Stephanie J. Lahey PhD
@sjlahey.bsky.social
Mark Andrews Fellow in #BookScience, Old Books New Science Lab, University of Toronto · #MedievalManuscripts cataloguer & researcher · #Parchment #QuantitativeHumanities 📜 🔬 📚 📊 🇨🇦
Pinned
And thus one of my weirder childhood fantasies has been fulfilled: I am a sorceress, a necromancer. I wrest utterances from the void. I raise the dead. 📜🔬🪄👻😜 #OBNS_MISHA #BookScience #MedievalManuscripts
bsky.app/profile/sjla...
bsky.app/profile/sjla...
Reposted by Stephanie J. Lahey PhD
Reposted by Stephanie J. Lahey PhD
#GothicManuscripts Sherborne Missal, 1399-1407, England, detail of the Resurrection. I think the sleeping soldiers kits are quite snazzy and colorful. The brilliant patterned red sky behind Christ is impressive & the dog snoozing nearby is quite cute.
December 7, 2023 at 4:01 AM
#GothicManuscripts Sherborne Missal, 1399-1407, England, detail of the Resurrection. I think the sleeping soldiers kits are quite snazzy and colorful. The brilliant patterned red sky behind Christ is impressive & the dog snoozing nearby is quite cute.
Ancient sheep virus found hiding in #medieval #parchment
📜🦠🔬📚
#MedievalManuscripts #BookScience
www.science.org/content/arti...
📜🦠🔬📚
#MedievalManuscripts #BookScience
www.science.org/content/arti...
Ancient sheep virus found hiding in medieval parchment
Newly recovered sheeppox sequences reveal when and how the virus emerged
www.science.org
September 4, 2026 at 3:20 AM
Ancient sheep virus found hiding in #medieval #parchment
📜🦠🔬📚
#MedievalManuscripts #BookScience
www.science.org/content/arti...
📜🦠🔬📚
#MedievalManuscripts #BookScience
www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Stephanie J. Lahey PhD
Our new paper is out! 📚📜
www.nature.com/articles/s40...
#parchment #conservation #MedievalManuscripts #BookScience
www.nature.com/articles/s40...
#parchment #conservation #MedievalManuscripts #BookScience
Parchment damage assessment: a review of methods, multimodal workflows, and a transparent reporting framework - npj Heritage Science
npj Heritage Science - Parchment damage assessment: a review of methods, multimodal workflows, and a transparent reporting framework
www.nature.com
August 20, 2026 at 8:27 PM
Our new paper is out! 📚📜
www.nature.com/articles/s40...
#parchment #conservation #MedievalManuscripts #BookScience
www.nature.com/articles/s40...
#parchment #conservation #MedievalManuscripts #BookScience
Our new paper is out! 📚📜
www.nature.com/articles/s40...
#parchment #conservation #MedievalManuscripts #BookScience
www.nature.com/articles/s40...
#parchment #conservation #MedievalManuscripts #BookScience
Parchment damage assessment: a review of methods, multimodal workflows, and a transparent reporting framework - npj Heritage Science
npj Heritage Science - Parchment damage assessment: a review of methods, multimodal workflows, and a transparent reporting framework
www.nature.com
August 20, 2026 at 8:27 PM
Our new paper is out! 📚📜
www.nature.com/articles/s40...
#parchment #conservation #MedievalManuscripts #BookScience
www.nature.com/articles/s40...
#parchment #conservation #MedievalManuscripts #BookScience
Reposted by Stephanie J. Lahey PhD
Between the 1970s and 1990s the UK state made a strategic bet to expand Higher Ed. They poured in untold billions of your money. Now it's been handed over to private creditors to burn in a furnace. Then they just laugh at you: at all the taxes you've ever paid or will ever pay. True story. (2/2)
August 2, 2026 at 10:49 AM
Between the 1970s and 1990s the UK state made a strategic bet to expand Higher Ed. They poured in untold billions of your money. Now it's been handed over to private creditors to burn in a furnace. Then they just laugh at you: at all the taxes you've ever paid or will ever pay. True story. (2/2)
Reposted by Stephanie J. Lahey PhD
This nonsense about the printing press and universities is simply a different form of the "the Church enforced thought control in the Middle Ages" canard and says quite a bit more about what the speaker thinks about modern institutional surveillance and control than about history.
