iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen

Rosa Schling @rosaschling.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Were you involved in childcare campaigns or community childcare between 1970 and 2010 in England? I'm looking for people who'd like to contribute their memories and experiences to my research on the history of activism around early childhood education and care. If that’s you please get in touch!

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Before job centres existed, public librarians helped unemployed people find work by displaying the “situations vacant” columns inside their reading rooms or on noticeboards outside the library building. Ralph Hedley Seeking Situations (1904) On display at the Laing Gallery in Newcastle.

A painting showing men of various social classes clustered around newspapers on large wooden stands. A woman can also be seen looking at the stands. There is an impoverished-looking man, shabbily dressed, in the foreground. He is walking away from the stands, an air of desolation about him that suggests he has not found a suitable opening. The painting depicts the inside of the original New Bridge Street public library building in Newcastle.

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

The Whitechapel Gallery barely acknowledges the rich history of the Whitechapel Free Library, which previously stood alongside it (the gallery bought the library building c.2009). At least the library memorial stone remains, a poignant reminder of a lost world of civic pride and autodidact cultures.

An oval stone (marble or marble-effect) listing the names of those involved in a ceremony to mark the opening of the new Whitechapel Library and Museum on 27 July 1891.

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

LIBRARIAN. I was quite overcome with office envy at the Newcastle Lit & Phil! #adoorable

Half-open turquoise painted wooden double-door with white lettering reading LIBRARIAN. Behind the door there is a desk piled high with papers.

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Tynemouth Branch Library. Opens in 1953. Closes in 2020. Patiently awaits refurbishment in 2026.

An unused library building, now falling into disrepair with cracks in the paintwork. There are colourful posters in the ground floor windows. One of them announces “A thriving North Tyneside”. The original 1950s library signage remains in block capitals on the stonework but the letter O is missing.

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Monday-morning desk & bookshelf envy. This is John Nettlefold’s study at Winterbourne House in Birmingham. Nettlefold was a town planner & businessman, his aesthetic sense influenced by the Arts & Crafts movement.

A photo showing the green baize surface of a wooden desk, with an inkstand, blotter, sketches, and stand-up telephone on top of a daily paper.

Rows of bound volumes on wooden shelves. Scientific instruments are placed on top of the shelves. The wall above is papered in a William Morris-style red patterned paper.

The study desk from the front, showing drawers for storage. One drawer is open. A wooden inkstand and a green reading lamp are visible from this angle.

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Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen

Kat @byekitty.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

happy International Archives Day! if you would like to make archives happy you could do worse than with some online volunteering for me – look at pictures! read 19th century minutes! very straightforward, very satisfying, no commitment necessary. www.sal.org.uk/about-us/vac... (scroll down)

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Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen

Irish Studies@LivUni @irishinstitute.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

"Men We Seldom See - Irish Migrant Legacies and the British Construction Industry" We are looking for Irish migrants who worked in any aspect of the British construction industry for at least one year, and are willing to be interviewed. ℹ️ www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie.... #oralhistory #SpéirGorm

liverpool.ac.uk

Men We Seldom See | Institute of Irish Studies | University of Liverpool

Research project at the Institute of Irish Studies looking at Irish Migrant Legacies and the British Construction Industry

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Thanks Christina! It was such a great night - some interesting new research leads too.

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

I gave a talk about female public librarians at the University Women’s Club in Mayfair tonight. The whole evening was fabulous. The audience asked fascinating questions, and we had a really thought-provoking Q&A. But my favourite part of the night was the pleasing retro signage on arrival.

Old-fashioned wooden stand holding a black pinboard sign reading DRAWING ROOM. LIBRARY IN CONVERSATION WITH MICHELLE JOHANSEN. The letters are white plastic, all caps.

