Michael Brown

Congratulations!

Check out the lastet, ghoulish, edition of our #handoftheweek!

The Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Lambeth – London County Council (LCC) and Greater London Council (GLC) Architect’s Department, 1963-68 Image © Morley von Sternberg

BREAKING NEWS: We’re absolutely thrilled to announce that the Southbank Centre - the Hayward Gallery, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall and skaters undercroft - has finally been Grade II listed by DCMS after a 35 year long campaign.

➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/southba...

“I have serious questions about the…usefulness of the REF,” Ivison also said, pointing to the fact that Australia scrapped its equivalent programme after a 2020 review'.

Such a role model for UK HE, Australian HE. So very flourishing. 1/2

REF 2029 news: leadership transition.

2029.ref.ac.uk/news/stateme...

Jules Verne’s dystopia was a world without humanities. Do... When arts education is dismissed as a waste of time it damages us as a society. The focus of learning is not just to enrich our economy but also to enrich our souls

'Cutting off funding for culture and knowledge has social and political consequences. If you want a healthy and harmonious civil society, invest in the humanities and the arts, for they foster understanding, knowledge and empathy.'

We're so excited about these workshops. Stay tuned for more news soon about dates.

The Victorian Hand

We are thinking of doing some online sessions and extending our reach, so please do sign up for the mailing list, get in contact, and let us know what you'd like to see - share.google/8U2lu3lBwDiC...

The Work of Mending The Work of Mending is a series of research-led, hands-on workshops exploring what hands do and what they mean across histories of making, repairing and caring.

@victorianhand.bsky.social is running a series of workshops exploring our hands as agents of making & mending in collaboration with the Quilters' Guild & @collegeofsurgeons.bsky.social. You can sign up for the QG workshops here with dates for the RCS to follow:
www.eventbrite.com/cc/the-work-...

A patchwork quilt features vintage, monochrome portraits of women, accented with embroidery. A blue fabric piece and beige, circular embroidery are in progress. Emotive and historical feel

🙌 Two weeks on from The Hand: Emotions, Embodiment and Identity conference, we reflect on the stimulating contributions of scholars, artists and makers who explored the hand across historical, cultural and creative contexts.

Read our latest blog here: www.thevictorianhand.uk/gallery/conf...

What a wonderful event this was, and thanks to all those who came along. You can read our thoughts on the conference and its implications in our latest @victorianhand.bsky.social blogpost.

What an amazing experience this was. Huge thanks to the project team for all their hard work and making it such a great success 🙌🏽

A huge thank you to all our delegates for joining The Hand: Emotion, Embodiment, Identity!

Your ideas, questions and conversations made the conference such a rewarding and inspiring event. We are grateful to everyone who contributed and helped make it a success 🤝

Conference programme for "The Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, Identity" held at London College of Fashion, 8-9 January 2026.

Delighted to be presenting today at @victorianhand.bsky.social conference "The Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, Identity" part of @jbhist.bsky.social and @medhistoryman.bsky.social exciting AHRC project 😀

The worst of times: Trouble at the British Library Cyber chaos, striking staff and a crisis of leadership. Claudia Cockerell investigates a national treasure’s year of reckoning

Not just a national asset but an international asset. Trashed, ignored, diminished.

That academic hiring grievance article doing the rounds: look, there are simply very few jobs and lots of people, relatively speaking, who could be hired. I was precarious for nine (!) years. And now Britain, at least, is trying to solve the issue by having most universities go bankrupt.

Resharing our #Handoftheweek posts

AI is not our peer, so AI review is not peer review. If for some godforsaken reason the editor of a journal wanted to know what AI would say about a paper, they could do it themself.

✋ This 1845 daguerreotype captured the branded hand of Jonathan Walker - marked ‘SS’ for ‘slave stealer’ after he tried to help enslaved people escape Florida. Intended as punishment, it became an abolitionist symbol, though his story often overshadowed those of the enslaved people he sought to aid.

Another #Handoftheweek - exploring marks inscribed on the hand and their capacity to be read in multiple ways. Please share more widely.

Hands can be subject to punishment and agents of resistance or in this fascinating case, both at the same time.

Thanks. Yes, she wrote the Epilogue. It's a great volume all round.

We are, thanks. Project PI @jbhist.bsky.social is in the same volume. It's a fantastic chapter.

Such a great hand story! ✊️

Rachel Reeves says on Laura Kuenssberg that she's asking working people to pay a little bit more.

This was all under the cover of a made up "black hole" whilst refusing to tax the super rich.

This Labour Government showing again exactly who they are and who they serve.

Read @rosscmrn.bsky.social's fabulous blog post! And please repost 😊

I wrote a bit about touch and travel writing over on @victorianhand.bsky.social - read more at the link below!

Please take a look at our latest blog post from @victorianhand.bsky.social about the fascinating sensory world of intrepid 'Blind Traveller' James Holman.

Exhibiting Tommy Atkins: senses, spectacle and military modernity in late Victorian Britain Abstract. This article considers the conjunction of senses, emotions and objects in the Royal Military Exhibition of 1890 to deepen our understanding of po

@jbhist.bsky.social & I are pleased to see that our article on the sensory, emotional, & material history of the Royal Military Exhibition of 1890 is now formally out in November's issue of Historical Research. It's completely Open Access, so please check it out ...
academic.oup.com/histres/arti...