~ Vénus: Autumn/Winter, Milieu Du Siècle Collection.

DIPPPPPEEEERRRRRR!

Gravity Falls marathon inspired me to do this. I've been thinking about doing a Mabel blog for a while. Heck, I've tried twice before on G+. What do you guys think? It'll be mostly text posts as like diary entries telling about her summer. Every day or so there will be a new adventure and there will be catching the followers up on the adventure.

Passover

This potsherd from 475 BC was found on the island of Elephantine, close to the border between Egypt and Nubia, which was home to a small, close-knit Jewish community at the time.It reads; “To Hoshaya. Greetings! Take care of the children until Ahutab gets there. Don’t trust anyone else with them! If the flour for your bread has been ground, make a small portion of dough to last until their mother gets there. Let me know when you will be celebrating Pascha (Passover). Tell me how the baby is doing!”Besides a wonderfully evocative peek inside a daily conversation, the sherd contains one of the earliest non-biblical references to #Passover. Passover commemorates the liberation of the ancient Israelites from Egypt and is observed annually by Jewish people all over the world. This year, Passover begins tonight and ends on Thursday 16 April. You can find out more about this sherd and many other fascinating objects relating to Judaism in our collection in ‘The Jewish Journey’ by Rebecca Abrams, available online.

Holy shit, can you imagine if mediaeval monks had figured out flipbooks?

A wee knitter and friend. Ca. 1939. Shetland Museum and Archives, Scotland.

my grandma has this 115 year old picture book, and apparently in 1907 they would just let you publish anything

This is controversial I know, but as someone who loves learning new things and hates feeling stupid, I always err on the side of simple when I’m teaching people about history, particularly when I’m working with niche equipment or antiquated terms.

When you’re so enmeshed in a subject, it can be all too easy to forget that your knowledge and vocabulary is now different from everyone else’s. I go to a lot of reenactments where the people there are passionate about history, but don’t know how to teach it, or deal with museums where the curator rather than the educational staff writes labels. Far too often I’ve had to step in and explain a concept or word because someone else thought it was obvious so it wasn’t.

Just in the 18th century alone I’ve had explain when people were confused by someone using period appropriate, but confusing words such as:

“Stays” rather than corset

“Chocolate” rather than “hot chocolate”

“Petticoat” rather than “skirt”

“Shrewsbury cake” rather than “cookie”

“But Beggars!” you say, “it’s wrong to use modern terms for things when we know what they were actually called! They’re not the same!” Not if you explain yourself. You and I both know that stays and corsets are differently shaped, but to 99% of the population, it’s a support garment, and that’s what they need to know. I will generally use the appropriate term and then explain using more colloquial language. “I’m wearing stays - what we would today call a corset, although they’re differently shaped.” Making the person guess what you’re talking about is putting more mental strain on them and causing them to lose track of the discussion.

As a professional who still looks like a child, I know how awkward it can be when someone assumes that you have a negative level of knowledge, but I am always going to err on that side and then beef up my interpretation later, rather than starting at a master’s degree level, making someone feel stupid, and then having to backtrack. A good interpreter will be able to glean someone’s general level of knowledge very quickly.

BIRTHDAY

DID I MENTION MY BIRTHDAY IS MONDAY? MY BIRTHDAY IS MONDAY. A VERY IMPORTANT BIRTHDAY. IT'S ON MONDAY. OCTOBER THIRD. MY BIRTHDAY. Just saying.

This is a really cool picture my sis took of me in England cosplay.

More Gravity Falls.