Bishopsgate Institute

Roses are red. Violets are blue. Our archives are kinky. Who knew?💘

Join us for Kink in the Archive III, an after-hours delve into fetish history and collective curiosity.

📍 Saturday 14 February at Bishopsgate Institute.
🎟️ Tickets available here 👇 https://bit.ly/49WYo35

260131 Heated Rivalry, Queer Sports Romance, and Activism  | Bishopsgate Institute Using Heated Rivalry and its screen adaptation as a central case study, the session places queer hockey romance within a longer LGBTQIA+ history of sport,

Still at the cottage? I know I am.

I had a lot of thoughts (still do) about Heated Rivarly as a Queer hockey fan. How does it sit with queer hockey fans? is it a force for activism?

Join me @bishopsgateinst.bsky.social to talk queer hockey!

www.bishopsgate.org.uk/whats-on/act...

260131 Heated Rivalry, Queer Sports Romance, and Activism  | Bishopsgate Institute Using Heated Rivalry and its screen adaptation as a central case study, the session places queer hockey romance within a longer LGBTQIA+ history of sport,

Are you still at the Cottage?

Join me and @bishopsgateinst.bsky.social for an exploration of Heated Rivalry, Hockey Romance and what that can tell us about queer media, and it's activist side...

www.bishopsgate.org.uk/whats-on/act...

Some slogans belong to the past. Others feel like they never left.

A glimpse into the protest posters of Eddie Adams, visual echoes of resistance, solidarity and dissent.

Now held in our Special Collections, they speak across decades. Sometimes as relics, sometimes as reminders.

🎆 New Year’s Day? We’ve been interrupting it since 1895.

Bishopsgate Institute turns 131 today. Same date, every year.
Because why not launch a cultural institution on the most disruptive day of the year?

Here’s to another year of learning, dancing, questioning, and keeping London curious.

Our team's growing...

Bishopsgate Institute is where history lives, learning thrives and people come together. Right now, we’re hiring for three key roles:

🟡 Visitor Experience Team Lead
🟡 Deputy Operations Manager
🟡 Infrastructure & Facilities Manager

Curious?
Find out more: bit.ly/3KEoy1X

Campaigns by UK FETISH ARCHIVE | Everpress Discover unique designs by UK FETISH ARCHIVE on Everpress. Shop high-quality t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, and more from talented independent artists!

We’ve never been big on uniforms...
But these T-shirt’s might just change that.
Pictured: the Bishopsgate Institute team, proudly modelling our limited-edition UK Fetish Archive tees.
Made to celebrate history, these shirts are nearly gone.
🖤 Link: https://everpress.com/profile/uk-fetish-archive

Excellent word collection in our completely non-biased archival opinion.

We’re not saying dancing is time travel… but if swing, tango or ballroom in our gorgeous Great Hall doesn’t transport you, nothing will.

Come solo or bring a partner; the only requirement is a willingness to move.

Book via our website. https://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/whats-on/search/ 🪩

Such an iconic moment in music history! It’s amazing how music has brought people together for causes that matter.

This is fantastic! Hope the ball was fun.

251203 World AIDS Day- Art as Activism | Bishopsgate Institute As part of World AIDS Day, a session to examine the role art played in activism and memorialization in response to AIDS. Looking across visual arts, perfor

In this online session for World AIDS Day, we’ll explore how artists responded to fear, loss, and injustice and how their work shaped public memory and protest. From Keith Haring to Gay Sweatshop, these are stories of expression, resistance, and care. @emilygarside.bsky.social

📆 Wed 3 December👇

251201 World AIDS Day- history, people, activism | Bishopsgate Institute To commemorate World AIDS Day a look at the history of activism in response to AIDS. From early demonstrations to organising in the US and UK. With a speci

To mark World AIDS Day, we’re hosting a lunchtime session on the history of AIDS activism - from ACT UP to the Terrence Higgins Trust, and voices like Larry Kramer & Lisa Power.

📅 1 Dec, 12:30
📷 Gordon Rainsford

@emilygarside.bsky.social

This is how I feel when I post on Close Friends on insta

"Dear Friends, too busy to write a letter, so I am sending a postcard to a few of my friends to let them know they are not forgotten. W R Bradlaugh unites in Christian love to all."

W.R. Bradlaugh knew: connection doesn’t need to be complicated.

When the group chat’s too much, go Bradlaugh style.

Love seeing books and stories reaching every corner 👏

Always great to find humour in the archives.

Not just a pretty building. Inside, you notice the details: soft light, worn steps, carved railings. It wasn’t built to impress, it was built to welcome.

This place has held leaflets, love letters, manifestos and more. It looks historic because it is.

Come in. What’s your favourite corner?

Not your nan’s Christmas jumper.

No jingle, no sparkle - just leather, latex, and full archival fantasy. 🖤 ◼️ ⚫

From the UK Fetish Archive. 3 days left to order.

A gift for yourself, or someone who’ll get it. https://everpress.com/profile/uk-fetish-archive

Congratulations on such a well-deserved award! We love seeing archives inspiring creativity and connecting communities through art and ideas.

Spotted @davidolusoga.bsky.social somewhere unexpected lately?

Now he’s back to the real story.

Empire - his new @BBC series on Britain’s imperial legacy, filmed partly at Bishopsgate Institute.

📺 Empire with David Olusoga - watch on BBC iPlayer.

What a collection you've taken. We're particularly fond of the pins, and hold our own pin collection close to our heart.

An extra hour of sleep? Don’t mind if we do. 😴 🕰️

Once upon a time, the end of daylight saving meant dashing around to wind back every clock in sight. Now, our digital ones kindly do it for us, though we can’t help admiring the craftsmanship of these timepieces from our archives.

Mapping Museums Oral Histories | Bishopsgate Institute During the late twentieth century, the number of museums in the UK more than tripled. The Mapping Museum research project was devised in response to the ab

Think you know museums? Think again. 👀

Between 1960 and 2020, the number of museums in the UK tripled. But many were far from what you’d expect.

The Mapping Museum Project set out to uncover & document this boom, revealing a world of collectors and community.

Learn more 👉 https://bit.ly/46WC7Rs

Nice to see these collections being brought together, such an important resource for researchers and organisers alike.

Congratulations! Always a joy to see the gems you share, the archive material is especially lovely. Looking forward to seeing what’s next 👏

Clothing can say so much about who we are and what we care about. We love seeing these conversations happening and often explore them in our own archive events.

Love seeing archives sharing their stories and secrets like this! Access to them is such a central part of culture. We hold plenty of unique histories here at Bishopsgate too.

'The cats infirmary' we love it! Seeing into the past like this is always wonderful, why we hold archival work so close to our heart.

“No Tango or freak dances were allowed…”

In 1914, 230 guests enjoyed a “very pleasant evening” at Bishopsgate - despite a strict ban on Tango, as found in @thebritishnewspaperarchive.

Today? Queer Salsa, K-pop, Ballroom & more. Get your freak on. https://bit.ly/3Ihr9xs

#BishopsgateInstitute