The #DiversityProject of the #Bywgraffiadur may be over, but its articles live on!
Here's my personal top-ten list of articles we managed to publish over a frighteningly short period of time.
Authors and colleagues in tootland: we couldn't have done it without you!
https://bydbach.hcommons.org/enwogion-o-fri-the-history-of-wales-just-got-more-vibrant/
During our 2-year run on the #DiversityProject for the #Bywgraffiadur, we published over 60 fantastic articles about extraordinary people in the #history of #Wales. Today was my last day on the project and it is only fitting to go out on #TransDayOfVisiblity by sharing Mike Parker's beautiful contribution about the travel-writer and Gymraes by choice, Jan Morris.
If you have not had the delight to encounter her writing or stories about her, Jan's life as emojis might look something like this: 
Read the full story here: https://biography.wales/article/s15-MORR-JAN-1926
#histodons #lgbtqia
It's publication day!
Enwogion o fri: Diversity Project 2023-2025
Our free #DiversityProject anthology for the #Bywgraffiadur has just dropped on KC Works. Over 40 authors contributed more than 60 articles about the most fascinating people in #Welsh #history you could possibly imagine.
We've covered #BAMEHistory #LGBTQ_ and #DisabilityHistory, #WomensHistory, #ArtHistory, the #HistoryOfScience, #HistoryOfReligion and #Wales
Frankly, there's not a single article in this collection that's not bound to be of interest to someone.
Get your own copy here as PDF or epub. And because we're in Wales, we even offer you two versions.
English: https://works.hcommons.org/records/dtb9c-bzm89
Cymraeg: https://doi.org/10.17613/mmwvm-ryh93
I have finally encountered my personal bête noire.
Excited primary school kids 
speaking their second language at hyper-speed 
and getting recorded with background noise ( more children chatting ).
My ears: 
New language skill unlocked:
Transcribing the ex-Archdruid speaking rapid-fire Gog to school kids for subtitles.
'Ac yn fan hyn mae na lun o Orsedd, a dyma o, Cynan, fan hyn yn ei wisg, ynde? Yn Archdderwydd a dyn ni’n gweld meini Orsedd a Cynan yn dal basged uwch ei ben yn fan ‘na.'
And that's the easiest bit to understand speaking as someone who learnt #Cymraeg south of the Checkpoint Cletwr line.
Next language skill to crack:
Make the transcript grammatical.
#Bywgraffiadur -- but for the kids.
@CarveHerName The establishment of the Kingdom of Hawai'i is perhaps one of our more unusual stories among a whole series of extraordinary lives captured by the #DiversityProject of the #Bywgraffiadur. We're currently preparing an article about the Welshman Issac 'Aikake' Davis who, together with John Young, acted as advisor to the future first king, Kamehameha I, and was instrumental in the unification and establishment of the kingdom in 1795. Only this morning, our author in Hawai'i shared a link to a video that shows Davis's personal Book of Common Prayer, the first of its kind in the archipelago, exhibited at the Cathedral of St. Andrew.
Reposting my #Introduction because there's a flurry of new folks -- and I'm an eternal optimist at finding fellow Welsh writing in English peeps. So here goes:
I work as the Community Outreach Officer for the Welsh Dictionary of Biography, more collquially called the #Bywgraffiadur, at the #NationalLibraryOfWales. Our goal is to close representational gaps and set the Dictionary on a course of recording the diverse lives of historical Welsh people in all their facets. https://biography.wales/
Otherwise, I'm working on #WelshWritingInEnglish mostly from the long #C19. Other research interests include #TravelWriting, particularly illustrated accounts and the history of the #VisitorsBook. I'm also into #PublicHistory and community outreach, sometimes abt #PortHeritage, #WW1 German submarine warfare and its effects on Welsh communities.
I share longer #WiP here: https://bydbach.hcommons.org/
Toots will be mostly in #English, but occasionally also in #Deutsch and #Cymraeg.
