Mark Liebenrood
Historian, mostly museums. Postdoctoral researcher at Birkbeck 2023-2025 (https://mapping-museums.bbk.ac.uk/museum-closure-in-the-uk-2000-2025/).
Personal website: markliebenrood.com
- Reposted by Mark Liebenrood£42k for a lead (I.e. extensive experience) curatorial post - with management responsibilities - at a national library in one of the most expensive cities in the world? no wonder they’ve been on strike!
- JOB ALERT: Lead Curator, Modern Archives & Manuscripts (1601-1800) at The British Library - closing date: 18th Feb www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQH179/l...
- New article just published: 'A Dataset of Collections Dispersal following Museum Closures in the UK during 2000–2025.' Outlines the data collected by the Mapping Museums team during their museum closure project, and it's open access. 🗃️ openhumanitiesdata.metajnl.com/articles/10....
- The number of university jobs lost in the last three years is awful: ‘Roughly 13,300 people received severance pay from this sample of the sector alone … this is in addition to 9,290 and 6,960 in the two previous years – almost 30,000 in total.’ www.timeshighereducation.com/news/pay-spe...
- The British Library’s entry in the world‘s smallest mince pie contest (cappuccino for scale)
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodLadybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 16 ‘First Snow’ Artist: Rowland Hilder
- I can't imagine how many people have been waiting for the British Library to open its new catalogue and make online requests possible from today. And guess what? Requests aren't working ...
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodFor avoidance of confusion, that’s just about all academic staff, excluding Heads of Dept and- of course - Senior Management Team.
- Ongoing decimation of British universities part 252: Apx. 1000 academic staff at University of Essex just received formal ‘risk of redundancy’ letters via email. Please share @ucuessex.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodWhen will this crisis get any attention whatsoever!? A THOUSAND ACADEMIC STAFF AT ONE INSTITUTION SERVED REDUNDANCY RISK NOTICES! And that's not counting what's surely being visited on professional services staff too. This is an economic catastrophe, to say nothing of the intellectual catastrophe!
- Ongoing decimation of British universities part 252: Apx. 1000 academic staff at University of Essex just received formal ‘risk of redundancy’ letters via email. Please share @ucuessex.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodIt's wild that there appears to be more current concern for the Lost Library of Alexandria than for the British Library. The BL's crisis exemplifies the accelerating destruction--through apathy as much as by design--of human knowledge & learning. I'm not even being dramatic.
- ‘No one seems to care’: scholars decry plight of British Library Historian Peter Mandler said it was “a sorry state when a major piece of public infrastructure like this is hit so badly and no one in authority even seems to notice, much less care”. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodNews | Closed River & Rowing Museum seeks new homes for its collections Henley institution calls for sector-wide expressions of interest for ethical transfer of objects
- The new report from the Mapping Museums Lab is out! Two years of research on closed museums and their collections from 2000 to 2025, with charts, tables, and even some pretty pictures. Get your copy here: mapping-museums.bbk.ac.uk/publications/
- Another journalist (Jeff, not Mic) who inexcusably doesn't know about Eliza, the first chatbot, or pretends not to.
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodI wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture. They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
- The Museum of Carpet in Kidderminster is the only one of its kind and is due to close in December: www.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/news/2563429... #museumclosure
- The Quaker Tapestry Museum in Kendal is due to close in December. It's been open for over 30 years www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
- Opposition to the relocation / supposedly temporary closure of Walsall Leather Museum is growing, with over 1900 signatures now. No new home for the museum has been identified so far. www.change.org/p/stop-the-c...
- Reposted by Mark Liebenrood📣 Call for Papers 📣 Please share widely. I am pleased to announce a #CfPs for the upcoming international conference on Museums and Dissidence at @officialuom.bsky.social Scan the QR code for further details. #Museums #Dissidence #PoliticalDisagreement #Conference #MuseumActivism
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodWhich one is more English?
- Sad news about DeJohnette; this is a nice obit. I once saw him play with Jarrett's Standards Trio. There were a lot of camera flashes, irritating Jarrett. DeJohnette appealed to the audience to stop, saying: 'don't take photos, just take the music', in the most dignified way you can imagine.
- Tickets still available for this in conversation event, 'Ritual Objects and Avant-Garde Art at the Jewish Museum of New York', online on Wednesday.
- The next @mghg.bsky.social in conversation event is on Wed 22 Oct 2025 at 17:30. Hear Jeffrey Abt talking about his book 'Too Jewish or Not Jewish Enough: Ritual Objects and Avant-Garde Art at the Jewish Museum of New York'. Book here: www.eventbrite.com/e/mghg-in-co...
