Dr Michelle Johansen
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historitage.bsky.social
Dr Michelle Johansen
@historitage.bsky.social
1.8K followers 1K following 250 posts
Social historian, researching &
writing about British librarians & #PubLibs in the long nineteenth century. Learning & Outreach Manager at the Society of Antiquaries, London.
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historitage.bsky.social
Of interest to Belle da Costa Greene fans!!! In 1912, Greene was celebrated as “the most up-to-date” librarian type. The US media gleefully hailed the Morgan library manager as the antithesis of the longstanding cliche of a “dried-up” old male librarian 💙📚
Two typewritten paragraphs from The Librarian and Book World, Vol. III, No.1, August 1912.
February 17, 2026 at 1:02 PM
Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen
britishlibrary.bsky.social
Apply for our PhD placement scheme to get involved in extraordinary research at the Library. There are eight available placements exploring a variety of themes including war poetry, 21st-century digital tools, illustrated newspapers and decarbonisation.

Find out more: link.bl.uk/PhDPlacements
The front page of the Daily Graphic newspaper published Saturday 25 August, 1917, featuring portraits of 'Women in the Order of the British Empire', including Lady Byron, the honourable Mrs Alfred Lyttelton, Her Majesty the Queen.
February 4, 2026 at 10:55 AM
historitage.bsky.social
Can anyone get me a job in the editorial offices of the ‘The Librarian and Book World’ in 1913? Imagine reading through the submissions for this prize scheme for librarians. Glossary! Machine-set Catalogue!! Bookbinding!!!! Pure library heaven #PubLibs 💙📚
A brief typeset announcement for an essay prize scheme, aimed at librarians, under the heading ‘Library Bindings’. Prizes include ‘FOUR GUINEAS for the best article on Library Bindings’.
February 7, 2026 at 2:14 PM
historitage.bsky.social
19C librarians devised all manner of ingenious apparatus to make their institutions more efficient. Here’s a pioneering form of rolling stack to streamline storage systems at the British Museum, now the British Library. From the Library Chronicle, Vol. III (1886)
#AlphabetChallenge #BforBooks 💙📚
Line drawing of a group of book cases. Each case is comprised of six shelves lined with bound volumes. The shelves are attached to a metal, gridded ceiling using ingenious fixings. These fixings act as runners to allow the shelves to be moved easily, using the handles shown.
January 16, 2026 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen
tricksterprince.bsky.social
If only there was a recent book about what Seven Dials was like in the first part of the twentieth century.

Oh, hang on...

manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526181954/
January 14, 2026 at 10:52 AM
historitage.bsky.social
It’s another bitterly cold day. You’ll find me in the library at Alnwick Castle, flicking through a heap of literary journals in a desultory manner, occasionally gazing up at that STUNNING ceiling - planning to demolish a plateful of buttered toast & tea any minute now 💙📚
A sumptuously-furnished, private library in a Northumberland stately home. Bookshelves line the walls. Three highly-polished round wooden tables have easy chairs placed beside them upholstered in ivory or turquoise fabrics. At the far end of the vast room, a real fire blazes in a marble fireplace. The ceiling is a riot of expertly-carved plasterwork.
January 6, 2026 at 12:44 PM
Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen
misssarahwise.bsky.social
‘It was not in his nature to do anything by halves:’ Mary Booth on her husband’s work. No lie detected. I run a course that demystifies Charles Booth’s massive Life & Labour survey and the accompanying Poverty Map.
Starts Tue 13 Jan at the Mary Ward Centre, nr Stratford High St DLR short.do/wLa3Vc
December 29, 2025 at 8:35 PM
historitage.bsky.social
New Year’s Resolution. Always wear a hat to visit the library. Homburg, bowler, flat cap, no matter. As seen here in the new reading room at the Kensington branch building in Liverpool c.1900 #NYE #PubLibs 💙📚
Wooden tables and chairs in a large reading room, sparsely furnished. There are bookshelves behind a library issue desk on the right. The table in the foreground is empty. Others are occupied by readers, all white men, in suits. Everyone is hunched over a book - and wearing a hat.
December 31, 2025 at 5:46 PM
historitage.bsky.social
Salisbury Cathedral Library, founded in 1445. The library collections date back to the 1100s. The chains originally used to secure the precious medieval manuscripts to the shelves now form an eye-catching display beside the librarian’s desk 💙📚 #chainedlibrary
A plastered wall with lengths of looped metal chains hanging vertically from a horizontal rod.
November 26, 2025 at 4:14 PM
historitage.bsky.social
In the 1870s, George Gissing & his brother William were furious at the ‘scandalous condition’ of #PubLibs in England, contrasting progress unfavourably with the USA - where every town had ‘its excellent Free Library’. From Letters of George Gissing to Members of his Family (1927). 💙📚
A white man in a suit sits at a writing desk. He has thick, wavy hair swept back from his face. One hand is held up to his chin. The other holds a pen with which he writes on a sheet of paper. There are books in a pile beside and in front of him. A caption reads: George Gissing, May 1901.
November 16, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen
historitage.bsky.social
Thinking about the 130 or so British librarians killed in WW1. Their colleagues raised funds to create a lasting memorial to their sacrifice. Sadly, the tablet they commissioned is now displayed behind the scenes at the British Library, visible only to staff.
#fwwhist #PubLibs 💙📚
Photo of a stone tablet with five columns listing the names & institutional affiliations of approx 130 British librarians killed in WW1. The tablet border is inscribed “IN MEMORY OF THE BRITISH LIBRARIANS FALLEN IN THE WAR MCMXIV-MCMXVIII”.
December 11, 2023 at 6:01 PM
historitage.bsky.social
CLOSED. My second failed attempt to visit the Morrab Library in Penzance last month. Founded in the early 19C, the library is one of only around 60 independent libraries still in existence in the UK (& the only one in the whole of Cornwall). I did admire this cute sign on the front door though.
Close-up photo of painted red door showing a weathered wooden sign stating CLOSED in faded black letters on a white background.
November 11, 2025 at 10:19 AM
historitage.bsky.social
Here I am, caught on camera at #HistDay25 getting over-excited about the fact that a 1960s folk-rock band named themselves after a medieval legal document!! I was at the event with my fab @antiquaries.bsky.social colleagues & we chatted to over 100 students & history-lovers. A truly inspiring day.
November 6, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen
antiquaries.bsky.social
Do you dare stare into the eyes of spooky child this Halloween? Take your chance today at our Haunted by the Past event until 3.30pm today! www.sal.org.uk/event/haunte...
A creepy portrait of a child with a rattle.
October 31, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen
ihr.bsky.social
1 week to go until History Day - don't forget to sign up! Read about why History Day is such a fantastic event in this blog by Claire Langhamer: buff.ly/ySfBuWR

#HistDay25 @senatehouselib.bsky.social
October 28, 2025 at 3:30 PM
historitage.bsky.social
1850. The Public Libraries Act means councils in England & Wales can now spend local taxes on libraries. Some London regions are VERY slow to adopt the act. St Pancras rate-payers object to “wasting” money on “showy luxuries”. Fifty years pass before a free library opens in the district #PubLibs 💙📚
A typed hand bill, printed c.1900. Under the title “FREE PUBLIC LIBRARIES” SCHEME IN ST PANCRAS, opponents of free libraries in this central London region set out four reasons for their opposition.
October 25, 2025 at 12:24 PM
historitage.bsky.social
Utterly fascinating talk. Exciting new book about 1920s and 1930s London (and beyond). I’ll never refer to ‘interwar’ again. Sadly no #PubLibs featured at the event but we were surrounded by beautiful art books & you can’t have everything ha ha.
tricksterprince.bsky.social Matt Houlbrook @tricksterprince.bsky.social · Oct 22
This is what publication day looked like.

I am buzzing but broken this morning. Thank you to everyone who made time to talk to me or came out to hear me talk about Songs of Seven Dials: An intimate history of 1920s and 1930s London.

The book is out now with @manchesterup.bsky.social
Matt Houlbrook sits in a chair holding a microphone as he talks about his new book Songs of Seven Dials in Waterstones Covent Garden. Matt Houlbrook's step count for 21 October 2025 showing that he walked 18114 steps around London on the day his latest book was published. A group of people standing in a bookshop after the launch of Matt Houlbrook's book Songs of Seven Dials. Matt Houlbrook looking ridiculously awkward in the BBC Radio London studios.
October 22, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen
johnsimkin1945.bsky.social
I left school at 15 without qualifications but educated myself via the Harold Hill library and ended up with three university degrees.
historitage.bsky.social Dr Michelle Johansen @historitage.bsky.social · Sep 14
From the 1930s, Britain’s #PubLibs were increasingly staffed by female librarians - usually overseen by a male manager. This fab photo (from the archives at Havering Libraries) shows a group of smartly-dressed assistants shelving books at the shiny new Upminster Library building in Essex c.1963 💙📚
A black & white photo shows 6 white women, young-looking, squeezed into a narrow bay or corridor in a library. Three of the group are holding armfuls of hardback books; the remaining three appear to be replacing volumes on a stack of shelves on the left of the photo. All are looking directly at the photographer and appear cheerful.
October 21, 2025 at 7:17 AM
historitage.bsky.social
I’ve been discovering David Ackles via Mark Brend’s beautifully-written biography. Down River (2025) details the curious recording career of a relatively unknown US singer songwriter in the late 60s & early 70s. Elton John was a fan. Sadly, no #PubLibs are featured in the biog. Excellent otherwise.
A book cover shows a man in profile. He is white with curly dark hair and his eyes appear closed. Is he singing or performing?
October 20, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen
royalhistsoc.org
Also published this week in 'Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'

