Sign in

Faye McLeod

@saffiemcleod.bsky.social
102 followers 100 following 35 posts

Archivist and Records Manager, Balliol College, Oxford. All opinions here are very much my own.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 02/12/2025
“Have Yourself A Merriam Little Christmas” Merriam, a career-oriented lexicographer from the city, returns to her small town for the holidays and meets Webster, a ruggedly handsome librarian, who shows her the true DEFINITION of Christmas.
10139941053
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
Not at all. Happy to admit to misadventures with Cointreau
000
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
Having never drunk neat Archers, I don't know
100
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
Is that the orange one?
100
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
Have you been at the peppermint schnapps again?
110
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
Ok, not if you follow the "language is constantly evolving" argument, but ykwim
100
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
Words have solid definitions and meanings, Brannan
200
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
For one horrible moment, I thought you were doing this irl and announcing it to the world
120
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
Hi Hugh. I'm sorry, but I am no longer the archivist for Keble. My successor is Peter Monteith. Please contact him at archives@keble.ox.ac.uk
110
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Maria J Pérez Cuervo @mjpcuervo.com · 22/10/2025
Parents, please check your kids’ candy this Halloween. I’ve just found an ancient metal whistle with the inscription “QUIS EST ISTE QUI VENIT" inside a Snickers bar. I blew it and heard a note of infinite distance, and now I’m haunted by a figure in pale, fluttering draperies. Be safe.
Snickers bar and a metal whistle
10251931353
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Daniel F Gosling @thegozfather.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
A lovely endorsement on the back of this deed, "this deed was cancelled by cause it is forged" TNA C 147/1097
Dorse of a deedA deed
2267
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
Rainbow over Holywell Street, Oxford
030
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Rebecca Menmuir @rebeccamenmuir.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
Accidentally took the mathematically perfect shot of our local cat.
3667
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
🫣
020
Reposted by Faye McLeod
H e t e r o t o p ia @artsofexistence.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
Insult your local politicians, even your friends, like a true Shakespearean!
46219
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
Congrats!
010
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
I adore 'East Lynne' - it's so fantastically trashy! The stage version is even more over-blown. I've never been able to work out what edition my copy is
Front cover of 'East Lynne' by Mrs Henry WoodTitle page of 'East Lynne' by Mrs Henry Wood
110
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
Same here earlier this week!
Blackthorn bush with sloes
120
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
Today is the 47th anniversary of this clearly unimprovable photo, from a story so absurd that it shouldn’t be true, but is: the day a team of workers from British Waterways pulled the plug out of the Chesterfield Canal, and all the water emptied out
A man with a spectacular 1970s mullet, wearing big wellies and a v-neck jumper over a T-shirt, looks at camera as he stands on a boat which is itself standing on the muddy bottom of an empty canal. He is holding up an enormous wooden plug on a long chunky chain
612578938
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
The price of sloe gin
Photo of a scratched forearm
010
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
Struggling to believe the sloes are ripe so early this year, but they are soft and have their waxy coating. Time to make gin (and worry about the weather)
Photo of a blackthorn bush with fruit
010
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Heather Froehlich @heatherfro.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
ok cool not a big deal at all
32816
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Aaron Tay @aarontay.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
[Blogged] The AI powered Library Search That Refused to Search - From Clarivate's Summon to Primo Research Assistant, content‑moderation layers meant mostly for chatbots are "quietly" blocking controversial topics from being searched aarontay.substack.com/p/the-ai-pow...
aarontay.substack.com
The AI powered Library Search That Refused to Search
From Clarivate's Summon to Primo Research Assistant, content‑moderation layers meant mostly for chatbots are "quietly" blocking controversial topics from being searched
26750
Reposted by Faye McLeod
inthefade @ihavethatonvinyl.com · 29/07/2025
good morning. on the blog today, a piece i wrote in 2003 about love, marriage and what happens when "i love you" becomes meaningless to only one of you. it's about witnessing the end of someone else's relationship. please read to the addendum at the end michelecatblog.wordpress.com/2025/07/29/i...
michelecatblog.wordpress.com
i love you. i know.
when words ring hollow [i originally wrote this in 2003, please see footnote for an update] I know this couple. They have been married long enough to have accumulated children and a complete set of…
2203
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Twonks @twonks.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
En garde
352711265
Reposted by Faye McLeod
University of Illinois RBML @illinoisrbml.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
Have you ever seen a book made entirely of silk? One item getting a lot of reading room attention recently is this "Livre de Prières." This book was manufactured with the Jacquard process, which relied on perforated punch cards to operate a loom, and is considered a precursor to early programming.
Book opened to highly illustrative title pageClose up of highly-illustrative page of textClose up image of the word "Christ" woven from silkClose up image of silk fibers forming the letter C
