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Oliver Walton

@oliverwalton.bsky.social
112 followers 153 following 36 posts

Historian, archives and digital humanities. Naval, maritime, royal, social; Britain and Germany. History in academia, museums, archives and beyond.

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Reposted by Oliver Walton
Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Pleased to see an article by Bob Shoemaker and myself now out in Social History: The geography of Old Bailey crime prosecutions, 1720–1820 www-tandfonline-com.sussex.idm.oclc.org/doi/full/10.... The underlying work was supported by @londontopsoc.bsky.social
www-tandfonline-com.sussex.idm.oclc.org
Shibboleth Authentication Request
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Museums Association @museumsassociation.org · 05/05/2026
News | National Museum of the Royal Navy launches new name and visual identity 'Royal Navy Museums' branding will be rolled out over two years
museumsassociation.org
National Museum of the Royal Navy launches new name and visual identity - Museums Association
New visual identity as Royal Navy Museums will be rolled out over two years
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Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
If you have children, if you have anything to do with education, if you are somehow active in politics: stop what you are doing and read this article about the harm AI can do to adolescents. reclaimchildhoodmedia.substack.com/p/the-cost-o...
reclaimchildhoodmedia.substack.com
The Cost of No Friction
Adolescence happens once.
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Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
I'm talking about perfume and its histories on the BBC World Service today on The History Hour at 14:06 (I think I'll be on at like 14:16). You can also find the episode here (I'm on 10 minutes in, after the section about the Osmotheque): www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
bbc.co.uk
The History Hour - The world’s first perfume archive and Dutch car-free Sundays in the global oil crisis - BBC Sounds
Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes
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Jaakko Björklund @jaakkob.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Out now! ”The Business of War in the Early Modern Baltic Sea Region, 1530–1765” is available Open Access via Helsinki University Press (link below) and can be purchased in print version. @profmurdoch.bsky.social @anulah.bsky.social @helsinkiupress.bsky.social hup.fi/books/e/10.3...
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Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
A call for papers. This looks like it will be a great conference: www.rmg.co.uk/call-papers-...
rmg.co.uk
Call for Papers | Maritime Histories from the Margins: People, Places, and Practices, 1500–Present
An interdisciplinary conference co-convened by Royal Museums Greenwich and the Centre for Port Cities and Maritime Cultures, University of Portsmouth
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Anyone going to National Archives (TNA) Kew in the near future? I need a replacement photo of one page in a ship muster list .... #NavalHistory
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
Read this. It’s not just germane to schools.
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COPP Survey @coppsurvey.uk · 13/03/2026
🆕 In 1944 while carrying out daylight recce near Lovište in then Yugoslavia (now in Croatia), COPP's George Talbot found himself unable to avoid an encounter with an older local civilian. 81 years later, thanks to historian Ivan Pamić, we're able to name him: Stipan Srhoj. #NavalHistory 🧵
Post-war colourised photograph of Stipan Srhoj, courtesy of Ivan Pamić.
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Jim Ambuske @jimambuske.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Wonderful as always to join @kawulf.bsky.social to talk about Martha Washington, the importance of doing good history, and what it takes to bring the past back to life. @inpursuitusa.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/inpursui...
open.substack.com
Martha Washington and In Pursuit
A recording from In Pursuit's live video
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Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
All those conferences I have participated in with top officials with very concerned faces going on and on about soft power and countering Chinese influence, Russian disinformation, it is all terrible, etc… Guys. Fund. The. BBC.
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Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
My book about Britain ends with a memory. Of the first time I ever worked at Broadcasting House as a guest commentator, what that meant to me, and what the BBC means for 🇬🇧’s place in the world. The idea that the World Service could end is awful, and frankly embarrassing for the British Government.
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Lit Hub @literaryhub.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
“AI giant Anthropic ran a massive program called Project Panama where they spent tens of millions of dollars to hoover up used books, which they then sliced, scanned, and pulped.”
buff.ly
Anthropic didn’t want us to know that they were destroying millions of books to feed their software.
