Tim Hitchcock
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timhitchcock.bsky.social
Tim Hitchcock
@timhitchcock.bsky.social
4.3K followers 3.4K following 390 posts

Historian of 18th century London; Professor Emeritus of Digital History at the University of Sussex. Just coughing in the ink to the end of time.

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Economics 31%
History 24%
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Reposted by Tim Hitchcock

peterpaulrubens.bsky.social
Dr. Peter Paul Rubens @peterpaulrubens.bsky.social · 8h
Stunning portrait of a woman in a plumed blue hat from 1740 by William Hogarth, who was born on this day in 1697. Totally love this one.

Reposted by Tim Hitchcock

jfwinters.bsky.social
Jane Winters @jfwinters.bsky.social · 2d
You hear so much negativity about the NHS, but we had such a wonderful social worker who pulled out all the stops to let my dad go home with proper support. And on the weekend too.

Reposted by Tim Hitchcock

ahistoryinart.bsky.social
Richard Morris @ahistoryinart.bsky.social · 3d
Claude Francis Barry’s paintings of WW1 are amongst the most accomplished of his works, with his images of searchlights across London being the most evocative - here (1918) he used small concentrated dots of colour to create an atmospheric haze of light.

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Tim Hitchcock

eicathomefinn.bsky.social
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 3d
The Worshipful Company of Curriers essay prize on London for early career scholars, in association with The London Journal Trust and the Institute of Historical Research.

The author of the winning submission will receive £1,000, and publication, subject to peer review, in The London Journal.
Curriers' Essay Prize | The London Journal
The author of the winning submission will receive £1,000, and publication, subject to peer review, in The London Journal. Other promising entries may also be considered for publication.
www.thelondonjournal.org

timhitchcock.bsky.social
Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 4d
I see what you mean.

timhitchcock.bsky.social
Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 4d
The crime ridden hell-hole that is London on a Thursday afternoon.
a scene eith autumn foilage in the foreground and a cloudy sky lit with dunlight above.

timhitchcock.bsky.social
Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 4d
I wonder if anyone on here can help? Attached is a section from a 1706 volume, with shorthand annotations that look like Brachygraphy to me. The assumption has to be that they represent the biblical passages in the nearby text, but I can't make the shorthand agree with the texts being referenced.

Reposted by Tim Hitchcock

sharonhoward.bsky.social
Sharon Howard @sharonhoward.bsky.social · 5d
Apart from all the bells and whistles on the site itself, some users may like to know that the London Lives bibliography has been Zoterified (so it's searchable etc): www.zotero.org/groups/45875...

Reposted by Tim Hitchcock

shoebob.bsky.social @shoebob.bsky.social · 5d
Our thanks to the whole team which produced the updated London Lives--Jamie McLaughlin (software engineer), Sharon Howard (data manager), and Mary Clayton (proofreader). And to the funder, the Univ of Sheffield Alumni, who recognised the value of keeping major websites up to date.

timhitchcock.bsky.social
Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 5d
/5 There are already hundreds of 'lives' written up on the basis of information collected into 'Life Archives' from the site. Have a look at the life of Sophie Pringle for instance. www.londonlives.org/about/pringl...
London Lives
www.londonlives.org

Reposted by Martin Paul Eve

timhitchcock.bsky.social
Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 5d
/4 The site still gives users access to 240,000 pages of manuscript and printed sources for London history, reflecting the lives of working Londoners, including people like parish orphan Charlotte Dionis.

Reposted by Martin Paul Eve

timhitchcock.bsky.social
Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 5d
/3 We have also fully redesigned the 'browse by' functions to make navigation a lot more intuitive.

Reposted by Martin Paul Eve

timhitchcock.bsky.social
Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 5d
/2 Among the new features is a Macroscope visualisation that displays the context for all results.

Reposted by Martin Paul Eve, Charles West, Kris Inwood , and 7 more

timhitchcock.bsky.social
Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 5d
Really pleased to announce the launch of the all-new, all-dancing, London Lives website - www.londonlives.org It has been thoroughly re-engineered to facilitate more types of search, and redesigned for phones and tablets. The team very much hopes peope like it. 1/
London Lives
www.londonlives.org

Reposted by Tim Hitchcock, Holly Hassel

mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 7d
Very proud to have worked on this statement of the Modern Language Association with @annamillsoer.bsky.social and other colleagues on the MLA’s task force on AI in Research and Teaching. It is a direct call for faculty input into Ed Tech decision-making, especially AI: www.mla.org/Resources/Ad... 🧵
Screenshots of the following text: Statement on Educational Technologies and AI Agents The following statement of endorsement was drafted by the MLA Task Force on AI in Research and Teaching. The Executive Council approved it as an MLA statement in October 2025. Software, specifically learning management systems (LMSs), is as important to teaching and learning as physical classrooms and facilities. The recent and hasty integration of generative AI features into those systems is already redefining student and instructor relationships, evaluative standards, and instructional outcomes—with no compelling evidence that any of it is for the better. At the same time, so-called agentic browsers are becoming widely available to the public. These offer AI “agents” that can navigate LMSs and complete assignments without any student involvement. All of this is unfolding at a time when contractual arrangements between institutions and commercial vendors often lack transparency, with worrisome implications for data collection and student privacy. Screenshots of the following text: The Modern Language Association therefore unequivocally 1. Advocates for full faculty and instructional involvement, including faculty of languages, literatures, and the humanities, at all levels of decision-making in the selection, procurement, and responsible implementation of instructional technology systems and software, including those incorporating AI.

