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Francesca Hillier

@frannabel2010.bsky.social
160 followers 50 following 142 posts

London mum, likes cats, museums, archives & indexing. Senior Archivist, British Museum

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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
#OTD in 1933 the short-lived #BritishMuseum tube station in High Holborn was closed. #LondonTransportMuseum recently donated some cancel ticket punches from the station to the British Museum #archive, & shared charts showing the different shapes of the punches for each station. Thank you LTM!
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
#OTD in 1915 #stonehenge was sold at auction to Cecil Chubb, as a present for his wife. 2 years earlier, John J.Astor negotiated with owner, E. Antrobus to buy it with the intention of presenting it to the #BritishMuseum through C.Hercules Read. Chubb ended up presenting it to the nation. #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Going through the Museum’s archive to catalogue it we are finding interesting things. From Keeper AW Franks’s (large) scrapbook of printed ephemera - this caught my eye due to the beautiful hand-printed paper amongst the somewhat random newspaper snippets! #britishmuseum #archives #printedephemera
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Spectacular! #britishmuseum #bayeuxtapestry
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
#britishmuseum has history with #cats. Keeper of MSS, Frederic Madden had a cat called Mouton in the 19th C & Wallis Budge had Mike in the early 20th. Then came the BM Cat Society in the 1970s when 100+ cats were on site. Cats appear in the #archive too, in an autograph book! #internationalcatday
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
#GeorgeOrwell was born #OTD in 1903. Here is his application to read in the #BritishMuseum reading room in 1937, and his signature in the signing in book, using his given name of Eric Blair. #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Today is #WorldGiraffeDay. Here are giraffes on display at #britishmuseum - they were first on show in the late 1810s, here painted by George Scharf, & then photographed in 1875 by Frederick York. #archives #giraffes
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
John Thurnam’s 1830s-40s scrapbook, in the #BritishMuseum #archive, includes images & drawings detailing his deep interest in standing stones, & in #Stonehenge in particular. Happy #SummerSolstice.
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
#Dracula by Bram Stoker was published #OTD in 1897. Here is his application for a reader’s ticket in 1905, including his reference, & his signature in the signing in book when he attended on 15th July. #BritishMuseum #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
#MaryAnning was born 227 years ago this week. Here is a letter she wrote to the #britishmuseum in 1829 offering a #plesiosaur fossil for sale. It was purchased by the Museum & here it is displayed in 1875. It now can be seen at the #NaturalHistoryMuseum here in London.
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Born #OTD in 1859, #ArthurConanDoyle visited the #BritishMuseum reading room for the 1st time in April 1891. Here is his reader’s application & signature from when he attended. #archives #sherlockholmes
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Looking glorious at the British Museum with the beautiful silver birches & plants on the forecourt! Taking pictures for the #archives ! #britishmuseum share.google/oJknyOMnFH2s...
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
#EYAHandwriting There are hundreds of thousands of letters & written documents in the #BritishMuseum #archives - these two, from the early/mid-19th C are especially challenging to read! #EYA
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Sir EJ Forsdyke announced that staff could have a 2 day paid holiday when Victory in Europe was announced in 1945. The #BritishMuseum was badly damaged during #WWII - here are the before and after views of the Central Saloon after the Blitz in 1941. #VEDay #OTD #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Happy 100th Birthday to #SirDavidAttenborough. A Trustee at the #BritishMuseum from 1980 to 2001, here are some lovely pictures from our #archives Very many happy returns!
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
#Archive30 #WhyArchives Without #archives the #BritishMuseum would have little idea of its history, or who has worked there over the years. Judith Stanley was 1 of the 1st female employees & in 1756 our accounts show her employment & the wages book shows she accepted her salary with a X.