I’ve seen in two culture /higher ed magazines recently the claim that the printing press engendered a crisis of authority at universities bc anyone could publish what they wanted and people could learn things without universities.
This is not true.
This is not true.
August 2, 2026 at 3:12 PM
This nonsense about the printing press and universities is simply a different form of the "the Church enforced thought control in the Middle Ages" canard and says quite a bit more about what the speaker thinks about modern institutional surveillance and control than about history.
Reposted by Stephanie J. Lahey PhD
And if you have any interest in music whatsoever, definitely watch the whole documentary series (10 episodes in all), covering the entire history of music. The whole thing is here: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Very positively reviewed by the Guardian too: www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Very positively reviewed by the Guardian too: www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
For the Record: An Incomplete History of Music review – it’s amazing that this staggering show exists
Charlotte Ritchie presents a wildly ambitious and unapologetically brainy YouTube documentary that takes in Big Bang soundwaves, singing dolphins and an astonishing amount in between. Don’t miss it fo...
www.theguardian.com
August 1, 2026 at 9:01 PM
And if you have any interest in music whatsoever, definitely watch the whole documentary series (10 episodes in all), covering the entire history of music. The whole thing is here: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Very positively reviewed by the Guardian too: www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Very positively reviewed by the Guardian too: www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Reposted by Stephanie J. Lahey PhD
** As it's being discoursed:
I do not use any generative AI (ChatGPT, Claude et. al.) at any stage in my writing process.
I write because I enjoy writing.
I enjoy the challenge of expressing an idea, or character, or setting in such short form and tell a story with them.
It's all human made.
**
I do not use any generative AI (ChatGPT, Claude et. al.) at any stage in my writing process.
I write because I enjoy writing.
I enjoy the challenge of expressing an idea, or character, or setting in such short form and tell a story with them.
It's all human made.
**
August 1, 2026 at 6:49 PM
** As it's being discoursed:
I do not use any generative AI (ChatGPT, Claude et. al.) at any stage in my writing process.
I write because I enjoy writing.
I enjoy the challenge of expressing an idea, or character, or setting in such short form and tell a story with them.
It's all human made.
**
I do not use any generative AI (ChatGPT, Claude et. al.) at any stage in my writing process.
I write because I enjoy writing.
I enjoy the challenge of expressing an idea, or character, or setting in such short form and tell a story with them.
It's all human made.
**
Reposted by Stephanie J. Lahey PhD
What's the greatest medieval manuscript discovery of modern times? Here are ten rediscovered texts that changed medieval studies. Which fascinates you the most? www.medievalists.net/2026/07/10-l... #History
10 Lost Medieval Texts Rediscovered Centuries Later - Medievalists.net
Discover ten medieval works once believed lost, from forgotten chronicles and heroic poems to manuscripts found in caves, libraries and book bindings.
www.medievalists.net
August 1, 2026 at 10:01 PM
What's the greatest medieval manuscript discovery of modern times? Here are ten rediscovered texts that changed medieval studies. Which fascinates you the most? www.medievalists.net/2026/07/10-l... #History
Reposted by Stephanie J. Lahey PhD
The problem of manipulation is on the table. Stealing the current books, buying the old books, and cooperating with large archives and collections and libraries, like in Oxford, is part of the same agenda. It is about controlling the information of the future. That’s what is really on the table.
August 1, 2026 at 5:25 PM
The problem of manipulation is on the table. Stealing the current books, buying the old books, and cooperating with large archives and collections and libraries, like in Oxford, is part of the same agenda. It is about controlling the information of the future. That’s what is really on the table.
Reposted by Stephanie J. Lahey PhD
„Project Panama is our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world“ (Anthropic).
