Amalia S. Levi, PhD
@amaliasl.bsky.social
Archives, life writing, history. Research focus: Caribbean Jewish history; slavery; record-keeping & archival dependencies; digital history. Archival silences that are not. https://hcommons.org/members/amaliasl/
Pinned
Some great books and articles on archives and libraries that came out in 2025.
In no specific order.
🧵
In no specific order.
🧵
Archives can't digitize everything because
understaffed
underfunded
undervalued
overworked
volumes of materials
pre-/post-processing costs
copyright
ethical concerns
digital preservation issues
environmental impact
[...]
Most importantly: information is not in the content but in the context!
+
understaffed
underfunded
undervalued
overworked
volumes of materials
pre-/post-processing costs
copyright
ethical concerns
digital preservation issues
environmental impact
[...]
Most importantly: information is not in the content but in the context!
+
Wait until you hear that LLMs can only train on digitized/datafied info.
Most of the FACTS scholars use are in archives/libraries.
Less than 1% of archival colletions worldwide have been digitized.
Also: lots of facts are not even in archives, but in the attics.
Most of the FACTS scholars use are in archives/libraries.
Less than 1% of archival colletions worldwide have been digitized.
Also: lots of facts are not even in archives, but in the attics.
suspect a big reason why many academics and others who work in areas where getting facts RIGHT is key are disinterested in using LLMs for research:
they’ve tried it, they keep noticing major errors in output, and they conclude that having to verify all that doesn’t actually save them time.
they’ve tried it, they keep noticing major errors in output, and they conclude that having to verify all that doesn’t actually save them time.
December 22, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Archives can't digitize everything because
understaffed
underfunded
undervalued
overworked
volumes of materials
pre-/post-processing costs
copyright
ethical concerns
digital preservation issues
environmental impact
[...]
Most importantly: information is not in the content but in the context!
+
understaffed
underfunded
undervalued
overworked
volumes of materials
pre-/post-processing costs
copyright
ethical concerns
digital preservation issues
environmental impact
[...]
Most importantly: information is not in the content but in the context!
+
Wait until you hear that LLMs can only train on digitized/datafied info.
Most of the FACTS scholars use are in archives/libraries.
Less than 1% of archival colletions worldwide have been digitized.
Also: lots of facts are not even in archives, but in the attics.
Most of the FACTS scholars use are in archives/libraries.
Less than 1% of archival colletions worldwide have been digitized.
Also: lots of facts are not even in archives, but in the attics.
suspect a big reason why many academics and others who work in areas where getting facts RIGHT is key are disinterested in using LLMs for research:
they’ve tried it, they keep noticing major errors in output, and they conclude that having to verify all that doesn’t actually save them time.
they’ve tried it, they keep noticing major errors in output, and they conclude that having to verify all that doesn’t actually save them time.
December 21, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Wait until you hear that LLMs can only train on digitized/datafied info.
Most of the FACTS scholars use are in archives/libraries.
Less than 1% of archival colletions worldwide have been digitized.
Also: lots of facts are not even in archives, but in the attics.
Most of the FACTS scholars use are in archives/libraries.
Less than 1% of archival colletions worldwide have been digitized.
Also: lots of facts are not even in archives, but in the attics.
Reposted by Amalia S. Levi, PhD
It's the run-up to Christmas and as every year I'm reposting my own Xmas miracle story - of the Apollo 8 mission that set off on 21 Dec 1968, their iconic reading from Genesis on Christmas Eve, & how we found the name of the woman who had this genius idea.
writinghelena.wordpress.com/2019/01/08/t...
writinghelena.wordpress.com/2019/01/08/t...
The Art of Naming Women
This past Christmas something magical happened to me which put my faith back into the importance of writing History (not that I had ever lost it, but in these times, when the value of History as an…
writinghelena.wordpress.com
December 21, 2025 at 11:31 AM
It's the run-up to Christmas and as every year I'm reposting my own Xmas miracle story - of the Apollo 8 mission that set off on 21 Dec 1968, their iconic reading from Genesis on Christmas Eve, & how we found the name of the woman who had this genius idea.
writinghelena.wordpress.com/2019/01/08/t...
writinghelena.wordpress.com/2019/01/08/t...
Reposted by Amalia S. Levi, PhD
If you work somewhere w/a free public space+printer for work purposes, you can make a mini zine distro! Even just 5 zine titles you periodically replenish stacks of. Search "zine"+topic, or Zine Bakery's catalog has this large subset of free zines: airtable.com/appY7WyBFjSz...
