Dorothy Berry
@dorothyjberry.bsky.social
Archives, DH, Museums, African American studies, C19 and early C20. I am, ashamedly, a curator now too
all opinions my own, not my employer's
www.dorothy-berry.com
Pinned
I am beyond excited (and nervous!) to announce that my first book, "The House Archives Built and Other Thoughts on Black Archival Possibilities" is available for sale!
This series of essay includes reworked talks, new reflections, and a lot of my heart
weherespace.myshopify.com/products/the...
This series of essay includes reworked talks, new reflections, and a lot of my heart
weherespace.myshopify.com/products/the...
Reposted by Dorothy Berry
Food $200
Data $150
Rent $800
Hearn's Lamps $3,600
Utility $150
someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying
Data $150
Rent $800
Hearn's Lamps $3,600
Utility $150
someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying
November 11, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Food $200
Data $150
Rent $800
Hearn's Lamps $3,600
Utility $150
someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying
Data $150
Rent $800
Hearn's Lamps $3,600
Utility $150
someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying
Reposted by Dorothy Berry
An incredibly macabre irony that at the same moment mass language archives are being looted to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars, our own public access to our preeminent form of archiving language is being slowly strangled to death.
Yes! The thing abt public libraries that is so beautiful & crucial is the idea that *anybody* could do this — you need no credential, there’s no gatekeeping, literally any person can be an intellectual. You can come from absolutely nothing & yet, by means of curiosity + work, create real knowledge
I wrote a significant chunk of my first book at a Chicago Public Library, an amazing public space where people could read books and newspapers, access the internet, or just keep warm for a while on a cold day. This is appalling.
November 9, 2025 at 2:59 AM
An incredibly macabre irony that at the same moment mass language archives are being looted to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars, our own public access to our preeminent form of archiving language is being slowly strangled to death.
Reposted by Dorothy Berry
ACLS Digital Justice Seed & Development Grants. (Due to ofa.acls.org by 9:00 PM EST on 11/20/25)
The ACLS Digital Justice Grant program supports projects that diversify the digital domain, advance justice in digital scholarly practice, contribute to understanding of racial & social justice issues.
The ACLS Digital Justice Grant program supports projects that diversify the digital domain, advance justice in digital scholarly practice, contribute to understanding of racial & social justice issues.
ACLS Online Fellowship and Grant Administration System
ofa.acls.org
November 8, 2025 at 2:13 AM
ACLS Digital Justice Seed & Development Grants. (Due to ofa.acls.org by 9:00 PM EST on 11/20/25)
The ACLS Digital Justice Grant program supports projects that diversify the digital domain, advance justice in digital scholarly practice, contribute to understanding of racial & social justice issues.
The ACLS Digital Justice Grant program supports projects that diversify the digital domain, advance justice in digital scholarly practice, contribute to understanding of racial & social justice issues.
Reposted by Dorothy Berry
The whole thread.
Identifying flaws in GenAI unfortunately offers a pretext for claims that perfecting the product is just a matter of time & money. So pointing to chatbots’ role in,say, suicides can only go so far if we don’t also identify the systemic, irresolvable lack of Gen AI’s human commitment bc math has none
November 8, 2025 at 2:10 AM
The whole thread.
Reposted by Dorothy Berry
*glares at the "Collections Explorer" that so much staff time and energy is going into at my library, all for it to generate weird LLM results for no reason*
"If discovery tools return hallucinated results, the credibility of the library itself could be undermined. Students may come to see the library’s systems as just another unreliable search engine."
BINGO
BINGO
November 7, 2025 at 9:07 PM
*glares at the "Collections Explorer" that so much staff time and energy is going into at my library, all for it to generate weird LLM results for no reason*
Reposted by Dorothy Berry
At a museum conference and it’s amazing how much this piece is unheeded/still needed in a lot of museum work.
I Make Exhibits
Who are museum exhibits for, and what difference does that make?
contingentmagazine.org
November 6, 2025 at 3:52 PM
At a museum conference and it’s amazing how much this piece is unheeded/still needed in a lot of museum work.
I have just the photo for this important scientific work
November 6, 2025 at 11:05 PM
I have just the photo for this important scientific work
Reposted by Dorothy Berry
I wrote about why I can't sleep at night: the devaluation of so many things (critical thinking, creativity) I thought were paramount. lithub.com/when-we-deva...
