Dr Chris Higgins
@drchrishiggins.bsky.social
Head of History; Kent History Teacher of the Year; PhD (Birkbeck, London); research interests, early modern female mobility & Countess of Arundel
‘Wide Wandring Weemen’ database: https://travellers.thedevroom.co.uk/
‘Wide Wandring Weemen’ database: https://travellers.thedevroom.co.uk/
Cartography couture at The British Library Secret Maps exhibition. Lady Mountbatten’s post-war lingerie, cut from printed silk maps of Italy.
November 23, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Cartography couture at The British Library Secret Maps exhibition. Lady Mountbatten’s post-war lingerie, cut from printed silk maps of Italy.
Spotted in BBC History Dec 2025: “A 2025 study sponsored by Microsoft sought to identify those occupations most at risk from GenAI. Historians came second, behind interpreters and translators. Dredge operators, last on the list.” 😳
November 22, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Spotted in BBC History Dec 2025: “A 2025 study sponsored by Microsoft sought to identify those occupations most at risk from GenAI. Historians came second, behind interpreters and translators. Dredge operators, last on the list.” 😳
Reposted by Dr Chris Higgins
Portrait of a girl, c. 1625-35
Attributed to the British School
(Royal Collection, HM CIII)
Attributed to the British School
(Royal Collection, HM CIII)
November 1, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Portrait of a girl, c. 1625-35
Attributed to the British School
(Royal Collection, HM CIII)
Attributed to the British School
(Royal Collection, HM CIII)
Excellent news — it looks as though the British Library’s online catalogue for manuscripts and archives will soon be back.
October 31, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Excellent news — it looks as though the British Library’s online catalogue for manuscripts and archives will soon be back.
A wonderful day at Lambeth Palace Library yesterday. The librarians could not have been kinder or more helpful. I still miss the old library, but the new wing — light, calm, beautifully designed — is a joy.
October 30, 2025 at 8:18 AM
A wonderful day at Lambeth Palace Library yesterday. The librarians could not have been kinder or more helpful. I still miss the old library, but the new wing — light, calm, beautifully designed — is a joy.
Reposted by Dr Chris Higgins
A neat tool I just came across: Viabundus, a digital road map of northern Europe 1350-1650, that lets you calculate contemporary travel routes/times. In 1500, going Amiens → Köln by horse took almost 7 days and 13 toll payments.
#medievalsky
www.landesgeschichte.uni-goettingen.de/handelsstras...
#medievalsky
www.landesgeschichte.uni-goettingen.de/handelsstras...
October 24, 2025 at 10:58 PM
A neat tool I just came across: Viabundus, a digital road map of northern Europe 1350-1650, that lets you calculate contemporary travel routes/times. In 1500, going Amiens → Köln by horse took almost 7 days and 13 toll payments.
#medievalsky
www.landesgeschichte.uni-goettingen.de/handelsstras...
#medievalsky
www.landesgeschichte.uni-goettingen.de/handelsstras...
Reposted by Dr Chris Higgins
C.S. Lewis responding to a letter from an American schoolgirl asking him for some writing advice.
(Worth reading? ✅️)
(Worth reading? ✅️)
October 24, 2025 at 8:19 PM
C.S. Lewis responding to a letter from an American schoolgirl asking him for some writing advice.
(Worth reading? ✅️)
(Worth reading? ✅️)
Highly recommend ‘The House at Number 48’ on BBC Sounds — a haunting and fascinating journey into the past, beginning with a suitcase and ending in some remarkable revelations.
October 22, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Highly recommend ‘The House at Number 48’ on BBC Sounds — a haunting and fascinating journey into the past, beginning with a suitcase and ending in some remarkable revelations.
Reposted by Dr Chris Higgins
📢 Reminder about our CFP for the Mobility and Migration Seminar in collaboration with @ihr.bsky.social!
Please see below for more information on the CFP, abstracts are due on 15th November! Please share widely!
Please see below for more information on the CFP, abstracts are due on 15th November! Please share widely!
📢 New Seminar Series!
We are thrilled to be working alongside @ihr.bsky.social on a brand new seminar series titled Migration and Mobility. We are coming together for a special edition of the seminar to showcase the work of PGRs and ECRs on migration and mobility history (1/3)
We are thrilled to be working alongside @ihr.bsky.social on a brand new seminar series titled Migration and Mobility. We are coming together for a special edition of the seminar to showcase the work of PGRs and ECRs on migration and mobility history (1/3)
October 16, 2025 at 11:36 AM
📢 Reminder about our CFP for the Mobility and Migration Seminar in collaboration with @ihr.bsky.social!
