought? Take a trip 300 years into the past to hear how Scotland’s libraries evolved into what we know today.
www.ticketsource.co.uk/edinburgh-ce...
www.ticketsource.co.uk
June 27, 2025 at 1:09 PM
300 Years of Libraries in Scotland
15 July, Edinburgh – free, ticketed
How do you like your books? Old or new? Paperback or hardback? Borrowed or bought? Take a trip 300 years into the past to hear how Scotland’s libraries evolved into what we know today.
www.ticketsource.co.uk/edinburgh-ce...
15 July, Edinburgh – free, ticketed
How do you like your books? Old or new? Paperback or hardback? Borrowed or bought? Take a trip 300 years into the past to hear how Scotland’s libraries evolved into what we know today.
www.ticketsource.co.uk/edinburgh-ce...
Reposted by Bob Henderson
Beautiful Lower Largo, on the Firth of Forth shore of Fife, where Daniel Defoe found the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe. More pics and info: www.undiscoveredscot...
#Scotland #LowerLargo #Fife #EastNeuk
#Scotland #LowerLargo #Fife #EastNeuk
June 13, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Beautiful Lower Largo, on the Firth of Forth shore of Fife, where Daniel Defoe found the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe. More pics and info: www.undiscoveredscot...
#Scotland #LowerLargo #Fife #EastNeuk
#Scotland #LowerLargo #Fife #EastNeuk
Reposted by Bob Henderson
Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (@aseees.bsky.social) declared an undesirable organization by the Russian authorities
meduza.io/news/2025/06...
meduza.io/news/2025/06...
June 5, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (@aseees.bsky.social) declared an undesirable organization by the Russian authorities
meduza.io/news/2025/06...
meduza.io/news/2025/06...
Reposted by Bob Henderson
#OtD 5 Jun 1868 Marxist industrial unionist, James Connolly was born in Edinburgh to Irish parents. An advocate of Irish independence and a member of the @IWW Connolly was executed by British authorities following the unsuccessful Easter rising of 1916 stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/1053...
June 5, 2025 at 10:25 AM
#OtD 5 Jun 1868 Marxist industrial unionist, James Connolly was born in Edinburgh to Irish parents. An advocate of Irish independence and a member of the @IWW Connolly was executed by British authorities following the unsuccessful Easter rising of 1916 stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/1053...