iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

What a fitting (almost) end to two years in York! Taking the Student Salon cabinet that @laurenworking.bsky.social and I created with amazing students through @uoyenglishrl.bsky.social on an outing to the Merchant Adventurers Hall was the icing on the cake 🍫🍰

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Erika Gaffney @erikagaffney.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

New episode of the Royal Studies Network podcast - Host Susannah Lyon-Whaley interviews @laurenworking.bsky.social on her newly published book, A Golden World, which illuminates how the Americas became a visible and material presence in English culture. www.buzzsprout.com/1934722/epis...

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Sarah Bendall @sarahabendall.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

Truly honoured to receive these endorsements for my forthcoming book from historians who I so admire & whose work has inspired my research @lauragowing.bsky.social @juliehardwick.bsky.social @susannah-lw.bsky.social To read more & pre-order @bloomsburyfashion.bsky.social see the links in my bio!

A beautifully written, lively, and compelling exploration of the army of female workers from stylists and budget managers to milliners, seamstresses, and laundresses who were behind the fabulous clothing of seventeenth-century queens.
Julie Hardwick, the University of Texas, USA

Carefully researched, deftly analysed, and a pleasure to read, Sarah's book makes a much needed and very valuable addition to work on Stuart queenship. It sheds a bright light on the previously unexplored lives of the numerous women who feature in the queens' accounts thereby revealing their skill, ingenuity and business acumen.
Maria Hayward, University of Southampton, UK

A wonderfully illuminating view of the women behind the Stuart throne. Dr Bendall's archival research into the tirewomen, milliners and mantua-makers who created the queenly wardrobe reveals a hidden world of female artisanal skills, fashion expertise and impressive economic competence.
Laura Gowing, King's College London, UK

A monumental shift in the foundations of studying royal dress. Queens and tradeswomen speak to one another, discussing silhouettes and silks, romance and revolution. The creative and labouring hands meticulously stitching, sourcing, and caring for queens' clothes are as worthy of our attention as the powerful bodies their work adorned.
Susannah Lyon-Whaley, University of York, UK

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Can't wait to see our #StudentSalon cabinet in action in the classroom for the first time later this week! Seems like the perfect time to reshare @laurenworking.bsky.social's blog post on why we created this with student partners over the summer blogs.york.ac.uk/student-salo...

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

It was a delight to discuss 17th-century queens and their global worlds of nature at the @oxfordcourtstudies.bsky.social seminar last night. Thanks to @hannasinclair.bsky.social for the invite, to those who came and were so generous with their time and knowledge, and shared their own inspiring work!

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

Found in a 1915 article. I think I will use this going forward.

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

One week till I'll be speaking on the Stuart consorts and their global entanglements @oxfordcourtstudies.bsky.social. Please come if you can!

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

'Before William Wordsworth’s imagination had wandered, lonely as a cloud, and before John Keats’s nib had quivered with notions about nightingales, a Black woman named Phillis Wheatley was circulating a treasury of nature-inspired verse in London.'

observer.co.uk

Phillis Wheatley, the first Black nature poet | The Observer

Enslaved as a child, the 18th-century writer became the first published Black woman – and a pioneer of nature poetry whose legacy still inspires

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Love the look of @marloavidon.bsky.social and Ælfred Hillman's CFP for a late Stuart court symposium in April in Cambridge. Please share widely! ❤️

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

Sharing this petition to save Art History in Aotearoa New Zealand secondary schools. petitions.parliament.nz/a1acf19a-72f... Enjoy Rita Angus's stunning view of Central Otago, 1953-56/1969, oil on canvas. Te Papa (1972-0030-1)

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

Autumn skies outside = the perfect time to read 2nd-year @uoyenglishrl.bsky.social student Eva Newell's blog post on cinnamon 🍁 What does Hailey Beiber's cinnamon girl make-up trend have to do with Voltaire's El Dorado? blogs.york.ac.uk/student-salo... @laurenworking.bsky.social #StudentSalon

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

This is tonight at 8pm UK time! Please send an email if you'd like to join!

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

Again and again, the response @laurenworking.bsky.social and I received from #StudentSalon workshops was how much handling objects meant. As Rachel Hogue, MA student at @cecs-york.bsky.social says: 'Objects of the past, after all, aren’t just for looking.' blogs.york.ac.uk/student-salo...

