iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

Thomas I-G @thomasig.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

"I've declared myself a traitor by mistake!"

113730

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

Brodie Waddell @brodiewaddell.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It was somewhat delayed, but we've now got a booking link for Rosamund Oates's talk on deafness on Thursday! Sign up here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

history.ac.uk

Silent Histories: Deafness in Early Modern England

12115

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

🌬Breeze @cool-summer-breeze.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

This is the Stolen Neighbors Quilt. Each of the 11,000 squares represents a person taken by ICE in Minnesota.

123123385250

Emily Cockayne @rummage.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

So ... after a hiatus I am back with the challenge of recreating the covers of books I've read and loved using recycled materials. The project was paused for a year while I was in Aarhus for a Research Fellowship. All the fellows picked a book that was important to their work, and I chose this one:

152

Emily Cockayne @rummage.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

More crowdsourcing: the same census return, what are the words crossed out here and replaced with 'Housekeeper Domestic'?

110

Emily Cockayne @rummage.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Crowdsourcing census 1911 help. In the final column for “infirmity” what might the two crossed out words be?

201

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

Charlie Lynch @charlielynch.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Historian looking for freelance work. I’m a very experienced RA, I’m looking for anything really that might help me pay my bills, because in general my profession does not, and no one will let me try doing anything else…

04554

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

That might include works in which each chapter is counter chronological, restarting later at the beginning of each individual chapter or section, or ones where the whole book starts later and ends earlier. I was thinking, for example, of @rummage.bsky.social's excellent history of recycling.

101

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

Leon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Researching today, I came across a tiny textile scrap in an 1800 writ of attachment. (Details on the case in alt text). Any fashion, fabric, dress, or material culture historians know what textile it might be? Thanks! 🗃️

A writ of attachment from 1800, issued on behalf of Boston attorney Thomas O. Selfridge against his client Sarah Freeman, an African American woman, who owes him $12 in unpaid legal fees. The writ is a printed form, completed by hand, in the lower portion is a tiny scrap of textile.

Selfridge’s bill against Freeman for helping her prosecute Nancy Princess and Hitty Little, neighbors of hers and also African American, as well as for writing and presenting a petition on her behalf to Boston’s Court of General Sessions of the Peace

53615

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Big thanks to David Hendy, @cathamclarke.bsky.social, and @rummage.bsky.social for their kind words on Sniff: A Hidtory of Smells, out 8th September and pre-orderable from all good bookshops. yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...

Black text on white background that reads ‘"A deeply researched, revelatory and hugely entertaining sensory odyssey.
Sniff hopscotches nimbly across centuries and
continents to take us to some wonderful and terrifying places
—ancient Rome, medieval
China, the Shakespearian stage, the Victorian city, the trenches of the Great War, a modern funeral home-and reveals the myriad ways that smells evoke danger, pleasure, memories, places, bodies, in fact are the very stuff of life. Brilliant."-David Hendy, author of Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening’

Black text on white background that reads: "Tullett invites us to follow our noses into history, discovering the fascinating stories behind smells past and present. This is a stunning book full of
surprises and revelations-and always alive to the politics of scents and stinks across history and today."—Catherine Clarke, author of A History of England in 25 Poems

Black text on white background that reads: "Sniff explores sensory landscapes, evoking newspaper ink, old books, and the chemical tang of new cars. This profound, sweeping history reveals how powerful scents have defined human
experiences."—Emily Cockayne, author of Penning Poison: A History of Anonymous Letters

1101

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

Fiona McLees @mclees-fiona.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

A question for something I’m thinking of: what diseases might 19th c brick-makers be susceptible to? Silicosis perhaps? (Not thinking of injuries now but other risks from the job)

283

Emily Cockayne @rummage.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

From 1 August, I will be Professor of Material and Textual Cultures – not bad for a first-gen lass who, in the late-1980s, was instructed by the school careers adviser to ‘aim to be a telephonist’, because ‘historian is not on our list of careers’. Chuffed!

8321

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

Anita Hoffmann @17cmedicalwomen.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

#earlymodern mystery berry. Does anyone know what Debanto berries was or the plant/tree they came from in the 17th century? SP 29/373 f.17.

053

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

Leon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Interesting post-colonial ephemera: in 1780, Massachusetts Justice of the Peace Joseph Gardner was still using blank recognizance forms mentioning King George and Great Britain, all of which he neatly crossed out. Paper was expensive and couldn’t be wasted! 🗃️

A printed blank form with certain words neatly crossed out.

66113

Emily Cockayne @rummage.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Crowdsourcing handwriting help: So, the writing is disguised, so it complicates things a little, but what are your best guesses for this name?

962

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Or should VCs and the academic members of their senior teams instead be required to lead and teach 1 undergraduate module per term/semester, including all module admin and marking? Non-academic members of SMTs could all annually take a module, completing all assessments. Serious counterproposal. 3/3

128525

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

Katie Lumsden @katiejlumsden.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

I get a lot of AI slop book marketing emails, but this is the first time I have ever been . . . mistaken for Jane Austen.

882475657

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

Dr Duncan Robertson @duncanrobertson.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

I checked this too. *20 seconds* of Reform logo display. *No other* party logo displayed. In local election purdah. This is not normal. At all.

551268505

Emily Cockayne @rummage.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

1. Blood & Brutality 2. Georgian 3. Witchcraft 4. Palaeography 5. Specialist Tutorials 6. Intro to E.Mod Europe 7. Society, Politics & Culture 8. Historical Research Skills 9. Stuarts (L) 10. Adaptations (L) 11. Env Hums (S) 12. Doing History (L) 13. Age of Extremes (L) L/S Lectures/seminars only

030

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

Daniel Bellingradt @dbellingradt.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

These strange color decisions of the 1560s do have a background story. A short 🧵 for #bookhistory.