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Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen

Mass Observation Archive @massobsarchive.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

It’s nearly time for our national diary day! Every 12th May we ask people to write down what they got up to. This year we’re also really interested in experiences of nature and wellbeing, as well as what else you get up to on the day! #diary #journal #nature #skystorians #write #Archive

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Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen

Mass Observation Archive @massobsarchive.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

If you weren't able to make it to our online talk yesterday with Stella Moss and Phyllis Macfarlane from @amsruk.bsky.social (and kindly chaired by @historitage.bsky.social), do not fear! You can catch up on all you missed on our YouTube channel! www.youtube.com/playlist?lis... #skystorians

youtube.com

The Way We Lived Then Post ‑War to the 1970s – Gender, Generation and Change - YouTube

A series of talks exploring the ways that women's drinking habits and use of pubs has changed from the Second World War to the 1970s and how different consum...

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Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen

Jane Hoodless @janehoodless.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Being into plants/ natural remedies/ folkloric stuff (plus the social history of pockets), I recently conceived FOUR POCKETS FOR SEASONAL FORAGERS & learnt a little more about foraging while embroidering them. I started the cycle with AUTUMN, & stitched poke root, burdock, poke berries, & hawthorn.

An Autumnal-coloured pocket based on a C17th design to be tied at the waist and embroidered with several seasonal plants.

Close up of an Autumnal-coloured pocket based on a C17th design to be tied at the waist and embroidered with several seasonal plants.

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Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen

Vale & Downland Museum @valeanddownland.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

This box of curiosities was collected by Dr Gains as a child in Brightwalton between 1870 and 1899. It contains shells, nuts, seeds, glass, pins, rocks, buttons, teeth, carved ivory, and more! #Archive30 #UnusualArchives

wooden box with two layers contain a variety of different objects

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Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen

Kate Garner @kategarnermusic.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

A beautiful day yesterday performing my William Morris song for William Morris Day at @antiquaries.bsky.social I met wonderful people including @erikocreativity who created her own William Morris Kimono with his famous quote written on the back (see photo) #WilliamMorris

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

No Kate, thank YOU for the wonderful performances! It was such an uplifting event. These photos are great too!! You both look fabulous.

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Julie, I am so very sorry for your loss. Look after yourself. All other words are useless at this stage xx

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Of interest to Belle da Costa Greene fans!!! In 1912, Greene was celebrated as “the most up-to-date” librarian type. The US media gleefully hailed the Morgan library manager as the antithesis of the longstanding cliche of a “dried-up” old male librarian 💙📚

Two typewritten paragraphs from The Librarian and Book World, Vol. III, No.1, August 1912.

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Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen

British Library @britishlibrary.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Apply for our PhD placement scheme to get involved in extraordinary research at the Library. There are eight available placements exploring a variety of themes including war poetry, 21st-century digital tools, illustrated newspapers and decarbonisation. Find out more: link.bl.uk/PhDPlacements

The front page of the Daily Graphic newspaper published Saturday 25 August, 1917, featuring portraits of 'Women in the Order of the British Empire', including Lady Byron, the honourable Mrs Alfred Lyttelton, Her Majesty the Queen.

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Can anyone get me a job in the editorial offices of the ‘The Librarian and Book World’ in 1913? Imagine reading through the submissions for this prize scheme for librarians. Glossary! Machine-set Catalogue!! Bookbinding!!!! Pure library heaven #PubLibs 💙📚

A brief typeset announcement for an essay prize scheme, aimed at librarians, under the heading ‘Library Bindings’. Prizes include ‘FOUR GUINEAS for the best article on Library Bindings’.

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

19C librarians devised all manner of ingenious apparatus to make their institutions more efficient. Here’s a pioneering form of rolling stack to streamline storage systems at the British Museum, now the British Library. From the Library Chronicle, Vol. III (1886) #AlphabetChallenge #BforBooks 💙📚

Line drawing of a group of book cases. Each case is comprised of six shelves lined with bound volumes. The shelves are attached to a metal, gridded ceiling using ingenious fixings. These fixings act as runners to allow the shelves to be moved easily, using the handles shown.

