Josh Smith

Excited that my first monograph, The Politics of Reading at the British Subscription Library, has been published by @degruyterbrill.bsky.social. The book examines the political, social and intellectual culture of late 18thC Britain through books and reading habits. brill.com/display/titl...

It's publication day! An Injury to All: The Unmaking of the British Working Class is published today, 27 October 2026, by @versobooks.bsky.social. My book is a new history how Britain's formerly powerful working class was pushed to the political margins. Order🔽 www.versobooks.com/en-gb/produc...

Visit Dunblane's historic Leighton Library - Scotland's oldest purpose-built independent library 📅 Open Monday to Saturday until 31 Oct then only on Saturdays in November 🕚 11am-4pm 🆓 Free admission (donations invited) #VisitScotland #ExploreScotland #ScotlandIsNow

🍃 CfP: Ecosystems in the Long Nineteenth Century 🍃 There is still time to submit your abstract for @rrrjournal.bsky.social's annual conference. This year the event will be hybrid (in-person at Royal Holloway, London and online). Submit by the 25th October!

The new issue of Eighteenth-Century Ireland/Iris an dá chultúr is out now and open access (not sure if this is temporary or not). Use the link below to view the special anniversary issue. www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/toc/10.3828/...

US folks, I have heard today that UChicagoPress has FINALLY received their inventory from Canada so now you can buy a paper copy too!

An incredible new PhD opportunity at @uhihistory.bsky.social under Dr Nicola Martin: An Environmental History of the Jacobite Risings in Scotland. This is a fresh and fascinating filter to apply to Jacobite Studies and the programme is under the very best of direction and care.

You’ve just 4 days left now to visit special exhibition in Dunblane Museum & the Leighton Library: “1776 - A year that changed the world” marking 250 years since year of global upheaval, intellectual brilliance and far-reaching historical impact. Final day is 30 July

The hardback of my first book, Living as an Author in the Romantic Period, appears to be deeply but mysteriously discounted at the moment (to £23.99): link.springer.com/book/10.1007.... If you've been waiting on purchasing a Palgrave book, might be worth a check to see if this discount applies.

You’ve only one week left now to visit special exhibition in Dunblane Museum & Leighton Library: “1776 - A year that changed the world” marking 250 years since year of global upheaval, intellectual brilliance and far-reaching historical impact. Final day is 30 July

My new book, An Injury to All: The Unmaking of the British Working Class, is coming out in October. You can preorder it from Waterstones with a 25% discount today and tomorrow! Place your order here ⬇️ www.waterstones.com/book/an-inju...

Until 30 July visit the special exhibition in Dunblane Museum and the Leighton Library: “1776 - A year that changed the world” Dunblane Museum open Mon-Sat 10.30am.4.30pm (last admission 4pm) Leighton Library open Mon-Sat 11am-4pm Free admission - donations welcome

If you're in Edinburgh and eager to join the conversation in person, we do hope you'll join for the opening lecture by Adrian Johns--"Registers and the Dream of Universal Information: A Selective History"--on Monday evening (20th July), 6pm, at Augustine United Church.

We're a quarter of a century on from the establishment of the Scottish Parliament but and the moment of nation building which formed around it. These included the formation of a more official and institutionalised version of Scotland's past it would be useful to revisit🧵

EThOS platform restored! 'Following restoration work, all metadata records previously available on EThOS have now been restored, along with an additional 14,000 records added since the service was taken offline' - more to come www.bl.uk/stories/news...

Many thanks to all who attended opening event tonight for exhibition “1776 - A year that changed the world” with speakers: Kathryn Porter, US Consul General Lord George Robertson, Patron of the Leighton Library Dr Josh Smith, University of Stirling

An excellent blog post by April White (@jstor.bsky.social) on Thomas Jefferys' American Atlas (1776), using the maps of @leightonlibrary.bsky.social, digitised by @unistirarchives.bsky.social! The Atlas Behind the Revolution daily.jstor.org/the-atlas-be...

UK-based early career historian in need of up to £2,000 to complete a project? Deadline for the Royal Historical Society's scheme is 4 September: royalhistorical.smapply.io/prog/early_c...

The Firth of Forth has been central to Scotland's energy history from coal and shale mines to power stations to Grangemouth refinery and North Sea pipelines. I'm leading a boat tour of the Forth with Jupiter Artland on Saturday 11 July. Find out more🔽 eventbrite.co.uk/e/energy-inf...

'A less than five-minutes-long Teams call with no opportunity to respond is how staff at the University of Dundee heard that their jobs, the courses that they teach and their livelihoods might be at risk. I ask members to think about that for a moment.' (Maggie Chapman (North East Scotland) 1/5

It! Is! Here! Open Access (and already hoovered up by the scrapers no doubt such is our world) UK/EU paper copies will be available eventually but until then, EVERYONE now has free access! press.library.concordia.ca/projects/ill...

