Sandra Mayer
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victorianceleb.bsky.social
Sandra Mayer
@victorianceleb.bsky.social
380 followers 410 following 70 posts
Literary and cultural historian interested in life writing, literature & politics, and digital editing (Auden Musulin Papers: https://amp.acdh.oeaw.ac.at). ACDH, Austrian Academy of Sciences. www.sandramayer.org
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victorianceleb.bsky.social
Few things have had a more formative impact on my life and made me the person I am than this episode - so kindly and generously captured by Merlin Holland in his new book, presented at @britishlibrary.bsky.social on Thursday, Oscar‘s 171st birthday. I think I might have shed a tear.
Photo of a book dedication reading „For Sandra with all the good wishes and much love from Merlin and gratitude for coming so far 16 Oct 2025 Double page of Merlin Holland‘s book After Oscar, recounting the story of the „Austrian schoolgirl“ Sandra Mayer Photo of Merlin Holland‘s book After Oscar, taken in a bookshop in Brick Lane
October 19, 2025 at 11:16 AM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
Some big news in the making.
Stay tuned for more.
@acdh-oeaw.bsky.social @oeaw.bsky.social @fwf-at.bsky.social @adz-krems.bsky.social
#AustrianAuden
photo of a photo/video shoot, with a person standing at a desk, looking at the camera photo of a photo/video shoot, with a person standing at a desk, looking at the camera
October 9, 2025 at 2:12 PM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
Strong presence of @oeaw.bsky.social @acdh-oeaw.bsky.social RU Literary & Print Culture Studies last week at @univie.ac.at for the "Exploring the Scandalous" conference - great papers & great discussions!
Group photo of members of research unit Literary & Print Culture Studies, Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities, at conference "Exploring the Scandalous"
September 29, 2025 at 7:24 AM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
Great papers by @acdh-oeaw.bsky.social colleagues @diezypresse.bsky.social & Barbara Tumfart (on Bernhard’s Heldenplatz) & @ftb-oeaw.bsky.social‘s own @danielmilkovits.bsky.social, presenting on #Jelinek & quoting as a polemical practice! As ever, Austrian lit lends itself to a discussion of scandal
Daniel Milkovits at the lectern in front of a PPT projection of his presentation title slide "Copy, Paste, Scandal!"
September 26, 2025 at 8:38 PM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
Another day, another #archive. This time: the manuscript collection of the #ViennaCityLibrary @wien.gv.at 🔎 📄 📃
Great vistas and great material!

@acdh-oeaw.bsky.social @oeaw.bsky.social @fwf-at.bsky.social
Photo of door plate of Vienna City Library manuscript collection. Photo of the Vienna City Hall. Stamp "EX BIBLIOTHECA CIVICA VINDOBONENSI" on Vienna City Library document folder. Photo of Auden autograph letters in Vienna City Library manuscript collection.
August 27, 2025 at 10:24 AM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
Summer is coming to an end, and we are back at the archive, this time at @oegfl.bsky.social - as always, exciting finds!
@oeaw.bsky.social @acdh-oeaw.bsky.social @fwf-at.bsky.social
The image shows a stack of black, marbled binders with metal rings, placed on a wooden surface. The binders have labels on the spine, with visible text and numbers. The labels include "A-32" and "A-XII," with handwritten dates such as "8.4.85" and "2.7.35." The labels also feature a price tag with "2,735" and "8,74" written in orange. The binders appear to be part of an organized filing system, possibly for archival or record-keeping purposes. The background is a plain white wall with a visible electrical outlet. black-and-white photographs of W. H. Auden a metallic plaque reading the "Österreichische Gesellschaft für Literatur" in black, with "2. Stock" (2nd floor)
August 21, 2025 at 12:44 PM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
Thank you @adho-org.bsky.social @dh2025lisbon.bsky.social for a great #DH2025 conference!
Access our presentations here:
🌐 doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
🌐 doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

Onwards to @dh2026daejeon.bsky.social!
@acdh-oeaw.bsky.social @fwf-at.bsky.social @dhtech-community.bsky.social
View of the Tejo in Lisbon, with bridge and sailing boats
July 23, 2025 at 8:23 AM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
2 years after our #DigitalBio2023" conference, we're excited to see the complete cluster "Life Narrative & the Digital" now online in the #EuropeanJournalOfLifeWriting:
ejlw.eu/announcement...

