Samantha E Thompson
@harchivist.bsky.social
Brit-Canadian archivist-librarian, government records and local history museum staffer, trad-classical musician, post-academic philosophy PhD (on Augustine), and other hyphenated things. Can't help it: so much to learn.
I'm not used to seeing actual books in a clinical context anymore.
November 13, 2025 at 9:07 PM
I'm not used to seeing actual books in a clinical context anymore.
Overhearing a conversation at the hospital where a women talking to a nurse was blind for 10 years and regained her sight after two pregnancies in quick succession. They think it's due to a surge in stem cells. The blindness was neurological in some way, it sounds like.
November 13, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Overhearing a conversation at the hospital where a women talking to a nurse was blind for 10 years and regained her sight after two pregnancies in quick succession. They think it's due to a surge in stem cells. The blindness was neurological in some way, it sounds like.
Random church shot. Embroidered chasuble draped on the altar rail during preparation. Beautiful work, almost always by women.
November 9, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Random church shot. Embroidered chasuble draped on the altar rail during preparation. Beautiful work, almost always by women.
"Please do not use Yamaha recorders for any other purposes besides musical performance."
November 8, 2025 at 10:34 PM
"Please do not use Yamaha recorders for any other purposes besides musical performance."
Got an ALTO Yamaha recorder at a thrift store for $2. Not a professional grade instrument but all Yamahas are good. It can be dunked in the sink to clean it. Now I just need time and energy to learn the wretched F fingerings. Tenor was easier for an ex-flutist.
November 8, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Got an ALTO Yamaha recorder at a thrift store for $2. Not a professional grade instrument but all Yamahas are good. It can be dunked in the sink to clean it. Now I just need time and energy to learn the wretched F fingerings. Tenor was easier for an ex-flutist.
Chinese-Canadian anesthesiologists ways treat with deadly seriousness my concern for protecting the vocal tract during intubation. "She is a singer" at the top of my chart. Might have something to do with every Chinese-Canadian doctor I know being an accomplished musician.
October 24, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Chinese-Canadian anesthesiologists ways treat with deadly seriousness my concern for protecting the vocal tract during intubation. "She is a singer" at the top of my chart. Might have something to do with every Chinese-Canadian doctor I know being an accomplished musician.
At Oxford County (Ontario) for regional archivists' meeting and ran into some great folklore. The old county building (ca. 1890) sports random monkey grotesques. Legend has it they represent ten councillors the builders disliked or are the result of a curse.
October 22, 2025 at 3:42 PM
At Oxford County (Ontario) for regional archivists' meeting and ran into some great folklore. The old county building (ca. 1890) sports random monkey grotesques. Legend has it they represent ten councillors the builders disliked or are the result of a curse.
Lovely little stone walking bridge near Hamilton, Ontario. My city would have this down in a hot second.
October 21, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Lovely little stone walking bridge near Hamilton, Ontario. My city would have this down in a hot second.
I am looking forward to general anesthesia on Thursday because I won't have to be in traffic or think about traffic. Blessed oblivion.
October 19, 2025 at 5:56 PM
I am looking forward to general anesthesia on Thursday because I won't have to be in traffic or think about traffic. Blessed oblivion.
Reposted by Samantha E Thompson
First encore at the Ronn McFarlane-Paul O'Dette lute duo recital today: John Dowland's "My Lord Chamberlain, His Galliard" - for two people to play on a single lute. And I thought playing piano, four hands, was tricky to coordinate!
October 13, 2025 at 12:44 AM
First encore at the Ronn McFarlane-Paul O'Dette lute duo recital today: John Dowland's "My Lord Chamberlain, His Galliard" - for two people to play on a single lute. And I thought playing piano, four hands, was tricky to coordinate!
Reposted by Samantha E Thompson
This is terrific. A great profile of Great Lakes shipping (and mandatory reminiscence on the Edmund Fitzgerald) featuring my all time favorite freighter, one I’ve seen dozens of times, the still hardworking “antique” steamship Wilfred Sykes. Gift article.
In the Wake of the Edmund Fitzgerald
www.nytimes.com
October 13, 2025 at 3:23 AM
This is terrific. A great profile of Great Lakes shipping (and mandatory reminiscence on the Edmund Fitzgerald) featuring my all time favorite freighter, one I’ve seen dozens of times, the still hardworking “antique” steamship Wilfred Sykes. Gift article.