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Back into research after attending Attingham Trust's 'New Perspectives in Country Houses' course, and channelling Jane (photo from the amazing Austen/Turner exhibition at Harewood House, in collaboration with @cecs-york.bsky.social @jenniebatchelor.bsky.social @chloewigstonsmith.bsky.social )

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Bugs in salons?! Recent University of York graduate Mumia Douse-Bah's blog explores the colonial context of bugs and recounts a flea on a salon attendee's breast that spurred a 'poetic frenzy' 🐛🐜 @uoyenglishrl.bsky.social @laurenworking.bsky.social #StudentSalon blogs.york.ac.uk/student-salo...

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

We have some thought-provoking student blog posts for the #StudentSalon project - this one on trade beads is by Daisy Glassett-King, a third year student in @uoyenglishrl.bsky.social blogs.york.ac.uk/student-salo...

blogs.york.ac.uk

All the Small Things: Salons and Trade Beads in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Britain – The Student Salon Project

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

The #StudentSalon project website is live! It's been incredible working with @laurenworking.bsky.social and students over the last few months to put together this cabinet of things to help explore 17th/18th-century salon culture from a global/decolonial perspective blogs.york.ac.uk/student-salo...

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Lauren Working @laurenworking.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

Over the summer, students worked with me & @susannah-lw.bsky.social on the #StudentSalon project, where they helped us assemble a cabinet of 17th & 18th century objects. Our webpage is now live and full of incredible, student-led resources - please check it out! blogs.york.ac.uk/student-salo...

blogs.york.ac.uk

The Student Salon – The Student Salon Project

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

If flowers are your thing - @zarakesterton.bsky.social, Tori Champion and I run a growing network on Women and Flowers. This month Michele Leggott and @deleifd.bsky.social are speaking about their beautiful book Groundwork. Details below or email womenandflowersnetwork@gmail.com to join us!🌷

Book cover for Groundwork: The Art and Writing of Emily Cumming Harris

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Chloe Wigston Smith @chloewigstonsmith.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Off to an exciting and fascinating start to a day on Women’s Worlds, on global spaces in 17th and 18th century Britain. Thank you to @susannah-lw.bsky.social & @laurenworking.bsky.social for bringing together so many interesting perspectives and research from universities, museums & heritage sites.

Cover page of programme for the Women’s Worlds symposium.

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

Thanks to Thin Ice Press and @georginaemw.bsky.social @wordsmith.bsky.social for an enlightening three days of material thinking! If I have learned anything it is that there is there is no end to matter and 'digressions are sunshine'!

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Lauren Working @laurenworking.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Cabinet assembly day for our #StudentSalon @uoyenglishrl.bsky.social! With @susannah-lw.bsky.social and our marvellous student partners Mumia, Rachel, and Daisy.

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

Congratulations @eilishgregory.bsky.social and Michael Questier for putting together a great volume!

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

What did empire and global goods have to do with literary sociability and 17th/18th-century salon culture? Watch this space for what our students find!

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

Check out my short article in the June issue of BBC History exploring how 17th-century women found out about new plants growing overseas 🌺🌷🌻 pocketmags.com/bbc-history-...

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

My exhibition A Queen's Book of Flowers is now on at the Thin Ice Press in York 🌺🌻 Featuring Henrietta Maria and John Parkinson's Paradisi in Sole (1629), women and foreign plants. Today, an accompanying workshop making bookmarks!

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Lauren Working @laurenworking.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

An afternoon at Thin Ice Press for @yorkfestofideas.bsky.social, with a chance to hear more about Marie Curie postdoc @susannah-lw.bsky.social’s work on 17th century women, botany, print. With a little print resurrection of the potato of Canada…

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

What a treat to meet the lovely Anna Thornton from AUP in person at RSA!

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Helen Smith @wordsmith.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

An amazing find at York's Bar Convent. (Top tip: the cafe is also excellent!) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Rare medieval rolled manuscript found in York Bar Convent archive

Fewer than a dozen of the documents have ever been discovered, York's Bar Covent says.