Companies making machine learning and generative software aren’t just metaphorically ripping off books. In at least one case, they’re rather literally shredding millions of physical books to …
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Dr Matt Pope @mattpope.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
🚨 We have heard that the County Archaeologist for Hampshire is being made redundant, with no plans to replace him. 🚨 If you live in Hampshire please write to your MP and Councillors. If you live elsewhere treasure and support your County Archaeologists, and stand by to protect them. 🏺
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drjostanley.bsky.social @drjostanley.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
My new book has arrived already. On sale from Thurs 19 Feb. You may want to help charity by ordering it it via the Marine Society: lnkd.in/eR8_Nr9D. 😊
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BSECS @bsecs.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Need more #18thC in your life?? OF COURSE YOU DO! Click below for an incredible programme of events from our friends @cecs-york.bsky.social #skystorians #18thC 🗃️ www.york.ac.uk/eighteenth-c...
york.ac.uk
All Events - Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies, University of York
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Join us on Wednesday for Philippa Hellawell (The National Archives), 'The Ship Bedford: Atlantic and Archival Crossings in the Long Eighteenth-Century Slave Trade', at the Institute of Historical Research, London and on Zoom, 11 February, 5:30 pm. Free and open to the public. Booking link below.
history.ac.uk
The Ship Bedford: Atlantic and Archival Crossings in the Long Eighteenth-Century Slave Trade
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The British Academy @britishacademy.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
The International Fellowships 2026 scheme, run with the @royalsociety.org, supports international early career researchers to undertake a two-year research career with UK partner organisations. Find out more and apply ahead of 11 March deadline: bit.ly/3LaMIBC
A colour block banner with the words 'International Fellowships 2026' written on the left-hand side.
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BSECS @bsecs.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
***DEADLINE EXTENSION TO THE 2 MARCH*** We are extending the deadline for applications for the #BSECS-BECC award to the 2 March. £400 to support research using Birmingham's extensive #18thC resources held across the city @unibirmingham.bsky.social #skystorians www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/cen...
birmingham.ac.uk
BECC-BSECS Postgraduate Fellowship - University of Birmingham
The Birmingham Eighteenth-Century Centre and the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies run an annual fellowship.
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Annie Gray @dranniegray.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Apparently The Kitchen Cabinet #BBCTKC official compendium (which I wrote in 2021 and very much enjoyed) is out in paperback this year. Double woop from me as a) it's jolly good fun and b) means I continue an unbroken run of something releasing every year since, um, a WHILE. Buy from real shops etc.
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Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
Perhaps still the best general purpose explainer of how an LLM works and the one I give to students. Here’s why I like it (short🧵): ig.ft.com/generative-ai/
ig.ft.com
Generative AI exists because of the transformer
The technology has resulted in a host of cutting-edge AI applications — but its real power lies beyond text generation
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Politics and Culture of the Late Stuart Court, 1649-1714 @stuartsymposium.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
We are absolutely thrilled to share our Draft Programme for the Late Stuart Court Symposium - We have an amazing lineup of speakers! If you are interested in joining us in-person or online, sign up now using our Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1980806533...
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James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Does anyone know... A set of microfilms of historic UK Parliamentary papers (Command Papers etc) were scanned as part of a JISC-funded project a decade or more ago. Website appears to be dead. Looks like Southampton Uni members can still get at them - can anyone else?
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Elaine Murphy @plymprivateer.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
BCMH New Researchers is Maritime History conference will be in Southampton on 17/18 April this year -CFP now open - details and submission link here www.maritimehistory.org.uk/new-research... #maritimehistory
Poster for New Researchers in Maritime History Conference CFP
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Society for Court Studies @courtstudies.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
CfP "Clio Reframed: Women Writing History, 1500-1750" exploring the role of women as writers of 'history' including chronicles, drama, and verse narratives An interesting link to our 2026 conference theme "Storytelling at Court"! 🗓 Proposals due 28 Feb 🗓 Conference 18-19 June 📍Oxford University
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Brooke Newman @brookenewman.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Out today: THE CROWN'S SILENCE I'm delighted to share that my new book is officially out! It traces the British monarchy's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade and colonial slavery over hundreds of years. Please buy a copy, tell your library, & spread the word. bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
The cover of The Crown's Silence: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery in the Americas--out TODAY with Mariner!
