Dr Amara Thornton
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amalexathorn.bsky.social
Dr Amara Thornton
@amalexathorn.bsky.social
2.8K followers 890 following 800 posts
Historian of archaeology, Co-Investigator of Beyond Notability @beyondnotables.bsky.social, Co-Editor (with Dr Katy Soar), Strange Relics (Handheld Press, 2022). Website: https://www.amarathornton.com/; Agent: @agentbal.bsky.social @mmagency.bsky.social
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amalexathorn.bsky.social
What's this? @helleborezine.bsky.social in the Guardian! www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025... @mjpcuervo.bsky.social
‘Demonic’ Wind in the Willows jumper banned from Westminster Abbey
Woman told to remove or cover up garment featuring 1908 illustration of Pan lest it offend worshippers
www.theguardian.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:06 AM
Reposted by Dr Amara Thornton
jfwinters.bsky.social
Since it’s University Press Week #UPweek, a shout out to my amazing colleagues at University of London Press @uolpress.bsky.social. They are flying the flag for open humanities publishing.
November 10, 2025 at 9:01 PM
amalexathorn.bsky.social
Aymer's wife Lucy is in our @beyondnotables.bsky.social database beyond-notability.wikibase.cloud/wiki/Item:Q3...
November 3, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Reposted by Dr Amara Thornton
theguardian.com
Lost grave of daughter of Black abolitionist Olaudah Equiano found by A-level student
Lost grave of daughter of Black abolitionist Olaudah Equiano found by A-level student
Fitzwilliam Museum has uncovered student’s work from 1977 that revealed Cambridgeshire location of child’s burial place An A-level pupil found the lost grave of the Black abolitionist Olaudah Equiano’s daughter, revealing a story of love and solidarity in 18th-century rural England. Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797), also known as Gustavus Vassa, escaped enslavement to become a celebrated author and campaigner in Georgian England. His memoir, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, was a bestseller. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 1, 2025 at 6:26 AM
amalexathorn.bsky.social
You'll find one of @antiquaries.bsky.social's housekeepers @beyondnotables.bsky.social database... bsky.app/profile/did:...
antiquaries.bsky.social The Society of Antiquaries of London @antiquaries.bsky.social · 14d
Our staff are fiendishly friendly today, ready to welcome you into the depths of our Library.....if you have the guts to enter....
Our archivist creepily waits for visitors behind a glass window, dressed up in a Halloween outfit.
October 31, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Reposted by Dr Amara Thornton
antiquaries.bsky.social
Our staff are fiendishly friendly today, ready to welcome you into the depths of our Library.....if you have the guts to enter....
Our archivist creepily waits for visitors behind a glass window, dressed up in a Halloween outfit.
October 31, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Reposted by Dr Amara Thornton
public-history.bsky.social
Paintings of Stonehenge by Victorian women are rare, and these details are tantalising: could this be Elizabeth Russell, Duchess of Bedford (1818-1897) and her daughter Lady Ermyntrude Russell (1856-1927)? Such precious women's artwork needs to be in the Wiltshire Museum collection.
October 18, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Dr Amara Thornton
folklorepod.bsky.social
Episode 180
EDITH NESBIT'S GHOST STORIES

Watch the interview and other content on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkDM...

Listen on the website:
www.thefolklorepodcast.com/episode-180....

Or via your podcast app

Join me and @clairelouiseamias.bsky.social to learn about Edith's gothic tales
Title card for Season 10 Episode 180, Edith Nesbit's Ghost Stories, featuring Claire in a black gothic dress. She looks perturbed by something. Probably a ghost
October 21, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Reposted by Dr Amara Thornton
naazrashid.bsky.social
A fascinating read about terminology in the archives and why it's so important to address, from @thelondonarchives.bsky.social

www.thelondonarchives.org/revisiting-t...
Revisiting the Cooper Family collection
Exploring the omissions, language and content in our catalogue descriptions at The London Archives. We take a closer look at the Cooper family collection.
www.thelondonarchives.org
October 21, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Reposted by Dr Amara Thornton
julieh80.bsky.social
Now going on display www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
London museum identifies black Waterloo veteran in rare 1821 painting
‘Honourable’ bandsman Thomas James will feature in display at National Army Museum highlighting service of black soldiers in Napoleonic wars
www.theguardian.com
October 21, 2025 at 6:03 AM
Reposted by Dr Amara Thornton
calscherm.bsky.social
Congratulations and happy Pub Day to @ktgerbs.bsky.social "Archival Irruptions" tells a new history of Obeah, an Afro-Caribbean religion that was criminalized in 1760 after the largest slave revolt in the 18th century British Empire
www.dukeupress.edu/archival-irr...
Archival Irruptions: Constructing Religion and Criminalizing Obeah in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica
www.dukeupress.edu
October 15, 2025 at 12:33 AM
amalexathorn.bsky.social
Wow - super impressed by Grenada National Museum website which I think must be relatively new? museum.gd
October 19, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Reposted by Dr Amara Thornton
hannahelias.bsky.social
We aren’t hosting a November event as so many of the co-convenors will be speaking at NACBS, but you can book now for our December event will be a discussion of the new book ‘Teaching Slavery: New Approaches to Britain’s Colonial Past.’ www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Book talk: Teaching Slavery: New Approaches to Britain’s Colonial Past
www.history.ac.uk
October 18, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Dr Amara Thornton
porticolibrary.bsky.social
These books will also be on display in our Ubunto: Pan African Congress 80 exhibition, inspired by the 80th anniversary of the October 1945 Pan-African Congress in Manchester, a landmark gathering that reshaped the global fight for Black liberation and independence.