August 1, 2026 at 1:19 PM
„Project Panama is our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world“ (Anthropic).
Reposted by Stephanie J. Lahey PhD
A tiny man shooting a word nearby, within a printed text of the European past. Welcome to another #rebus broadside of the later so-called #ThirtyYearsWar. A shootin' short 🧵 for #skystorians
February 11, 2026 at 7:36 AM
A tiny man shooting a word nearby, within a printed text of the European past. Welcome to another #rebus broadside of the later so-called #ThirtyYearsWar. A shootin' short 🧵 for #skystorians
Reposted by Stephanie J. Lahey PhD
Damn, this made me chuckle.😆
August 1, 2026 at 12:49 PM
Damn, this made me chuckle.😆
Reposted by Stephanie J. Lahey PhD
I was looking at the AHA's book prizes, and if you work on Europe between 1000 and 1500, you're SoL. What's especially fascinating is that British History starts in 1485 and European Cultural History starts in 1500.
July 13, 2026 at 8:18 PM
I was looking at the AHA's book prizes, and if you work on Europe between 1000 and 1500, you're SoL. What's especially fascinating is that British History starts in 1485 and European Cultural History starts in 1500.
Reposted by Stephanie J. Lahey PhD
Digitization is not always the best option, either. Storage of archival images is expensive, and then there should be ongoing management of the files. That’s the IT dept. for us, staff turnover and bad communication, etc. Sometimes you must damage the book to scan it, too.
July 13, 2026 at 7:22 PM
Digitization is not always the best option, either. Storage of archival images is expensive, and then there should be ongoing management of the files. That’s the IT dept. for us, staff turnover and bad communication, etc. Sometimes you must damage the book to scan it, too.
Reposted by Stephanie J. Lahey PhD
They also can't tell the difference between describing a common error to correct it and giving correct information.
I've seen a search summary AI give the wrong liturgical ABC year, probably because descriptions of the common error are much more boilerplate than descriptions of the correct answer.
I've seen a search summary AI give the wrong liturgical ABC year, probably because descriptions of the common error are much more boilerplate than descriptions of the correct answer.
July 13, 2026 at 6:26 PM
They also can't tell the difference between describing a common error to correct it and giving correct information.
I've seen a search summary AI give the wrong liturgical ABC year, probably because descriptions of the common error are much more boilerplate than descriptions of the correct answer.
I've seen a search summary AI give the wrong liturgical ABC year, probably because descriptions of the common error are much more boilerplate than descriptions of the correct answer.
Reposted by Stephanie J. Lahey PhD
📢 Once more for the people in the back:
- Most [more than 95%] of archives have not been digitized.
- Most of humanity's knowledge and memory is *not* reachable by LLMs.
- Believing that AI can provid you with comprehensive, definitive, "intelligent" results is folly.
- Most [more than 95%] of archives have not been digitized.
- Most of humanity's knowledge and memory is *not* reachable by LLMs.
- Believing that AI can provid you with comprehensive, definitive, "intelligent" results is folly.
July 13, 2026 at 11:57 AM
📢 Once more for the people in the back:
- Most [more than 95%] of archives have not been digitized.
- Most of humanity's knowledge and memory is *not* reachable by LLMs.
- Believing that AI can provid you with comprehensive, definitive, "intelligent" results is folly.
- Most [more than 95%] of archives have not been digitized.
- Most of humanity's knowledge and memory is *not* reachable by LLMs.
- Believing that AI can provid you with comprehensive, definitive, "intelligent" results is folly.
Reposted by Stephanie J. Lahey PhD
To the inevitable cries of “just digitize everything, then;” not an answer.
Making digital facsimiles accessible requires huge investment: staff, metadata, preservation. Orgs are currently not funded to meet these needs. While digital objects are great, they’ll never replace looking at originals.
Making digital facsimiles accessible requires huge investment: staff, metadata, preservation. Orgs are currently not funded to meet these needs. While digital objects are great, they’ll never replace looking at originals.
