Philip Allfrey
@drpda.bsky.social
Heraldist by night, web developer by day. Lapsed particle physicist. Occasional palaeographer. Accidental digital humanist. He/him
The brain is a wonderful thing! Yesterday I had occasion to look up a photo of the old Epsom library, where I worked during high school and the start of university. Almost three decades later I can still remember the shelving layout, and what books went where, almost down to the letter!
October 22, 2025 at 7:29 AM
The brain is a wonderful thing! Yesterday I had occasion to look up a photo of the old Epsom library, where I worked during high school and the start of university. Almost three decades later I can still remember the shelving layout, and what books went where, almost down to the letter!
Reposted by Philip Allfrey
Very proud to share that one of my articles celebrating the 100th anniversary of the PhD in Aotearoa has now been published! This article explores how PhD dress in Aotearoa has changed in the century since the then University of New Zealand introduced the degree. newprairiepress.org/burgonsociet...
A Century of PhD Dress in Aotearoa New Zealand
This article provides a brief overview of the history of the PhD in Aotearoa and explores its first academic dress, the disbanding of the federal university, and the evolution of independent universit...
newprairiepress.org
October 20, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Very proud to share that one of my articles celebrating the 100th anniversary of the PhD in Aotearoa has now been published! This article explores how PhD dress in Aotearoa has changed in the century since the then University of New Zealand introduced the degree. newprairiepress.org/burgonsociet...
In honour of the release of "The life of a showgirl" I've finally gotten around to adding "Unicode burlesque" to my website of DH songs – "What is #DigitalHumanities? The Album" – after only two years!
Thanks again to @quinnanya.me for the inspiration
what-is-dh-the-album.netlify.app/singles/unic...
Thanks again to @quinnanya.me for the inspiration
what-is-dh-the-album.netlify.app/singles/unic...
Unicode burlesque
A #DigitalHumanities song inspired by 'Welcome to Burlesque' from the movie Burlesque
what-is-dh-the-album.netlify.app
October 5, 2025 at 11:05 PM
In honour of the release of "The life of a showgirl" I've finally gotten around to adding "Unicode burlesque" to my website of DH songs – "What is #DigitalHumanities? The Album" – after only two years!
Thanks again to @quinnanya.me for the inspiration
what-is-dh-the-album.netlify.app/singles/unic...
Thanks again to @quinnanya.me for the inspiration
what-is-dh-the-album.netlify.app/singles/unic...
@thegozfather.bsky.social REQ 2 question: I transcribed REQ 2/136/33 for my research a couple of years ago. Are you interested in the dates of the 3 or 4 documents contained therein, to make the catalogue entry more precise than [reign of Eliz 1]?
September 15, 2025 at 9:26 AM
@thegozfather.bsky.social REQ 2 question: I transcribed REQ 2/136/33 for my research a couple of years ago. Are you interested in the dates of the 3 or 4 documents contained therein, to make the catalogue entry more precise than [reign of Eliz 1]?
Thrilled to have been able to identify today a copy of a 15th century papal bull used as binding waste, and thereby establish a terminus post quem for an Old West Frisian text on the verso!
#Paleography #BookHistory
#Paleography #BookHistory
Philip has the prize! 🤩🤩🤩
Thanks #BookHistory for sharing & solving, you are all emperors of knowledge!
Thanks #BookHistory for sharing & solving, you are all emperors of knowledge!
I found a match! The document is from 1 March 1412. It was another Nicholas, the secretary of pope John XXIII.
See "Notice d'un cartulaire du clergé secondaire de Liège", Bulletin de la Commission royale d'Histoire, 1872 Vol 14 p.360
www.persee.fr/doc/bcrh_077...
See "Notice d'un cartulaire du clergé secondaire de Liège", Bulletin de la Commission royale d'Histoire, 1872 Vol 14 p.360
www.persee.fr/doc/bcrh_077...
September 6, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Thrilled to have been able to identify today a copy of a 15th century papal bull used as binding waste, and thereby establish a terminus post quem for an Old West Frisian text on the verso!
#Paleography #BookHistory
#Paleography #BookHistory
Yesterday I was more than pleasantly surprised to discover that Renata Defelice has published a review of my side project "What is #DigitalHumanities? The Album" including translating one of my songs into Spanish!
revistas.unlp.edu.ar/publicaahd/a...
(If anyone knows the reviewer, please tag them!)
revistas.unlp.edu.ar/publicaahd/a...
(If anyone knows the reviewer, please tag them!)
What is #DigitalHumanities? The Album (2022)
| Publicaciones de la Asociación Argentina de Humanidades Digitales
Publicaciones de la Asociación Argentina de Humanidades Digitales (PublicAAHD)
revistas.unlp.edu.ar
August 12, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Yesterday I was more than pleasantly surprised to discover that Renata Defelice has published a review of my side project "What is #DigitalHumanities? The Album" including translating one of my songs into Spanish!
revistas.unlp.edu.ar/publicaahd/a...