- Pollocks Toy Museum and the Bakelite Museum have been looking for new homes. This new collaborative project in Dalston, East London, could be the one: www.colvestone.org
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodFilms: We need to hack a keycard, obtained by seducing one of the guards. We then need to drop in from the skylight after jumping from a plane, and dodge all of the lasers and traps, carefully switching the jewels for fakes that weigh the same to avoid tripping the alarm. Real life:
- The next @mghg.bsky.social in conversation event is on Wed 22 Oct 2025 at 17:30. Hear Jeffrey Abt talking about his book 'Too Jewish or Not Jewish Enough: Ritual Objects and Avant-Garde Art at the Jewish Museum of New York'. Book here: www.eventbrite.com/e/mghg-in-co...
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodProbably the loveliest thread you will read today, full of beauty and kindness and improvised owl physio
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodNew! Cassetteboy vs Keir Starmer. This took absolutely ages, so if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi.com/cassetteboy we'd really appreciate it. Thanks!
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodThousands of Londoners have indefinite leave to remain. They have legal rights and are our friends, neighbours and colleagues, contributing hugely to our city. Threatening to deport people living and working here legally is unacceptable.
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodStill time to book tickets for the museums history event of the season! Join us on 26-27 September for two days packed with papers showcasing UK and international perspectives, in-depth keynote talks and roundtable discussions: www.nationalgallery.org.uk/events/confe...
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodAnother powerful blog post and kudos @wadehistory.bsky.social I don’t think “ECR” works as a meaningful label any more E - “early” is based on an out of date PhD➡️ postdoc➡️ permanent timeline C - “career” is wildly optimistic for most of us R - how many of us in teaching jobs get paid to research?
- Just a week remaining to get your tickets for the @mghg.bsky.social conference on 'Creating the museum': 🏛️ National Gallery, London 📅 26-27 September, 10-5pm (come for one or both days) 🔗 www.nationalgallery.org.uk/events/confe... All welcome!
- Reposted by Mark Liebenrooddo you work in a university/faculty/school in the UK that abolished “departments”? willing to share experiences (by DM if preferred)? RTs also appreciated
- Just an astonishing bit of engineering - read down the thread for more info
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodSonny Rollins is 95 today which feels slightly miraculous, a survivor from his art form's heroic age
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodIsrael committing genocide in Gaza, world’s top scholars on the crime say
- Reposted by Mark Liebenrood(1902, Wuppertal, Germany.) Another era, very stylish. The still-functioning oldest suspended monorail in the world.
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodInteresting & critical review of the new V&A Storehouse by @profdanhicks.bsky.social artreview.com/what-isnt-at...
- Bookings are open for the @mghg.bsky.social / National Gallery conference 'Creating the museum' on 26 and 27 September. A great lineup of speakers! www.nationalgallery.org.uk/events/confe...
- This is great, read the whole thread
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodAI is now capable of designing a record-breaking deep sea submersible on its own. This marks a new age of exploration and I encourage all my fellow AI champions to build one and get in it so they can celebrate this achievement from the bottom of the sea.
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodGoodbye to the history department at Lancaster University, where the @socialhistsoc.bsky.social was founded 49 years ago. From tomorrow we are part of a School of Global Affairs. Next year, who knows what will be - please sign our petition against mass redundancies chng.it/PZfTFDjNcr
- Reposted by Mark Liebenrood"The Israelis don't want us to film out of the window at the devastation inside Gaza. But I've spent 10 mins looking at it with my own eyes and I can tell you communities in the north of Gaza, that I knew well, are flat. There's nothing left of them." Jeremy Bowen www.bbc.com/news/videos/...
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodPlease share this call for participants from @sineadcarter.bsky.social, who is doing a brilliant PhD project with me and @nataliethomlinson.bsky.social -- and do get in touch with her if you were involved with Reclaim the Night, squatting/housing activism or feminist architecture c. 1968-1990!
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodIt would, obviously, be asking too much for our media and political class to care more about the repeated, state-directed criminal massacres of starving civilians in Gaza than what some rappers say at Glastonbury. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
- I was fortunate enough to be in the audience at @qmcbs.bsky.social for this paper on AI and history by @davehitchcock.bsky.social, which was not only thought provoking but very entertaining as well. hitchcockian.medium.com/this-is-the-...
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodNEW: Labour's planned disability benefit cuts could affect the majority of current working-age claimants with ischaemic heart disease, inflammatory arthritis, hip and knee disorders and Crohn’s disease, according to analysis of new DWP data By me, for the Big Issue: www.bigissue.com/news/social-...
- This is a very common scenario: a private museum closing because its owner wants to retire, with the collection going to auction.
- Doctor Who and Red Dwarf props to be auctioned via BBC www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
- A Red Dwarf Starbug could be yours for $10,000 entertainment.ha.com/itm/movie-tv...
- Refreshingly clear and to the point.
- "It's something that the West will learn to regret really — that they were so spineless." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodOpen all of the crossings. Let in lifesaving aid at scale, from all directions. Lift restrictions on what & how much aid we can bring in. Ensure our convoys aren’t held up by delays and denials. Release the hostages. Implement the ceasefire. Let us work.
- Wrote about recent museum closures for the Mapping Museums blog: mapping-museums.bbk.ac.uk/2025/05/29/m...