Please see below for more information on the CFP, abstracts are due on 15th November! Please share widely!
Please see below for more information on the CFP, abstracts are due on 15th November! Please share widely!
Reposted by Dr Chris Higgins
English embroiderer and Pre-Raphaelite artist's model Jane Morris was born #OnThisDay in 1849. It is believed that the embroidery of intertwined floral sprays for this c. 1878 blue silk bag with a metal mount was designed and worked by Morris. V&A collection. #fashionhistory
October 19, 2025 at 6:01 AM
English embroiderer and Pre-Raphaelite artist's model Jane Morris was born #OnThisDay in 1849. It is believed that the embroidery of intertwined floral sprays for this c. 1878 blue silk bag with a metal mount was designed and worked by Morris. V&A collection. #fashionhistory
Reposted by Dr Chris Higgins
Delighted to see the open access publication of Crossings: Migrant Knowledges, Migrant Forms -- a superb volume featuring artists, poets, scholars, and a short essay by me on Dutch- and French-speaking women in 16th-century London telling their stories of migration. punctumbooks.com/titles/cross...
Crossings: Migrant Knowledges, Migrant Forms – punctum books
punctumbooks.com
October 7, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Delighted to see the open access publication of Crossings: Migrant Knowledges, Migrant Forms -- a superb volume featuring artists, poets, scholars, and a short essay by me on Dutch- and French-speaking women in 16th-century London telling their stories of migration. punctumbooks.com/titles/cross...
Reposted by Dr Chris Higgins
Would anyone like to take a guess at the word before “kebob”? Which predates OED - ms is 1660
October 3, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Would anyone like to take a guess at the word before “kebob”? Which predates OED - ms is 1660
Reposted by Dr Chris Higgins
We invite applications for British Academy/Leverhulme Senior Research Fellowships 2025. The scheme supports established and senior researchers in the humanities and social sciences wishing to complete research through a sustained period of leave for one year. Apply now: https://bit.ly/3VMeTZ9
October 1, 2025 at 4:10 PM
We invite applications for British Academy/Leverhulme Senior Research Fellowships 2025. The scheme supports established and senior researchers in the humanities and social sciences wishing to complete research through a sustained period of leave for one year. Apply now: https://bit.ly/3VMeTZ9
I’m very tempted by this one-day course at the British Library:
October 1, 2025 at 10:18 AM
I’m very tempted by this one-day course at the British Library:
Reposted by Dr Chris Higgins
The IHR Tudor and Stuart seminar has joined Bluesky! Please follow and RT!
Our programme for the year is starting NEXT WEEK on Monday 29 September with Alison Knight @aeknight.bsky.social speaking on 'Certificates of Religion: Early Modern Belief on Paper'.
Online and in-person, 5.30pm
Book here:
Our programme for the year is starting NEXT WEEK on Monday 29 September with Alison Knight @aeknight.bsky.social speaking on 'Certificates of Religion: Early Modern Belief on Paper'.
Online and in-person, 5.30pm
Book here:
Certificates of Religion: Early Modern Belief on Paper
www.history.ac.uk
September 22, 2025 at 1:06 PM
The IHR Tudor and Stuart seminar has joined Bluesky! Please follow and RT!
Our programme for the year is starting NEXT WEEK on Monday 29 September with Alison Knight @aeknight.bsky.social speaking on 'Certificates of Religion: Early Modern Belief on Paper'.
Online and in-person, 5.30pm
Book here:
Our programme for the year is starting NEXT WEEK on Monday 29 September with Alison Knight @aeknight.bsky.social speaking on 'Certificates of Religion: Early Modern Belief on Paper'.