When We Devalue Art (Books!) We Devalue the Future
When you’ve spent your whole adult life working in and around book publishing you get used to hearing that people don’t read anymore and that the industry is on its last legs. There is always a cri…
lithub.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:01 PM
I wrote about why I can't sleep at night: the devaluation of so many things (critical thinking, creativity) I thought were paramount. lithub.com/when-we-deva...
Weird modernist Shaker musical is the sort of representation in film I have needed
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zK_...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zK_...
THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE | Official Teaser | Searchlight Pictures
YouTube video by SearchlightPictures
www.youtube.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Weird modernist Shaker musical is the sort of representation in film I have needed
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zK_...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zK_...
Reposted by Dorothy Berry
Increasingly the Venn diagram of my intellectual interests & commitments—digital humanities, book history/bibliography, book arts, critical making—perhaps meet in the region "Luddite Humanities"
Not technological rejection—but slower, deliberate, critical, historicized engagement with technology
Not technological rejection—but slower, deliberate, critical, historicized engagement with technology
November 6, 2025 at 2:50 AM
Increasingly the Venn diagram of my intellectual interests & commitments—digital humanities, book history/bibliography, book arts, critical making—perhaps meet in the region "Luddite Humanities"
Not technological rejection—but slower, deliberate, critical, historicized engagement with technology
Not technological rejection—but slower, deliberate, critical, historicized engagement with technology
Reposted by Dorothy Berry
When a chatbot gets something wrong, it’s not because it made an error. It’s because on that roll of the dice, it happened to string together a group of words that, when read by a human, represents something false. But it was working entirely as designed. It was supposed to make a sentence & it did.
June 19, 2025 at 11:28 AM
When a chatbot gets something wrong, it’s not because it made an error. It’s because on that roll of the dice, it happened to string together a group of words that, when read by a human, represents something false. But it was working entirely as designed. It was supposed to make a sentence & it did.
Reposted by Dorothy Berry
It is the birthday of the great Martín Chambi, the Quechua photographer who trained his lens on Andean Indigenous life.
www.moma.org/artists/1063...
www.moma.org/artists/1063...
November 6, 2025 at 1:18 AM
It is the birthday of the great Martín Chambi, the Quechua photographer who trained his lens on Andean Indigenous life.
www.moma.org/artists/1063...
www.moma.org/artists/1063...
Reposted by Dorothy Berry
I curate a series for Current, the journal of public media. We're calling for new pieces. We pay. Your research reaches the entire sector.
Especially at this moment, when noncommercial voices are under attack, research on NPR, PBS, public, community, and educational media is especially prescient.
Especially at this moment, when noncommercial voices are under attack, research on NPR, PBS, public, community, and educational media is especially prescient.
Rewind: The Roots of Public Media
This series features scholars of media history looking back at both familiar and lesser-known chapters in public broadcasting’s evolution. “Rewind” is presented in partnership with the <a href="https:...
current.org
January 23, 2025 at 4:01 PM
I curate a series for Current, the journal of public media. We're calling for new pieces. We pay. Your research reaches the entire sector.
Especially at this moment, when noncommercial voices are under attack, research on NPR, PBS, public, community, and educational media is especially prescient.
Especially at this moment, when noncommercial voices are under attack, research on NPR, PBS, public, community, and educational media is especially prescient.
My Grandma Nancy was the first woman on my mom's side of the family to be born in the U.S.. So much of who I am and how I talk and my many hand gestures wouldn't exist if the sorts of communities that built New York City, the good folks of Flatbush, didn't exist and persist.
November 5, 2025 at 10:43 PM
My Grandma Nancy was the first woman on my mom's side of the family to be born in the U.S.. So much of who I am and how I talk and my many hand gestures wouldn't exist if the sorts of communities that built New York City, the good folks of Flatbush, didn't exist and persist.
Reposted by Dorothy Berry
also if you are in Edinburgh and want to show me a fancy secret library, archive, or museum, please reach out directly
If you happen to be in beautiful Edinburgh on 10 Dec, perhaps come to the Edinburgh Futures Institute to hear me talk about developing archival imaginary digital interactives! Maybe I will even explain what that means! Hopefully by then I'll know!
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-users-...
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-users-...
How Users Imagine Archival Research
This talk will focus on the development of JPCA Explore and how it reflects wider issues around creating human-scale digital projects.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 5:14 PM
also if you are in Edinburgh and want to show me a fancy secret library, archive, or museum, please reach out directly
Will you be in London on Dec 3rd? Perhaps you'd like to come to UCL and hear me talk with Matthew J. Smith about my new book, and potentially even get a book from me without paying international shipping!
