Joe Baubles
@joeborges.bsky.social
MA World Heritage student, interested in magical objects, museum collections and meaning-making. Formerly British Museum Loans and Exhibitions. (he/him)
Reposted by Joe Baubles
Today, the Academy publishes a report setting out findings from our Where We Live Next programme on place-led approaches to environmental sustainability. www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/publications...
December 11, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Today, the Academy publishes a report setting out findings from our Where We Live Next programme on place-led approaches to environmental sustainability. www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/publications...
Reposted by Joe Baubles
This is a huge problem for libraries. We have the problem of “bit rot,” both as the decay of the physical carriers of digital media and as the obsolescence of software & hardware to render that media for use.
And then we have DRM and the problem of ownership.
Going digital is very expensive. 📚
And then we have DRM and the problem of ownership.
Going digital is very expensive. 📚
Physical media is actually more longlasting for posterity than digital media in so many ways. You have books written a thousand years ago carefully preserved in Timbuktu. An article published online may vanish so no one has any record of your work anymore.
December 11, 2025 at 1:13 PM
This is a huge problem for libraries. We have the problem of “bit rot,” both as the decay of the physical carriers of digital media and as the obsolescence of software & hardware to render that media for use.
And then we have DRM and the problem of ownership.
Going digital is very expensive. 📚
And then we have DRM and the problem of ownership.
Going digital is very expensive. 📚
Reposted by Joe Baubles
‘A sound archivist told me he and his colleagues could earn more in the private sector but they work here for less pay because “we believe in what we do.”’
Anna Aslanyan on the picket line at the British Library, from the blog.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Anna Aslanyan on the picket line at the British Library, from the blog.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Anna Aslanyan | On the Picket Line
On Monday morning, more than a hundred people formed a picket line outside one of the entrances to the British Library...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 11, 2025 at 12:10 PM
‘A sound archivist told me he and his colleagues could earn more in the private sector but they work here for less pay because “we believe in what we do.”’
Anna Aslanyan on the picket line at the British Library, from the blog.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Anna Aslanyan on the picket line at the British Library, from the blog.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Reposted by Joe Baubles
'Skull of St. Thomas Aquinas being transported to Fossanova Abbey.'
Photograph by Daniel Ibanez
Photograph by Daniel Ibanez
December 10, 2025 at 8:31 AM
'Skull of St. Thomas Aquinas being transported to Fossanova Abbey.'
Photograph by Daniel Ibanez
Photograph by Daniel Ibanez
Reposted by Joe Baubles
Vivid memories remain of our National Trust report, an audit of existing research on country houses' colonial histories. Here is a recent open access article about The National Trust and future possibilities for exploring colonial history by Jessica Moody.
www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
Culture Wars, the National Trust, and ‘Green Heritage’ in Britain
The National Trust, Europe’s largest conservation charity, found themselves in the midst of a bitterly unfolding ‘culture war’ over public histories of slavery, empire and colonialism in Britain follo...
www.degruyterbrill.com
December 10, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Vivid memories remain of our National Trust report, an audit of existing research on country houses' colonial histories. Here is a recent open access article about The National Trust and future possibilities for exploring colonial history by Jessica Moody.
www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
Reposted by Joe Baubles
The Great Parade (definitive state) by Fernand Léger, 1954
https://botfrens.com/collections/212/contents/137817
https://botfrens.com/collections/212/contents/137817
December 9, 2025 at 1:51 PM
The Great Parade (definitive state) by Fernand Léger, 1954
https://botfrens.com/collections/212/contents/137817
https://botfrens.com/collections/212/contents/137817
Reposted by Joe Baubles
Regardless of any architectural or traditional heritage value, this is an example of a functional building used for years, that works for people, with which they have an emotional history as well as a practical need. #PlaceHistory #LocalDemocracy #HeritageAttachment #BusShelter #BusesMatter
Sheringham Bus Shelter siege enters ninth day. Town Council to meet today in secret. County Council bailiffs conducting night raids
The battle for Sheringham bus shelter: protesters defiant as bailiffs sent in
Norfolk county council wants to demolish a ‘beloved’ 1950s bus shelter in Sheringham, but campaigners are staging a 24/7 sit-in
www.theguardian.com
December 9, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Regardless of any architectural or traditional heritage value, this is an example of a functional building used for years, that works for people, with which they have an emotional history as well as a practical need. #PlaceHistory #LocalDemocracy #HeritageAttachment #BusShelter #BusesMatter
Reposted by Joe Baubles
It's wild that there appears to be more current concern for the Lost Library of Alexandria than for the British Library. The BL's crisis exemplifies the accelerating destruction--through apathy as much as by design--of human knowledge & learning. I'm not even being dramatic.