Online and in-person, 5.30pm
Book here:
Reposted by Dr Chris Higgins
Check out the new V&A exhibition about Marie Antoinette’s fashion, but first listen to our episode of BBC YOU’RE DEAD TO ME about her life — with me, Professor @100days1815.bsky.social, and comedian Jen Brister
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
September 17, 2025 at 7:18 AM
Check out the new V&A exhibition about Marie Antoinette’s fashion, but first listen to our episode of BBC YOU’RE DEAD TO ME about her life — with me, Professor @100days1815.bsky.social, and comedian Jen Brister
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Reposted by Dr Chris Higgins
Welsh fashion designer and businesswoman Laura Ashley was born #OnThisDay in 1925. This empire-line cream cotton Laura Ashley dress, sprigged with blue and green flowers with brown foliage, dates from 1974. Aberdeen Art Gallery collection. #Fashionhistory #LauraAshley
September 7, 2025 at 6:01 AM
Welsh fashion designer and businesswoman Laura Ashley was born #OnThisDay in 1925. This empire-line cream cotton Laura Ashley dress, sprigged with blue and green flowers with brown foliage, dates from 1974. Aberdeen Art Gallery collection. #Fashionhistory #LauraAshley
Reposted by Dr Chris Higgins
#OTD , 7 September 1533, Elizabeth 1 was born at Greenwich
Here she is in stained glass in Westminster Abbey.
#stainedglasssunday #elizabethan #elizabeth1 #stainedglass
Here she is in stained glass in Westminster Abbey.
#stainedglasssunday #elizabethan #elizabeth1 #stainedglass
September 7, 2025 at 6:04 AM
#OTD , 7 September 1533, Elizabeth 1 was born at Greenwich
Here she is in stained glass in Westminster Abbey.
#stainedglasssunday #elizabethan #elizabeth1 #stainedglass
Here she is in stained glass in Westminster Abbey.
#stainedglasssunday #elizabethan #elizabeth1 #stainedglass
Reposted by Dr Chris Higgins
‘It’s been quite a ride!’ Melvyn Bragg to step down from Radio 4’s In Our Time after 27 years
‘It’s been quite a ride!’ Melvyn Bragg to step down from Radio 4’s In Our Time after 27 years
The broadcaster is leaving the hit BBC programme after presenting more than 1,000 episodes and having ‘enriched the lives of millions’
Melvyn Bragg has announced that he will be leaving BBC Radio 4 show In Our Time after hosting it for 27 years. He launched it in October 1998, after being asked to present a programme during what was known as “the death slot” because of its low Thursday morning audience figures.
The show, which explores the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world, has proved extremely popular. It celebrated its 1,000th episode in 2023 and is regularly one of the BBC’s most listened to on-demand programmes worldwide. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
September 3, 2025 at 12:47 PM
‘It’s been quite a ride!’ Melvyn Bragg to step down from Radio 4’s In Our Time after 27 years
Reposted by Dr Chris Higgins
French conservators are aghast at the proposed loan of the Bayeux Tapestry, warning its much too fragile to be moved
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
‘La tapisserie, c’est moi’: Macron accused of putting politics first in Bayeux tapestry loan
Organiser of petition says French president ignoring expert advice that artefact too fragile to be transported to UK
www.theguardian.com
August 31, 2025 at 12:27 PM
French conservators are aghast at the proposed loan of the Bayeux Tapestry, warning its much too fragile to be moved
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
On a vaporetto this week, wedged beside someone polishing their Venice Film Festival speech. I longed to read every word, but had to balance my curiosity with an air of studied nonchalance.
August 31, 2025 at 5:58 AM
On a vaporetto this week, wedged beside someone polishing their Venice Film Festival speech. I longed to read every word, but had to balance my curiosity with an air of studied nonchalance.
Reposted by Dr Chris Higgins
US photographer Ruth Orkin (1921-1985), who rode 2000 miles across the US age 17 and later captured Hollywood stars in her photography among other subjects #WomensArt
August 30, 2025 at 6:37 AM
US photographer Ruth Orkin (1921-1985), who rode 2000 miles across the US age 17 and later captured Hollywood stars in her photography among other subjects #WomensArt
Reposted by Dr Chris Higgins
#Ootd is another Dior from the Enchanted Gardens section of #lagalreiedior. It is an embroidered peau de soie evening gown by Maria Grazia Chiuri for the 2023 high jewelry collection, appropriately named "Les Jardins de la Couture," as Victoire de Castellane, the creative director of fine jewelry,
August 5, 2025 at 5:26 AM
#Ootd is another Dior from the Enchanted Gardens section of #lagalreiedior. It is an embroidered peau de soie evening gown by Maria Grazia Chiuri for the 2023 high jewelry collection, appropriately named "Les Jardins de la Couture," as Victoire de Castellane, the creative director of fine jewelry,
Reposted by Dr Chris Higgins
Art Nouveau embroidered textile design (c.1906) by embroidery artist & Glasgow School member Ann Macbeth #womensart
August 4, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Art Nouveau embroidered textile design (c.1906) by embroidery artist & Glasgow School member Ann Macbeth #womensart