(If anyone knows the reviewer, please tag them!)
revistas.unlp.edu.ar/publicaahd/a...
(If anyone knows the reviewer, please tag them!)
Former Windsor Herald, William Hunt, receives an honorary doctorate. #heraldry
19JUL25
At the University of Greater Manchester (former university of Bolton), the man responsible for the new coat of arms of the University after the name change, William Hunt was honored as Doctor in Letters for his help in the renovation.
More at: www.theboltonnews.co...
At the University of Greater Manchester (former university of Bolton), the man responsible for the new coat of arms of the University after the name change, William Hunt was honored as Doctor in Letters for his help in the renovation.
More at: www.theboltonnews.co...
July 21, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Former Windsor Herald, William Hunt, receives an honorary doctorate. #heraldry
Reupping the advice to always talk to the staff when you go to an archive.
Shout out to James at Auckland Council Archives today, who directed me to a record series I didn't know about which had valuable information about one of my local history projects!
Shout out to James at Auckland Council Archives today, who directed me to a record series I didn't know about which had valuable information about one of my local history projects!
July 11, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Reupping the advice to always talk to the staff when you go to an archive.
Shout out to James at Auckland Council Archives today, who directed me to a record series I didn't know about which had valuable information about one of my local history projects!
Shout out to James at Auckland Council Archives today, who directed me to a record series I didn't know about which had valuable information about one of my local history projects!
It is such a rush to correctly deduce the location of a fully functioning *unadvertised* API when you need to get structured metadata out of a GLAM institution's catalogue!
#DigitalHumanities
#DigitalHumanities
June 30, 2025 at 10:02 AM
It is such a rush to correctly deduce the location of a fully functioning *unadvertised* API when you need to get structured metadata out of a GLAM institution's catalogue!
#DigitalHumanities
#DigitalHumanities
Putting my paleography and local history degree to good use in correcting a listing at the local auction house :)
June 26, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Putting my paleography and local history degree to good use in correcting a listing at the local auction house :)
Dorothy Amherst #HerBook
✒ On the front flyleaf there is a series of signatures that helps us trace the ownership of the book from when it was bought as brand new by William Amherst on 7 March 1662 through to 1927. It stayed in the same family, which included William Amherst, first Baron Amherst of Hackney (1835-1909).
![Signatures of ownership in the front flyleaf of Scintilla-altaris | Primitive devotion in the feasts and fasts of the Church of England' by Edward Sparke [G35.S6]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:gd3nnahgeqpw66r5ey2576wx/bafkreidvhsyoj2kd54mhrkd3lrfcklzypi24onjqar7vw2hyqjd2y35xiu@jpeg)
June 20, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Dorothy Amherst #HerBook
Deep dive by @spil030.bsky.social into the history of the PhD in NZ on its 100th anniversary.
Fun fact: the first Oxford DPhil was awarded to a New Zealander*
* Dr James Brontë Gatenby was one of the first two DPhils, awarded in 1920. I don't know whether the other guy graduated before or after him
Fun fact: the first Oxford DPhil was awarded to a New Zealander*
* Dr James Brontë Gatenby was one of the first two DPhils, awarded in 1920. I don't know whether the other guy graduated before or after him
After banging on about it for the last 5 months, I nearly miss the date myself 😅 Today (25th May) the PhD in Aotearoa turns 100! 🧵
On this day in 1925 a young botanist John Stuart Yeates (good Scottish name) crossed the stage in the Wellington town hall graduating from Victoria University College
On this day in 1925 a young botanist John Stuart Yeates (good Scottish name) crossed the stage in the Wellington town hall graduating from Victoria University College
May 26, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Deep dive by @spil030.bsky.social into the history of the PhD in NZ on its 100th anniversary.
Fun fact: the first Oxford DPhil was awarded to a New Zealander*
* Dr James Brontë Gatenby was one of the first two DPhils, awarded in 1920. I don't know whether the other guy graduated before or after him
Fun fact: the first Oxford DPhil was awarded to a New Zealander*
* Dr James Brontë Gatenby was one of the first two DPhils, awarded in 1920. I don't know whether the other guy graduated before or after him
ESTC is back!
The beta version of the English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC) datb.cerl.org/estc/ is online. More changes to come over time
English Short Title Catalogue
datb.cerl.org
May 12, 2025 at 11:36 PM
ESTC is back!
I am delighted to announce that my data paper "Locations of Markets in English Market Towns, 1813: Constructing a dataset" has just been published in ZfdG
This is a deep dive into the process & decisions that went into creating a dataset of market locations from a C19th text
doi.org/10.17175/202...