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
The Archive Team at #BritishMuseum held 75 #ArchiveOutreach events in the last 12 months. We love showing the archive collection! #Archive30 #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
#Archive30 #ArchiveBeginnings The earliest document on the foundation of the #BritishMuseum in the #archives, this is a 1738 extract from the Will of Arthur Edwards relating to the Cotton Library (1 of the 3 founding collections). Dudley Ryder, Attorney General, gave his advice & signed the document
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
The 1st public cafe opened in #BritishMuseum in 1866 on the right of the main stairs. This pewter tankard was used there & Sophia Horsley’s menu, (from #NHM archive), shows what was offered later in 19th C. We also had a nice staff canteen, here in the 1960s & ‘70s! #Archive30 #ArchiveFoodandDrink
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
#Archive30 #ArchiveVolunteers We have quite a few volunteers in the #BritishMuseum #archives & they are invaluable in supporting the work we do. We offer archive tours & presentations during Volunteer Fortnight & one of our longest-serving volunteers is helping me sort out ‘the box’!
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
The #britishmuseum #archives holds the business records of William Duesbury of the Derby China Co, founded in the mid-18th C. It includes the records of the Bow & Chelsea Porcelain Manufactories - here are some documents & designs from the papers. #Archive30 #BusinessArchives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
#Archive30 #ArchivePeople There are many items in the #BritishMuseum #Archives relating to staff, visitors & more. Here is Dr Gowin Knight, the 1st Principal Librarian, the 1st Porter, Mary Bygrave (long-serving housekeeper) & 2 boys in the galleries in 1954!
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Today would have been Queen Elizabeth II’s 100th birthday. Her Majesty visited the British Museum more than 20 times, including to open the Tutankhamun exhibition in 1972. Happy Birthday to her Royal Highness. #britishmuseum #archives #otd #QueenElizabethII
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
There are lots of plans in the British Museum archive including these, from a guidebook in 1961, a from a design plan for the new building in 1838, & from a suggested design by Charles Barry for the new reading room in the 1850s. #Archive30 #ArchivePlan #britishmuseum #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
It’s 145 years this April since the natural history collections moved from British Museum to the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. Photographed in Bloomsbury in 1875, it took 90 days to move it out by horse & cart! Now a separate institution , happy birthday NHM! #britishmuseum #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
#Archive30 #ArchivePresent Donations reported to the Museum’s Trustees were recorded in the Book of Presents from its foundation in 1753 & here is the Museum with a presentation bow to celebrate its 250th anniversary in 2003. #britishmuseum #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
#Archive30 #ArchiveStorage This is the magnificent new storage at the #BritishMuseum facility BM_ARC in Reading which houses the Museum’s archaeological assemblages & associated archive. #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
#Archive30 #ArchiveConservation Here is an image from the restoration & conservation of the Round Reading Room ceiling, part of the Great Court millennium project, & an original design drawing for the windows by Sydney Smirke from 1856. #britishmuseum #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
#Archive30 #UnusualArchives This is the childhood autograph book of Dame Kathleen Kenyon from c.1918. She was an eminent archaeologist, Museum trustee & had lived at the Museum when her father was Director. It’s full of notes & sketches, some of which are quite unusual! #britishmuseum #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
#Archive30 #ColourfulArchive These lovely coloured pages of hand printed & embossed paper are from Lady Banks’s Dairy Book, her study of her collection of china kept in her dairy at Spring Grove. #britishmuseum #archives #arascot
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
#Archive30 #SomethingBig This is the biggest item in the #britishmuseum archive. It’s a phased site plan for an archaeological excavation at Mucking in Essex from the 1970s. Staff feet in the image for scale! #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Catching up on #archive30 with #ArchiveAnimals. Here are the stuffed animals on display on the staircase of Montagu House in 1845 & the natural history galleries in the new building, photographed in 1875. #britishmuseum #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
A little behind on #archive30 but this pamphlet from the Frederic Kenyon archive on the game of #football at Winchester College in 1876 is an early account of the rules of the game & is a great entry for #sportarchives #britishmuseum #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