The instructional mission cannot be fulfilled in the absence of faculty expertise, and this expertise extends not only to the “content” of the curriculum but also to the infrastructures and environments—virtual and otherwise—in which learning happens.
  2. Calls upon law- and policymakers, LMS vendors, and companies offering agent-based AI browsers to cooperate in order to prevent misuse and to ensure that academic institutions have the ability and option to block agentic AI when needed.

Without dedicated outside cooperation from lawmakers and technology providers, academic institutions may not have the technical capacity to do so on their own. If we do not act, we risk seeing the development of a fully automated loop in which assignments are generated by AI with the support of a learning management system, AI-generated content is submitted by an agentic AI on behalf of the student, and AI-driven metrics evaluate the work on behalf of the instructor.

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Adrian Vickers

timhitchcock.bsky.social
Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 11d
Really looking forward to Samia Khatun's talk next wk: What is the Human? Recuperating Histories of Textiles Workers in Bengal from British East India Company Archives @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social All welcome, online or in person, register here. www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
What is the Human? Recuperating Histories of Textiles Workers in Bengal from British East India Company Archives
www.history.ac.uk

Reposted by Louise Edwards, Tim Hitchcock, Pratik Chakrabarti , and 1 more

eicathomefinn.bsky.social
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 14d
Bodleian Library, Sassoon Visiting Fellowship in South Asian and Black History for the 2026-2027 academic year.

It's a great scheme, with a deadline of 28 November 2025. Check it and Bodley's other visiting fellowships out here.
Bodleian Visiting Fellowships in Special Collections
www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

timhitchcock.bsky.social
Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 16d
The Foundling also represented an attack on working class motherhood and parish relief. And that is before we start counting the 10,000 babies who died under its care during the general reception. Presenting the FH as an unproblematic good hides a more powerful story.

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Tim Hitchcock

katrinanavickas.bsky.social
Katrina Navickas @katrinanavickas.bsky.social · 16d
Thanks to @reaktionbooks.bsky.social for making my history of protest in England's public spaces into a beautiful, well produced book with a fab cover.
Buy it here reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/contest...
Me with book

Reposted by Margot C. Finn

timhitchcock.bsky.social
Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 21d
Great to see the recording of @richardjansell.bsky.social 's recent paper on travel journals and servants' lives on the Grand Tour is now avaiable on the @ihrlibrary.bsky.social website. @long18thsem.bsky.social See: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Travel Journals and Other Traces of Servants on the Grand Tour
British History in the Long 18th Century Seminar
www.history.ac.uk

timhitchcock.bsky.social
Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 22d
Very much looking forward to Polly Lowe @polly-lowe.bsky.social speaking this Wednesday on bound labour and Scottish miners in the 18th c. @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social Everyone welcome - either in person or hybrid, but please register at www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Bound Labour, Narratives of Nationhood, and the Rhetoric of Slavery: Liberty, Identity, and Scottish Coal-Miners in the Long Eighteenth Century
www.history.ac.uk

Reposted by Tim Hitchcock

heroicendeavour.bsky.social
Caroline Ball @heroicendeavour.bsky.social · 22d
Settling in for the @wikimediauk.bsky.social / @britishlibrary.bsky.social / @wikimediafoundation.org #KnowledgeIsHuman symposium. Going to be a full day of discussion about the information ecosystem in the age of AI.

Reposted by Kris Inwood, Tim Hitchcock, Katrina Navickas

justincolson.bsky.social
Justin Colson @justincolson.bsky.social · 28d
At @ihr.bsky.social we can now offer PhD by Publication in History! For those with a substantial body of existing published research (within past 10 years), but without a PhD, should be of particular interest to #heritage professionals and independent scholars!

timhitchcock.bsky.social
Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 28d
And north Wales, where it has been in operation for 40 years.

Reposted by Tim Hitchcock

eicathomefinn.bsky.social
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 28d
The October updates include, for example, 162 titles about the history of Wales, 229 records re histories of African nations, 359 publications re Scottish history, 448 records discuss the histories of the Americas and Atlantic Ocean, 468 publications focusing on Irish history, and much more.

Reposted by Keith Lilley, Tim Hitchcock

londontopsoc.bsky.social
London Topographical Society @londontopsoc.bsky.social · 28d
‪ANN SAUNDERS ESSAY PRIZE FOR 2026

A prize of £1,000 is offered annually for an original and unpublished 8000-word research essay on the topography, development or buildings of London in any period.

Submissions by 1 April 2026.

Details can be found at: londontopsoc.org/about-us/ann...

Reposted by Tim Hitchcock

londontopsoc.bsky.social
London Topographical Society @londontopsoc.bsky.social · 29d
Council member Simon Morris will be speaking at the Warburg Institute's Maps and Society series at 5pm on Thursday 6th November. His subject will be 'London Parish Maps', based on the 2020 LTS publication. warburg.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

Reposted by Tim Hitchcock

londontopsoc.bsky.social
London Topographical Society @londontopsoc.bsky.social · 29d
The Society's latest volume of the "Record" is now available - the 33rd volume since 1900. It includes essays dealing with the development of London from the 1530s to the 19th century's growth of suburbs in what had been open countryside. londontopsoc.org/product/lond...

Reposted by Dorothy Bishop, Martin Paul Eve, Tim Hitchcock

londontopsoc.bsky.social
London Topographical Society @londontopsoc.bsky.social · 29d
We have just joined BlueSky! Since our foundation in 1880, we have reproduced an unrivalled selection of historic maps, plans and views of London. We also publish books and monographs containing original research. See more of what we have to offer at: londontopsoc.org

Reposted by Martin Paul Eve

timhitchcock.bsky.social
Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 29d
Fantastic to see the London Topographical Society is now on here! @londontopsoc.bsky.social Do give them a follow.