#Histodons
I'm in the middle of tagging up our next article for the #DiversityProject of the #Bywgraffiadur and the author's very diplomatic turn of phrase -- 'who became his model, and more' -- just gave me a good chuckle.
I'm in the middle of marking up the latest article for the #DiversityProject of the #Bywgraffiadur about the jeweller and trader Morris Wartski and there's the casual mention that the Marquess of Anglesey attended the lavish wedding of Wartski's daughter in 1903.
Doing the maths, it wasn't just any marquess, but *that* Marquess -- who was not only a good customer, but had also helped Wartski to set up his business.
Oh, to have been privy to the conversations of an observing man (who helped set up the first synagogue in Bangor!) and the man who makes David Bowie look like someone who wasn't trying hard enough.
#JewishHeritage #LGBTQI #QueerHistory #Histodons #Wales
Images:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartski#/media/File:Wartski_Bangor.JPG
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_Paget,_5th_Marquess_of_Anglesey.jpg
As one of my last assignments for 2024, I just finished writing my fourth article for the #Bywgraffiadur. The short version is currently in the hands of our main editor -- the long version, complete with an avalanche of images is waiting on my blog.
So if you ever wondered why a German artist created the 6-foot sword in the National #Eisteddfod in #Wales, look no further.
I give you Hubert von Herkomer: the man who married his wife's nurse, and his wife's nurse's sister.
https://bydbach.hcommons.org/hubert-von-herkomer-1849-1914-painter-designer-and-film-pioneer/
#ArtHistory #Biography #histodons #Germany #DiversityProject
Image credit: Southampton City Art Gallery
Check out the Dictionary of Welsh Biography's new interactive timeline!
Did you know that the Black coal merchant Cesar Picton, the Ladies of Llangollen and the Hawai'ian chiefess Elizabeth Peke Davis Kaumualii were all alive at the same time? What's their link, you ask? They're all people in Welsh history!
Browse the timeline for all the names connected to our #DiversityProject. Some of these names still don't have an article. If you want to write their life stories, get in touch: rita.singer@library.wales
You know what's really nice?
Receiving emails that start with a greeting in a language you don't speak.
International collaborations are good for the heart and soul.
My third contribution to the #DiversityProject of the #Bywgraffiadur: a short bio article about THOMAS RIGBY (c.1783-1841), publican and hairdresser. He is one of the earliest Black people settled in Carmarthenshire whose names we know.
This is the unedited version that just went to the editor.
https://bydbach.hcommons.org/thomas-rigby-c-1783-1841-publican-and-hairdresser/
NEW ARTICLE
SHOSHI MUKHI DASS (1868 - 1921), missionary, teacher and nurse
'In Glasgow, she was actively involved with the Welsh National Union while further south, in Wales, she delivered several public lectures to Methodist audiences. Wearing a sari to demonstrate the typical dress of women in north-east India, she spoke in English about the history and culture of her country, her education and missionary work, and sang hymns in Bangla. During her second year in Britain, she frequently lectured together with Kate E. Williams, Pwllheli, to crowded audiences. These appearances were part of the qualification process for outgoing missionaries to India for the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church. Shoshi had been accepted by the General Assembly at Bootle by May 1893.' -- Rita Singer
Read the full story here: https://biography.wales/article/s15-DASS-MUK-1868
Image: https://flic.kr/p/CUGosM
#Bywgraffiadur #DiversityProject #Wales #India #Bangladesh #HistoryOfReligion #Mission #histodons
For anyone who feels like conjuring #demons this week, here's a cautionary tale from #Wales.
