Dr Laura Humphreys

I see grocery/takeout shaming discourse going around again, so this is your periodic historian reminder that cooking from scratch daily while working has never been sustainable, and for millennia everyone either relied on takeout & restaurants or ate in huge households w/ big dorm-like group dining.

An excellent opportunity to join the curatorial team at the Science Museum has come up! Please spread the word.

🌍Curator of Climate & Earth Sciences
⚗️Part of the excellent Team Science in London Curatorial
⌛ Permanent, Full-Time
💲 £41k p/a

bit.ly/4m3uQFp

Some good news for Welsh heritage and museums here. Much needed.

Oh I would be well up for an annual spoon competition. We have several thousand more!

Proto millennium dome?

10. Raccoon = tábąąh mąʼii (waterside coyote) 9. Dog = łééchąąʼí (shit pet) 8. Spotted hyena = tééh łééchąąʼí łikizhígíí (shit pet of the valley, with spots) 7. Sea lion = tábąąstííntsoh (big otter) 6. Walrus = tábąąstííntsoh bideeʼ hólónígíí (big otter that lies on the shore, with tusks) 5. Turtle = chʼééh digháhii (in vain starts to go along slowly) 4. Alpaca = shádiʼááhdę́ę́ʼ tłʼízíʼilí (shaggy goat from the south) 3. Caterpillar = wódítłʼooí (insect that is hairy) 2. Shark = łóóʼ hashkéhé (angry fish) 1. Kangaroo = nahatʼeʼiitsoh (big hopping rat)

Navajo (or Diné bizaad, if you favour endonyms) is one of the most inventive of all languages (in my opinion) in that it has often created neologisms for new things, rather than borrowing terms from other languages. Here are ten of my favourite Navajo / Diné words (and their meanings) for animals…

The back of the bowl of a spoon, made from bone. the handle has broken off and is missing. It's pretty cute, but we don't think Arlo will be impressed.

Please share your best spoon.

Our nephew, Arlo, has asked to see "our coolest spoon" and this is the best we can manage. 🥄😳

Spoon, whalebone, mother of pearl inlay | Science Museum Group Collection Whalebone spoon, inlaid with mother of pearl, European 1801-1900

And a beautiful whalebone and mother of pearl spoon collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co15...

Combined medicine spoon and corkscrew | Science Museum Group Collection Combined medicine spoon and corkscrew, advertisement for Burroughs Wellcome, metal, British, 1880-1900

A combined spoon and corkscrew! collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co13...

Bronze spoon | Science Museum Group Collection Bronze spoon, in the shape of a trident with bowl on middle prong

A bronze spoon, which is in the shape of a trident but I would say in modern parlance, is definitely an early iteration of the Spork

collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co82...

Medicine spoon | Science Museum Group Collection Porcelain medicine spoon with polychrome decoration, German(?), 1860-1930

A porcelain medicine spoon

collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co13...

Medicine spoon | Science Museum Group Collection Gibson spoon, silver 1829

A silver Gibson spoon

collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co12...

Temple lustration spoon | Science Museum Group Collection Brass temple lustration spoon, Bengali, 1801-1900

I have found some of our best spoons from @sciencemuseum.org.uk for Arlo! I had no idea how many we had. My personal faves:

Temple Lustration Spoon with a scorpion detail
collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co12...

We’re hiring: Membership Administrator

Join the HA team in our London office as a full-time Membership Administrator

Check out the full job description and application details: www.history.org.uk/membership/news/4310/membership-administrator-job-opportunity

Tiny blue-green crystals (there's a green coloured arrow stuck on the specimen to point these out) with some leaf-green illite and blue azurite on a matrix. From Bambollita Mine, Moctezuma, Sonora, Mexico. Specimen from the Natural History Museum, London's collections.

1 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Quetzalcoatlite:
- Named after Quetzalcoatl, an Aztec and Toltec god of the sea, due to its sea-blue colour
- Forms in the oxidised zone of tellurium-bearing hydrothermal deposits #minerals
- This below is a co-type specimen (one of the specimens used to define the species)

Call for Applications: Editorial Fellowships at History Workshop, 2025 History Workshop is advertising two part-time, paid Editorial Fellowships in 2025, open to early career historians.

Join us! We are advertising two part-time, paid Editorial Fellowships at History Workshop in 2025-27.

Our fellowships support early career historians to develop expertise in public, radical and digital history & to gain experience of working in an editorial team.
www.historyworkshop....

Conference 2025: Perthyn - Belonging - Museums Association Join us in Cardiff this October

Coming soon to Cardiff (or a computer near you) ✨

Less than three months to go until we take over the fabulous St Fagans National Museum of History. From talks to tours and practical guidance to parties, we’ve got lots in store when you join us at MA Conference 2025 this October.

Were it not for Hulkenberg going p19-p3 for his first ever podium, I think driver of the day probably should have gone to the safety car #f1 #britishGP #Silverstone

Leclerc is fighting for his life with constant fastest laps and still only in 12th. This race is madness. #f1

An amazing job in an Amazing city - if the commute from Wales wasn't a bit impractical I'd bite their hand off.

The brilliant Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery are looking for a Curator (Science & Industry).

careers.birminghammuseums.org.uk/job/333d2a38...

I am off to the @museumsassociation.org Collections Management day in Manchester tomorrow - anyone else joining?

Being acknowledged by the MA has given us confidence that we’re doing high quality, important work with marginalised groups, and it’s inspired us to be even more ambitious in future. The award has also boosted our success with funding applications and external advocacy. Even just entering was a useful exercise in celebrating our own achievements, which we don’t do nearly enough in museums. Quote by Ashleigh Hibbins, Perth Museum

What could winning a Museums Change Lives Award do for your organisation? 💭

Culture Perth and Kinross won the Championing Social Justice Award last year 🦄

Their Head of Audiences and Learning told us about the positive impact of their win 👇

Enter the 2025 awards by 14 July: mus.ms/awards2025

I use the British Newspaper Archive a lot, and their OCR data is very often un-readable (especially if you're looking at Welsh language articles) but the text on the scan itself is very readable.

Its the one thing in my life where I'm like, FFS, GET THE AI IN HERE!

Petition: Raise statutory maternity/paternity pay to match the National Living Wage Statutory maternity and paternity pay is £4.99 per hour for a full-time worker on 37.5 hours per week - approximately 59% less than the 2024 National Living Wage of £12.21 per hour for workers aged 21...

The government response to this petition is infuriating.
“Maternity and other types of Parental Pay are intended to provide a measure of financial security to support parents whilst they are away from the workplace; they are not a replacement of earnings” except they literally are??? Please sign:

Butetown back in the day....

"Fancy a couple of pints?"

"Aye go on then. Where'd you fancy heading?"

"Start at The Tredegar Arms and see what happens?"

Have you taken part in the Royal Society's public engagement survey yet?

Submissions are open until Monday 30 June 📅

Still open for a couple days if you'd like to join the team! 👇👇👇 #HistMed

Thank you!

And while we're here, a plug for this starter pack by @mclees-fiona.bsky.social of Arts & Heritage in Wales accounts. Think a few more of us are slowly joining up!

go.bsky.app/2iSkmMx

Welcome the Welsh Museums Fed to Bluesky and give them a follow!