‘No one seems to care’: scholars decry plight of British Library
Historian Peter Mandler said it was “a sorry state when a major piece of public infrastructure like this is hit so badly and no one in authority even seems to notice, much less care”.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...
Historian Peter Mandler said it was “a sorry state when a major piece of public infrastructure like this is hit so badly and no one in authority even seems to notice, much less care”.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...
‘No one seems to care’: scholars decry plight of British Library - Research Professional News
Humanities researchers suffer amid “agonisingly slow” recovery from 2023 cyberattack, as strikes cause further delays
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
December 9, 2025 at 10:01 AM
It's wild that there appears to be more current concern for the Lost Library of Alexandria than for the British Library. The BL's crisis exemplifies the accelerating destruction--through apathy as much as by design--of human knowledge & learning. I'm not even being dramatic.
Reposted by Joe Baubles
Folks might not know a lot of people are getting *very* upset that the materials they request are not available in the libraries/archives they're requesting from.
We're getting lots here at the Library of Virginia: requests of documents likely surfaced by large language models that *do not exist*.
We're getting lots here at the Library of Virginia: requests of documents likely surfaced by large language models that *do not exist*.
I wish a notice like this wasn't necessary.
www.icrc.org/en/article/i...
www.icrc.org/en/article/i...
Important notice: AI-generated archival references
www.icrc.org
December 8, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Folks might not know a lot of people are getting *very* upset that the materials they request are not available in the libraries/archives they're requesting from.
We're getting lots here at the Library of Virginia: requests of documents likely surfaced by large language models that *do not exist*.
We're getting lots here at the Library of Virginia: requests of documents likely surfaced by large language models that *do not exist*.
Reposted by Joe Baubles
Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar
Window 7
‘Frost’
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
Window 7
‘Frost’
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
December 7, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar
Window 7
‘Frost’
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
Window 7
‘Frost’
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
Reposted by Joe Baubles
A quick thread about empire based on a long conversation in a hospital waiting room today. Like so many Brits, my family includes people from multiple heritages, including white elders raised in industrialised regions of North England and Wales which were not racially diverse when they were young.
4. You see, the problem is this: History Reclaimed don’t know much about British colonialism. They’re not actually interested in it. They are a private company funded to prevent any truthful examination of the past that might challenge a right wing, white-centred version of the national story.
December 3, 2025 at 1:17 PM
A quick thread about empire based on a long conversation in a hospital waiting room today. Like so many Brits, my family includes people from multiple heritages, including white elders raised in industrialised regions of North England and Wales which were not racially diverse when they were young.
Reposted by Joe Baubles
Sometimes when it's midnight and you're putting in the subheads you're allowed a little easter egg
December 2, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Sometimes when it's midnight and you're putting in the subheads you're allowed a little easter egg
Reposted by Joe Baubles
I'm very proud of this essay and delighted one of my fave sites is hosting it. On language as the surface of a lake and how the advertiser's dream is to sever it from an ecology of meaning, how we resist this, and why we should absolutely feel okay shaming users of AI. lithub.com/on-the-rise-...
On the Rise of ChatGPT and the Industrialization of the Post-Meaning World
When you teach children to analyze, or appreciate, poetry, you get used to a certain complaint, that you’re making it up, that the writer did not give that much thought to choosing a colon over a c…
lithub.com
December 2, 2025 at 12:05 PM
I'm very proud of this essay and delighted one of my fave sites is hosting it. On language as the surface of a lake and how the advertiser's dream is to sever it from an ecology of meaning, how we resist this, and why we should absolutely feel okay shaming users of AI. lithub.com/on-the-rise-...
Reposted by Joe Baubles
„A sad fiasco“, my book on colonial concentration camps, has been released in paperback today. If you want to know what characterized these deadly institutions; whether colonial powers copied this technique from each other; and whether they are connected to later Nazi camps, consider taking a look.
December 2, 2025 at 3:14 PM
„A sad fiasco“, my book on colonial concentration camps, has been released in paperback today. If you want to know what characterized these deadly institutions; whether colonial powers copied this technique from each other; and whether they are connected to later Nazi camps, consider taking a look.
Reposted by Joe Baubles
Eventually today's boring payroll record become tomorrow's fascinating database.
A blast from my past - the Medieval Soldier database takes nearly 300,000 military service records from 1369-1453 and makes them available as a searchable database.
An invaluable resource for understanding medieval warfare, society and the English medieval state. Learn more in the link. 🗃️
An invaluable resource for understanding medieval warfare, society and the English medieval state. Learn more in the link. 🗃️
We built a database of 290,000 English medieval soldiers – here’s what it reveals
We created the database in order to challenge assumptions about the lack of professionalism of everyday soldiers.
theconversation.com
December 2, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Eventually today's boring payroll record become tomorrow's fascinating database.