12346128
Reposted by Faye McLeod
The Fake History Hunter @fakehistoryhunter.net · 22/07/2025
Time to update... nay downdate your slang!
719935
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
Ooo more!
Fabric samples pinned to a large piece of paper
000
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
Completely charmed by these fabric samples found in a file of Sir Louis Mallet's papers relating to Anglo-French trade agreements 1826-1877 #BalliolArchives
Four labelled squares of white linen on top of an old envelope
110
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
I dare you to whisper this bsky.app/profile/ccur...
120
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Rebecca Menmuir @rebeccamenmuir.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
Whispering different possibilities for pronouncing 'Boger' in the manuscripts reading room like I'm playing a weird version of Bogies
251
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
bsky.app/profile/will...
092
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
Oooo. Goody. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Warwickshire council boss vetoed Reform's Pride Flag removal request
Reform UK accuses Warwickshire council's chief executive of a "coup d'etat" in a Pride flag row.
010
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
I have been looking forward to this
A copy of a book titled "Book and Dagger", held on a person's lap, with a cat in the background
120
Reposted by Faye McLeod
David Veevers @davidveevers.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
Archive Monday: love these ink drawings from MS Tanner 118 in the Bodleian. Skeleton representing death with various scenes of a moralistic nature. Dress suggests late Elizabethan / early Jacobean. Scenes include royal court, hunting, duelling, trade/banking, religious/political persecution.
2269
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Jess M. F. Hughes @jessmfh.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
TIL AI is not only stealing our archives, it’s killing them. www.404media.co/ai-scraping-...
404media.co
AI Scraping Bots Are Breaking Open Libraries, Archives, and Museums
"This is a moment where that community feels collectively under threat and isn't sure what the process is for solving the problem.”
03718
Reposted by Faye McLeod
The Fake History Hunter @fakehistoryhunter.net · 20/06/2025
61898
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Helen Dafter @historyhelen123.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
Working on file appraisal today. The first file I picked up had the unholy trio - elastic bands, post its, and metal fastenings 😬
1122
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
PADS?
110
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
Dirty lard.
000
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
A great chance to get out some of my favourites from the @ballioloxford.bsky.social archives and show off the catalogue conversion project.
A long table loaded with archival documents and booksThe oldest admission book in the Balliol College ArchivesA laptop alongside a notebook belonging to Benjamin JowettAn antique atlas open at a world map
031
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
Whoop! Congratulations!
000
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Old English Wordhord @oewordhord.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
þyrel, n.n: hole. (THUE-rell / ˈθy-rɛl) Image: De natura rerum; E France, 9th century; Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, Msc.Nat.1, f. 26v. #OldEnglish #WOTD
A hole in a page of a medieval manuscript reveals a dragon on the page beneath.
14616
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Peace at last
A beautiful black cat, sitting on her less-glamorous owner  who is wearing cloggies and doesn't care.
010
Reposted by Faye McLeod
The Rubaiyat of Victor Kiam @phantomcorsair.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
When I searched to see if Mary Shelley and Jane Austen could have met in Bath, Google AI informed me that they were, in fact, sisters...
Google AI Overview saying (correctly) that 'Jane Austen and Mary Shelley were both famous female novelists in the early 19th century', and then adding (quite erroneously) that 'They shared a mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, who wrote The Vindication of the Rights of Women.'
47657212
Faye McLeod @saffiemcleod.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
A damp, but fun Oxford Pride
020
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Old English Wordhord @oewordhord.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
lǣwede, adj: lay, i.e. not learned, not of the church; by gradual change of meaning it became modern English ‘lewd’. (LAE-weh-duh / ˈlæː-wɛ-də) #OldEnglish #WOTD
02510
Reposted by Faye McLeod
University of Reading Special Collections @uorspeccoll.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
‘The feminine monarchie…’ by Charles Butler revolutionised beekeeping in 1609 by confirming the queen bee existed. It also includes musical notation of bee’s drones, recipes for marmalade, and descriptions of bees building little wax chapels in their hives! [Bee Coll. Cotton 01]
An open book held in hand, showing musical notation of the sound of bees.An open book held in hand, showing a recipe for marmalade
1282
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Museum of Natural History, University of Oxford @morethanadodo.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
This Friday the Museum is open late for our Summer Late Night event. Both we and the Pitt Rivers Museum will be open until 10pm (free ticket required for entry) where we will have a host of activities, talks, tours, poetry, and film as well as a cash bar!
1156
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Balliol College, University of Oxford @ballioloxford.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
Balliol is delighted to announce that the Mastership of the College has been offered to Professor Seamus Perry, who has accepted and will assume the role in July 2026. www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/news/2025/ma...
Professor Seamus Perry
153