Dr. Rachel K. Bright

An upside down fluffy ginger cat.

Happy #caturday

If you are a member of the National Trust and also despise the Reform tendency, please vote in the AGM to keep the astroturf candidates of Restore Trust out of power.

You can find the names to avoid here, at this deliberately broken link: https:// www. restoretrust. org. uk / agm-2025

Have a bonus #caturday video

Why are women missing from school history? The extent to which history lessons ignore female figures has been revealed by new research. Here, teachers share the changes they are making to address this gender imbalance

TES article on our ESIS report after Natasha and I were interviewed, and featuring great examples of curricula change from history teachers across the country. www.tes.com/magazine/tea...

Great new tool from Flickr foundation - the Data Lifeboat, to package up Flickr image collections and get them out of dodge quickly, with metadata and readmes. Speaking to urgency of portability of digital cultural heritage given current times. They need some testers to play and give feedback 👇

The Australian War Memorial’s prize controversy betrays the institution’s purpose: to tell the messy truth about war Chris Masters’ book on Ben Roberts-Smith was chosen to win the Australian War Memorial’s Les Carlyon Prize for Military History. But the prize wasn’t awarded. Why?

Hear! Hear! Dr Holbrook 👏 theconversation.com/the-australi...

3-panel comic. (1) PERSON WITH SHORT HAIR to Person 2: Shining laser pointers at planes is a federal crime. It’s incredibly dangerous. PERSON 2: Oh, because it can blind the pilot? SHORT HAIR: That’s one reason… (2) [Laser pointed at flying airplane] (3) [Cat close to the size of the plane pouncing on airplane and taking it down]

Laser Danger

xkcd.com/3108/

Creating Refugee Archives How can historians and archivists best document, preserve, and make accessible the voices and artifacts of refugee and migration experience?

Today is World Refugee Day.

✊🗃 From the archive, a podcast episode by Ria Kapoor @riakapoor.bsky.social featuring Peter Gatrell, Pual Dudman @paulvdudman.bsky.social, Heather Faulkner and Mezna Qato @meznaqato.bsky.social, on creating Refugee Archives.

www.historyworkshop....

#WorldRefugeeDay

I can't be outside but I'll be there! Join me and other #disabled folk fighting for our rights! I'm joining at noon tomorrow! #NoKings

No Kings On June 14—Flag Day—Donald Trump wants tanks in the street and a made-for-TV display of dominance for his birthday. A spectacle meant to look like strength. But real power isn’t staged in Washington. ...

There is a No Kings protest happening within hours near YOU and we will be there too. Find your closest location and do what you can to speak up against the horribleness. www.nokings.org#map This is a link to locations...

Applications close 5pm tomorrow for our first research and knowledge exchange workshop at Imperial War Museums on 4th July!
If you're a neurodivergent user of archives, or work in archives and heritage (ND or not), join us to explore neurodivergent archive accessibility.
@edicaucus.bsky.social

@k8lister.bsky.social @womenshistnet.bsky.social @historyworkshop.org.uk @royalhistsoc.org @enghistrev.bsky.social @historianmemory.bsky.social @sadiahqureshi.bsky.social @sslh.bsky.social @historytoday.com @transimperial.bsky.social @histedsocuk.bsky.social @urbanhistorya.bsky.social

@alanlester.bsky.social @kimatiwagner.bsky.social @lottelydia.bsky.social @duncanbell.bsky.social @evansmithhist.bsky.social @eicathomefinn.bsky.social @historyecon.bsky.social @ihr.bsky.social @jich.bsky.social @womenknowhistory.bsky.social @katherineschof8.bsky.social @bho.bsky.social

Cat in bow tie looking smug

This is my cat. In other news, if you have a chronic illness or identify as disabled and are in the UK, I've just co-founded a new support group, AccessingArchives. Instagram: www.instagram.com/aarchivesnet.... You can sign up here: forms.gle/5o8m8Jy9ux4B...

Image of bowl with a scholar, anon, c.1575-99, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, public domain. Text reads: Calls for Royal Historical Society Research Funding, May to September 2025

The Royal Historical Society currently invites applications for 9 fellowship and funding programmes to support historical research: bit.ly/4jWMCcQ

Grants are open to historians across a range of career stages and professional backgrounds. Applications between late May and September 2025 #Skystorian

Digital Journeys: Preserving & Sharing Migration Collections Join us for our first Migration Network event dedicated to exploring collections - funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

If you're working in museum collections, digital storytelling, or on projects exploring migration history, join the Migration Network on 20 May 2025, 10:00-12:30 for this online event.

What Accessibility Means For A Neurodivergent Person We experience significant barriers in the systems we engage with to meet our basic everyday needs

Self-advocacy can feel like screaming into a void.'
medium.com/invisible-il...

'When you have an invisible disability and look like everyone else, there is an onus on you... Telling people you have different or additional needs can be perceived as a sense of entitlement, as though you’re asking for special treatment...

Forced Migration: Exiles and Refugees in the UK and the British Empire, 1815–1949 "Forced Migration: Exiles and Refugees in the UK and the British Empire, 1815–1949" published on 24 Mar 2025 by Brill.

Our new edited book 'Forced Migration' is out in ebook form, with hardcopies coming very soon! Many thanks to my tireless co-editors @andrekosvarnava.bsky.social & @evansmithhist.bsky.social - check it out here: brill.com/display/titl...

@dgb-history.bsky.social

I'll be your huckleberry.

Hey, Adjuncts!!!

Curriculum Review: The case for broadening - not abolishing - EBacc Would removing EBacc increase access to arts and other SHAPE subjects? It’s not clear that it would.

Interested in promoting Humanities (including Languages) as well as Arts? Here's the British Academy's take on the interim report on the DfE's curriculum review:

The UK has just increased the naturalisation fee to £1735.

In the Netherlands this costs € 1091, also v high, following a fee hike in 2010/11. This jump in costs resulted in lower naturalisation rates, especially for migrants from low-income households (7 pp).

www.researchgate.net/publication/...

I really get how difficult it can be to focus on research and writing when there is so much happening. Through my teaching and research, if I manage nothing else, I try to emphasise nuance. Most public discussions thrive on simple binaries. The world just isn't actually like that.

As universities contract radically, academic mental health is now a serious concern. Experts in these matters recommend: say no to new work; find some meaning in what you do; look after your body and your mind. Advice below. 👇
jovanevery.co.uk/spotlight-on...

Reconsidering the history of eugenics and discrimination in migration control Abstract. Recent work on migration has increasingly demonstrated that, in order to understand the complexity of the current border regimes, we must take th

Super excited that my article with Esme Cleall and Jen Kain is out. And thanks @isrfoundation.bsky.social for funding the project. academic.oup.com/migration/ar.... #MIGRATION #HISTORY

National Library cracks down on public data access Archives are throttling access to data that was supposed to be open.

The NLA's suspension of my #Trove API access has been picked up in this news story from the Australian Computing Society: https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2025/national-library-cracks-down-on-public-data-access.html #GLAM #OpenData

BME Small Grants: 2025 Recipients We are delighted to announce the results of the latest round of the BME small grants funding scheme. This scheme is administered by SHS in partnership with the Economic History Society, History UK,…

📣We are delighted to announce the 2025 recipients of the Joint BME Small Grants!

This scheme is supported by @histedsocuk.bsky.social, EHS; History UK; @historywo.bsky.social, @royalhistsoc.bsky.social; @sslh.bsky.social and @womenshistnet.bsky.social!✨

socialhistory.org.uk/2025/02/10/b...