Egham Museum Posts Fascinating Twitter Thread

Check Twitter for a thread with additional embedded threads that was posted earlier today by Egham Museum from the UK. It provides a fascinating use of Twitter to communicate what life might have been for a student at Royal Holloway College for Women in 1887.

Enjoy...https://twitter.com/EghamMuseum/status/1311453097462575104.

Consider posting a comment below if you know of similar creative uses of social media to share information on institutional history.

A Forgotten Museum in Glasgow Linked to what is now the University of Strathclyde

I am creating this post using a Twitter thread from earlier today by @OssianLore.  The thread provides some interesting history for the progression of institutions that led to what is now the University of Strathclyde.  It also provided me with the opportunity to try out an app for rolling up a Twitter thread.

Glasgow's forgotten Andersonian Museum, George Street 1831. The museum was established in 1796 from the nucleus of the personal collection of John Anderson, Professor of Oriental Languages and of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow.

Anderson bequeathed money for the foundation of a new university dedicated to teaching practical & industrial subjects, thus Anderson's University was founded along with its museum. The university had several homes, including a former meat market, before settling in George Street

The Andersonian Museum finally closed in 1904 with demolition of the old building to make way for its grand replacement. After several amalgamations the university became the Royal Technical College and subsequently went on to become the University of Strathclyde.

Although John Anderson's name no longer lives on in his university or museum, he is remembered for having inspired James Watt (who was employed at the University of Glasgow to repair & fabricate scientific instruments) after presenting him with a model Newcomen engine for repair.

Ohio University in 1873: As Seen through the Eyes of Maggie Boyd

I gave a shout-out in early 2018 to the archives at Indiana University for their active and effective use of social media, "Day in the Life of a College Student in 1890s..."  

Today, I'll feature Ohio University Archives and Special Collections and University Libraries.  They are currently hosting an exhibit, "Women at Ohio University, 150 Years of Life and History," and sent a tweet this morning linking to a diary of Maggie Boyd in the archives, the first OU woman graduate.

The archives also maintains a Pinterest board, @MaggieBoyd1873's World, with links to institutional publications, photographs, slide shows, research, and other items related to Maggie Boyd and her time at the institution.

The archives also used Twitter to publish entries from Maggie's senior diary using @MaggieBoyd1873.

You can also read directly from images of Maggie's diary through the digital archives.

Day in the Life of a College Student in 1890s...and, a few bonus links to other resources...

Julia Kilgore of the the Indiana University Archives authored an interesting post, "Sincerely Yours: a day in the life of a new student," using letters of a new student who came to the campus in 1890 with an interest in studying history.  I encourage readers to visit Blogging Hoosier History and scan through some of their other posts.  

The IU Archives also maintains an active and effective social media presence through Twitter [@IUBArchives], the Indiana University Archives page on Facebook , or on Instagram.

I've found other college and university archives are also creatively using social media and really enjoy following their posts or tweets to discover new resources related to institutional history. 

For those on Twitter, I've created a public list that may be helpful, Archives and Spec Coll, where you can view tweets from a variety of institutional archives in one place. 

Pinterest can also be a useful source of historical images related to institutional history.  I created a Google docs table with entries that link to Pinterest pages created by institutions using the platform.  I update the table periodically and changes are reflected through the "College History on Pinterest..." page.

Or, you might be interested in visiting the College History Garden page on Pinterest, where there are separate boards for each state and a number of special focus boards.

If you know of archives or college history sites that may be of interest to College History Gardeners, feel free to post any suggestions and comments below or send an email.