- Reposted by Mark Liebenrood[This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by Mark Liebenrood‘Most of the opprobrium aimed at universities is fantastical. I only wish that academic life was as radical and subversive as its detractors believe.’ Ed Kiely on UK university finances: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodWhat to Look For in Spring, with Kemi Badenoch
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodThe problems in our society are not caused by migrants or refugees. They are caused by an economic system rigged in favour of corporations and billionaires. If the government wanted to improve people’s lives, it would tax the rich and build an economy that works for us all.
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodAnnouncing: Cursed Objects in Museum Shops, a free exhibition about museum shop souvenirs. Opening at the Peltz Gallery from 2 May - 26 June, or join us for the private view on 1 May here: www.cursedobjects.co.uk/events/priva.... Curated by @cursedobjectsuk.bsky.social
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodNews | ‘Most short-sighted decision council has ever made’: Museum of Cannock Chase shuts its doors – Staffordshire venue closes after 36 years due to budget cuts
- From my own experience as well as reading the replies to this, it's clear that a wide range of British Library services are still not functioning.
- ‘It isn’t hard to kill children when they make up 47 per cent of the trapped population that you’re carpet bombing’ www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/ap...
- Some gorgeous detail in this Marriage of the Virgin by Niccolò di Buonaccorso, c. 1380. The gold ground has been overpainted with tempera, which is scraped back to reveal the gilding and make patterns on fabrics. In the Siena show at @nationalgalleryuk.bsky.social.
- A nice detail from the same painting is the bird's nest (a house martin?) under the roof above.
- Fathomscrolling?
- Reposted by Mark Liebenrood
- Reposted by Mark Liebenrood[This post could not be retrieved]
- Getting the National Archives to finally respond to an FOI request is like getting blood from a stone. Six months and waiting ...
- This is such a great story
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodWhen I thought about launching my new book, Who Wants Normal?, I knew I wanted to put disabled people at the forefront. That’s why any merch or digital graphics you’ll see in the coming weeks will have been made by disabled-led businesses or disabled creatives. (1/3)
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodThe Labour leadership has lost sight of the difference between 'positive reasons' to vote *for* a party and 'negative reasons' *not* to vote for it Labour is working overtime to avoid giving its target voters reasons not to vote for it - but isn't giving people a reason to vote for it
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodThis is what the redundancy wave in British Higher Education currently looks like on the map: ‘British University Redundancy Map’ maps.app.goo.gl/yUteDm2MCXUi...
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodExciting news! The Mapping Museums Lab data has been incorporated into the latest ONS dataset on UK museums—and I’m proud to have contributed to this effort over the years with Fiona Candlin et al. 🏛️📊 aballatore.space/2025/03/14/m... #museums #mappingmuseums
- Good piece from @willpooley.bsky.social on HE. ”could we have a Labour government that stands for at least some of the values of the labour movement, please?” williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2025/03/13/a...
- Did a ‘government source’ really say ‘ululating’? www.theguardian.com/education/20...
- Quince blossom starting to open on a beautiful day.
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodWe are increasingly concerned about the crisis in UK Higher Education. Read our joint statement with @royalhistsoc.bsky.social , History UK and the @histassoc.bsky.social buff.ly/4hSg16N #history #skystorians
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodCampaign to turn William Blake's house into a museum. See also the William Blake Fellowship: www.williamblakefellowship.com/house-of-wil... #History 🗃️
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodA welcome antidote to the xenophobic nonsense about "low-wage" migrant workers that floods the opinion pages of the Telegraph and Times. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodThe incomparable Kate Lister (@k8lister.bsky.social): "I am old enough to remember when it was important for a university to just have a history department and somewhere to study literature, and I’m not that old."
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodSuspension Bridge xkcd.com/3048
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodNews | Public opposition saves Leeds' Abbey House Museum from closure
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodWe are thrilled to announce our annual conference, this year in collaboration with the National Gallery! Join us on 26-27 September, to celebrate together their bicentenary, exploring the theme: ‘Creating the Museum: exploring the museum impulse in local, regional and national contexts’. (1/2)
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodUseful piece from BBC Verify. We have to stop pretending we can tackle climate change without changing our lifestyles, or that some future technology will solve it for us. If we're serious that this is the great threat of our times, everything else has to bend to that www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodFor the last 5 months, I’ve spoken to Rosy as she’s fought for care. MND means she needs a ventilator and feeding tube and yet she has been denied 24/7 carers. Rosy is now losing her voice but wants to speak out. We should all listen. In today’s @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
- View from my hotel room window for an archive visit to Bristol. #AcademicGlamour
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodThanks to the 1,600 people and organisations who responded to the UK Ministry of Justice’s proposals on the retention of wills. Good news: The UK Government has determined not to proceed with any reforms that involve the destruction of original wills Read in full here: www.gov.uk/government/c...
- Reposted by Mark LiebenroodStunning Burmantofts ceramics on display at Abbey House Museum, currently at risk of closure. The consultation is still open - have your say here: surveys.leeds.gov.uk/s/UZ1NOE/