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Plants and People 2025 conference @people-plants-2025.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

We are delighted to announce our #CfP for 'Plants and People: the cultivation and propagation of botanical knowledge among non-professional communities, c.1600–1800'! Please email your abstracts (300 words) and bios to @zarakesterton.bsky.social @lucyjhavard.bsky.social, by 14 March 🪴

A 17th century Dutch painting of pink roses, carnations, cornflowers, and narcissus. The text reads: Call for Papers. Plants and People: the cultivation and propagation of botanical knowledge among non-professional communities, c.1600–1800. University of Cambridge, 8–9 July 2025.

Text reads: This interdisciplinary conference will examine botanical knowledge exchange among early modern individuals at the periphery of professional science. We will focus on women, domestic workers, artisans, merchants, and enslaved and indigenous naturalists who used plant knowledge in their everyday life, yet did not (or could not) derive a living primarily from botany.

Over the course of this conference, and a subsequent publication, we intend to address the following questions:
What kinds of people and spaces fostered botanical knowledge outside of traditional institutions of learning?
What role did embodied experience play in the acquisition of botanical knowledge?
What did the social networks of these practitioners look like, and how did this overlap with or differ from the networks of professional scientists?
How was the knowledge of these non-professional practitioners valued (or devalued) by their contemporaries?

Reflecting the creative nature of our subject matter, we welcome applications for papers in formats other than traditional presentations. Furthermore, the conference will include a practical workshop with the artist and natural dye expert Nabil Ali. We hope that our creative workshop will feed into participants’ practice and inform their contributions to our proposed publication.

This conference will be held in person from 8–9 July at the University of Cambridge. Lunch and refreshments will be included. We aim to offer grants of £150 to contribute towards the cost of travel and accommodation for speakers coming from outside of Cambridge and the surrounding area. Please let us know in your application whether you would like to be considered for a travel grant.

Please send an abstract of max. 300 words and a short biography to the conference organisers, Lucy Havard (lh655@cam.ac.uk) and Zara Kesterton (zlk21@cam.ac.uk) by Friday 14 March 2025.

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Georgina Wilson @georginaemw.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

**Print Matters summer school** Applications now open! Deadline 12th Feb 3 days of practical printing sessions, trips, and seminar discussions based at York's Thin Ice Press www.thinicepress.org/events/print...

thinicepress.org

Print Matters summer school: Thin Ice Press — Thin Ice Press

What does it mean to think about matter and materiality through the medium of letterpress printing?  We invite scholars of matter, materiality and/or material culture (broadly conceived) in any ...

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

A snap from last week's talk on Peter Lely's An Unidentified Child and Charlotte Fitzroy (1670s), beauty, and empire at York Art Gallery.

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Royal Studies @royalstudies.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

The latest Royal Studies Podcast episode is out! Join @susannah-lw.bsky.social for her conversation with @johannastrong.bsky.social and @amysaunders.bsky.social about their forthcoming Royal Studies Journal Cluster "Queenship and Cross-Confessional Identity" 👑 🧵/4

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Martine van Elk @martinevanelk.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Six years of Early Modern Female Book Ownership today! 72,500 views, 41,500 visitors, 221 posts by academics, librarians, book owners, and others with the support of libraries, private owners, and booksellers. And much more to come! buff.ly/2REqsPi #HerBook #EarlyModern

earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com

Early Modern Female Book Ownership

#HerBook

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Susannah Lyon-Whaley @susannah-lw.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

So lucky to have such a fantastic review from @marloavidon.bsky.social !! A testament to some wonderful contributors 🌼

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ArtBible @artbible.info · 22/11/2024

Today's pick: Madonna with wild roses (c. 1530) - Jan van Scorel. This Madonna was probably made during Van Scorel's Haarlem period. [..] #art #VanScorel www.artbible.info/art/large/973.html

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University of York Library @uoylibrary.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

We've written a Researcher's Guide to Bluesky! It's a bit like all those other useful guides to Bluesky, but with several useful insights from University of York academics about using the platform, and we'd love it if it was reposted far and wide... >> blogs.york.ac.uk/library/2024... 🧵 below

blogs.york.ac.uk

The Researcher’s Guide to Bluesky – The Library, Learning, Archives and Wellbeing Blog

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