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Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen

Matt Houlbrook @tricksterprince.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

If only there was a recent book about what Seven Dials was like in the first part of the twentieth century. Oh, hang on... manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526181954/

manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk

Manchester University Press - Songs of Seven Dials

Songs of Seven Dials - Browse and buy the Hardcover edition of Songs of Seven Dials by Matt Houlbrook

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Everyone needs a Northumbrian mini-break. The porpoises should clinch it…

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

i tried my best but they wouldn’t allow me access on account of the butter all over my fingers…

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

It’s another bitterly cold day. You’ll find me in the library at Alnwick Castle, flicking through a heap of literary journals in a desultory manner, occasionally gazing up at that STUNNING ceiling - planning to demolish a plateful of buttered toast & tea any minute now 💙📚

A sumptuously-furnished, private library in a Northumberland stately home. Bookshelves line the walls. Three highly-polished round wooden tables have easy chairs placed beside them upholstered in ivory or turquoise fabrics. At the far end of the vast room, a real fire blazes in a marble fireplace. The ceiling is a riot of expertly-carved plasterwork.

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Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen

Sarah Wise @misssarahwise.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

‘It was not in his nature to do anything by halves:’ Mary Booth on her husband’s work. No lie detected. I run a course that demystifies Charles Booth’s massive Life & Labour survey and the accompanying Poverty Map. Starts Tue 13 Jan at the Mary Ward Centre, nr Stratford High St DLR short.do/wLa3Vc

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

New Year’s Resolution. Always wear a hat to visit the library. Homburg, bowler, flat cap, no matter. As seen here in the new reading room at the Kensington branch building in Liverpool c.1900 #NYE #PubLibs 💙📚

Wooden tables and chairs in a large reading room, sparsely furnished. There are bookshelves behind a library issue desk on the right. The table in the foreground is empty. Others are occupied by readers, all white men, in suits. Everyone is hunched over a book - and wearing a hat.

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

I’m researching those librarians who were employed in public libraries. Yes, they were called up or volunteered. Many librarians survived WW1, returning to their jobs after the conflict. Roles were kept open for them - & their institutions made much of their heroism in fighting for king & country.

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

Salisbury Cathedral Library, founded in 1445. The library collections date back to the 1100s. The chains originally used to secure the precious medieval manuscripts to the shelves now form an eye-catching display beside the librarian’s desk 💙📚 #chainedlibrary

A plastered wall with lengths of looped metal chains hanging vertically from a horizontal rod.

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

In the 1870s, George Gissing & his brother William were furious at the ‘scandalous condition’ of #PubLibs in England, contrasting progress unfavourably with the USA - where every town had ‘its excellent Free Library’. From Letters of George Gissing to Members of his Family (1927). 💙📚

A white man in a suit sits at a writing desk. He has thick, wavy hair swept back from his face. One hand is held up to his chin. The other holds a pen with which he writes on a sheet of paper. There are books in a pile beside and in front of him. A caption reads: George Gissing, May 1901.

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Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen

Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 11/12/2023

Thinking about the 130 or so British librarians killed in WW1. Their colleagues raised funds to create a lasting memorial to their sacrifice. Sadly, the tablet they commissioned is now displayed behind the scenes at the British Library, visible only to staff. #fwwhist #PubLibs 💙📚

Photo of a stone tablet with five columns listing the names & institutional affiliations of approx 130 British librarians killed in WW1. The tablet border is inscribed “IN MEMORY OF THE BRITISH LIBRARIANS FALLEN IN THE WAR MCMXIV-MCMXVIII”.

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

CLOSED. My second failed attempt to visit the Morrab Library in Penzance last month. Founded in the early 19C, the library is one of only around 60 independent libraries still in existence in the UK (& the only one in the whole of Cornwall). I did admire this cute sign on the front door though.

Close-up photo of painted red door showing a weathered wooden sign stating CLOSED in faded black letters on a white background.

