Katie McDonald
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katiemcdonald.bsky.social
Katie McDonald
@katiemcdonald.bsky.social
Cyclist, archivist (@royalsoced.bsky.social), environmentalist 🌎 Views my own.
Treat or trick from the RSE Archive 🎃

Our Hallowe'en blog explores the RSE's links to Dr Robert Knox, the celebrated anatomist whose reputation was destroyed by his connection to Burke and Hare 👻 Read more here: rse.org.uk/resource/dr-...

#ExploreYourArchive
October 31, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Presenting: the case for more bike parking on George Street #Edinburgh
September 18, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Delighted our article 'Distilling the Past: Cataloguing the Records of Whyte & Mackay' has now been published in the Business & Industrial History journal, as part of a special issue celebrating the 200th anniversary of the 1823 Excise Act 🥃 More info: busarchscot.org.uk/journal/bih
June 25, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Reposted by Katie McDonald
#OTD in 1783, the first meeting of @royalsoced.bsky.social was convened.

📷 Founding RSE Royal Charter granted by King George III in 1783
(Photo: Stewart Attwood)
June 23, 2025 at 3:11 PM
The views from the reading room at @natlibscot.bsky.social 👌
June 10, 2025 at 10:22 AM
I had the pleasure of being on the panel for the annual RSE/SCRR Peter Wilson lecture, discussing the importance of natural history collections, and their role in identifying + predicting the impact of climate change on biodiversity 🌏

ICYMI, the recording is here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=anH9...
Preserving what matters: Scotland's national collections
YouTube video by The Royal Society of Edinburgh
www.youtube.com
May 28, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Hot off the press! 📰 Interested in the newly acquired Charles Waterston Archive - a collection with over 7000 photographic slides? Read all about it in the @royalsoced.bsky.social's latest issue of ReSourcE: bitly.cx/Xo1q9

Some bonus favourites from digitisation so far ⬇️
#ExploreYourArchive
May 7, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Reposted by Katie McDonald
Love this. In his “I Agree” installation Dima Yarovinsky-Yahel took the content from terms of service statements for companies like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Tinder and printed them out on A4 paper with a standard font size for legal contracts to demonstrate the length of these agreements.
April 27, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Reposted by Katie McDonald
Celebrate Earth Day by exploring the @araukie.bsky.social Environmental Sustainability Group Case Studies 🌍

Discover real-life stories of how the sector is helping fight climate change, sharing knowledge and securing collections for the future.

Access them here: www.archives.org.uk/environment-...
Environmental Case Studies — Archives & Records Association
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www.archives.org.uk
April 22, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Reposted by Katie McDonald
Happy #NationalUnicornDay 🦄 fun fact, in 1790, according to The Royal Society of Edinburgh's records, "Dr Gregory presented to the Society an Unicorn’s Horn (so called) from the Whalefishing Company of Aberdeen".

See the minutes entry 👇

📷The Royal Society of Edinburgh [archive ref: ACC10000/1]
April 9, 2025 at 1:15 PM
It's #WorldPoetryDay, so what better time to celebrate the silliest of poetry - the clerihew! Invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley, this whimsical format produces a short four-line biography of a person, usually summarising their achievements in silly or spurious ways. (1/2)
March 21, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Delighted to be at the #NLS100 celebrations, celebrating 100 years of curation, cataloguing + making Scotland's precious collections accessible. From Byron to the Beano, from Mary Queen of Scots' final letter to football programmes, the @natlibscot.bsky.social collection has something for everyone
January 30, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Hi Bluesky! My first post so a bit about what you can expect: interesting archive finds, snippets from cycle rides, a bit of film photography, and thoughts about slow travel and the planet 🌎
December 18, 2024 at 10:59 AM