@fwf-at.bsky.social @acdh-oeaw.bsky.social @oeaw.bsky.social @wscholger.bsky.social
table of contents of the cluster "Life Narrative and the Digital" 1. "Life Narrative and the Digital: Outlining the Contours of an Emerging Field" by Timo Frühwirth and Sandra Mayer, pages LDi-LDxi. 2. "Archiving Uncertainty: Leveraging Crowdsourcing Methodology in Documenting Personal Experiences of COVID-19" by Sanita Reinsone, Ilze Laksa-Timinska, Haralds Matulis, and Elvira Žvarte, pages LD1-LD34. 3. "The Evolution of Arabic Self-Expression in the Western Mediterranean: Using an Annotation Schema as a Comparative Framework" by Laila M. Jreis-Navarro, pages LD35-LD58. 4. "Finding Aids and Networked Biography: Stuart Hall and the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies" by Katherine Parsons, pages LD59-LD86. 5. "The Digital Life Narrative of a Romanian Transgender Microcelebrity through the Lens of Networked Publics" by Alexandra Cotoc and Anamaria Radu, pages LD87-LD109. 6. "About Disputed Existences: Dys4ia's Conflicted Status between Game and Autobiography" by Felix Tenhaef, pages LD110-LD140. 7. "Narration Through Data: The Life and Relationships of a Fourteenth-Century Tuscan Merchant" by Emiliano Degl'Innocenti, Alessia Spadi, and Federica Spinelli, pages LD141-LD164. 8. "'To Bring Them into Dialog': A Conversation about Life Narrative and the Digital" by Caitriona Ní Dhúill, Anna Spitzbart, Christian Wachter, Florian Windhager, and Sandra Mayer, pages LD165-LD183.
July 7, 2025 at 9:47 AM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
Great opening of beautiful new archive/exhibion space/library of @qwien.bsky.social on 11 June with AAD project partner @andreasbrunner.bsky.social 🌈
#pridemonth #queerhistory #sappho

@hosiwien.bsky.social @fwf-at.bsky.social @acdh-ch-oeaw.bsky.social @oeaw.bsky.social
Photo of quotation by Sappho "Jemand, sage ich dir, wird sich an uns erinnern, auch in einer anderen Zeit" in entrance hall of new QWIEN buidling. Selfie photo of head of QWIEN Andreas Brunner (middle) with members of the AAD team. Photo of book shelves in library spaces of new QWIEN buidling. Photo of event poster for opening of new QWIEN HQ on 11 June, saying "We're here, we're Qwien".
June 16, 2025 at 10:10 AM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
🔥Hot off the press - the first three contributions to our cluster on "Life Narrative and the Digital" in #EuropeanJournalofLifeWriting are online: ejlw.eu/announcement...

