Grace Murray

Job alert! This is a reminder that I'm looking for a team member to work on a book history project 📚 that explores the networks 🕸️ of Protestant book agents in Poland-Lithuania and Prussia! Details: konkursydlanauczycieli.uw.edu.pl/api/document... (EN version at p. 7). Send an application by 9.03!

I was definitely too busy sampling cheese yesterday to remember to take any pics but a huge thank you to @cheeseandpeople.bsky.social and @cheesetastingco.bsky.social for a fantastic event - to be repeated... ?

A plate of various cheeses in front of a PowerPoint slide with the words ‘Tasting History’.

Two presenters in front of a PowerPoint slide.

Man looking pensively at a table of cheese bathed in late winter sunshine.

Yesterday, on the first sunny day of the year, @cheesetastingco.bsky.social and I
ran the Tasting History event at Birkbeck. We tasted cheese, had a conversation with a brilliant audience, and hopefully brought to life the history of the trade and the people who made it happen.

VERY sad to miss you this year conference bud!!

PGR event! Having sampled the fantastic produce of @cheeseandpeople.bsky.social, I recommend running, not walking, to book your ticket for this...

Birkbeck Medieval Seminar 2026: Whose Middle Ages? When: 27 March 2026, 10:00 — 17:00 Venue: Birkbeck 43 Gordon Square Book your place The Middle Ages are all around us. As the philosopher, medievalist and novelist Umberto Eco pointed out 30 years ago, 'before rejoicing or grieving over a return of the Middle Ages, we have the moral and cultural duty of spelling out what kind of Middle Ages we are talking about'. Since then, we have seen a diversification of scholarly approaches to the Middle Ages, including global and decolonial approaches. But how have these academic discussions related to discussions and representations of the Middle Ages in the wider culture? At the 2026 Birkbeck Medieval Seminar, join us for a day of discussion about the claims that are placed upon the Middle Ages, in poetry, art and the wider culture. Taking up the question asked by Andrew Albin et al. in their 2019 book, Whose Middle Ages? Teachable Moments in an Ill-Used Past, Birkbeck's Dr Daniel Sawyer and Dr Nick Evans will be joined by Dr Rebecca Menmuir (University of Oxford), Dr Olenka Pevny (University of Cambridge) and Dr George Bartlett (Courtauld) to assess the continued power of ideas from and about the Middle Ages in contemporary culture. Full programme to follow.

And later this term, we'll be hosting ‘Whose Middle Ages?’, the Annual Birkbeck Medieval Seminar, with Daniel Sawyer, Rebecca Menmuir, Olenka Pevny, George Bartlett. More information about the event and booking here: www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...
www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...

Tasting History Researching and Experiencing the Development of the Cheese Trade Keynes Library, Gordon Square Tuesday 24 February 2026 1500-1730 This interactive, experiential event will include a discussion with Ned Palmer, author of A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles, and Alasdair McNeill, a Birkbeck doctoral student researching the early modern cheese trade. It will be accompanied by a free tasting of six historic cheeses. Ned will introduce each cheese by placing it in its historical context, and the tastings will be interspersed with a conversation between Ned and Alasdair about the development of the trade and its importance to broader histories of commercialisation, labour relations, and women’s social and economic role. They will also discuss the value, and limits, of experiential food studies. How can the history of cheese – from milking to mongering – illuminate the role of ordinary women and men in their local communities and wider society? How can producing and tasting historic foods help us understand their histories?

‘Tasting History: Researching and Experiencing the Development of the Cheese Trade’, with @cheesetastingco.bsky.social and @cheeseandpeople.bsky.social, hosted by Birkbeck's Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Feb 24th!

Register here: www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...

Birkbeck, University of London, is seeking a Lecturer in Medieval Studies to join our dynamic team within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Autumn 2026. As Lecturer in Medieval Studies you will contribute to the teaching of Medieval English literature and Medieval history across the Faculty, within our School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication, and School of Historical Studies - this includes our BA English and BA History programmes, as well as postgraduate taught programmes in the two subject areas. This post is offered on a permanent contract at Birkbeck, full time 35 hours per week, with a salary of £44,247 rising to £60,858 per year. Teaching hours will vary from 6pm - 9pm, Monday to Friday. To be successful, you will bring research expertise in the literature, history and culture of the Late Medieval period (c.1300-1500), and demonstrate a capacity to contribute to interdisciplinary research and teaching, participate actively in curriculum development, supervise doctoral students, and help shape the intellectual life of our vibrant academic community. We would also welcome applicants who would be able to contribute to collaborative teaching programmes or research in the Faculty, in areas such as identity, race/ethnicity, or gender - experience of collaboration with cultural institutions, whether through research or teaching, is also welcome. Core responsibilities will initially include programme/module administration, teaching, supervision, assessment, student support and pastoral care. You will also be equipped to supervise doctoral students. With a PhD in any area of Medieval Studies, you will contribute the Faculty’s and Schools’ research impact and culture, and to the intellectual and cultural life of the institution and the various communities and partners with whom we work and serve.

Birkbeck is hiring a Lecturer in Medieval Studies (c.1300-1500), full-time and open-ended.

They will be formally based in English but expected to be able to contribute about 0.5FTE to History, including teaching and supervision.

Closing date Feb 23rd: cis7.bbk.ac.uk/vacancy/lect...

