Paul Wainwright

Photograph of books on shelves overlaid with the text 'Shop online. Browse our available titles through the Publications section of our online store https://store.york.ac.uk/product-catalogue/borthwick-institute-shop/books. Pay online, and the items will be posted out to you

Love books? Us too! From now until 3rd October there’s a chance to get your hands on some of the Borthwick's back catalogue - with all available stock 50% off. Browse online or pop by our searchroom in person. On Friday 3rd we'll be open 10am-3pm, with bundle discounts on selected titles

River Foss in York, totally covered in fluorescent green algae.

The River Foss looks like it’s filled with mushy peas!

#York

Map of North Eastern Railway routes, made from tiles, on the wall at York Railways Station.

Waiting for a train at York station? There's no better way of passing the time than checking out where you used to be able to travel by train.

Not quite the whole country, just the most magnificent part. 😉

Early bird tickets are now available for the RQG Conference via Eventbrite and open to everyone, including non-members #Genealogy #FamilyHistory #RQGConf26 #Birmingham rqg-conference-2026.eventbrite.co.uk

Further Work on 17th Century Shorthand – Machine Learning for Palaeography – Copper Horse David Rogers explains our continued historical shorthand research work. Unfortunately I'm not in the US this year for the hacking conferences but I hope that next year I will be able to go and explain...

An update from @drogersuk.bsky.social on some of our historical shorthand research, which we have been building AI/ML models to assist with. A shorthand bible from 1687 and the difficulty of symbols for very long phrases!: copperhorse.co.uk/further-work... #palaeography #earlymodern #ai #history #ml

Detailed model for a limestone carving of King Athelstan, to replace an eroded one, and to be sited high up on York Minster. He’s holding a model church (possibly the original Minster?)

Meet Athelstan.

Take in the detail while you can. He’ll soon be watching over you from the heights of York Minster.

Had a tour of the fabulous new Technology Hub & Quad today. Stunning buildings. They must brilliant to work in. 🤩

Am I too late to become a stone mason?

@yorkminster.bsky.social

Yeah. Sadly the train to the north beckoned so I had to head off. I’ll drop you a note.

I’m so jealous! Why didn’t I choose a subject that involved food?

Maybe I should switch to researching wine.

Just think of the opportunities for the ‘sampling workshops’ we could have, all in the name of academic research!!! 🧀 🍷

We don’t need a thermometer in our house.

When the coconut oil melts, that means it’s hot! 🥵

Such a devastating blow.

The tutors (including you) and staff do such a brilliant job. They cover some fascinating and often niche local and regional subjects that I can’t imagine getting picked up elsewhere.

Money is tight but there’s another type of richness that’s being lost today.

2026 Conference - Register of Qualified Genealogists RQG Conference 2026 Birmingham Ticket details, call for presentations and updates to be posted shortly - sign up to the newsletter hear about our plans and updates about the conference.

#savethedate The RQG Conference 2026 will be held on Saturday 25 April 2026 at the Birmingham & Midland Institute, Birmingham. Updates via the newsletter @RegQualGenes #Genealogy #FamilyHistory www.qualifiedgenealogists.org/2026-confere...

‘Innit Marvellous?’: The Galton and Simpson Archive project Saving Hancock, Steptoe, and more

So if you can help - and you have all been MEGA GENEROUS lately, so absolutely no pressure, then please help. every £ nudges us closer to the target.

yustart.hubbub.net/p/galtonands...

Reflections.

Crown Point Bridge on the River Aire, Leeds.

The second in a very infrequent series!

#Leeds #Waterways

That’s fascinating. Must have been a fun discovery. It has a kind of Christmas feel about it. Not sure why. Anyway, I’ll keep eyes peeled for the reveal of the other side! 😁

Relief print by Anne Marie LeQuesne called Brief Encounter showing three people passing each other.

This is my favourite!

Oil painting of fishermen in a boat by Andrzej Khun which appears to have been painted on the back of the canvas because the hanging string is on the same side as the painting.

I’m loving the artwork in the display cabinet in @uoylibrary.bsky.social, but @artatyork.bsky.social what’s the story behind this funky piece?

It appears to be on the back of the canvas. Did the artist ‘reject’ this piece and put the main work on the other side? Or vice versa? Or something else?!

I think the roots of the post-truth era can be traced to Ancestry trees.

This has some of the tiniest writing I’ve seen. How on earth did they do that without smudging?!

(1588 voucher for reparations)

That’s another 500 items added to the Merchant Adventurers catalogue for your delectation.

Cue the search room filled with the sound of a trumpet voluntary! 🎺🎉

@uoyborthwick.bsky.social

‘Okay which one of you accidentally added Robert Cecil to the chat?’

We are looking at a cast copper alloy bell sat between two blocks of wood.

Happy #pancakeday everyone. May your day be filled with lemon, sugar and batter goodness.

So why have we posted a bell you ask? Well this is THE pancake bell. Want to know more?

Join us for a thread as we explore its history, throwing in some riots and bribery along the way...

We hardy Yorkshire folk laugh in the face of freezing conditions. 🥶

Today my Merchant Adventurer activity temporarily switches from cataloguing 16c membership records, to checking out their coffee house.

Still counts as research though.

Surely?

@yorkadventurers.bsky.social

Image of paper documents in archive with header text: "Ministry of Justice abandons plans to digitise and destroy print copies of post-1858 wills The Royal Historical Society is very pleased to learn that the UK Ministry of Justice has abandoned a proposal, made by the previous government, to destroy print copies of post-1858 wills following their digitisation."

We are very pleased to learn that the UK Ministry of Justice has dropped a proposal, made by the previous govt, to destroy print copies of post-1858 wills following their digitisation: bit.ly/3WaXud8

This follows submissions from 100s of historians, and others, opposing the proposal. #Skystorians

Lost your sense of direction? Turn off your phone and you’ll soon reconnect Tech giants said today’s digital native kids would be the first generation who would not know what it meant to get lost. But is that a good thing?

Wonderful article. Really makes us think how big tech has changed our ways of life in such a short time compared to how we've viewed the world for hundreds of years. The skills needed to use compasses and physical maps must not be lost.
@jerrybrotton.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Our starter pack of people working on
#Yorkshire 's Past is live!

If you'd like to be added to the starter pack, please let us know in the replies.

Any period, any discipline - everyone is welcome, from academics to filmmakers, and local historians to enthusiasts.

go.bsky.app/QMP6cDC

Oh, yes please.

Oh, the perils of “I’ll come back to that later”!

It definitely pays to step off the ‘happy path’ of successful projects and explore the more troubled byways and dead ends.

This is a great point.

There’s a load of value in developing an understanding of why particular projects failed to get off the ground or deliver the benefits they promised.

These failures can tell you so much about the social, economic or engineering challenges facing those driving improvement.