Richard Coulton
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rxcoulton.bsky.social
Richard Coulton
@rxcoulton.bsky.social
88 followers 80 following 6 posts
I research eighteenth-century literature and culture and teach English + Digital Humanities at QMUL. Graduate supervision principally around history of gardening and plant humanities.
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Reposted by Richard Coulton
eicathomefinn.bsky.social
What's lost when we lose staff, departments, programmes and faculties in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and what's that got to do with organ donation?

Amid the looming losses faced by Cardiff, Edinburgh, Lancaster, Leicester and Nottingham (among many others), here's a worked example. 1/8
The organ donation ‘opt-out’ has been a fatal failure | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
greenleejw.bsky.social
There was a robust trade in live eels in pre-modern England, & I know you're wondering: "How do I ship live eels?"

Not in barrels of water. They'll use up the oxygen & die. Nope. You pack them in layers of damp moss or hay, & off you go. They don't need to be in water.

Wut? 1/3
🗃️🧪
Meme. Medieval image showing a cooper making a barrel. He is leaning over the barrel with a wooden wedge in one hand, and a wooden mallet raised high in the other. He's about to strike, like a cobra (if the cobra were holding a wooden mallet). The man has massively muscled forearms, and a sharply receding hairline. He's going bald, and will arm wrestle you into submission if you bring it up. He is wearing a yellow apron with tools hanging from his belt, a light blue shirt, and a dark cowl. His grey hair speaks to his experience, and his calm look says that he hasn't noticed yet that he's in a meme. On the wall behind his is a coil of rope, and something that might be a hat or a hood. It is, though, more fun to imagine that it is a fedora and a coiled whip, and that this man is actually Indiana Jones, taking a break from questionable archeology and bad pedagogy to make a few barrels. Meme text reads: "Lock, stock, and two slithering barrels of eels"
October 20, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
sadiahqureshi.bsky.social
This collaborative PhD project with the LSE and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, on Planting Decolonization: Plantation Science and Empire in the Twentieth Century, sounds amazing.

I’m sure many of you might be interested.

#STS #HPS #HistSci

www.lse.ac.uk/study-at-lse...
LSE Collaborative Studentship with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
LSE Collaborative Studentship with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
www.lse.ac.uk
October 9, 2025 at 5:56 PM
rxcoulton.bsky.social
observer.co.uk/news/columni...
She listened to Grenfell’s bereaved and then acted. Rayne...
Unlike her predecessors as housing minister, she confronted the issue of the tower and demolition has started
observer.co.uk
September 7, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
hunterianmuseum.bsky.social
📢Come and work at the Hunterian Museum 📢

RCS England Museums is seeking a dynamic, highly motivated and empathetic individual to develop, deliver and promote inspiring public and professional Museum engagement programmes, on site and online.

👇👇👇

hunterianmuseum.org/news/vacancy...
Vacancy - Museums Engagement Manager
hunterianmuseum.org
July 7, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
trichocolea.bsky.social
Yesterday I was @cuherb.bsky.social checking out its collection of Sussex #bryophytes, most of which were collected by William Nicholson (1866-1945), though there are also some from Thomas Laflin (1914-1972), and even William Mitten (1819-1906)

1/5 #bryology
Some of the drawers at the Cambridge Herbarium containing mosses One of Nicholson's moss packets, opened to show its contents, the pleurocarp Anomodon viticulosus, which was in fact from the collection of William Mitten, and had been supplied by the New York Botanical Garden
July 11, 2025 at 6:14 AM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
yaleclassicslib.bsky.social
New issue of Journal of the History of Collections Vol. 37, No. 1 (2025) academic.oup.com/jhc/issue/37/1 @sdallaglio.bsky.social @suziebirch.bsky.social @tfraser.bsky.social @rxcoulton.bsky.social
Volume 37 Issue 1 | Journal of the History of Collections | Oxford Academic
Publishes contributions on all aspects of collecting activity, including the contents of collections, the processes which initiated their formation, and the circumstances of the collectors themselves.
academic.oup.com
July 8, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
trevorabranch.bsky.social
Foundations: please step up and take over the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL). This is an absolutely essential scanned archive of all of the old journals and books from the 1500s to about 1920. Has been indispensable for my research.
about.biodiversitylibrary.org/call-for-sup...
Call for Support: – About BHL
about.biodiversitylibrary.org
July 2, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
greenleejw.bsky.social
It's Tuesday. You're dragging yourself through the world, one cup of coffee at a time. Can nothing liven up this day?

How 'bout a thread of eel ships on maps? These maps are what got me into eels in the first place!

"Cool!" you say. "But wait...what's an eel ship?"

Well...
1/14
Two eel ships on the Thames, between Paulus Warfe and Qeen Hythe, from Hollar's 1647 "Long View of London." You know they're the eel ships because they're labeled "the Eel Ships." This is a rather long thread, and so the alt-text will be greatly diminished today. It takes a while to write narrative alt-text, and I don't have it in me to do a 14-post thread. I'd have to plan ahead for that, and I certainly am not that guy.
July 1, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
hpsvanessa.bsky.social
late for #DigitalFriday but I think this is a useful article for the (comparatively few) people really saying "there's no use case for AI" - it's super important that we don't let slop genAI boosters muddy the waters & confuse their ecocidal theft-based tech with this careful, worthwhile stuff:
MIT student prints AI polymer masks to restore paintings in hours
Removable transparent films apply digital restorations directly to damaged artwork.
arstechnica.com
June 21, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
willwyeth.bsky.social
Interesting new work on the legacies of British slavery, taking here an holistic view of income
and wealth.

