Kit Barton
@kmbarton.bsky.social
Morris dancer by day, PhD student by night | They/Them
PhD Studentship in 'Gender and the Material Culture of Wills: England 1540-1790'
Ask me about early modern sailmakers
PhD Studentship in 'Gender and the Material Culture of Wills: England 1540-1790'
Ask me about early modern sailmakers
Reposted by Kit Barton
I wrote a short blog on the Court of Orphans probate inventories held @thelondonarchives.bsky.social
A fascinating source for anyone researching early modern social history or material culture 📜
Link below 👇
www.thelondonarchives.org/blog/the-pro...
A fascinating source for anyone researching early modern social history or material culture 📜
Link below 👇
www.thelondonarchives.org/blog/the-pro...
The Probate Inventories of the Court of Orphans
Probate Inventories of the Court of Orphans reveal hidden details about lives of Londoners, their businesses and women in the economy of early modern London
www.thelondonarchives.org
January 22, 2026 at 11:18 AM
I wrote a short blog on the Court of Orphans probate inventories held @thelondonarchives.bsky.social
A fascinating source for anyone researching early modern social history or material culture 📜
Link below 👇
www.thelondonarchives.org/blog/the-pro...
A fascinating source for anyone researching early modern social history or material culture 📜
Link below 👇
www.thelondonarchives.org/blog/the-pro...
Reposted by Kit Barton
Today is “Take a Walk Outdoors Day”! So: grab a good book (preferably from De Gruyter) for a sunny bench, wrap up warm, and head out into the fresh air!
#brueghel #earlymodern
#brueghel #earlymodern
January 20, 2026 at 9:31 AM
Today is “Take a Walk Outdoors Day”! So: grab a good book (preferably from De Gruyter) for a sunny bench, wrap up warm, and head out into the fresh air!
#brueghel #earlymodern
#brueghel #earlymodern
Reposted by Kit Barton
📣DEADLINE EXTENDED!
We are delighted to announce that we're extending the deadline for applications to our 50th anniversary conference!
At this busy time, we want as many people as possible to have the chance to apply.
Now accepting applications until 23 Jan!
socialhistory.org.uk/events/confe...
We are delighted to announce that we're extending the deadline for applications to our 50th anniversary conference!
At this busy time, we want as many people as possible to have the chance to apply.
Now accepting applications until 23 Jan!
socialhistory.org.uk/events/confe...
Conference
Visit the post for more.
socialhistory.org.uk
January 16, 2026 at 12:07 PM
📣DEADLINE EXTENDED!
We are delighted to announce that we're extending the deadline for applications to our 50th anniversary conference!
At this busy time, we want as many people as possible to have the chance to apply.
Now accepting applications until 23 Jan!
socialhistory.org.uk/events/confe...
We are delighted to announce that we're extending the deadline for applications to our 50th anniversary conference!
At this busy time, we want as many people as possible to have the chance to apply.
Now accepting applications until 23 Jan!
socialhistory.org.uk/events/confe...
Its on days like this, wet and windy and wild, that I'm very glad for work that lets me work from a large mound of blankets
January 8, 2026 at 1:30 PM
Its on days like this, wet and windy and wild, that I'm very glad for work that lets me work from a large mound of blankets
Reposted by Kit Barton
Someone’s not looked at a single early modern history book before opening their mouth, clearly. By 1600, over 4,000 immigrants lived in England’s second largest city, Norwich - one in three people in the city had not been born in England.
I just heard a law professor claim in a recording that in early modern England, there wasn’t any significant migration to the British Isles, which is just plainly wrong.
January 8, 2026 at 12:03 PM
Someone’s not looked at a single early modern history book before opening their mouth, clearly. By 1600, over 4,000 immigrants lived in England’s second largest city, Norwich - one in three people in the city had not been born in England.
Everytime I think I've got a handle on the different ways family descriptors were used by people in the 17th century, I come across another funny one; "my neece grace browne daughter of my sonne John"
January 5, 2026 at 11:46 AM
Everytime I think I've got a handle on the different ways family descriptors were used by people in the 17th century, I come across another funny one; "my neece grace browne daughter of my sonne John"
Reposted by Kit Barton
This year, as a Caird Research Fellow at Royal Museums Greenwich, I developed a new research project on occupational health, disability, and welfare in the British Royal Navy during the French Wars (1793–1815). Read some of my preliminary findings here: www.rmg.co.uk/stories/mari....
Unfit for service: healthcare and welfare in Nelson's Navy
Hidden in the seemingly mundane bureaucratic letters of the Royal Navy lie some fascinating insights into the role of the British state in providing healthcare and welfare to ill and injured seamen.
www.rmg.co.uk
December 22, 2025 at 12:38 PM
This year, as a Caird Research Fellow at Royal Museums Greenwich, I developed a new research project on occupational health, disability, and welfare in the British Royal Navy during the French Wars (1793–1815). Read some of my preliminary findings here: www.rmg.co.uk/stories/mari....
