iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Sarah Mead Leonard

Southern Minnesota Museum of Natural History @smmnh.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

A slab of rock containing multiple fish, found in the Green River Formation in Utah/Wyoming.

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Kate Strasdin @katestrasdin.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Purple polka dots shimmy across the surface of this dress, the fabric all that was required to create a decorative dress. Devoid of embellishment other than lace collar and cuffs, it holds its own in lavender shaded splendour. Late #1840s, Brussels Museum of Fashion and Lace #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡

Front view of a long full skirted gown with fitted buttoned bodice and pointed waist. The purple fabric has a woven repeat of polka dots

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Harry Frost @harryfrost.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Autumnal Discoveries - a collection of my fountain pen ink drawings on paper 🍂 Hand-drawn and created with my fountain pen and ink on paper ✍️ #fountainpen #inkdrawing #illustration #traditionalart #worksonpaper

A collection of my hand-drawn fountain pen ink drawings inspired by autumnal discoveries

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Suzanne Karr Schmidt @drkarrschmidt.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Seeing Double? Just met Kelly outside the Newberry, who is painting the Newberry!! Check out her other work on kellydawsonfineart.com. And remember, we have a select few artist short term fellowships for next year. Apply by December 4! www.newberry.org/research/fel...

Artist with long hair and a baseball cap painting the Newberry façade. What inspiration awaits when she goes inside!

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Aled Thompson @aledthompson.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Daily birds 77 - Greater lophorina

A black bird facing forward with its tail feathers spread out so it looks like an oval with a blue segment on its chest and above the eyes, an an open beak to show a yellow mouth

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Ohhhh yes excellent!!! Even better. Also now I want that paper in my life. Everyone should be writing more about hedgerows.

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I have another book chapter coming out in Feb 2027 that might be of even more interest - Morris and hedgerows! Landscape form and biodiversity in art!

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It's publication month! "Critical histories of the Arts and Crafts movement" is out October 20. More to come about book launch events, including a digital program with @morrissocietyus.bsky.social

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Reposted by Sarah Mead Leonard

British Transport Films Stills @btfstills.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

THIS IS YORK (1953)

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Reposted by Sarah Mead Leonard

Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

All glory to the Reduced Mouse

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

It also appears that the downstairs bedroom doesn’t have a ceiling? Love when my housemates can look directly down into my bed from their balcony bedroom.

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I'm having the same reaction to the aggressively tiled bathroom

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Reposted by Sarah Mead Leonard

Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

on fægerre Verona þǣr we leogedon ure gesyhðe

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Spotting from over the weekend, the walls with highly 1990s border papers are my favorite.

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

It looks like the NMAAHC collection search is working again and object pages are hosted on their website rather than a general SI site, unlike the Cooper Hewitt. I would be interested to know if previous collection links are still broken! nmaahc.si.edu/explore/coll...

nmaahc.si.edu

The Collection

Search objects from the museum's online collection and explore specially curated selections.

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I'm obsessed with the texture mixes on these, and the peeks of other fabrics on the skirts in 1 and 2.

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I’m wondering if anyone knew this was coming and we missed the bulletin, it feels out of the blue! And I get there being technical challenges with big digital transitions like this, but it feels like they could’ve done a better job at keeping people updated (and at not breaking every old URL).

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

National Portrait Gallery site also down, has anyone seen any messaging from the Smithsonian about these transitions and outages?

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Smithsonian Transcription Center also entirely down, but that might be related to their launch of a new website earlier this month.

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Looks like another example of the Smithsonian database shift breaking all previous links and citations. What a mess. And the NMAAHC website collections search is currently returning a 404 error! Not even linking to the centralized Smithsonian database!

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I noticed yesterday that the Cooper Hewitt collections search has transitioned to the general Smithsonian object database, which broke all previous links and citations. It’s a mess. But at least the CH website links to the SI database, which it looks like the NMAAHC website isn’t doing currently.

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Update now I’m walking to the store wearing a flannel shirt and a knit shawl and drinking a cup of tea!!!! I’m so happy it’s making me kind of emotional!!

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

My windows are open and I’m wearing a sweatshirt, our time is here!!!