#DigitalBio2023 #OpenAccess #DigitalHumanities #LifeWriting

@fwf-at.bsky.social @acdh-ch-oeaw.bsky.social @oeaw.bsky.social
New Cluster: Life Writing and the Digital, edited by Sandra Mayer and Timo Frühwirth - "Archiving Uncertainty: Leveraging Crowdsourcing Methodology in Documenting Personal Experiences of COVID-19" by Sanita Reinsone, Ilze Ļaksa-Timinska, Haralds Matulis, and Elvīra Žvarte. - "The Evolution of Arabic Self-Expression in the Western Mediterranean: Using an Annotation Schema as a Comparative Framework" by Laila M. Jreis-Navarro. - "Finding Aids and Networked Biography: Stuart Hall and the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies" by Katherine Parsons
May 12, 2025 at 7:17 AM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
Poet #WHAuden sent this printed volume of his speech "Words & Notes", delivered at #SalzburgFestival 1968, to a friend. On the page, he crossed out the greater part of his bio note & wrote "Quatsch" ("nonsense") next to it.
@acdh-ch-oeaw.bsky.social @fwf-at.bsky.social @oeaw.bsky.social
The image shows an open book with two pages visible. The left page contains a block of German text, while the right page features a biographical section about Wystan Hugh Auden, written in German. The text on the left page discusses the art of opera and its role in modern literature, mentioning the works of C. S. Lewis. The right page provides a brief biography of Auden, including his birthdate, education, and notable works. The text is printed on cream-colored paper with red lines along the edges, typical of a book's binding. The page numbers are visible at the bottom, with "22" on the left and "23" on the right. There is a handwritten note on the right page, reading "Quatsch"
May 7, 2025 at 9:30 AM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
Postcard sent by #WHAuden to an Austrian friend (and sex worker) from Berlin in 1965. This blogpost spotlights the status of #BahnhofZoo for male sex work & the East German queer scene in 1960s #Berlin: hsl.hypotheses.org/2291.
@acdh-ch-oeaw.bsky.social @oeaw.bsky.social @fwf-at.bsky.social
An eye-level photograph shows a view of Bahnhofs Terrasse. On the left is a tall building with a long awning extending from it. The words "Bahnhofs Terrasse" are on the awning, and below that is the word "Berliner Kindl." The building is next to a street with cars and people walking on the sidewalk. In the background, there are tall buildings and trees. In the bottom right corner, there is a stamp that says "Bundespost Berlin."
March 11, 2025 at 11:00 AM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
We are super excited to go to #Lisbon for @dh2025lisbon.bsky.social & have the chance to talk about "Formalizing retation in #TEIXML through #RDFa".
@acdh-ch-oeaw.bsky.social
@oeaw.bsky.social
@fwf-at.bsky.social
@teiconsortium.bsky.social
W3C, RDFa logo
March 5, 2025 at 12:19 PM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
We are looking to identify "T.P.C" - a (presumably UK) printing press, collaborating with A. V. Fry & Co. publishers in producing London postcards in the 1960s.

(It is not tpc-print.co.uk, a younger UK company.)

@oeaw.bsky.social @acdh-ch-oeaw.bsky.social @fwf-at.bsky.social
A blurry black ink stamp on a light background reads "ST. JOHN'S" around the top of the stamp. In the center it reads "12 45PM", then "23 OCT", and finally "1963" at the bottom. To the right of the stamp is a box with "E.P.C" on the top line, and "PRINTED" on the bottom.
February 20, 2025 at 9:32 AM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
Dear #typography buffs - what can be said about this print other than it being a #serif typeface? From the difference between strong & thin lines, we would say transitional or Didone, rather than old-style (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serif). Any hints will be helpful.
The image is a close-up of a printed text on an off-white background. The text, which is in German, reads: "Samstag, 20. Mai 1961" at the top, followed by "Uraufführung". Below that is the title "» ELEGIE FÜR JUNGE LIEBENDE «". Then it says: "Oper in 3 Akten von W. H. Auden und Chester Kallman", and finally, "Musik von Hans Werner Henze" at the bottom. The text is printed in a muted gray color.
February 17, 2025 at 2:10 PM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
"Hier auch gibst nichts neues, aber das politische Aussicht in Amerika schaut sehr hässlich aus"