Reposted by Kit Barton
The British Library have a searchable interim Archives & Manuscripts Catalogues up & running: searcharchives.bl.uk
(posting for all the folks who, like me, had somehow managed to miss this important development)
(posting for all the folks who, like me, had somehow managed to miss this important development)
British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue
searcharchives.bl.uk
December 15, 2025 at 12:37 PM
The British Library have a searchable interim Archives & Manuscripts Catalogues up & running: searcharchives.bl.uk
(posting for all the folks who, like me, had somehow managed to miss this important development)
(posting for all the folks who, like me, had somehow managed to miss this important development)
Started keeping a little folder of screenshots on my laptop called "places I've zoomed from". It's a lot of picnic benches and GWR trains. What can I say I'm an out and about kind of guy
December 10, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Started keeping a little folder of screenshots on my laptop called "places I've zoomed from". It's a lot of picnic benches and GWR trains. What can I say I'm an out and about kind of guy
Reposted by Kit Barton
Here from the same fabulous series by George Spratt is "The Connoisseur."
(I like this art-lover's monocle and also the smaller picture that she's carrying as a reticule, the strap around her wrist.)
(I like this art-lover's monocle and also the smaller picture that she's carrying as a reticule, the strap around her wrist.)
December 7, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Here from the same fabulous series by George Spratt is "The Connoisseur."
(I like this art-lover's monocle and also the smaller picture that she's carrying as a reticule, the strap around her wrist.)
(I like this art-lover's monocle and also the smaller picture that she's carrying as a reticule, the strap around her wrist.)
Reposted by Kit Barton
If your choice is between an existential risk to your organisation, vs being a fascist collaborator, and you make the difficult choice to be a collaborator...
...then you are still a collaborator.
...then you are still a collaborator.
Like, I'm sorry the fascists are giving you difficult choices. But that's what fascists fucking do. The only legit answer is "fuck you make me". The only answer that shows you have actual fucking principles not preferences is "fuck you make me". And that sucks. But here we are.
December 3, 2025 at 8:55 AM
If your choice is between an existential risk to your organisation, vs being a fascist collaborator, and you make the difficult choice to be a collaborator...
...then you are still a collaborator.
...then you are still a collaborator.
Reposted by Kit Barton
Today is World AIDS Day. The Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) has 200+ sources on the history of HIV/AIDS. You can also consult BBIH’s free readings lists on LGBTQ+ histories and the histories of infectious diseases to learn more about recent scholarship on this topic buff.ly/OK5HSbu
December 1, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Today is World AIDS Day. The Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) has 200+ sources on the history of HIV/AIDS. You can also consult BBIH’s free readings lists on LGBTQ+ histories and the histories of infectious diseases to learn more about recent scholarship on this topic buff.ly/OK5HSbu
Looking forward to rocking up at #imc2026 to talk about all the fun (and surprising!) things you can find in the wills of single men across early modern England, alongside other fascinating talks on fatherhood, masculinity, and emotions on the Constructing Masculinities Panel.
December 1, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Looking forward to rocking up at #imc2026 to talk about all the fun (and surprising!) things you can find in the wills of single men across early modern England, alongside other fascinating talks on fatherhood, masculinity, and emotions on the Constructing Masculinities Panel.
Reposted by Kit Barton
Are you a PhD student & interested in using museum collections in your teaching or research?
We're running a *free* doctoral training programme for students at any institution to learn about working with collections.
Find out more:
collections.reading.ac.uk/whats-on/
We're running a *free* doctoral training programme for students at any institution to learn about working with collections.
Find out more:
collections.reading.ac.uk/whats-on/
November 25, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Are you a PhD student & interested in using museum collections in your teaching or research?
We're running a *free* doctoral training programme for students at any institution to learn about working with collections.
Find out more:
collections.reading.ac.uk/whats-on/
We're running a *free* doctoral training programme for students at any institution to learn about working with collections.
Find out more:
collections.reading.ac.uk/whats-on/
Reposted by Kit Barton
Have I sailed as close as you are legally allowed to do to have a nose at the SS Montgomery?
Of course.
Moment I knew she existed, I was out there faster than Jay Hulme when he spots a rickety ladder in a church.
Here she is:
Of course.
Moment I knew she existed, I was out there faster than Jay Hulme when he spots a rickety ladder in a church.
Here she is:
November 11, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Have I sailed as close as you are legally allowed to do to have a nose at the SS Montgomery?
Of course.
