Prof Kate Loder

@kghist

STOP TRUMP #stoptrump History: gender, women, children, music, African diasporas, queer histories, disabilities. British #womencomposers 🎶 Long-term housebound with #longcovid Garden flora and fauna 🌿 🐦‍⬛🐞

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Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Jul 20

Baby greenfinch on our feeder this morning - great surprise! #gardenbirds #greenfinch Our son bought me a feeder to give me a sense of connection to the garden and outside. It also has a live feed which I especially love ♥️ Not cheap, but BIG recommend if you’re #housebound #longcovid ✊

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Jul 12

This photo was in The Guardian ‘Pictures of the Week’. I can only hope that the photographer sat down next to the young woman to provide at least some moral support.

A young black woman sitting on a crowded train surrounded by masked members of a fascist American organisation. There is an empty seat next to her.

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Jul 4

Gotta love the village magazine

Screen shot of editorial from parish magazine. With the following highlighted ‘A great article on the history of the scout hut’

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Jun 23

One of my favourite research resources is my second-hand copy of the Who’s Who of Music, 1937. [Choc full of women composers 😄] Anyway, here is Benjamin Britten’s entry - he was very diligent in filling it out! (And took the opportunity to big up his Phantasy)

Screet shot of the printed text of Benjamin Britten’s entry. It includes his parents; teachers; and a number of his compositions. Boasts of his Phantasy that it was the ‘only British work chosen’ for an International Festival in held in Florence in 1934. Lists his sports hobbies and gives his address.

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Jun 2

Ok - brace yourselves. Look who was born in my friend’s garden in Scotland early this morning… This little piece of magic was most welcome today #longcovid ✊

A close up shot of a tiny fawn, white spots clearly visible. It is curled up in some long grass

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· May 12

An often forgotten aspect of being #housebound is the knock-on effect on access to routine, but vital health care: breast/cervical cancer screening; dental and opticians’ appointment. #longcovid #CFS #ME Pleased then that the large print edition of the #scrabble dictionary has just arrived…

Photo of the cover of the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary. 3rd edition. Colourful with green predominating and key words on red backgound

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Mar 25

Thank you @lydiamoland.bsky.social for introducing me to Jessie R. Fauset (1882-1961), who, I learn, was an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Her fictional work often focused upon the black middle classes.

A black and white head shot photo of Jessie R. Fauset: a gracious-looking woman wearing a dark dress and a light necklace

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Feb 24

Continuing the labour of love of sorting through my late father-in-law’s record collection. Today musing on the earlier practice of head shots for LP covers. What’s with the side eye Wilhelm? 😂

Photo of album cover. Photo of Wilhelm Kempff, wearing suit and tie, looking to the side. Blue background. Above details of album: Beethovens moonlight and appassionata sonatas. Deutsche Grammophon

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Feb 9

Finding so many treasures in the record collection of my wonderful father-in-law who died recently, aged 90. Lovely to find that on this recording of Holst conducting The Planets, his daughter, Imogen Holst, wrote the sleeve notes. She was also a composer.

Photo of album cover, ‘Gustav Holst conducts The Planets’, London Symphony Orchestra. EMI. The HMV Treasury. White letters on red background. In the centre, karge black and white photo of Holst apparently conducting. Either side of the photo decorative flowers in brown and white.

Photo of back of album. It gives details of the piece on the left. The right two thirds of the cover are the album notes, in small writing, by Imogen Holst.

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Jan 29

My stuff just arrived! Thanks @ukstoptrump.bsky.social #stoptrump

Photo of black tote bag with ‘stop trump’ on a white circle, an orange envelope plus black stickers all saying Stop Trump

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Dec 31

Yay great! It may be a slightly different scale lol but I’m pleased to report a similar trajectory !

Screen shot of data from health app stating ‘On average you’re walking more this year compared to last year. 36 steps per day 2025, 20 steps per day 2024’. Black text. White background. Years in red

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Dec 23

Due to severity of long covid I can’t spend more than a few (high quality!) mins with my adult children. Today’s time with my daughter (also severe lc) was spent on pomander art 🎉 I offer you ‘Medieval Weapon’ (her) and ‘Woman post C-section. A study’ (me). You’re welcome #wintersoltice #longcovid

A rather oval-shaped orange, on its side, on a wooden bed table.
The orange is inexpertly studded with cloves

An orange sitting on a wooden bed table. In its centre is a clove (the navel). At the bottom is a curved line of cloves (the C-scar). The careful viewer will see holes in the orange on the left hand side from a failed attempt to make a proper pomander

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Dec 22

Delighted to have come across this album of ‘Neglected works for piano’ by Bengt Forsberg. Late C19 & C20 European pieces by Vitezlava Kapralova, Amy Beach, Doreen Carwithen, Valborg Aulin, Ruth Sofia Almen, Grazyna Bacewicz, Germaine Tailleferre & Ruth Crawford Seeger What a rich collection

Screen shot of the album cover. Photo in muted tones, with black background, of the pianist: a middle-aged white man, sitting on a chair surrounded by piano scores

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Dec 20

If you want to explore British female composers further and/or some very neglected C19 and C20 classical music here’s another 2025 album. Hiroaki Takenouchi playing Carwithen, Dring, Howell & Reinagle.