Poet #WHAuden in a letter from 1969.
Black and white photo of a man sitting outdoors at a white table, smoking a cigarette. He's wearing a light-colored, long-sleeved shirt and a tie. A dark glass bottle sits on the table in front of him, along with what appears to be a book or papers. The background shows a lattice structure and part of a building. The handwritten text "W.H.A., 1969" is visible at the bottom of the photo.
January 20, 2025 at 2:55 PM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
Congratulations are in order for #AudeninAustriaDigital team member Timo Frühwirth, who successfully defended his doctoral thesis on digitally editing the Auden Musulin Papers at @univie.ac.at! Special thanks to @fwf-at.bsky.social & ACDH-CH @oeaw.bsky.social for making this project possible!
Two dark green hardcover books are stacked on top of each other. The top book has "Universität Wien" and a gold circular seal embossed on its cover. The spines of both books show the name "Timo Frühwirth" in gold lettering.
January 16, 2025 at 8:35 AM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
The #AudeninAustriaDigital team wishes you all relaxing holidays, a festive season, and a happy new year! ❄️ ☃️ 🎁

@oeaw.bsky.social
@fwf-at.bsky.social
screenshot of an extract from W. H. Auden's letter to an Austrian friend, dated 24 December 1967, and reading: "Glückliche Neu Jahr, immer Dein Freund Wystan"
December 20, 2024 at 11:12 AM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
We have trained another @transkribus.bsky.social #HTR model of British-American poet #WHAuden's later handwriting (1957-1973) in English and German. ✍️ 🤖

auden_03 has a CER of 7.21% on the validation set (10% of full set).

We keep on working.

#ACDH-CH #ÖAW @fwf-at.bsky.social
Screenshot from an envelope, showing Auden's New York City address
December 2, 2024 at 9:56 AM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
Question from the #AudeninAustriaDigital team: When #WHAuden invited Austrian friends to come to #NYC in the mid-1960s, he reminded them to bring a vaccination certificate. Any ideas which vaccines were required to enter the US (smallpox, tuberculosis)?

@fwf-at.bsky.social @oeaw.bsky.social
November 28, 2024 at 12:30 PM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
The #AudeninAustriaDigital team are among 128 signees of an #OpenLetter calling on Austrian universities & research institutions to cease their activities on #X. We hope that our home institution @oeaw.bsky.social will follow the lead of @univie.ac.at & others.
@fwf-at.bsky.social
November 28, 2024 at 8:17 AM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
A question from our #AudeninAustriaDigital team:
In 1964, #WHAuden invited friends from #Vienna to come visit him in #Berlin by plane. How difficult/exhausting/unpleasant would it have been to go there by train, crossing the borders of the GDR? Or was the poet just being generous?
part of a 1964 letter by W. H. Auden, in German, detailing flight options from Vienna to Berlin
November 21, 2024 at 5:02 PM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
It was a tour de force, but we’ve made it: proudly presenting v1.0 of the Auden Musulin Papers scholarly digital edition! amp.acdh.oeaw.ac.at

We are thankful to so many institutions & individuals: amp.acdh.oeaw.ac.at/team.html.

And now: off to new shores (and more Auden) doi.org/10.55776/P37139
Screen shot of the Auden Musulin Papers digital edition start page
August 2, 2024 at 4:25 PM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
A few weeks ago, @ruthscobie.bsky.social and I had a wonderful time discussing our volume with Simon Morgan, Hannah Yelin and a great audience at The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities. A video recording of the event is now available here:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=pukB...
Screen shot of discussion panel featuring Simon Morgan, Hannah Yelin, Sandra Mayer and Ruth Scobie
March 4, 2024 at 11:09 AM
victorianceleb.bsky.social
It was a blast celebrating our book with @ruthscobie.bsky.social, THE best of co-editors, our contributors, colleagues, and friends at The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities. Some vistas simply never get old.
Sign announcing Book at Lunchtime event Authorship, Activism and Celebrity on 31 Jan 2024 View of Radcliffe Camera and Brasenose College, Oxford, in the afternoon sun Wadham College, Fellows‘ Garden Portrait of Ruth Scobie and Kieran Hazzard
February 13, 2024 at 6:10 PM