Moment I knew she existed, I was out there faster than Jay Hulme when he spots a rickety ladder in a church.
Here she is:
Of course.
Moment I knew she existed, I was out there faster than Jay Hulme when he spots a rickety ladder in a church.
Here she is:
Moving... Listening... Reacting... Sampling...
You can listen to the #futuresonair recordings on @soundartradio.bsky.social now, to hear me and many other much more eloquent and interesting researchers talking about our research and interests.
soundartradio.org.uk/services/fut...
You can listen to the #futuresonair recordings on @soundartradio.bsky.social now, to hear me and many other much more eloquent and interesting researchers talking about our research and interests.
soundartradio.org.uk/services/fut...
Futures 2025 : A new series of Futures on Air bringing together research and community radio as part of FUTURES, a South West wide research festival run by the...
A new series of Futures on Air bringing together research and community radio as part of FUTURES, a South West wide research festival run by the Universities of Bristol, Bath, Exeter, Plymouth and Bat...
soundartradio.org.uk
November 7, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Moving... Listening... Reacting... Sampling...
You can listen to the #futuresonair recordings on @soundartradio.bsky.social now, to hear me and many other much more eloquent and interesting researchers talking about our research and interests.
soundartradio.org.uk/services/fut...
You can listen to the #futuresonair recordings on @soundartradio.bsky.social now, to hear me and many other much more eloquent and interesting researchers talking about our research and interests.
soundartradio.org.uk/services/fut...
Reposted by Kit Barton
📜WILLS ON THE RADIO!📜
The brilliant Chris Hoban was on local radio talking about the wills project and playing some songs!
This one is perhaps my favourite: based on the will of London widow Alice Walter, proved September 1665. TNA PROB 11/317/428.
#EarlyModern 🗃️
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXwB...
The brilliant Chris Hoban was on local radio talking about the wills project and playing some songs!
This one is perhaps my favourite: based on the will of London widow Alice Walter, proved September 1665. TNA PROB 11/317/428.
#EarlyModern 🗃️
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXwB...
Chris Hoban - Rings On My Fingers (one )
YouTube video by Will Pollard
www.youtube.com
November 5, 2025 at 8:18 AM
📜WILLS ON THE RADIO!📜
The brilliant Chris Hoban was on local radio talking about the wills project and playing some songs!
This one is perhaps my favourite: based on the will of London widow Alice Walter, proved September 1665. TNA PROB 11/317/428.
#EarlyModern 🗃️
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXwB...
The brilliant Chris Hoban was on local radio talking about the wills project and playing some songs!
This one is perhaps my favourite: based on the will of London widow Alice Walter, proved September 1665. TNA PROB 11/317/428.
#EarlyModern 🗃️
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXwB...
Reposted by Kit Barton
🎆 It's Bonfire Night🎆
To celebrate we're showing our copy of 'The second booke teaching most exactly, the composing of all manner of fire-works for tryumph and recreation' by John Bate, published in 1635 (shelf marl: S PAM 479).
To celebrate we're showing our copy of 'The second booke teaching most exactly, the composing of all manner of fire-works for tryumph and recreation' by John Bate, published in 1635 (shelf marl: S PAM 479).
November 5, 2025 at 12:26 PM
🎆 It's Bonfire Night🎆
To celebrate we're showing our copy of 'The second booke teaching most exactly, the composing of all manner of fire-works for tryumph and recreation' by John Bate, published in 1635 (shelf marl: S PAM 479).
To celebrate we're showing our copy of 'The second booke teaching most exactly, the composing of all manner of fire-works for tryumph and recreation' by John Bate, published in 1635 (shelf marl: S PAM 479).
Reposted by Kit Barton
Producer: "we've seen you explore churches and the theme is 'abandoned spaces' so we were wondering if you had a faith space that fit the..."
Me: "I have 𝖆 𝖈𝖆𝖛𝖊"
Producer: "you? what?"
Me: "Let Me Tell You About 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖆𝖛𝖊"
Producer: "does it fit our brief for the..."
Me: "𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝕾𝖙 𝕽𝖔𝖇𝖊𝖗𝖙"
Me: "I have 𝖆 𝖈𝖆𝖛𝖊"
Producer: "you? what?"
Me: "Let Me Tell You About 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖆𝖛𝖊"
Producer: "does it fit our brief for the..."
Me: "𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝕾𝖙 𝕽𝖔𝖇𝖊𝖗𝖙"
November 3, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Producer: "we've seen you explore churches and the theme is 'abandoned spaces' so we were wondering if you had a faith space that fit the..."
Me: "I have 𝖆 𝖈𝖆𝖛𝖊"
Producer: "you? what?"
Me: "Let Me Tell You About 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖆𝖛𝖊"
Producer: "does it fit our brief for the..."