This is a deep dive into the process & decisions that went into creating a dataset of market locations from a C19th text
doi.org/10.17175/202...
Locations of Markets in English Market Towns, 1813. Constructing a Dataset | ZfdG - Zeitschrift für digitale Geisteswissenschaften
This Data Paper presents the creation of a dataset for geographical information on markets in English market towns in 1813.
doi.org
May 1, 2025 at 12:00 AM
I am delighted to announce that my data paper "Locations of Markets in English Market Towns, 1813: Constructing a dataset" has just been published in ZfdG
This is a deep dive into the process & decisions that went into creating a dataset of market locations from a C19th text
doi.org/10.17175/202...
This is a deep dive into the process & decisions that went into creating a dataset of market locations from a C19th text
doi.org/10.17175/202...
4am start this morning but all four of us made it to the ANZAC day dawn service at Auckland War Memorial Museum – Tāmaki Paenga Hira.
Lest we forget.
Lest we forget.
April 25, 2025 at 8:59 AM
4am start this morning but all four of us made it to the ANZAC day dawn service at Auckland War Memorial Museum – Tāmaki Paenga Hira.
Lest we forget.
Lest we forget.
Yesterday I made a major breakthrough in my local history side project! I found a photo of the house I have been looking for for the past year!! (Thread)
April 17, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Yesterday I made a major breakthrough in my local history side project! I found a photo of the house I have been looking for for the past year!! (Thread)
A Wellingto library is trialling a new cataloguing system based on te ao Māori
wellington.govt.nz/news-and-eve...
wellington.govt.nz/news-and-eve...
Te Awe Library trials new shelving system for mātauranga Māori literature
The team at Te Awe Library in Wellington are trialling a new way to organise mātauranga Māori literature in a way they hope will be meaningful to Māori.
wellington.govt.nz
April 1, 2025 at 8:03 AM
A Wellingto library is trialling a new cataloguing system based on te ao Māori
wellington.govt.nz/news-and-eve...
wellington.govt.nz/news-and-eve...
Pre-1956 arms of New Zealand on the left.
#LesArmoiriesDuVendredi Handsome heraldic glass in St Margaret's, Westminster. Graceful ships, left, for @horatioforever.bsky.social
Details from a 1946 window by Herbert Hendrie (1887-1946), an artist new to me, but one that I will look out for in future. @stroudstory.bsky.social
Details from a 1946 window by Herbert Hendrie (1887-1946), an artist new to me, but one that I will look out for in future. @stroudstory.bsky.social
March 29, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Pre-1956 arms of New Zealand on the left.
OTD 120 years ago, a cheque was drawn on Maungatautari Peeke, a Māori-operated bank, one of only three such cheques known to survive.
This bank was one of two established by the Kīngitanga; the other was Te Peeke o Aotearoa, which used the same cheque design.
www.kotuia.org.nz/kete-sets/cu...
This bank was one of two established by the Kīngitanga; the other was Te Peeke o Aotearoa, which used the same cheque design.
www.kotuia.org.nz/kete-sets/cu...
March 17, 2025 at 2:54 AM
OTD 120 years ago, a cheque was drawn on Maungatautari Peeke, a Māori-operated bank, one of only three such cheques known to survive.
This bank was one of two established by the Kīngitanga; the other was Te Peeke o Aotearoa, which used the same cheque design.
www.kotuia.org.nz/kete-sets/cu...
This bank was one of two established by the Kīngitanga; the other was Te Peeke o Aotearoa, which used the same cheque design.
www.kotuia.org.nz/kete-sets/cu...
Tonight's lunar eclipse/blood moon, photographed on a phone through a telescope.
March 14, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Tonight's lunar eclipse/blood moon, photographed on a phone through a telescope.
Top-quality NZ academic-dress- history research thread from @spil030.bsky.social
Ok. Thread 🧵 time, in the style of @drdrehistorian.bsky.social. This has been years in the pondering & worked out this morning at about 3am. This is the full explanation of something that became a footnote in an article I've submitted for publication in @burgonsociety.bsky.social transactions.
March 13, 2025 at 3:49 AM
Top-quality NZ academic-dress- history research thread from @spil030.bsky.social
Reposted by Philip Allfrey
"TL;DR — Network visualization is often done in the wrong way: first a network layout is produced using a heuristic, and then follow-up analyses are performed and evaluated according to the layout...."
Also introduced me to the very useful term "ridiculogram."
Also introduced me to the very useful term "ridiculogram."
February 26, 2025 at 8:49 AM
"TL;DR — Network visualization is often done in the wrong way: first a network layout is produced using a heuristic, and then follow-up analyses are performed and evaluated according to the layout...."
Also introduced me to the very useful term "ridiculogram."
Also introduced me to the very useful term "ridiculogram."