A detail from a title page from 1562: the image shows a table with various brushes and various mixing flasks. A few of the flasks are hand-colored.

311236

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

Cecelia Cancellaro @ceceliacancellaro.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Thrilled about this new grant we are offering for under-represented early career scholars. The first cycle is for scholars in history and area studies. Please spread the word widely. @universitypress.cambridge.org ********************************* Read more here: 🔗 cup.org/4pF5xvr

cup.org

Amplifying voices

New Cambridge grant to help under-represented scholars publish

07671

Emily Cockayne @rummage.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Bois Durci plaque, France c.1857 from powdered sawdust (rosewood or ebony) & slaughterhouse blood, steam-heat hydraulically pressed to look like carved hard wood. An ethically complex compound, but my favourite 19thC plastic. These were sometimes stuck onto pianos to make them look more high-end.

120

Emily Cockayne @rummage.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Context help! I’m trying to fix a possible date on this papier mache snuff box. I *think* the words are “Playing at Hazar”. Anyone got any leads? I suspect the box is e19thc and possibly American.

231

Emily Cockayne @rummage.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

The modern plastics story develops here, with billiard balls. A $10,000 competition in 1863 ramped up experimentation. These English-made 'Crystalate' (cellulose nitrate) balls, sold by Burroughes & Watts, date from the early interwar period. Fears that they could explode were eventually quashed.

1102

Emily Cockayne @rummage.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Monix Ivorine Sandwich Flags tell a story about plastics use c. 1930. Monix specialised in printing onto plastic; the company also made tags for garden plants. Possible sandwiches offered: 'cress', ham & tongue, sardine. Reuseable & wipe-cleanable, they straddle the fripperies/utilitarian divide.

170

Emily Cockayne @rummage.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Halex Xylonite 'Cloth Brush', from the late 1930s. Made by the British Xylonite Company, an early plastics manufacturer, based in Hale End, Walthamstow from 1900. This is one of the objects that forms part of the collection I am using for research for my project at AIAS, Aarhus this year.

040

Emily Cockayne @rummage.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

Back to watercolour sketching, after to-ing and fro-ing to collect plastics for my project here in Aarhus. This cameo brooch is made from early thermoplastics, a melted down set of false teeth. The pink (gum) part is vulcanite, the ivory (tooth) cellulose nitrate - two plastics I am researching.

160

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

Sarah Wise @misssarahwise.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Should you find yourself in the general Peterborough area, I'm giving a talk in aid of the John Clare Cottage appeal on Sat 15 Nov, 3pm www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/inconvenie...

eventbrite.co.uk

Inconvenient People: Madness, Misdiagnosis & the 19th Century

Join Sarah Wise for a talk on Victorian 'madness', misdiagnosis and John Clare - supporting the Clare Cottage thatch appeal.

12720

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Yarvin is a full-blown techno-fascist and the fact that the University of Oxford sees fit not only to platform him but to give him the floor entirely should sound the loudest alarm bell it's possible to sound about the number of elite fascist sympathizers in the UK right now.

14116

Emily Cockayne @rummage.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

I live in Denmark at the moment, so haven’t been able to see my new paperback. Back for a flying visit, here she is at Waterstones, on the shelf two books away from PV Glob’s book on bog bodies — which I read as a (morbid) child, sparking my interests in history and Denmark!

0100

Emily Cockayne @rummage.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

Handwriting help needed! What is this place or institution in Lambeth in 1862?

120

Emily Cockayne @rummage.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

Penning Poison is out in paperback soon! Exciting!

150

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS) @aiasdk.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

🎉Welcome at AIAS today:3️⃣4️⃣ fellows start in either an individual fellowship, in a theme group or in a tandem fellowship. They arrive from diverse research areas with explorative projects to be hosted and transformed at AIAS in an #interdisciplinary, #international community aias.au.dk/events/show/...

aias.au.dk

Welcome to 34 new fellows at AIAS

Arriving from around the globe and from Aarhus University on 1 September, 34 new AIAS fellows have their first day at AIAS to embark on cutting-edge research projects, becoming a part of the transform...

191

Emily Cockayne @rummage.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

One more in the series 'is this the same person many years apart?' What do we reckon?

130

Emily Cockayne @rummage.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

Another is this the same person a few years apart. Is he even wearing the same suit? This one is from Swansea, taken in the same photography studio:

520

Emily Cockayne @rummage.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

Does anyone think these photos could be of the same woman, a few years apart?

620

Emily Cockayne @rummage.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

Objects of Poverty edited by @joeharleyhistory.bsky.social & Vicky Holmes, is out in just over a month. It includes a chapter by me about cobbled together whistles. The cover features one of my whistles plus a bonkers barometer. Pre-order your copy! www.bloomsbury.com/uk/objects-o...

084

Emily Cockayne @rummage.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

I last had time to sew in November. I'm trying to get back into it. I'm bad at faces, so apologies to @arifa.bsky.social for my version of the cover of your amazing book (which I loved so much). Rules : I reuse materials I already own / I can't spend longer sewing than reading

030

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

Daniel Bellingradt @dbellingradt.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

And what about the word "HOMO" (in which all letters are crossed out except for the "M"), including a small "z" as part of the M, you may ask? That's easy and tricky, and here I need a bit of your help.

1223

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

Anna Cusack @annacusack.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Bit later than some, but happy to have finally finished my marking and have had a little holiday up in Scotland. If anyone knows of any teaching opportunities next academic year. Or if anyone needs a freelancer to do some archival work, please get in touch.

2206

Reposted by Emily Cockayne

Melanie Williams @britfilmmelanie.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

As one of the UEA eight, I think this is a very important question.

196021