Me: "𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝕾𝖙 𝕽𝖔𝖇𝖊𝖗𝖙"
Me: "I have 𝖆 𝖈𝖆𝖛𝖊"
Producer: "you? what?"
Me: "Let Me Tell You About 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖆𝖛𝖊"
Producer: "does it fit our brief for the..."
Me: "𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝕾𝖙 𝕽𝖔𝖇𝖊𝖗𝖙"
Reposted by Kit Barton
Happy #Halloween 🎃Since this fellow was so popular we are once again sharing spooktacular illustrations of Vampyroteuthis. The 'vampire squid from hell' is neither squid nor vampire, using sticky filaments to feed on marine snow
📖 Reports from the German Deep-Sea Expedition 'Valdivia' 1898-1899
📖 Reports from the German Deep-Sea Expedition 'Valdivia' 1898-1899
October 31, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Happy #Halloween 🎃Since this fellow was so popular we are once again sharing spooktacular illustrations of Vampyroteuthis. The 'vampire squid from hell' is neither squid nor vampire, using sticky filaments to feed on marine snow
📖 Reports from the German Deep-Sea Expedition 'Valdivia' 1898-1899
📖 Reports from the German Deep-Sea Expedition 'Valdivia' 1898-1899
Reposted by Kit Barton
And here we all are, not being at all self-conscious about having our photo taken and enjoying Harry's visualisation of our bequests.
October 29, 2025 at 1:42 PM
And here we all are, not being at all self-conscious about having our photo taken and enjoying Harry's visualisation of our bequests.
Reposted by Kit Barton
Join us next Thursday (30/10, 5.30 pm) for Dr Emily Vine’s (@emilymayvine.bsky.social) talk on ‘Birth, Death and Domestic Religion in Early Modern London’! You can sign up to join in-person (IHR Wolfson Room, NB02) or online via Zoom here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Birth, Death and Domestic Religion in Early Modern London
Society, Culture and Belief, 1500-1800 Seminar- Session 2
www.history.ac.uk
October 23, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Join us next Thursday (30/10, 5.30 pm) for Dr Emily Vine’s (@emilymayvine.bsky.social) talk on ‘Birth, Death and Domestic Religion in Early Modern London’! You can sign up to join in-person (IHR Wolfson Room, NB02) or online via Zoom here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Reposted by Kit Barton
One of our PhD students Jane Tozer recently visited @nationaltrust.org.uk Ham House during their 'Open Cabinets' event while researching 'japanning' - furniture finishes that imitated East Asian lacquerwork.
The cabinets are opened only twice a year - Jane captured this beautiful photograph:
The cabinets are opened only twice a year - Jane captured this beautiful photograph:
October 23, 2025 at 3:05 PM
One of our PhD students Jane Tozer recently visited @nationaltrust.org.uk Ham House during their 'Open Cabinets' event while researching 'japanning' - furniture finishes that imitated East Asian lacquerwork.
The cabinets are opened only twice a year - Jane captured this beautiful photograph:
The cabinets are opened only twice a year - Jane captured this beautiful photograph:
Reposted by Kit Barton
📅 Save the Date!
🎉 To mark 50 years of the Social History Society, we’re hosting a Social History Festival with @ihr.bsky.social!
🗓️ Fri 24 April 2026
📍 Senate House, University of London
Panels, a keynote + hands-on activities!
💡 Want to contribute? 👉socialhistsoc@gmail.com
More info coming soon!
🎉 To mark 50 years of the Social History Society, we’re hosting a Social History Festival with @ihr.bsky.social!
🗓️ Fri 24 April 2026
📍 Senate House, University of London
Panels, a keynote + hands-on activities!
💡 Want to contribute? 👉socialhistsoc@gmail.com
More info coming soon!
October 22, 2025 at 8:27 AM
📅 Save the Date!
🎉 To mark 50 years of the Social History Society, we’re hosting a Social History Festival with @ihr.bsky.social!
🗓️ Fri 24 April 2026
📍 Senate House, University of London
Panels, a keynote + hands-on activities!
💡 Want to contribute? 👉socialhistsoc@gmail.com
More info coming soon!
🎉 To mark 50 years of the Social History Society, we’re hosting a Social History Festival with @ihr.bsky.social!
🗓️ Fri 24 April 2026
📍 Senate House, University of London
Panels, a keynote + hands-on activities!
💡 Want to contribute? 👉socialhistsoc@gmail.com
More info coming soon!
You'll have to excuse my absence I've been roving around, gadding about, meandering, ambling, bunking off, and generally poking things with sticks.
October 23, 2025 at 8:42 AM
You'll have to excuse my absence I've been roving around, gadding about, meandering, ambling, bunking off, and generally poking things with sticks.