Free zines for the people! Set up a small minizine-making space as I can't refill our 2 zine racks for a while. @jkmakes.bsky.social's "Good things people are doing right now", Jess Walters' "Exchanging Perspectives" disability justice prompts, Ammon Shepherd's "How to make a zine in 6 easy steps"
December 18, 2025 at 11:30 AM
If you work somewhere w/a free public space+printer for work purposes, you can make a mini zine distro! Even just 5 zine titles you periodically replenish stacks of. Search "zine"+topic, or Zine Bakery's catalog has this large subset of free zines: airtable.com/appY7WyBFjSz...
"the material histories of a paper-using humankind...are relevant and crucial to understanding global history...across different book cultures, belief systems, and political constellations...highlighting parallel developments, entanglements, and integrations between the world’s paper-using cultures"
"Paper Regimes of the Publishing World: A Bird’s Eye View on the Materiality of Global Book History" is published in open access in the journal Globalgeschichte / Global History, vol. 3.2 (2025), pp. 1-28, DOI doi.org/10.13173/GG....
Here is a link: www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/ddo/artikel/...
3/3
Here is a link: www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/ddo/artikel/...
3/3
www.harrassowitz-verlag.de
December 18, 2025 at 10:57 AM
"the material histories of a paper-using humankind...are relevant and crucial to understanding global history...across different book cultures, belief systems, and political constellations...highlighting parallel developments, entanglements, and integrations between the world’s paper-using cultures"
Reposted by Amalia S. Levi, PhD
Clay letters from ancient Mesopotamia are alive with idiom, sayings, and everyday language that I love.
Here are just a few random ones so you can enjoy them too.
Here are just a few random ones so you can enjoy them too.
December 17, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Clay letters from ancient Mesopotamia are alive with idiom, sayings, and everyday language that I love.
Here are just a few random ones so you can enjoy them too.
Here are just a few random ones so you can enjoy them too.
I love how the @bucksarchives.bsky.social does outreach!
This post starts with the (seemingly) "dusty" archival boxes, gives a sneak peek of the reluctant, stern county archivist (brilliant!), and offers a riveting human story, which is what archives are all about!
This post starts with the (seemingly) "dusty" archival boxes, gives a sneak peek of the reluctant, stern county archivist (brilliant!), and offers a riveting human story, which is what archives are all about!
December 17, 2025 at 11:30 AM
I love how the @bucksarchives.bsky.social does outreach!
This post starts with the (seemingly) "dusty" archival boxes, gives a sneak peek of the reluctant, stern county archivist (brilliant!), and offers a riveting human story, which is what archives are all about!
This post starts with the (seemingly) "dusty" archival boxes, gives a sneak peek of the reluctant, stern county archivist (brilliant!), and offers a riveting human story, which is what archives are all about!
🎉 Today I defended my dissertation and passed with summa cum laude.
The title is "Dependent Lives In and Beyond Archives: Enslaved People in Sephardic Jewish Households in Early Modern Bridgetown, Barbados (1654-1800)."
The abstract is below, and I hope to publish it soon.
The title is "Dependent Lives In and Beyond Archives: Enslaved People in Sephardic Jewish Households in Early Modern Bridgetown, Barbados (1654-1800)."
The abstract is below, and I hope to publish it soon.
December 16, 2025 at 3:02 PM
🎉 Today I defended my dissertation and passed with summa cum laude.
The title is "Dependent Lives In and Beyond Archives: Enslaved People in Sephardic Jewish Households in Early Modern Bridgetown, Barbados (1654-1800)."
The abstract is below, and I hope to publish it soon.
The title is "Dependent Lives In and Beyond Archives: Enslaved People in Sephardic Jewish Households in Early Modern Bridgetown, Barbados (1654-1800)."
The abstract is below, and I hope to publish it soon.
Reposted by Amalia S. Levi, PhD
Found the coolest website that takes random found cassette tapes people submit and digitizes them. I’m listening to an NYC hip hop station from 1994: intertapes.net
Intertapes — Main
Obscure tape finds and their stories
intertapes.net
December 13, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Found the coolest website that takes random found cassette tapes people submit and digitizes them. I’m listening to an NYC hip hop station from 1994: intertapes.net
LLMs can only understand the first line.
Humans can understand the infinite context below.
Humans can understand the infinite context below.
Layers of information in an archival document:
- What is said
- What is not said
- What is alluded to
- What is omitted intentionally
(and unintentionally)
- What is misleading
- What is ambiguous
- What is highlighted
- What is downplayed
- What is weaponized
- What is unintelligible today
...
- What is said
- What is not said
- What is alluded to
- What is omitted intentionally
(and unintentionally)
- What is misleading
- What is ambiguous
- What is highlighted
- What is downplayed
- What is weaponized
- What is unintelligible today
...
December 12, 2025 at 2:54 PM
LLMs can only understand the first line.
Humans can understand the infinite context below.
Humans can understand the infinite context below.
"[...] people can suffer from historical overdose, complaisant hostages of the pasts they create."
- Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past [1997] 2015, xxii
- Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past [1997] 2015, xxii
December 11, 2025 at 11:59 AM
"[...] people can suffer from historical overdose, complaisant hostages of the pasts they create."
- Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past [1997] 2015, xxii
- Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past [1997] 2015, xxii
Reposted by Amalia S. Levi, PhD
Ok sure just a tiny little note: YOU CANNOT TALK TO HER THAT'S NOT HER.
This is the technology version of talking to a really good Elvis impersonator. It's not Elvis.
This is the technology version of talking to a really good Elvis impersonator. It's not Elvis.
IN DEPTH | If you could speak to your dead grandmother forever, would you?
If you could speak to your dead grandmother forever, would you?
www.independent.co.uk
December 10, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Ok sure just a tiny little note: YOU CANNOT TALK TO HER THAT'S NOT HER.
This is the technology version of talking to a really good Elvis impersonator. It's not Elvis.
This is the technology version of talking to a really good Elvis impersonator. It's not Elvis.
Somebody make a movie out of this thread!
SKULL OF THOMAS AQUINAS: TAKE A LEFT NOW
PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going—
SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT
PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti—
SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE
PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going—
SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT
PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti—
SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE
'Skull of St. Thomas Aquinas being transported to Fossanova Abbey.'
Photograph by Daniel Ibanez
Photograph by Daniel Ibanez
December 11, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Somebody make a movie out of this thread!
Reposted by Amalia S. Levi, PhD
Looking for some photos in the LoC collection, I noted that John Collier really liked photographing bulletin boards for the Farm Security Administration in the early '40s :)
Here: Childersburg, Alabama; Questa, New Mexico; Fort Hunter, New York
Here: Childersburg, Alabama; Questa, New Mexico; Fort Hunter, New York
December 11, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Looking for some photos in the LoC collection, I noted that John Collier really liked photographing bulletin boards for the Farm Security Administration in the early '40s :)
Here: Childersburg, Alabama; Questa, New Mexico; Fort Hunter, New York
Here: Childersburg, Alabama; Questa, New Mexico; Fort Hunter, New York
"...scientists need to start thinking more seriously about historical records as research resources. Not just as background or context, but as sources of actual data. The barrier between historical research and contemporary science is becoming more permeable..."
Gemini’s ability to read handwritten archival documents has importance beyond the humanities. It opens new frontiers for scientific research and collaboration with the humanities.
foundhistory.org/seeing-old-s...
#ClimateScience #DataScience #Agriculture #Archives #Research #LandGrant #AI
foundhistory.org/seeing-old-s...
#ClimateScience #DataScience #Agriculture #Archives #Research #LandGrant #AI
Seeing Old Science
Gemini’s ability to read handwritten archival documents has importance beyond the humanities
foundhistory.org
December 11, 2025 at 10:22 AM
"...scientists need to start thinking more seriously about historical records as research resources. Not just as background or context, but as sources of actual data. The barrier between historical research and contemporary science is becoming more permeable..."
Reposted by Amalia S. Levi, PhD
🧵 of good free #zines on ethical+safe digital preservation of protest & advocacy:
* always RTing @invisiblehistories.bsky.social's "How to Archive a Protest: A Field Guide for Southern Memory Workers" drive.google.com/file/d/1QtFT... +
* always RTing @invisiblehistories.bsky.social's "How to Archive a Protest: A Field Guide for Southern Memory Workers" drive.google.com/file/d/1QtFT... +
FINAL DRAFT, How to Archive a Protest Zine.pdf
drive.google.com
December 8, 2025 at 12:16 PM
🧵 of good free #zines on ethical+safe digital preservation of protest & advocacy:
* always RTing @invisiblehistories.bsky.social's "How to Archive a Protest: A Field Guide for Southern Memory Workers" drive.google.com/file/d/1QtFT... +
* always RTing @invisiblehistories.bsky.social's "How to Archive a Protest: A Field Guide for Southern Memory Workers" drive.google.com/file/d/1QtFT... +
More than ever it's crucial to be able to understand the provenance/trajectory of information to determine authenticity + reliability.
Generative AI tools "cannot indicate that no information exists; instead, they will invent details that appear plausible but have no basis in the archival record."
Generative AI tools "cannot indicate that no information exists; instead, they will invent details that appear plausible but have no basis in the archival record."
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 11:47 AM
More than ever it's crucial to be able to understand the provenance/trajectory of information to determine authenticity + reliability.
Generative AI tools "cannot indicate that no information exists; instead, they will invent details that appear plausible but have no basis in the archival record."
Generative AI tools "cannot indicate that no information exists; instead, they will invent details that appear plausible but have no basis in the archival record."