📢 Once more for the people in the back:
- Most [more than 95%] of archives have not been digitized.
- Most of humanity's knowledge and memory is *not* reachable by LLMs.
- Believing that AI can provid you with comprehensive, definitive, "intelligent" results is folly.
- Most [more than 95%] of archives have not been digitized.
- Most of humanity's knowledge and memory is *not* reachable by LLMs.
- Believing that AI can provid you with comprehensive, definitive, "intelligent" results is folly.
Giving myself a headache in the archives
July 14, 2026 at 10:44 AM
To the inevitable cries of “just digitize everything, then;” not an answer.
Making digital facsimiles accessible requires huge investment: staff, metadata, preservation. Orgs are currently not funded to meet these needs. While digital objects are great, they’ll never replace looking at originals.
Making digital facsimiles accessible requires huge investment: staff, metadata, preservation. Orgs are currently not funded to meet these needs. While digital objects are great, they’ll never replace looking at originals.
Reposted by Stephanie J. Lahey PhD
OOOOO. Exeter's got Nous in as well... Of course... (@exeterucu.bsky.social, have you FOIed how much they're paid?)
Can we PLEASE put an end to the involvement of these consultancies? They have done nothing but vandalism.
Can we PLEASE put an end to the involvement of these consultancies? They have done nothing but vandalism.
A best practice approach to academic restructure at Exeter
Explore Part 2 of Exeter Uni's major transformation case study. Learn how collaboration & strategic alignment drove restructure.
nousdatainsights.com
July 13, 2026 at 1:03 PM
OOOOO. Exeter's got Nous in as well... Of course... (@exeterucu.bsky.social, have you FOIed how much they're paid?)
Can we PLEASE put an end to the involvement of these consultancies? They have done nothing but vandalism.
Can we PLEASE put an end to the involvement of these consultancies? They have done nothing but vandalism.
Reposted by Stephanie J. Lahey PhD
I feel bad for the gunners mate, but I really like the name of the sloop.
July 13, 1776: From the log of the Massachusetts Sloop Tyrannicide: "Our Gunners mate blowd his right hand off Ocationed by the catching of a powder Orne [horn] in his hand." (National Park Service, 1976)
July 14, 2026 at 3:43 AM
I feel bad for the gunners mate, but I really like the name of the sloop.
#TIH #OTD 14 July in #BookHistory:
1575: Death of Hans / Johann Jakob Fugger (b.1516), German banker & patron of the arts & sciences from the von der Lilie line of the Fugger banking family. He assembled a major library, commissioning agents to collect manuscripts & printed works in…
[1/n]
1575: Death of Hans / Johann Jakob Fugger (b.1516), German banker & patron of the arts & sciences from the von der Lilie line of the Fugger banking family. He assembled a major library, commissioning agents to collect manuscripts & printed works in…
[1/n]
July 14, 2026 at 7:40 AM
#TIH #OTD 14 July in #BookHistory:
1575: Death of Hans / Johann Jakob Fugger (b.1516), German banker & patron of the arts & sciences from the von der Lilie line of the Fugger banking family. He assembled a major library, commissioning agents to collect manuscripts & printed works in…
[1/n]
1575: Death of Hans / Johann Jakob Fugger (b.1516), German banker & patron of the arts & sciences from the von der Lilie line of the Fugger banking family. He assembled a major library, commissioning agents to collect manuscripts & printed works in…
[1/n]
July 13, 2026 at 8:32 PM
📚 📜 #TIH #OTD 12 Jul 2014:
Death of Zoia Markovna Horn [née Polisar] (b.1918), who, in 1972, became the 1st librarian in USA to be jailed for refusing to share information as a matter of conscience.
A member of ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee, Horn—who worked at Bucknell University—was…
[1/n]
Death of Zoia Markovna Horn [née Polisar] (b.1918), who, in 1972, became the 1st librarian in USA to be jailed for refusing to share information as a matter of conscience.
A member of ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee, Horn—who worked at Bucknell University—was…
[1/n]
July 12, 2026 at 8:46 AM