"Us and Them: Disability Ethics, Oral History and Inclusive Praxis in the Reuse of Asylum Photography", by Alana Harris & Laura Mitchison bit.ly/4gH9e0f

What are the ethics of historical research using asylum photography?
First page of new TRHS article: 'Us and Them: Disability Ethics, Oral History and Inclusive Praxis in the Reuse of Asylum Photography' Abstract in full ‘Us and Them’ is a community history project and artistic collaboration exploring physical and intellectual disability and mental illness, in the past and present. It is part of a broader initiative to open out wider conversations about the history of psychiatric care in Epsom (Surrey, UK) and to explore ways in which medical histories, creative engagement strategies and oral history praxis can illuminate the instability of contemporary understandings of ‘healthy minds’ and ‘normative bodies’. This article charts our recent reuse of asylum photography and the restaging of wet-plate collodion portrait making, opening out key ethical questions about our complicity as consumers of historical sources, the role of re-enactment and empathy, and the place of the haptic and the ludic in exposing the porous and precarious boundaries between ableism and disability. Exploring our own vulnerabilities and solidarities in co-producing a public history project with our disabled artist collaborators, it offers insight into our evolving ‘micro ethics’, foregrounds lived experience perspectives, and offers some initial thoughts on ways to rethink critically some core tenets of oral history methodology.
September 27, 2025 at 8:49 AM
historitage.bsky.social
A line of Yale University librarians carry rare 18C volumes from the old library to the brand new Sterling Memorial Library building in July 1930. I love the way library staff turned this humdrum task into a celebratory piece of street theatre!! #WeekLforLines #AlphabetChallenge 💙📚
A line of more than a dozen librarians carrying books across a street towards the entrance of a gothic stone structure. A couple of passers by look on. The black & white photo is from the collections at the Yale University Library.
September 21, 2025 at 1:02 PM
historitage.bsky.social
From the 1930s, Britain’s #PubLibs were increasingly staffed by female librarians - usually overseen by a male manager. This fab photo (from the archives at Havering Libraries) shows a group of smartly-dressed assistants shelving books at the shiny new Upminster Library building in Essex c.1963 💙📚
A black & white photo shows 6 white women, young-looking, squeezed into a narrow bay or corridor in a library. Three of the group are holding armfuls of hardback books; the remaining three appear to be replacing volumes on a stack of shelves on the left of the photo. All are looking directly at the photographer and appear cheerful.
September 14, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen
antiquaries.bsky.social
Join us on 12 Sept for a free evening which includes performances that re-voice & unravel the Magna Charter’s most famous clauses, has creative workshops using oak gall ink, features longsword demonstrations, personalised crown workshop, dressing up, sweets & more! www.sal.org.uk/event/age-of...
The seal of Richard de Clare, featuring a knight on horseback.
September 4, 2025 at 2:10 PM
historitage.bsky.social
Railway reads. Found near the train track not far from Lincoln station 💙📚
A bright blue shelving unit holding a few paperbacks. One half of the unit is covered with a tatty piece of corrugated plastic. A hand-made sign pinned to to top of the unit says ‘Railway reads’.
September 7, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Reposted by Dr Michelle Johansen
misssarahwise.bsky.social
My autumn adult ed Sept-Dec courses are now booking.
Here’s what I’m up to:

1/ Borderlines of ‘Madness’ in 19th-Century Fiction, the Mary Ward Centre, East London, starts Tues 23 Sept, 6.30pm, 6 weeks.
Includes Charlotte Bronte, Poe, Wilkie Collins and Gogol www.marywardcentre.ac.uk/course-detai...
Borderlines of Madness - Mary Ward Centre
We will explore various themes related to insanity and altered states of consciousness by examining a number of 19th-century works of fiction.
www.marywardcentre.ac.uk
August 13, 2025 at 8:33 PM