Bonus: if you buy the related book straight from the publisher, they offer a whopping 50% discount if you subscribe to the newsletter. Get buying!!

theconversation.com/tracing-the-...
Tracing the Drax family’s millions – a story of British landed gentry, slavery and sugar plantations
Journalist and historian Paul Lashmar has published extensive research into the wealthy and influential Drax family of Dorset.
theconversation.com
June 21, 2025 at 5:45 AM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
dieworkwear.bsky.social
Not true.

I see you're a luxury watch dealer. I'm also interested in watches. Let me show you how free and easy migration has allowed you to earn a living. 🧵
Corey Wiley on Twitter writes: "You don’t get it. Foundational immigration law is morally just and has been established over millennia. Disrespecting these rules and ideals is very offensive to folks who highly value civilized society"
June 10, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
jbhist.bsky.social
If you want to ask any questions about this post, get in touch with me!
June 9, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
corinnefowler.bsky.social
Job researching plants and enslavement
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNK213/s...
Senior Research Associate: Plants, Enslavement, and Public History at University of Bristol
Recruiting now: Senior Research Associate: Plants, Enslavement, and Public History on jobs.ac.uk. Click for details and explore more academic job opportunities on the top job board
www.jobs.ac.uk
June 9, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
eicathomefinn.bsky.social
Caribbean Connections: Seventeenth-century Barbados and Britain. A 2-day workshop 25-26 June in London at KCL. Be there. www.mmor.co.uk/events/carib...
2-day Workshop: Caribbean Connections: Seventeenth-Century Barbados and Britain — Medicine and the Making of Race, 1440-1720
Organisers: Dr Michael Bennett (University of Sheffield), Dr Misha Ewen (University of Sussex), and Dr Hannah Murphy (MMoR & CEMS, KCL) Barbados is central to the global history of slavery. The ...
www.mmor.co.uk
June 7, 2025 at 1:29 PM
rxcoulton.bsky.social
New ship's log just dropped on our TEI Publisher site, the voyage of the King William (1699-1701) -- plot its route, read the daily entries, and search ships, people and places encountered at digitaltexts.qmul.ac.uk/eic_journeys @e-editiones.bsky.social #skystorians
EIC Manuscript Journeys
Explore visualized East India Company ships' documents from the early eighteenth century, transcribed and curated by Matthew Mauger and Richard Coulton at QMUL.
digitaltexts.qmul.ac.uk
June 5, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
angleseyhistory.bsky.social
Does anyone know the location of the missing Telford milestone near Holyhead? 82 of the distinctive markers along the Holyhead Road/A5 from Shrewsbury survive, but the one 2 miles from the port has disappeared.
www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-w...
May 31, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
lucybrewer.bsky.social
I briefly mentioned that I’ve started a PhD with Greenwich Uni where I’ll be looking at female gardeners and environmentalists in the long 19th century. Who are the best people to follow here into that topic? Any ideas? #history #victorian #19C #gardening #gardeners #environment 🌱
November 9, 2024 at 12:04 PM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
timbale.bsky.social
'[Learning occurs, wrote Herbert Simon,] "only as a result of what the student does and thinks." The assignment itself is a MacGuffin, with the shelf life of sour cream and an economic value that rounds to zero dollars. It is valuable only as a way to compel student effort and thought.'
Opinion | Is AI Enhancing Education or Replacing It?
Technology should facilitate learning, not substitute for it.
www.chronicle.com
May 14, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
people-plants-2025.bsky.social
Registration is now OPEN for our conference 'Plants and People'! Please sign up for attendance and workshops through our website: sites.google.com/view/plants-...

Thanks to @sshmedicine.bsky.social @camhistory.bsky.social & the Material Culture Forum for their generous assistance.
Plants and People
Conference Details
sites.google.com
May 14, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
wordsmith.bsky.social
OMG!! The ESTC is back!!!!

datb.cerl.org/estc/
English Short Title Catalogue
datb.cerl.org
May 12, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
rxcoulton.bsky.social
Please share: funded 4 yr PhD with #UlsterMuseum and @qmul.ac.uk funded by @ukri.org from Oct 2025. Would suit someone with interests in natural history and Ireland in c18-c19. Potential focus on #DigitalHistory #HistSTM #EnvHums. Apply by 23 May @ 5pm.

www.qmul.ac.uk/sed/english/...
Pages from John Templeton's Hibernian Flora manuscript describing and depicting Orobanche alba (native Broomrape plant).
May 2, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
hetanshah.bsky.social
'Universities exist to foster and disseminate research, learning and critical analysis.' But this rarely comes across in recent media discussions of higher education says @eicathomefinn.bsky.social - a Vice President of @britishacademy.bsky.social
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...
To save UK higher education, start talking about knowledge - Research Professional News
Until debate on universities foregrounds their core purposes, their woes will deepen, says Margot Finn
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
April 30, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
mrfw17thc.bsky.social
New article!

'Seeing Women in the Early English and Dutch East India Companies' is now available as an Advance Article with Historical Research.

It's been years of work, but I'm proud of this one. I hope #earlymodern #skystorians enjoy it!

Some context below:

academic.oup.com/histres/adva...
Validate User
academic.oup.com
May 7, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Reposted by Richard Coulton
geojo22.bsky.social
#sschat
When a Historian Saw This Haunting Photograph of a Nameless Native Girl, She Decided She Had to Identify Her
In 1868, Sophie Mousseau was photographed at Fort Laramie alongside six white Army officers. But her identity—and her life story—remained unknown for more than a century
www.smithsonianmag.com
May 2, 2025 at 8:04 PM