Screen shot of the album cover. In white letters: Hiroaki Takenouchi’s name in large letters top right; ‘Works for solo pianos by British women composers in smaller letters lower down from the left. The four composers names beneath that. Background abstract purple with blue, and some gold

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Dec 18

Whenever I chance upon this photo of Joseph Haydn, I now find myself thinking ‘Oh look - there’s that guy Symphonist from bluesky’. @deeplyclassical.bsky.social has totally superseded Haydn in my brain.

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Dec 12

Yep! I think the only good use of AI is gentle, low stakes humour. Like the pigeons in my garden dressing up early in the winter chill

Photo of a wood pigeon on a bird feeder in a garden. AI has added an Orange and rust coloured woolly hat and scarf

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Dec 6

I hate to boast, but it’s been a MASSIVE week for me all round:

A salmon pink card from the Bird Buddy App. Under the title ‘rare guest’ there’s a photo of a wood pigeon sitting on my red bird feeder with the caption ‘You’re in the top 5% of feeders capturing visits from Common Wood Pigeon. They clearly love stopping.’

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Dec 5

Look @deeplyclassical.bsky.social ! This was your doing!

Picture of Joseph Haydn with text reading ‘You spend 341 minutes with them, which makes you a top 1% global fan’

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Nov 26

We don’t have the full wholesome loveliness of Julia’s community; nor the crime-busting awesomeness of Katherine’s, but we do share otter videos

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Nov 25

Every little helps! 😂 #Longcovid

Screenshot of a page from iphone health app: ‘Today you’re burning about the same number of kilocalories you typically do. Today 1 kcal. Average 1 kcal

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Oct 26

In MASSIVE news, we’ve got a new scrabble dictionary. The day I’ve long been waiting for:

A photo from the scrabble dictionary with a red ring around the word ‘ok’

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Aug 15

Reading about Harriet Cohen who won an award aged 18 for being the most distinguished musician at the RAM! But UGH not enjoying the relationship with Arnold Bax stuff. He was infatuated & began to write to her from their 1st meeting when was 16. He was newly married and…[brace yourselves] 1/2

Black and white head and chest shot of Harriet Cohen as a young woman. She is glamorously presented - wearing makeup with sleek hair styled fashionably close to her head and large earrings. She is looking away from th camera.

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Aug 9

Roberta Cowell (1918-2011) A British racing driver from Croydon, she was captured in Germany during the WWI. Underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1951. Would be interested to read her autobiography some time. Thank you @edrybicki.bsky.social so much for telling me about her - she’s new to me

Black and white head and shoulders photo of Roberta Cowell. She has fair, shoulder length hair, and is wearing a black top and white cardigan. Learning against a street wall

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Aug 3

Hello 😀 do you think the rather blurred photo below might be the same species? My unreliable app suggested siver-sided sector, but I think it looks like your photo? Budding, but very ignorant naturalist here….

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Jun 21

My partner started a wildlife pond in our garden. Now we have swifts swooping & diving throughout the day 😊 I can see the pond - and the swifts - from the bedroom window, & can now manage to get out there every now and then. Life-changingly wonderful ♥️ Solidarity to everyone living with #longcovid

A photograph of a small garden pond on a bright, sunny day. It is bordered by stones and has many plants in it, including water forget me knot. It is surrounded by long grass and different coloured fox gloves. Other garden plants in the background.

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· May 27

Listening to the hugely prolific English composer Kaikhosru Sorabji, b.1892. Reclusive, he felt an outsider due to his Parsi heritage & homosexuality. In 1924 he dedicated his Piano Concerto no. 7 [7!] to sexologist Havelock Ellis. Sorabji also wrote on decriminalising homosexuality

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Apr 27

If you’re into classical music and/or women’s history (or know someone who is) this merch is a great gift. It will also support the extraordinary work @henselpushers.bsky.social is doing to make available the music of Fanny Hensel (aka Mendelssohn). Delighted with mine - a gift to me 😊

Photo of navy mug and T shirt on a small wooden table, cream carpet and white door visible. The merchandise has a small picture of Fanny Hensel; and the T shirt has Henselpushers.org in white letters across the front

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Apr 23

So will the Vatican will be checking the genitalia of potential popes? Apparently in the past there was a procedure to do just this. This was due to anxieties over the apocryphal Pope Joan - a woman said to have risen through the Catholic hierarchy dressed as a man.

Black and white depiction, possibly 17th century (?) of a ceremonial procedure to check the popes genitals. 1644. The pope sits on a grand chair in the middle, surrounded by men in ceremonial dress, with two kneeling before him. A third man kneels at his side, putting his hand through an opening in the chair, to check the pope’s genitals. Non explicit

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Apr 13

Was reminded today about William Anderson’s ‘Model Women’ (1870). Anderson had a section on navigation which focused on Janet Taylor (d.1870). She wrote texts on the subject, made instruments, and taught sailors at her specialist academy. Love this eg of the expansiveness of ideas of ‘model women’

Black and white photo of a ‘Mariner’s calculator’: a complicated instrument involving metal hoops, a lever and attachments. It was patented by Taylor in 1834

Prof Kate Loder@kghist· Apr 5

Pleased to come across African-American composer Anna Gardner Goodwin (1874-1959) today. Like many C19 women her work has been associated with religion, but as always it’s more complicated. Her Cuban Liberty March (1898), for eg, was about the Cuban War of Independence from Spain.