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drjostanley.bsky.social @drjostanley.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Women making a life at sea may not have always identified as working-class (just as upper servants ddn't). But on ship they worked seven days a week. And gendered discrimination created obstacles. See their story in my new book, out Feb 19. 👍 www.amazon.co.uk/Seafaring-Wo...
Book cover showing painting of woman c 1900 in souwester, walking on wet deck of sailing ship. She's happy and serious, carrying binoculars and gazing out at sea
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Dr Meg Kobza @fancyhistorian.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
This Author has the privilege of sharing the tale of Mrs Catherine Perceval with avid readers & riotous revellers alike. The Author hopes this will satiate the ton's boundless appetite for gossip. For now. yalebooks.co.uk/the-real-mas...
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Avi Lifschitz @diderotesque.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
📣 Calling all experts on 18th-century Britain! Apply for this fantastic job by 15 Feb. 📣 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQE665/a...
jobs.ac.uk
Associate Professorship in Eighteenth Century History at University of Oxford
An opportunity for an academic position as a Associate Professorship in Eighteenth Century History is available, as advertised on jobs.ac.uk. Apply now and explore other academic job openings.
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ContempraInn 🌹 @contemprainn.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Oops 😼
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Reuters @reuters.com · 20/01/2026
LIVE: Canadian PM Mark Carney addresses World Economic Forum in Davos youtube.com/live/WIEHAhf...
youtube.com
LIVE: Canadian PM Mark Carney addresses World Economic Forum in Davos
YouTube video by Reuters
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Dr Vanessa @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Fascinating essay on *why* some cultures are terrified of reheating rice and others just...do it every day. The justification cycle - racialised thinking, call to science, appeal to long past and/or 'traditional' wisdom - seems universal for this sort of food story #histFood
open.substack.com
Grain of Terror
Why is the Western world so afraid of reheating rice? Joe Zadeh reports. Illustration by Ibrahim Rayintakath
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Kevin Schofield @kevinschofied.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Amazingly, Zahawi only got round to deleting the below after the press conference announcing his defection to Reform.
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History: The Journal of the Historical Association @hisjournalha.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
#Skystorians #History Job opportunity: @histparl.bsky.social are recruiting a Research Fellow for their 1660-1832 House of Lords project; initially for 3 years; would suit historian of long 18th century; deadline 16 Feb, see historyofparliament.com/2026/01/12/v...
historyofparliament.com
Job Vacancy: Research Fellow, 1660-1832 House of Lords - The History of Parliament
The History of Parliament are excited to advertise for a research fellow to join our House of Lords 1660-1832 project.
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Linford Fisher @linford.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Academic and Native friends, please share this CFP and/or consider submitting a proposal! The organizers would love perspectives from outside the academy as well. www.historic-deerfield.org/call-for-pro...
historic-deerfield.org
Call for Proposals —  350th Anniversary of King Philip's War/Metacom's Rebellion - Historic Deerfield
Historic Deerfield is hosting a one-day conference next year to commemorate the 350th anniversary of King Philip’s War/Metacom’s Rebellion, with the goals of helping a broad audience learn more about ...
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Spirit_blues ⭐️ @spiritblues.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
I know its a long shot but to rub salt into the wounds of yesterday my youngest left his scarf somewhere at the match yesterday. Got a load of badges on from this seasons Home games. Hes gutted. Any reposts appreciated in the hope it might be recovered.
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Acadiensis @acadiensis.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
CFP posted on the blog - Memories of Erasure: The Lost Villages of Eastern Canada 16th-21th Century For more information:
acadiensis.wordpress.com
CFP: Memories of Erasure: The Lost Villages of Eastern Canada 16th-21th Century
Call for papers Memories of Eresure-Appel à contributions Mémoire de l’effacementDownload
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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 05/01/2026
Applications are also invited for a new RHS programme for 2026, co-hosted with @ihr.bsky.social and @chalkefestival.bsky.social. 'Pitch my Project' is for early career historians to present their research at the Chalke History Festival in June bit.ly/44kfUMM. Closing date: 6 February. #Skystorians
bit.ly
Pitch my Project: an opportunity for early career historians to present their work at the Chalke History Festival 2026 - RHS
Have you ever wanted to share your research with a wide audience? Would you like to gain experience in public speaking, and be supported to develop imaginative ways to communicate your research to the...