Reposted by Joe Baubles
Following this nice pic of 70s EMI, two images:
1) postwar Gramophone production line (from Miriam Glucksman's "Women Assemble")
2) Gramophone-themed seating in the current redeveloped site
& two sections from my book:
3) TGWU women's dispute over the Sex Pistols
4) West London gentrification
1) postwar Gramophone production line (from Miriam Glucksman's "Women Assemble")
2) Gramophone-themed seating in the current redeveloped site
& two sections from my book:
3) TGWU women's dispute over the Sex Pistols
4) West London gentrification
December 1, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Following this nice pic of 70s EMI, two images:
1) postwar Gramophone production line (from Miriam Glucksman's "Women Assemble")
2) Gramophone-themed seating in the current redeveloped site
& two sections from my book:
3) TGWU women's dispute over the Sex Pistols
4) West London gentrification
1) postwar Gramophone production line (from Miriam Glucksman's "Women Assemble")
2) Gramophone-themed seating in the current redeveloped site
& two sections from my book:
3) TGWU women's dispute over the Sex Pistols
4) West London gentrification
Reposted by Joe Baubles
there’s a scene in the new documentary where Elizabeth Taylor is talking about the stigma of AIDS and how she got involved in the movement and it’s fucking everything
August 10, 2024 at 3:21 PM
there’s a scene in the new documentary where Elizabeth Taylor is talking about the stigma of AIDS and how she got involved in the movement and it’s fucking everything
Reposted by Joe Baubles
SORRY FOR BEING A MILLENNIAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 1, 2025 at 10:15 PM
SORRY FOR BEING A MILLENNIAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reposted by Joe Baubles
I appreciate how 90% of library+archive+museum social media production is just more and more videos about why they aren't wearing white gloves
November 30, 2025 at 8:54 PM
I appreciate how 90% of library+archive+museum social media production is just more and more videos about why they aren't wearing white gloves
Reposted by Joe Baubles
As 2025 comes to an end, we are reflecting on almost a year of organising as archaeologists of conscience, holding our representative organisations to account in the face of their negligence, silence and complicity. drive.google.com/file/d/1QPy8...
November 29, 2025 at 6:31 PM
As 2025 comes to an end, we are reflecting on almost a year of organising as archaeologists of conscience, holding our representative organisations to account in the face of their negligence, silence and complicity. drive.google.com/file/d/1QPy8...
Reposted by Joe Baubles
"Where are the Black photographers?" Deborah Willis on how she turned that question into an artistic mission.
'Reflections in Black' celebrates history of Black photography with expanded issue
"Where are the Black photographers?" Deborah Willis on how she turned that question into an artistic mission.
n.pr
November 29, 2025 at 12:58 PM
"Where are the Black photographers?" Deborah Willis on how she turned that question into an artistic mission.
Reposted by Joe Baubles
"Inside the Philly traveling museum where Black collectors finally take the spotlight"
"Museums routinely curate exhibitions centering collectors’ works but this traveling art museum is a unicorn. Its 'walls' are solely dedicated to the collections of Black collectors."
"Museums routinely curate exhibitions centering collectors’ works but this traveling art museum is a unicorn. Its 'walls' are solely dedicated to the collections of Black collectors."
Inside the Philly traveling museum where Black collectors finally take the spotlight
Museums routinely curate exhibitions centering collectors’ works but this traveling art museum is a unicorn. Its "walls" are solely dedicated to the collections of Black collectors.
share.inquirer.com
November 29, 2025 at 3:02 PM
"Inside the Philly traveling museum where Black collectors finally take the spotlight"
"Museums routinely curate exhibitions centering collectors’ works but this traveling art museum is a unicorn. Its 'walls' are solely dedicated to the collections of Black collectors."
"Museums routinely curate exhibitions centering collectors’ works but this traveling art museum is a unicorn. Its 'walls' are solely dedicated to the collections of Black collectors."
Reposted by Joe Baubles
When a bound volume of #1920s newspapers got wet, we froze it to prevent mould developing until we had the time and space to dry it out properly. As the wet pages felt slightly tacky we had to interleave them with dry sheets, so they wouldn’t all stick together in the freezer.
#EYAConservation
#EYAConservation
November 29, 2025 at 11:40 AM
When a bound volume of #1920s newspapers got wet, we froze it to prevent mould developing until we had the time and space to dry it out properly. As the wet pages felt slightly tacky we had to interleave them with dry sheets, so they wouldn’t all stick together in the freezer.
#EYAConservation
#EYAConservation
Reposted by Joe Baubles
We love a secret doorway.
📷The secret door in the Library at Osterley, London by John Hammond
📷The secret door in the Library at Osterley, London by John Hammond
November 29, 2025 at 8:43 AM
We love a secret doorway.
📷The secret door in the Library at Osterley, London by John Hammond
📷The secret door in the Library at Osterley, London by John Hammond