What Renaissance readers left behind in haircare books New biochemical techniques offer unmatched insight into early modern medicine, as traces of plants, animals and even human waste have been sampled from pages.

If you ever wondered what biochemical traces of past users of medical recipes may tell us about early modern haircare, see @uk.theconversation.com's discussion of our @historians.org article:
doi.org/10.64628/AB....

Research supported by @thejohnrylands.bsky.social & @britishacademy.bsky.social

Here's what it looked like on my return to work this morning - beautiful red brick gabled building of Girton's Hall, with a dusting of snow on the grass in front.

JOB ALERT!

3-year postdoc at @girtoncollege.bsky.social - research anything you like in History, Archaeology or Anthropology in a wonderful, welcoming scholarly community.

PLEASE SHARE! Closes 12 January

www.girton.cam.ac.uk/job-vacancie...

The British Library have a searchable interim Archives & Manuscripts Catalogues up & running: searcharchives.bl.uk
(posting for all the folks who, like me, had somehow managed to miss this important development)

Looking forward to hearing @mazinggrace.bsky.social talk about gardening and reading at @thegibsonlibrary.bsky.social

Such a wonderful evening Gillian! Thank you and Martyn and all the committee for welcoming me to Saffron Walden!

That would be lovely if you can, Meryl!

I have kindly been invited to talk about gardening and reading at the Gibson Library in Saffron Walden! Come along (for free!) at 19.30 on 10 Dec to hear about #earlymodern plants, print & marginalia (+ Gabriel Harvey’s compulsive underlining of mentions of saffron). gibsonlibrary.org.uk/news.html

Crossing the world without an interpreter: Arabic studies in England 1550-1640

I'm thrilled to be teaching a short course on Arabic Studies in Early Modern England with Prof. Alastair Hamilton at @warburginstitute.bsky.social next month. We'll need to meet a minimum number of bookings to run, so if you're interested, sign up asap! warburg.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

I’ll be talking next week about the historic fashion for wilderness gardens in the late c17th/early c18th, but also about the stories these objects tell of how people experienced walking through their gardens in the past. Friday 12 Sept at Beningbrough — talk included with entrance to the Hall!

Exhibition title card, mimicking cardboard cut-outs; it reads ‘Whispers of the Wilderness: Exploring Wilderness Gardens’

Laura Ellen Bacon’s willow sculptures

View of the North Gallery containing historic objects

🌳 ’Whispers of the Wilderness’ is officially open at Beningbrough Hall!

Ft. beautiful new art and sound installations inspired by the sensory experience of walking through a wilderness garden, & my 🪴 potted 🪴 history of wildernesses, told through 9 historic objects from throughout the Trust!

An audio chair, with a cushion labelled ‘sit here’ and a National Trust information placard next to it

Selfie of me sitting in the audio chair listening to my own voice and grinning like a goblin

Audio booklet text contextualising two Austen passages addressing the wilderness from Pride & Prejudice and Mansfield Park

Credits to Ben Eyes for production, Chloe Wigston Smith for coordination, and Sophie Coulombeau for narration (all from uni of York)

So turns out I’m the voice of Jane Austen (or her narrators at least) at a National Trust exhibition now

YAY CONGRATULATIONS! 🎉

A dinosaur with a unicorn horn is barfing up a rainbow. The error message reads “we’re sorry, something went very wrong!”

Dear ESTC:

Thank you for the great error screen!

Thanks to @stephenaj.bsky.social's fabulous article (still available at link below) I have had a look at this equally fabulous interactive astrolabe alexboxer.com/astrolabe/. It's a really useful tool for understanding what the instrument does and a lot of fun to play with! #histsci #astronomy

That’s a wrap on #plantsandpeople! Thanks to all of our wonderful speakers, keynotes, artists, and attendees for two days of fantastic discussion and hands-on experimentation. Over and out from @zarakesterton.bsky.social and @lucyjhavard.bsky.social !

We have two workshops running in tandem this morning at the #plantsandpeople conference - one on botanical images at the Fitzwilliam Museum, and a practical workshop on early modern dye production with Nabil Ali! Thanks to @jesuscollegecam.bsky.social for the use of your greenhouses!

An inspiring and thought-provoking day one of #plantsandpeople @people-plants-2025.bsky.social, thinking about the peripheries of botanical knowledge-making. Thank you @zarakesterton.bsky.social & Lucy Havard for putting all of this together — looking forward to day two! 🌱 📖

WHAT A WEEK! An utter delight to see so many #EarlyModern 'ists chatting, thinking, discussing together in beautiful Bristol. So many conversations started and ideas sparked.

If you're looking for people you met, we tried to update the starter pack of #RenSoc25 delegates:

Returning from #RenSoc25 brimming over with early modern goodness, in awe of the incredible research being presented, and buoyed up by the collegiality and community in such abundant evidence, despite everything. A huge thank you to the organisers!

🥺 Thank you so much for coming!

Such a wonderful time talking through our modes of reading satire and/or sincerity this morning! Left with more questions than answers of course. Thanks to my excellent co-panellists and all who came #RenSoc25

Gabriel Harvey’s copy of the instrument book The Mathematical Jewel (1585), with a paper instrument.

A blockbuster day at #RenSoc25, talking all things how-to, utility, local identity & readership alongside lovely & brilliant scholars — thank you @emilyrowe1.bsky.social for organising our roundtable on satire & sincerity, & @walla7437.bsky.social for chairing our panel on microgeographies!