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Here I am, caught on camera at #HistDay25 getting over-excited about the fact that a 1960s folk-rock band named themselves after a medieval legal document!! I was at the event with my fab @antiquaries.bsky.social colleagues & we chatted to over 100 students & history-lovers. A truly inspiring day.

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

Manchester, Norwich & Winchester were pioneers - but many other regions had to really battle to get the act adopted esp in London. Once the libraries opened though they were universally well received & almost always over-subscribed from the off. Crowd control was often needed!

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The Society of Antiquaries of London @antiquaries.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Do you dare stare into the eyes of spooky child this Halloween? Take your chance today at our Haunted by the Past event until 3.30pm today! www.sal.org.uk/event/haunte...

A creepy portrait of a child with a rattle.

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Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen

Institute of Historical Research @ihr.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

1 week to go until History Day - don't forget to sign up! Read about why History Day is such a fantastic event in this blog by Claire Langhamer: buff.ly/ySfBuWR #HistDay25 @senatehouselib.bsky.social

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

1850. The Public Libraries Act means councils in England & Wales can now spend local taxes on libraries. Some London regions are VERY slow to adopt the act. St Pancras rate-payers object to “wasting” money on “showy luxuries”. Fifty years pass before a free library opens in the district #PubLibs 💙📚

A typed hand bill, printed c.1900. Under the title “FREE PUBLIC LIBRARIES” SCHEME IN ST PANCRAS, opponents of free libraries in this central London region set out four reasons for their opposition.

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Matt, you spoke beautifully last night! I’m part way through my copy of Songs of Seven Dials and really gripped by the stories & characters. East End history, West End backdrop.

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Utterly fascinating talk. Exciting new book about 1920s and 1930s London (and beyond). I’ll never refer to ‘interwar’ again. Sadly no #PubLibs featured at the event but we were surrounded by beautiful art books & you can’t have everything ha ha.

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John Simkin @johnsimkin1945.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

I left school at 15 without qualifications but educated myself via the Harold Hill library and ended up with three university degrees.

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

I’ve been discovering David Ackles via Mark Brend’s beautifully-written biography. Down River (2025) details the curious recording career of a relatively unknown US singer songwriter in the late 60s & early 70s. Elton John was a fan. Sadly, no #PubLibs are featured in the biog. Excellent otherwise.

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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 27/09/2025

Also published this week in 'Transactions of the Royal Historical Society' "Us and Them: Disability Ethics, Oral History and Inclusive Praxis in the Reuse of Asylum Photography", by Alana Harris & Laura Mitchison bit.ly/4gH9e0f What are the ethics of historical research using asylum photography?

First page of new TRHS article: 'Us and Them: Disability Ethics, Oral History and Inclusive Praxis in the Reuse of Asylum Photography'

Abstract in full
‘Us and Them’ is a community history project and artistic collaboration exploring physical and intellectual disability and mental illness, in the past and present. It is part of a broader initiative to open out wider conversations about the history of psychiatric care in Epsom (Surrey, UK) and to explore ways in which medical histories, creative engagement strategies and oral history praxis can illuminate the instability of contemporary understandings of ‘healthy minds’ and ‘normative bodies’. This article charts our recent reuse of asylum photography and the restaging of wet-plate collodion portrait making, opening out key ethical questions about our complicity as consumers of historical sources, the role of re-enactment and empathy, and the place of the haptic and the ludic in exposing the porous and precarious boundaries between ableism and disability. Exploring our own vulnerabilities and solidarities in co-producing a public history project with our disabled artist collaborators, it offers insight into our evolving ‘micro ethics’, foregrounds lived experience perspectives, and offers some initial thoughts on ways to rethink critically some core tenets of oral history methodology.

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Can’t wait to read this Matt - and I’ll be at the event too. Look forward to seeing you then!

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Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Any excuse! It’s so wonderful isn’t it?

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