Reposted by Amalia S. Levi, PhD
The second of our yearly lists--this one features thirty-five articles and chapters authored by contingent historians in 2025.
2025 Journal Article List
A companion to our 2025 book list.
contingentmagazine.org
December 5, 2025 at 3:14 AM
The second of our yearly lists--this one features thirty-five articles and chapters authored by contingent historians in 2025.
Reposted by Amalia S. Levi, PhD
Hear me out. Holiday gift idea.
December 6, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Hear me out. Holiday gift idea.
I bet that people who think AI can compensate for "archival silences" have never set foot in an archives, let alone worked with archival collections. And this is the hill I'll die on.
To propose that GenAI can compensate for "archival silences" perverts Trouillot's work. It's is a contradiction to say that a product whose logic exacerbates power imbalances--creating a most-likely guess based on the existing record--can restore absences that are the product of those imbalances.
December 6, 2025 at 10:40 PM
I bet that people who think AI can compensate for "archival silences" have never set foot in an archives, let alone worked with archival collections. And this is the hill I'll die on.
Reposted by Amalia S. Levi, PhD
don’t miss the 2025 @contingent-mag.bsky.social book list! inclusive & welcoming as ever, Contingent curates a list where the hard part is not getting on it, but rather, the hard part is researching & writing a book while contingent contingentmagazine.org/2025/12/02/2...
2025 Contingent Book List
When you’re shopping for books this season, consider a contingent scholar.
contingentmagazine.org
December 5, 2025 at 9:41 PM
don’t miss the 2025 @contingent-mag.bsky.social book list! inclusive & welcoming as ever, Contingent curates a list where the hard part is not getting on it, but rather, the hard part is researching & writing a book while contingent contingentmagazine.org/2025/12/02/2...
Reposted by Amalia S. Levi, PhD
Join us on a day full of new data of the Exploring Slave Trade in Asia (ESTA) Database, presentations from researchers that are related to ESTA or the field of Indian Ocean slavery, and the introduction of TIDES.
iisg.amsterdam/en/events/la...
iisg.amsterdam/en/events/la...
December 4, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Join us on a day full of new data of the Exploring Slave Trade in Asia (ESTA) Database, presentations from researchers that are related to ESTA or the field of Indian Ocean slavery, and the introduction of TIDES.
iisg.amsterdam/en/events/la...
iisg.amsterdam/en/events/la...
Reposted by Amalia S. Levi, PhD
📢 NEW 'Project Progress Update' Blog Post! 📢
We've recently reached a very significant project milestone, and thought this would be the perfect moment to provide a research update: sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...
Featuring @zooniverse.bsky.social news, and a sneak peek at our database! 📜✍️💻
We've recently reached a very significant project milestone, and thought this would be the perfect moment to provide a research update: sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...
Featuring @zooniverse.bsky.social news, and a sneak peek at our database! 📜✍️💻
December 2, 2025 at 8:19 AM
📢 NEW 'Project Progress Update' Blog Post! 📢
We've recently reached a very significant project milestone, and thought this would be the perfect moment to provide a research update: sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...
Featuring @zooniverse.bsky.social news, and a sneak peek at our database! 📜✍️💻
We've recently reached a very significant project milestone, and thought this would be the perfect moment to provide a research update: sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...
Featuring @zooniverse.bsky.social news, and a sneak peek at our database! 📜✍️💻
"You find yourself in an archive. You are there because you are seeking something... You expect order, you need order. Instead, you find instability, difficulty, and danger. Your plans fall apart and time unravels. You have been lured in; it is a labyrinth."
Edmund de Waal, an Archive
Edmund de Waal, an Archive
December 2, 2025 at 2:19 PM
"You find yourself in an archive. You are there because you are seeking something... You expect order, you need order. Instead, you find instability, difficulty, and danger. Your plans fall apart and time unravels. You have been lured in; it is a labyrinth."
Edmund de Waal, an Archive
Edmund de Waal, an Archive
Reposted by Amalia S. Levi, PhD
On the occasion of Fantastic Futures 2025 #FF2025, we share the progress made by the Working Group on Datasheets for Digital Cultural Heritage to better support data providers in describing their data. Learn more and check out their Datasheet template - Version 2! bit.ly/3Kgd84n
Discover the new version of the datasheets for cultural heritage datasets | Europeana PRO
The Working Group on Datasheets for Digital Cultural Heritage Datasets is delighted to introduce Version 2 of their datasheet template. It helps describe dig…
pro.europeana.eu
December 1, 2025 at 9:57 AM
On the occasion of Fantastic Futures 2025 #FF2025, we share the progress made by the Working Group on Datasheets for Digital Cultural Heritage to better support data providers in describing their data. Learn more and check out their Datasheet template - Version 2! bit.ly/3Kgd84n