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Prof. Elaine Chalus @profelainechalus.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
I'm wondering if anyone knows of books/articles on society/society & politics in late 18th century/French Revolutionary Ratisbon/Regensburg (in French or English). I'm not having much luck finding anything. All suggestions welcome. #skystorians #c18th 🗃️
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Paula McGowan OBE @oliverscampaign.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
#Oliverscampaign We didn’t suddenly create more neurodivergent people. We finally started listening. Diagnosis is not a trend, it’s visibility, understanding, and long overdue recognition
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Adam Crymble @adamcrymble.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
👑 The King's Dinner 🍰 will be out this June. It's our attempt at a truly digital history monograph. Our goal is to tell history. Our approach was to apply digital humanities methods to our historical questions. I think we've done a good job, and I hope you like it. uclpress.co.uk/book/the-kin...
uclpress.co.uk
The King’s Dinner
The King’s Dinner is about what it meant to be British at the end of the eighteenth century. Drawing on a large, open dataset of two royal household kitchen ledgers, the authors study the role and inf...
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Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
Helen Esfandiary giving a great paper on elite maternal authority over the care of children in the context of the professional medical market place in the 18th c. @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social
A woman standing at a podium delivering a lecture. A power point is on the right
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Robbie Richardson @londonmikmaq.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
Hopefully more to come home after this— my nieces were among the Indigenous people privately shown some of the Vatican’s collection of Native items over 3 years ago at the Papal apology for residential schools and there were lots more than objects.
cbc.ca
Vatican returns Indigenous cultural items to Canadian delegation of Catholic bishops | CBC News
A century-old Inuvialuit kayak once used for beluga and whale hunts, and 61 other cultural objects from First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities have long been held in Vatican Museums vaults. But th...
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The Historical Journal @historicaljnl.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
📣Out now on #firstview! Rachel Rich, Lisa Wynne Smith (@historybeagle.bsky.social), Sarah Fox (@sarahfoxhistory.bsky.social) & Adam Crymble (@adamcrymble.bsky.social) on 'Self-Fashioning, Food, and Masculinity in George III’s Monarchy' #FoodHistory 18thc 🥧🥦🍞🗃️ 👉 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
George III was a family man, a modest eater, and a thoughtful ruler who wrote about the big questions of the day, from royal sovereignty to the best methods of agriculture to feed a modern nation. His writings provide a glimpse of his version of monarchy, which placed him at the head of a national family, where he embodied the habits of self-regulation and temperance in keeping with the sensibilities of late eighteenth-century manhood. This article brings together George’s meals and his essays, considering the histories of food, masculinity, and self-fashioning, to argue that George was a monarch who embodied a new form of masculinity, as marked by his agricultural interests and insistence on a modest diet. His eating habits, along with his intellectual interests and public persona, bring us to the intersection between the private man and the public monarch. Drawing on newly digitized data, alongside contemporary caricatures and descriptions, and George’s own writing, we argue that moderation was central to George’s creation of an image that appealed to the emerging British nation of the late eighteenth century; food was central to this image, highlighting both his masculine self-control and his ability to be useful to the nation.
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The English Oak Project @thekentacorn.bsky.social · 19/10/2025
The border between Cantwara rīce (Kingdom of the Kentish) & Sūþseaxna rīce (South Saxons) is still the border between the counties of Kent & Sussex A 1,400 year old ditch created to stop conflict, by marking the border to avoid confusion, is our southern woodland boundary
A 1,400 year old ditch
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
'In his new book, Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found, Graham-Dixon puts forward a revolutionary theory about the work of an artist whose genius is rarely disputed. Right or wrong, it is a theory that will change the way people look at that famous pearl earring'.
observer.co.uk
Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring finally gets a name
Historian Andrew Graham-Dixon has a radical new theory about the life and beliefs of the Dutch master
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Dr Meg Kobza @fancyhistorian.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
It's not Masquerade Monday, BUT! 'The Masquerade: A History of Extravagance and Intrigue' is now available for pre-order & you can get 25% off through Friday! www.waterstones.com/book/the-mas... If you think Bridgerton will be juicy, just wait til you get your hands on this 😏🤫 #18thc
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