JOHN HARRIES (c.1785-1839), astrologer and medical practitioner
'It is said that John Harries kept one of his books padlocked and hidden away, and only dared open it once a year in a nearby secluded wood where he would read various incantations from it to summon forth spirits. Once opened, the book was said to create a very severe storm. This led to the notion that the Harrieses derived their power from this large volume of spells, bound with an iron chain and three locks. [...] John Harries died in a fire on 11 May 1839 aged 54. It is reported that he had a premonition that he would die by accident on that date, and to avoid this happening he stayed in bed all day. During the night the house caught fire, and he died as a result.' -- Morfudd Nia Jones
Read the full story here: https://biography.wales/article/s14-HARR-JOH-1839
#folklore #witchcraft #histodons #Bywgraffiadur
Darlun/Image: http://hdl.handle.net/10107/4631466
NEW ARTICLE
JAMES (JIM) SAPOE JOHN MANNAY (Ahmed Hassan Ismail) (1927 - 2012), historian and poet
'Together with his cousin Emily, Benjamin Johnson's daughter, Jim spent years recording the history of the Kru people. They both kept many documents relating to individuals and Jim wrote extensively about the community in Tiger Bay, detailing many Kru and English names and nicknames. He was also a poet whose life story was reflected in his work. Thanks to the accuracy of his storytelling, Jim's work has resulted in the identification of over 600 individuals from West Africa throughout the UK, and became the basis of research to identify seamen from the Kru community who served in the two World Wars.' -- Rebecca J Eversley
Read the full story here: https://biography.wales/article/s15-MANN-JOH-1927
#DiversityProject #Bywgraffiadur #Wales #BlackHistoryIsWelshHistory #BlackHistory
Darlun/Image: https://www.peoplescollection.wales/items/2173356
ERTHYGL NEWYDD NEW ARTICLE
VALENTINE MORRIS (1727 - 1789), colonial administrator and landowner
'On his father's death in 1743, Morris inherited the Piercefield estate, along with substantial plantations in Antigua including a great number of enslaved people. These included Looby's, Crabb's, and Martin's in St Paul Parish in southern Antigua and Jolly's in St Mary Parish in western Antigua. In 1776, Morris was rated as owning 1,004 acres on the island, which was worked by 284 enslaved people. As Ivor Waters strikingly puts it, 'The elegant Valentine Morris owned Piercefield in Monmouthshire, worth £50,000 and Piercefield, a slave in Antigua, worth £10.' He was largely an absentee plantation owner while in Britain, apart from a visit to Antigua in 1754 following a period of drought there.' -- Adam Coward
Read the full story here: https://biography.wales/article/s15-MORR-VAL-1771
#histodons #Wales #BritishEmpire #EighteenthCentury #Bywgraffiadur #DiversityProject
Darlun/Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Valentine_Morris_(1727-1789),_Governor_of_Saint_Vincent,_by_Allan_Ramsay.jpg
Oodles of fun today in the primary school workshop "Black and Welsh" in #Machynlleth today. The kids are taking to creative exploration of #BlackHistory like fish to water.
#Wales #Bywgraffiadur #DiversityProject
NEW ARTICLE
WILLIAM ANDERSON HALL (born c. 1820), carpenter, fugitive from slavery, author
'Fleeing from enslavement, William was often helped by 'friends', a euphemism for the network of free African Americans and others who were sympathetic to those seeking to escape slavery and who made up the Underground Railroad. However, William's journey was far from straightforward. He was caught and imprisoned on at least two occasions, suffered beatings and betrayal and found that life in the free states of the North could be as precarious as in the South. It was only when William reached Canada that his 'old feelings of dread' left him.' -- Phil Okwedy
Read the full story here: https://biography.wales/article/s15-HALL-AND-1820
#Bywgraffiadur #DiversityProject #Wales #BlackHistoryIsWelshHistory #BlackHistory #AntiSlaveryMovement #histodons
I've just sent in my draft to the #Bywgraffiadur about the Indian medical missionary Shoshi Mukhi Dass (1868-1921). More likely than not, it will get whittled down, so this is a good way to preserve the "director's cut".
If foreign missionary history is your thing, have a look.