uk.bookshop.org/lists/pan-af...
Pan African Conference 80: Black History Month titles 2025
Book recommended by people from the African diaspora at the Portico Library that have shaped them and are on display in our Ubunto: Pan African Congress 80 display.
uk.bookshop.org
October 14, 2025 at 3:56 PM
amalexathorn.bsky.social
Article includes a photo of a US naval base in Trinidad under construction. My Grenadian grandfather, a building contractor, moved to Trinidad during the war to work on the construction of US bases.
October 10, 2025 at 6:34 AM
amalexathorn.bsky.social
This sounds superb!
youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · Oct 7
THE SECRET PROJECT I'VE BEEN WORKING ON FOR THE PAST FEW MONTHS IS FINALLY LIVE

CHECK IT OUT

outsidersartsclub.com
October 8, 2025 at 11:39 AM
amalexathorn.bsky.social
Good advice generally for personal archiving (not just for romance authors)!
stegan.bsky.social Steve A @stegan.bsky.social · Oct 6
It's October, aka American Archives Month, and while it's been a bit warm to don our cardigans, the shrines to Henry from RED are up and it's time to remind romance authors (and authors of all stripes!) about what kinds of things they ought to be preserving. romancehistory.com/2021/10/15/a...
Archives Month: Tips for romance authors (and others!)
October is always American Archives Month, which is of course when archivists don their colorful costumes and dance in the stacks after assembling their shrine to Henry the Record Keeper, as portra…
romancehistory.com
October 7, 2025 at 6:52 PM
amalexathorn.bsky.social
Very much enjoyed yesterday's Black British Folk Takeover @cecilsharphouse.bsky.social yesterday. Some absolutely beautiful music.
October 5, 2025 at 7:16 PM
amalexathorn.bsky.social
Definitely one for @gabemoshenska.bsky.social @kjsoar.bsky.social @mjpcuervo.bsky.social
October 5, 2025 at 5:03 PM
amalexathorn.bsky.social
Had it with admin
October 3, 2025 at 4:49 PM
amalexathorn.bsky.social
Hill is in our @beyondnotables.bsky.social database
robhedge.bsky.social Rob Hedge @robhedge.bsky.social · Oct 2
Panel 3/8
Panel from comic strip: 3 Image of historian Rosalind Hill in her later years, wearing a green cardigan. Text reads: LEICESTER'S REPUTATION GREW IN THE 1930s, ATTRACTING BRIGHT YOUNG SCHOLARS. AMONG THE FIRST WOMEN TO TEACH HISTORY WAS ROSALIND HILL, WHO HAD A PROFOUND EFFECT ON HER STUDENTS: "SHE WAS VERY YOUNG AND NERVOUS... YET SHE MANAGEO TO BRING THE MEDIEVAL WORLD ALIVE. SHE KNEW THE PROBLEMS IT WAS VITAL FOR A YOUNG HISTORIAN TO KNOW ABOUT " JOHN H PLUMB
October 2, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Reposted by Dr Amara Thornton
melissae.bsky.social
Thought I’d do something a bit different for my annual month-long celebration of women’s ghost stories. So instead of doing individual stories, I’ll share the books themselves. (All books are from my collection.)

🎃 Here we go! 👻

First up is Marjorie Bowen’s The Bishop of Hell (1949)
Dust jacket for Marjorie Bowen’s The Bishop of Hell with a bishop’s head surrounded by orange flames set against a black background.
October 1, 2025 at 4:59 PM
amalexathorn.bsky.social
Will be checking this out, with great interest
brookenewman.bsky.social Brooke Newman @brookenewman.bsky.social · Oct 1
The stories of enslaved African people and more than 1,000 British plantation owners who were compensated after abolition have been brought together in a searchable archive for the first time.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
‘This is strength’: stories of enslaved Africans in Grenada made into searchable archive
Depths of Paradise project backed by British family and created by Stephen Lewis, a descendant of survivors
www.theguardian.com
October 1, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Dr Amara Thornton
livunipress.bsky.social
Hostel, House and Chambers: Accommodating the Victorian and Edwardian Working Woman by Emily Gee publishes today! This Historic England title offers an expert architectural analysis, combining social history and insights into pioneering employed women’s domestic and working lives. bit.ly/HEHostel
Promotional image for the book Hostel, House and Chambers: Accommodating the Victorian and Edwardian Working Woman by Emily Gee. The background shows a detailed woven bedspread with the text "Women’s Lodging House" around a decorative floral emblem. Overlaying text reads: “The story of pioneering chambers and hostels that housed intrepid Victorian and Edwardian working women.” The book cover is to the right, with Historic England and Liverpool University Press logos at the bottom.
August 28, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Dr Amara Thornton
melissae.bsky.social
📚 Now available! 📚 THE TIGER SKIN AND OTHER TALES OF THE UNEASY, published by @blpublishing.bsky.social

I’ve wanted to bring Violet Hunt’s supernatural fiction back for a while now, so am happy to see these stories reach a wide audience again.

Please share!
Yellow and black front cover of The Tiger Skin and Other Tales of the Uneasy by Violet Hunt. Published by The British Library.
September 19, 2025 at 12:28 PM