Big week coming up with events in Southampton, Lymington, Edinburgh, and Belfast before heading to the USA at the end of the month. Pete and I have some dates available in the summer and autumn in the US (and online). DM or email me.

My book now has a cover and it is all starting to feel very real. I just need to finish the proofs... 🗃️ #BookHistory #EarlyModern brill.com/display/titl...

After giving the audience at @natlibscot.bsky.social an exclusive preview, we are delighted to share the first taste of our editions of Thomas Pennant's Scottish Tours! (Click on "Show Pennant's Tours" after following the link below) editions.curioustravellers.ac.uk/tours

Ten years on from the Brexit vote: a new @yougov.co.uk poll finds that 77% of the British public have trust in the expertise of historians bit.ly/49I9NV7 It's heartening to hear that so many value, and certainly haven't had enough of, the historian as expert. #Skystorians 1/4

This, by @stephenkb.bsky.social, is by far the best thing I've read on all this since it all kicked off. Yet another reason, as if another one were needed, to sign up for his morning newsletter, which, btw, you can try for free here: www.ft.com/newsletter-s... (and no I'm not on commission!).

Join us at the National Library of Scotland (@natlibscot.bsky.social) for a presentation on Thomas Pennant and the Origins of Scottish Tourism - and the public launch of the first parts of our new online editions of Pennant's Tours! Book for free via the link, 5:30-6:30 on Thursday June 4th.

Peter Onuf and I are looking forward to launching Thomas Jefferson Survives: American Independence in His Time and Ours at @amrevmuseum.bsky.social on June 3! www.amrevmuseum.org/press-releas...

‘Books Open – for you to read and enjoy’ at the Wanlockhead Miners’ Subscription Library, the Museum of Lead Mining 3rd Friday at 13.00 and 3rd Sat 11:15 in April, May, Sept. 2026 / 3rd Friday at 13.15 and 3rd Sat at 10:15 in June, July, Aug. 2026. Details: www.leadminingmuseum.co.uk/events/books...

⭐Online Event⭐ Join us on 13 April 2026 from 19:30 (UK) to hear Marc Mierowsky discuss his new book 'A Spy Amongst Us: Daniel Defoe's Secret Service and the Plot to End Scottish Independence (Yale University Press)' scottishhistorysociety.com/marc-mierows...

Dunblane’s historic Leighton Library opens for 2026 today, Wed 1 Apr 11am-4pm. So visit Scotland's oldest purpose-built independent library, built from bequest of Robert Leighton. Open Mon-Sat 11am-4pm. Free admission - donations invited #Scotland #ScotlandIsCalling

WE NEED YOU! Would you like to write an article for the BARS Blog? We've got some ideas for April below! If you'd like to write a blog on one of these subjects, please do get in touch! Alternatively, if you'd like to pitch your own idea, don't be afraid to drop us a message!!

Any historians able to read the name in the pink box below? Letter of 1796 describes the arrival in Scotland of the 10-ish year old illegitimate daughter of an indigo planter and an Indian mother: '...our first visitor is ?? ???. She has a friendly honest affectionate Heart...' #Skystorians

The @scothistorysociety.bsky.social conference is always a great day! Saw an excellent selection of papers and I enjoyed presenting on the Leighton's administrative records and what we can learn from library minute book records.

Fully-funded three-year PhD Scholarship: Living with Print in the Eighteenth Century Based at @sydney.edu.au (with Nicola Parsons) and @glasgow.ac.uk (with me), working with collections in Australia and Scotland. Deadline April 21st - please circulate! www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships...

🚨Venue Info🚨 Our Conference, AGM and Presidential Lecture is in a different spot this year folks! Still in University of Edinburgh, but this year we are in OLD COLLEGE. Get directions here: www.ed.ac.uk/maps/maps

My excellent colleague @katiedd.bsky.social has just published this remarkable investigation into rampant book banning in a Greater Manchester secondary school library. 193 books including The Da Vinci Code, Twilight, White Teeth and 1984 Graphic Novel www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/scho...

Help us to save the roof, and to protect the books! We urgently need to raise £15,000 in 6 weeks to repair our cupola by June 2026. For more information and to donate, please follow the link to our website (link in bio!). 1/5

Radcliffe's 'The Italian' was very popular with the borrowers of the Selkirk Library in the early 19th century borrowing.stir.ac.uk/search/0/0/0... - here's a chance to find out why!

Call for Papers: 'Politics, Place and Print Culture: The 14th International Walter Scott Conference', @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social, 28-30 June 2027, organised by @mckeever.bsky.social & team. Deadline for proposals: 1 October 2026. Details of financial support for PGRs to follow. tinyurl.com/yt2vj4x7

Later this year, Dr Robin Eagles of the Georgian Lords will be speaking at the University of Nottingham as part of their 'We the People' exhibition, which commemorates the 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence. #HistParl www.lakesidearts.org.uk/event/a-revo...