New Posts | Professor Joe Cain

What’s This? It’s Erasmus Darwin’s Sitting Chair

You never know what you’ll find searching through storage spaces at UCL. I previously wrote about some medical data cards re-discovered. Last year, I was invited to help sort through some historical materials in storage managed […]

Film Night at the Grant Museum, ten years

For about 10 years, I was part of a collaborative project, “Film Night at the Grant Museum”. Partners included Jack Ashby, Mark Carnall, and Dean Veall. Jack promoted the films as “On the Big Screen” events. Each quarter, […]

Robert Edmond Grant’s 1829 Summer Lectures Announced

When University College London (then, University of London) chose its first set of academics, Professor Robert Edmond Grant (1793-1874) was elected to the post of Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy in 1827. He delivered […]

Graduates celebrating after UCL ceremony.

Letters of Reference and Recommendation

Students ask for letters of reference and recommendation. Writing them is an important responsibility for tutors. It’s something we take extremely seriously. But what goes into a letter of recommendation? Top Tips When Requesting References […]

Clarity at last! Use this hierarchy of elements in podcasting

Vague terminology in podcasting confuses expectations and ambitions. A proposal to “make a podcast” can sound simultaneously daunting and simple. One person might describe a short mp3 dictation of a story as a “mini podcast”. […]

Lockscreen samples for photography challenge to compose for 19.5:9 aspect ratio.

Phone Lock Screens – Photography Challenge (Gallery)

Screens dominate our visual landscape and beg for our attention. Wallpapers and lock screens pose particular photographic challenges. The extreme aspect ratio. The adaptive brightness. The digital furniture. The unpredictable modifications. The tiny viewing period. […]

Sample Medical Card for Croydon Schoolboys 1920s-1930s

Medical Cards for Croydon Schoolchildren 1920s-1930s

Historians must make more – and more creative – use of AI technologies for data analysis as well as for routine task of data sorting and transcription. To create a simple example, I have put […]

Illustration of "ring species" concept, or Rassenkreis

Society for the Study of Speciation: Bibliographic Analysis using LLM

I provide data for an LLM-based analysis of the short-lived Society for the Study of Speciation (SSS), organised by Alfred Emerson, through three documents.

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Bernissart Iguanodons in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels

The Dinosaur Gallery in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (Brussels Museum of Natural History) includes the famous Bernissart Iguanodons. This consists of thirty complete or nearly complete skeletons excavated from an underground coal […]

150,000,000 B.C. - The Prehistoric Monsters of Crystal Palace - rare 1968 pamphlet features this photograph of the standing Iguanodon in camouflage painting.

Crystal Palace Dinosaurs – Rare 1968 Pamphlet – 150,000,000 B.C.

“150,000,000 B.C.” is a rare pamphlet about the Crystal Palace dinosaurs and other statues by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins created in the 1850s in Crystal Palace Park, Sydenham. It was published by the Greater London Council […]