Reposted by Samantha E Thompson
Oral Transmission of Folk Songs - View from the organ stool! karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2025/10/12/o...
#FolkSongs
#FolkSongs
Oral Transmission of Folk Songs
Attribution and Authorship When I’m talking to students about oral transmission of folk songs, my take is – perhaps a bit controversially – that I believe a lot of songs were actu…
karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog
October 12, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Oral Transmission of Folk Songs - View from the organ stool! karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2025/10/12/o...
#FolkSongs
#FolkSongs
Anglican church cupboard is 50% carbs.
October 12, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Anglican church cupboard is 50% carbs.
Reposted by Samantha E Thompson
Something that's so hard with reading history second-hand is to remember that no one knew what was going to come next. Which is archives magic.
Nobody at *this exact moment* knows that Nurse Cavell will become a tragedy and a cause celebre. They just know what she has done, and her family.
Nobody at *this exact moment* knows that Nurse Cavell will become a tragedy and a cause celebre. They just know what she has done, and her family.
On this day nurse #EdithCavell and #PhilipeBaucq were shot at dawn for helping allied soldiers to escape Belgium during the First World War. This is a letter from one of those soldiers.
October 12, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Something that's so hard with reading history second-hand is to remember that no one knew what was going to come next. Which is archives magic.
Nobody at *this exact moment* knows that Nurse Cavell will become a tragedy and a cause celebre. They just know what she has done, and her family.
Nobody at *this exact moment* knows that Nurse Cavell will become a tragedy and a cause celebre. They just know what she has done, and her family.
When I was young, we had green cars.
October 10, 2025 at 9:20 PM
When I was young, we had green cars.
Ah that autumnal smell of burning dust as the electric heating is turned on for the first time.
October 9, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Ah that autumnal smell of burning dust as the electric heating is turned on for the first time.
The fact that I have survived for 11 years in a particularly corporate-y corporation is nothing short of a miracle.
October 4, 2025 at 7:14 PM
The fact that I have survived for 11 years in a particularly corporate-y corporation is nothing short of a miracle.
Reposted by Samantha E Thompson
How has paperwork served as a tool of empowerment for people who often find power elusive?
In our latest podcast, a group of historians, archivists, and activists met at the Raphael Samuel History Centre (@rshc.bsky.social) to discuss the hidden history of paperwork 🗃️🎙️
In our latest podcast, a group of historians, archivists, and activists met at the Raphael Samuel History Centre (@rshc.bsky.social) to discuss the hidden history of paperwork 🗃️🎙️
Changing The Record
How has paperwork served over time as a radical tool for empowerment and change?
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
September 30, 2025 at 7:02 AM
How has paperwork served as a tool of empowerment for people who often find power elusive?
In our latest podcast, a group of historians, archivists, and activists met at the Raphael Samuel History Centre (@rshc.bsky.social) to discuss the hidden history of paperwork 🗃️🎙️
In our latest podcast, a group of historians, archivists, and activists met at the Raphael Samuel History Centre (@rshc.bsky.social) to discuss the hidden history of paperwork 🗃️🎙️
Unexpected and moving art installation in the rock garden pools at Hamilton's Royal Botanical Gardens, presumably for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
September 30, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Unexpected and moving art installation in the rock garden pools at Hamilton's Royal Botanical Gardens, presumably for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Fall raspberry leaves.
September 27, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Fall raspberry leaves.
Did anyone else's grandparents pass around the boiled sweets on any car trip over 30 minutes?
My dentist would hate my daily commute for the last decade...
My dentist would hate my daily commute for the last decade...
September 26, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Did anyone else's grandparents pass around the boiled sweets on any car trip over 30 minutes?
My dentist would hate my daily commute for the last decade...
My dentist would hate my daily commute for the last decade...
Two bridges.
September 25, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Two bridges.
Reposted by Samantha E Thompson
The Toronto Parking Authority’s 2026 budget submission includes some AI-generated art that appears to depict some sort of dystopian future in which Green P takes over the entire city and rules with an iron fist. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...
September 24, 2025 at 3:29 PM
The Toronto Parking Authority’s 2026 budget submission includes some AI-generated art that appears to depict some sort of dystopian future in which Green P takes over the entire city and rules with an iron fist. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...