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Reposted by Sarah Mead Leonard

WTTW - Chicago PBS @wttw.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

On Fridays at 8:00 pm beginning October 2, CHICAGO STORIES returns with four new documentaries that reveal the people, ideas, ingenuity, conflicts, and communities that helped shape Chicago. #ChicagoStoriesWTTW wttw.com/chicagostories

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Reposted by Sarah Mead Leonard

Abigail Swingen @abigailswingen.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Working on a book, article, or dissertation on #18thc British world? The Lewis Walpole Library offers 4-week visiting fellowships and 2-week travel grants for scholars. The deadline for applications is November 2. 🗃️ More info: walpole.library.yale.edu/fellowships/...

walpole.library.yale.edu

Visiting Fellowships and Travel Grants | Lewis Walpole Library

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Back again to say: all old links to the Cooper Hewitt collections database breaking is especially bad because lots and lots and lots of CH objects are on Wikimedia Commons. And now none of them have functional links to their catalogue records.

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The old Cooper Hewitt collection search was a mess at times because their collections data was itself a mess at times (see: some objects being identified as William Morris and others as Morris & Co.) but this new search retains those problems while also being difficult to use.

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Bless past me who usually recorded accession numbers, because I can still find my objects that way or with titles (hopefully) but like: what. a. mess. Especially for casual users!

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

lol I wondered if you'd see this... it's so bad, help

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

HAHAHAHAHAH guess what: entering "Morris & Co." breaks the search function (no ampersands allowed) and and All previous hyperlinks are broken

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

My complaints include: - There's no hyperlinking in the data, so I can't - for example - click through to see all Morris & Co. objects. - Somehow there's no data point for William Morris as designer? - The accession number is unclear, making it difficult to reference (which is why I was there).

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

At some point recently the Cooper Hewitt collections search moved from their website to the general Smithsonian collections search database and let me tell you, that discovery is ruining my afternoon!! Look at this object page. LOOK AT IT. www.si.edu/object/straw...

si.edu

Strawberry Thief | Smithsonian Institution

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Also when there was a major natural disaster in our hometown, my two cousins and I made a groupchat to share news and panic about whether we needed to travel home to rescue family members. One of them named it "Disaster Divas 💃" and that's the moment when we became actual adult friends.

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Quiet Bat People Ruskin Hates Horses (RIP I feel like none of us use that chat anymore) TigerClub (this is an Endeavour reference)

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Reposted by Sarah Mead Leonard

Biodiversity Pics @biodiversitypix.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

🦃 The six voyages of John Baptista Tavernier /. London: Printed for R.L. and M.P., 1678.. [Source]

Turkey illustration from historical archives

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Sarah Mead Leonard @smeadleonard.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

What an interesting window! Really lovely image of Shap Abbey, too.

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Reposted by Sarah Mead Leonard

Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Mabel Loomis Todd was a multitalented cultural figure. Among her passions was painting and her renderings of Indian Pipes--Monotropa uniflora, a favorite plant of Emily DIckinson's (www.emilydickinsonmu...)--inspired the design for the cover of the early editions of the poems

former exhibit in Emily Dickinson Museum featuring the career of Mabel Loomis Todd:

behind a row of books:
small painting of white Indian Pipes on black; light-colored plate with hand-painted lupines; photos of Austin Dickinson and Mabel Loomis and David Todd, and thumbnail of child propped up on a primitive World Typewriter (https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_849978)

in the foreground, a pencil on handwritten and typed documents
at left, the magazine, The Bachelor Arts

Indian pipes: white on black, mounted on a red-brown background

Amherst History Museum

scene from a class visit to Amherst College Special Collections:

on gray foam cradle, a volume of Dickinson's poems:

inside cover: Amherst College ex librir
flyleaf: inscription in ink in the year of publication:

To my father and mother
with love
Mabel Loomis Todd
Amherst,
November Eleventh, 1890

(at bottom inscription in pencil indicating that it came from daughter Millicent Todd Bingham)

on table:

lower left:
book cover, light green spine, vellum-covered boards with gold floral image:
In the Garden of Dreams

lower right:
book cover, light green spine, vellum-covered boards with gold floral image of Indian Pipes

Poems
Emily Dickinson
Third Series

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Reposted by Sarah Mead Leonard

Chapps @chapps.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Oddly, they don’t include photos of the cat and dog. Here’s ΖΜΑΡΑΓΔΙΝ (Zmaragdin, ‘Emerald’) the cat (who is appropriately on its own luxe pillow), and a leaping ΩΚΕΑΝΟΣ (Okeanos, ‘Ocean’) the dog. 📸 Anatolian Archaeology