Love this decorative #britishmuseum fire bucket. Made of leather, it was part of the Museum’s fire protection (with its own firemen) in Montagu House & on view here in the front hall. We have a few buckets in the collection but this is the oldest. #archives #exploreyourarchive #londonfirebrigade
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
This is the recently conserved 1753 foundation deed of the British Museum, where Hans Sloane’s executors vest his collection into the hands of the Trustees. It’s now safe to be viewed & exhibited after being permanently folded since the 1750s. Harwell have done a great job! #britishmuseum #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
Suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst requested a reader’s ticket for the #britishmuseum reading room in 1908 to study women’s employment. In 1914 the Suffragettes committed an ‘outrage’ in the Museum & women’s entry was then restricted temporarily by the Trustees. #internationalwomensday #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
#britishmuseum #archive holds very many references to women: the earliest recorded female visitors in 1762, Angelica Kaufmann paid to paint on Derby china in the 1790s, an 1857 photo, Beatrix Potter & women employed after the law for Civil Servants changed in 1921. #internationalwomensday #women
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
When #britishmuseum 1st opened visitors applied to the Principal Librarian for tickets to be guided around. By 1801, the PL thought the task too onerous & an attendant was employed to take it on. John Thompson was the 1st official museum guide & used a manual to assist him in his role. #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
On World Book Day, where better to celebrate than the glorious Round Reading Room of the British Museum! Here’s a design image from the Illustrated London News in the 1850s, a photo by William Lake Price in 1855 & Smirke’s design for the windows. #worldbookday #britishmuseum #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
In celebration of the Year of the Horse, here are some lovely horse images from the @BritishMuseum archive: Charles Townley’s archive on the Ribchester Hoard, & a slip from a registration catalogue of a Japanese horse figurine. #britishmuseum #archives #yearofthehorse
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Born #OTD in 1812, #CharlesDickens visited the reading room of the #britishmuseum on 11th October 1839. Here is the page from the register showing his attendance. #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
The #BritishMuseum opened to the public for the 1st time #OTD in 1759. Happy 267th anniversary! Here is the Trustees’ Minute where the date was agreed & the design for the tickets needed to get in. #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Sir Hans Sloane died #OTD in 1753. His collection became the foundation of the #BritishMuseum, as well as the #BritishLibrary & the #NHM in #London. Here is the Deed of Foundation & an engraving of the Museum’s 1st home, Montagu House. #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
#OTD in 1863 the London Underground 1st opened to the public. The #BritishMuseum had its own station in High Holborn from 1900-33 & used the tunnels at Aldwych for storage in WWII. #londontransportmuseum #archives #londonunderground
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
It doesn’t snow in London very often but the Museum looks glorious when it does! #archiveadventcalendar #WinterWonderland #britishmuseum #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
Love this photo of a Christmas tree in the Front Hall of the Museum from a few years ago! #archiveadventcalendar #festivetraditions #britishmuseum #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
There were many fireplaces for #warmfires in the #britishmuseum staff residences - here is WA Marsden (Keeper of Manuscripts) & his son in No.1 West Residence in 1935 & the Director’s sitting room, also in the West Residence in the 1970s. #archiveadventcalendar #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
When the Sir Montague Guest archive came to the Museum in 1906 it was sealed for 50 years. When it was opened, it contained a lot of party and dancing invitations. He must have attended many parties at Christmas! #archiveadventcalendar #ChristmasParty #britishmuseum #archive
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
There is some lovely archive material in the collection relating to the bell & bell-shrine of St Conall Cael, including an original drawing from the 1830s & an illustration by former BM illustrator Jim Farrant. #archiveadventcalendar #bells #britishmuseum #archives
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Francesca Hillier @frannabel2010.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
The #britishmuseum #archives has a lot of hand printed and embossed paper, often used to wrap archival documents and papers. These are particularly lovely examples, from Lady Banks’s Dairy Book of Oriental China from the early 19th C. #archiveadventcalendar #wrappingpaper
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