Author: Tehmina Goskar

Catalogues of medieval coins

Of real benefit not just to numismatists but to medievalists who deal with material culture, economy, politics and more, are the three catalogues of Byzantine and medieval coins (including those of Ostrogoths, Vandals and Lombards, plus later coins from Thessalonica, Trebizond and Nicaea) by Warwick W. Wroth (see my delicious links on the right hand… Continue reading Catalogues of medieval coins

Shared cultures in the medieval Mediterranean

I am currently writing up a paper based on two pieces of research which compares material culture from southern Italy with that of its central and eastern Mediterranean neighbours (e.g. Sicily, Greece, Egypt, North Africa). It is based on a conference paper I gave last July, at the Society for the Medieval Mediterranean conference at… Continue reading Shared cultures in the medieval Mediterranean

Textile Conservation Centre continues online

Following the closure of the Textile Conservation Centre, until recently, part of the University of Southampton, the staff of the TCC and the TCC Foundation have set up a website to keep people in touch and retain a presence in the world of conservation, culture and heritage. Here, you can also keep in touch with… Continue reading Textile Conservation Centre continues online

Some loose thoughts on the Staffordshire Hoard

The reaction to the news of the recent discovery of an immense hoard, rich in gold and silver, has been predictably varied, both from the academic and museum communities and the general public. The Staffordshire hoard was announced on 24 September 2009. The story of its discovery by metal detectorist Terry Herbert and its subsequent… Continue reading Some loose thoughts on the Staffordshire Hoard

What makes a medieval topic important?

As another academic year turns, so do I. This time, to emerge from the provinces and from behind my charters and museum objects, and join in London’s medieval scene. This evening’s first seminar of the European History 1150-1500 series was a discussion led by David Carpenter and Miri Rubin entitled What Makes a Medieval Topic… Continue reading What makes a medieval topic important?

National Portrait Gallery / Wikimedia

This is a quick response to a very good and pleasantly short blog post on Open Objects regarding the conflict caused by Wikimedia scraping high resolution ‘zoomified’ images from the NPG’s website and making them available. I concur with your thoughts. I don’t think Wikimedia is, however, anything other than extremely naive not to have… Continue reading National Portrait Gallery / Wikimedia

Exhibition reviews on Creative Spaces

I thought about using Past Thinking as the place for exhibition and book reviews on museumy subjects that interest me, but instead I would like to contribute to content creation on Creative Spaces (National Museums Online Learning Project) particularly when the reviews related to items in the nine museum collections it hosts. I have recently… Continue reading Exhibition reviews on Creative Spaces

I like Creative Spaces

Creative Spaces does. No poking, no sheep throwing, no nonsense. The two posts below and the several comments are enough to set out the different views of Creative Spaces, or the National Museums Online Learning Project. I am not going to respond to the various criticisms leveled at the project as they do a good… Continue reading I like Creative Spaces

Digital Britain and Collections

What role has Culture (capital C) in Digital Britain? And within Culture, what do digitised collections and content mean to the nation? Perhaps more importantly for the sectors involved in cultural provision (such as museums), can digital collections take part in the Digital Economy in a meaningful way? In January 2009, the UK Government produced… Continue reading Digital Britain and Collections