Faye McLeod
@saffiemcleod.bsky.social
Archivist and Records Manager, Balliol College, Oxford. All opinions here are very much my own.
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Parents, please check your kids’ candy this Halloween. I’ve just found an ancient metal whistle with the inscription “QUIS EST ISTE QUI VENIT" inside a Snickers bar. I blew it and heard a note of infinite distance, and now I’m haunted by a figure in pale, fluttering draperies. Be safe.
October 22, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Parents, please check your kids’ candy this Halloween. I’ve just found an ancient metal whistle with the inscription “QUIS EST ISTE QUI VENIT" inside a Snickers bar. I blew it and heard a note of infinite distance, and now I’m haunted by a figure in pale, fluttering draperies. Be safe.
Reposted by Faye McLeod
A lovely endorsement on the back of this deed, "this deed was cancelled by cause it is forged" TNA C 147/1097
September 10, 2025 at 1:01 PM
A lovely endorsement on the back of this deed, "this deed was cancelled by cause it is forged" TNA C 147/1097
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Accidentally took the mathematically perfect shot of our local cat.
August 24, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Accidentally took the mathematically perfect shot of our local cat.
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Insult your local politicians, even your friends, like a true Shakespearean!
August 13, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Insult your local politicians, even your friends, like a true Shakespearean!
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Today is the 47th anniversary of this clearly unimprovable photo, from a story so absurd that it shouldn’t be true, but is: the day a team of workers from British Waterways pulled the plug out of the Chesterfield Canal, and all the water emptied out
August 10, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Today is the 47th anniversary of this clearly unimprovable photo, from a story so absurd that it shouldn’t be true, but is: the day a team of workers from British Waterways pulled the plug out of the Chesterfield Canal, and all the water emptied out
The price of sloe gin
August 5, 2025 at 2:00 PM
The price of sloe gin
Struggling to believe the sloes are ripe so early this year, but they are soft and have their waxy coating. Time to make gin (and worry about the weather)
August 5, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Struggling to believe the sloes are ripe so early this year, but they are soft and have their waxy coating. Time to make gin (and worry about the weather)
Reposted by Faye McLeod
ok cool not a big deal at all
Web links and websites disappear all the time. But Google’s planned erasure of millions of links at once demonstrates the risks of putting our personal and collective digital histories in Big Tech’s hands. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2... via @shiraovide.bsky.social
Analysis | Google is killing millions of web links to save a few bucks
The company junked its 15-year-old web address format, which will break a deluge of links in academic research, court documents and websites.
www.washingtonpost.com
August 4, 2025 at 4:32 PM
ok cool not a big deal at all
Reposted by Faye McLeod
[Blogged] The AI powered Library Search That Refused to Search - From Clarivate's Summon to Primo Research Assistant, content‑moderation layers meant mostly for chatbots are "quietly" blocking controversial topics from being searched
aarontay.substack.com/p/the-ai-pow...
aarontay.substack.com/p/the-ai-pow...
The AI powered Library Search That Refused to Search
From Clarivate's Summon to Primo Research Assistant, content‑moderation layers meant mostly for chatbots are "quietly" blocking controversial topics from being searched
aarontay.substack.com
July 29, 2025 at 6:19 PM
[Blogged] The AI powered Library Search That Refused to Search - From Clarivate's Summon to Primo Research Assistant, content‑moderation layers meant mostly for chatbots are "quietly" blocking controversial topics from being searched
aarontay.substack.com/p/the-ai-pow...
aarontay.substack.com/p/the-ai-pow...
Reposted by Faye McLeod
good morning. on the blog today, a piece i wrote in 2003 about love, marriage and what happens when "i love you" becomes meaningless to only one of you. it's about witnessing the end of someone else's relationship. please read to the addendum at the end michelecatblog.wordpress.com/2025/07/29/i...
i love you. i know.
when words ring hollow [i originally wrote this in 2003, please see footnote for an update] I know this couple. They have been married long enough to have accumulated children and a complete set of…
michelecatblog.wordpress.com
July 29, 2025 at 8:26 AM
good morning. on the blog today, a piece i wrote in 2003 about love, marriage and what happens when "i love you" becomes meaningless to only one of you. it's about witnessing the end of someone else's relationship. please read to the addendum at the end michelecatblog.wordpress.com/2025/07/29/i...
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Have you ever seen a book made entirely of silk? One item getting a lot of reading room attention recently is this "Livre de Prières." This book was manufactured with the Jacquard process, which relied on perforated punch cards to operate a loom, and is considered a precursor to early programming.
July 23, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Have you ever seen a book made entirely of silk? One item getting a lot of reading room attention recently is this "Livre de Prières." This book was manufactured with the Jacquard process, which relied on perforated punch cards to operate a loom, and is considered a precursor to early programming.
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Time to update... nay downdate your slang!
July 22, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Time to update... nay downdate your slang!
Completely charmed by these fabric samples found in a file of Sir Louis Mallet's papers relating to Anglo-French trade agreements 1826-1877 #BalliolArchives
July 21, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Completely charmed by these fabric samples found in a file of Sir Louis Mallet's papers relating to Anglo-French trade agreements 1826-1877 #BalliolArchives
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Whispering different possibilities for pronouncing 'Boger' in the manuscripts reading room like I'm playing a weird version of Bogies
July 17, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Whispering different possibilities for pronouncing 'Boger' in the manuscripts reading room like I'm playing a weird version of Bogies
I have been looking forward to this
July 1, 2025 at 7:17 PM
I have been looking forward to this
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Archive Monday: love these ink drawings from MS Tanner 118 in the Bodleian. Skeleton representing death with various scenes of a moralistic nature. Dress suggests late Elizabethan / early Jacobean. Scenes include royal court, hunting, duelling, trade/banking, religious/political persecution.
June 30, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Archive Monday: love these ink drawings from MS Tanner 118 in the Bodleian. Skeleton representing death with various scenes of a moralistic nature. Dress suggests late Elizabethan / early Jacobean. Scenes include royal court, hunting, duelling, trade/banking, religious/political persecution.
Reposted by Faye McLeod
June 24, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Reposted by Faye McLeod
Working on file appraisal today. The first file I picked up had the unholy trio - elastic bands, post its, and metal fastenings 😬
June 20, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Working on file appraisal today. The first file I picked up had the unholy trio - elastic bands, post its, and metal fastenings 😬
A great chance to get out some of my favourites from the @ballioloxford.bsky.social archives and show off the catalogue conversion project.
June 14, 2025 at 1:43 PM
A great chance to get out some of my favourites from the @ballioloxford.bsky.social archives and show off the catalogue conversion project.
Reposted by Faye McLeod
þyrel, n.n: hole. (THUE-rell / ˈθy-rɛl)
Image: De natura rerum; E France, 9th century; Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, Msc.Nat.1, f. 26v. #OldEnglish #WOTD
Image: De natura rerum; E France, 9th century; Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, Msc.Nat.1, f. 26v. #OldEnglish #WOTD
June 12, 2025 at 7:01 AM
þyrel, n.n: hole. (THUE-rell / ˈθy-rɛl)
Image: De natura rerum; E France, 9th century; Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, Msc.Nat.1, f. 26v. #OldEnglish #WOTD
Image: De natura rerum; E France, 9th century; Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, Msc.Nat.1, f. 26v. #OldEnglish #WOTD