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-house-...
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-house-...
The House Archives Built & Other Thoughts On Black Archival Possibilities
A public conversation with archivist and writer, Dorothy Berry, hosted by the UCL Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 5, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Will you be in London on Dec 3rd? Perhaps you'd like to come to UCL and hear me talk with Matthew J. Smith about my new book, and potentially even get a book from me without paying international shipping!
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-house-...
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-house-...
Reposted by Dorothy Berry
Jacob Lawrence, "The 1920s: The Migrants Arrive & Cast Their Ballots," screenprint, 1974 noma.org/election-day...
November 4, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Jacob Lawrence, "The 1920s: The Migrants Arrive & Cast Their Ballots," screenprint, 1974 noma.org/election-day...
I must say, this looks pretty darn cool!
November 4, 2025 at 8:50 PM
I must say, this looks pretty darn cool!
Reposted by Dorothy Berry
It's also publication day for my comrade Char Adams's new book "Black-Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore." It's the first book to offer a comprehensive history of the Black bookstore. I found the book very readable and informative. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/734577...
Black-Owned by Char Adams: 9780593474235 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
**A November LibraryReads Pick** Longtime NBC News reporter Char Adams writes a deeply compelling and rigorously reported history of Black political movements told through the lens of Black-owned boo...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
November 4, 2025 at 5:17 PM
It's also publication day for my comrade Char Adams's new book "Black-Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore." It's the first book to offer a comprehensive history of the Black bookstore. I found the book very readable and informative. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/734577...
also if you are in Edinburgh and want to show me a fancy secret library, archive, or museum, please reach out directly
If you happen to be in beautiful Edinburgh on 10 Dec, perhaps come to the Edinburgh Futures Institute to hear me talk about developing archival imaginary digital interactives! Maybe I will even explain what that means! Hopefully by then I'll know!
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-users-...
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-users-...
How Users Imagine Archival Research
This talk will focus on the development of JPCA Explore and how it reflects wider issues around creating human-scale digital projects.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 5:14 PM
also if you are in Edinburgh and want to show me a fancy secret library, archive, or museum, please reach out directly
If you happen to be in beautiful Edinburgh on 10 Dec, perhaps come to the Edinburgh Futures Institute to hear me talk about developing archival imaginary digital interactives! Maybe I will even explain what that means! Hopefully by then I'll know!
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-users-...
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-users-...
How Users Imagine Archival Research
This talk will focus on the development of JPCA Explore and how it reflects wider issues around creating human-scale digital projects.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 2:52 PM
If you happen to be in beautiful Edinburgh on 10 Dec, perhaps come to the Edinburgh Futures Institute to hear me talk about developing archival imaginary digital interactives! Maybe I will even explain what that means! Hopefully by then I'll know!
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-users-...
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-users-...
Reposted by Dorothy Berry
📣 I am hiring a postdoc! aial.ie/hiring/postd...
applications from suitable candidates that are passionate about investigating the use of genAI in public service operations with the aim of keeping governments transparent and accountable are welcome
pls share with your networks
applications from suitable candidates that are passionate about investigating the use of genAI in public service operations with the aim of keeping governments transparent and accountable are welcome
pls share with your networks
October 30, 2025 at 7:51 PM
📣 I am hiring a postdoc! aial.ie/hiring/postd...
applications from suitable candidates that are passionate about investigating the use of genAI in public service operations with the aim of keeping governments transparent and accountable are welcome
pls share with your networks
applications from suitable candidates that are passionate about investigating the use of genAI in public service operations with the aim of keeping governments transparent and accountable are welcome
pls share with your networks
in the world of cultural heritage, i feel like it's time for a public debate over the definitions of community vs institution, especially when both become registered non-profits
November 3, 2025 at 11:46 PM
in the world of cultural heritage, i feel like it's time for a public debate over the definitions of community vs institution, especially when both become registered non-profits
Reposted by Dorothy Berry
New York, NY: Curator, Moving Image & Recorded Sound, Schomburg Center at New York Public Library
New York, NY: Curator, Moving Image & Recorded Sound, Schomburg Center at New York Public Library
archivesgig.com
November 3, 2025 at 5:26 PM
New York, NY: Curator, Moving Image & Recorded Sound, Schomburg Center at New York Public Library