Category Archives: collections and archives

An alibi

Posted on April 8, 2019 by things magazine

From this question, Umberto Eco on photocopies: ‘Photocopies are indispensable instruments. They allow you to keep with you a text you have already read in the library, and to take home a text you have not read yet. But a … Continue reading →

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A clutch of collections, ancient and modern

Posted on February 25, 2019 by things magazine

Some things to browse, starting with the incredibly accurate cutlery drawer simulator (via b3ta) / Tiny Commotions, a weblog / Fan Ho’s Street Photography of 50s & 60s Hong Kong (at kottke) / Building on the Built, an architecture website … Continue reading →

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The comedy book index, revisited

Posted on August 30, 2018 by things magazine

A Brief History of the Index at I love Typography (via Coudal). This post sent us back to The Indexer magazine, the publication of the Society of Indexers, previously mentioned in the archives. It sent us to the excellent blog … Continue reading →

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Mapping the past and the present

Posted on July 1, 2018 by things magazine

A new generation of Apple Maps is on the way. See also this 2016 comparison between Google Maps and Apple Maps by Justin O’Beirne, who followed up with a year of Google and Apple Maps in 2017 and an even … Continue reading →

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Obsessed with archives

Posted on March 7, 2018 by things magazine

The British Library is in the process of saving old sound recordings, often on obscure formats. The Museum of Obsolete Media has a timeline of audio formats (the data format timeline is just as intriguing. Related, the Sinclair ZX Microdrive … Continue reading →

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Deep dive

Posted on November 24, 2017 by things magazine

Paintings by Kirsten Tradowsky / cars are getting bigger (via Cartype) / eight years of construction: Official Louvre Abu Dhabi Time-Lapse 2009 – 2017 / Making a violin in less than two weeks / reviews from the audiophile man / … Continue reading →

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Repurposed spaces and reissued things

Posted on January 11, 2017 by things magazine

Bolshy Flatblock: The buildings of A Clockwork Orange, Modernism in Metroland on the architectural legend of the film. One for Coudal’s Stuff about Stanley Kubrick section / the architecture of Pablo Escobar Jr / an archive of Yahoo Answers / … Continue reading →

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Going underground

Posted on January 10, 2017 by things magazine

‘A hidden vault under the old Astoria nightclub has been unearthed by Crossrail builders and it has revealed an unexpected history of one of Britain’s first condiment suppliers‘ / sort of related, archive images of some amazing early C20 salt … Continue reading →

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101, Dalmations, 101; Toast counts individually, 102

Posted on January 6, 2017 by things magazine

The remarkable 8-Bit Beatles want to chirrup their chiptune back catalogue at you (via MeFi) / also on the blue, Trains with the faces of men, a compendium of links about Thomas the Tank Engine, the series that unwittingly mines … Continue reading →

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Things you can buy

Posted on July 1, 2016 by things magazine

Modernist Camden, a new map from Things you can buy / Engineering the World, the life and work of Ove Arup on display at the

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Collections and Archives: link review

Posted on June 6, 2016 by things magazine

Into the collections and archives section. A Penguin a Week is still soldiering on (plenty of Penguins to go) / Agence Eureka is still a treasure trove of scanned ephemera and illustration / Archive.org’s blog is worth following / Archive … Continue reading →

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Things on screen

Posted on January 15, 2016 by things magazine

11 Months, 3000 pictures and a lot of coffee. Restoring an engine / How GM Beat Tesla to the First True Mass-Market Electric Car / related: end of the road as car use falls? / Teenage Crushes, selling the supercars … Continue reading →

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Various archives and revived memories

Posted on January 10, 2016 by things magazine

Unfinished Father, a 2015 project by Erik Kessels, a very personal project from the publisher of the In Almost Every Picture series of found albums. More at It’s Nice That / Dubdog, always satisfying to stumble across a well-cultivated flickr … Continue reading →

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Keeping it all together

Posted on December 18, 2015 by things magazine

All about the Commonplace Book, the Moleskine of history (via MeFi) / sort of related, from last year, Tiny Letters to the Web We Miss, Joanne McNeil on TinyLetter and the resurgence in small scale, low key blogging / Works … Continue reading →

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You’ve got mail

Posted on November 10, 2015 by things magazine

From Dirty Modern Scoundrel, a blog by John Grindrod to accompany his book Concretopia: A Journey Around the Rebuilding of Postwar Britain, ‘Carry On Modernism‘. A collection of the ‘top five encounters between Carry On and Modernism’ (i.e. Kenneth Williams … Continue reading →

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Behind the bar

Posted on October 17, 2015 by things magazine

The origins of Chicken Tikka Masala / the death and life of a great British pub, fascinating insight into development, gentrification and all those things / sort of related, Exclusive Planned Community or Adult Film Performer?

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One dot at a time

Posted on May 21, 2015 by things magazine

A short history of Barbapapa, who turned 45 yesterday. We hadn’t realised you can buy a model of the Barbapapa House, a seminal piece of architectural design on the page. Still, you can always make your own / rich and … Continue reading →

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Twiddling

Posted on March 13, 2015 by things magazine

Other things for Friday: ‘One of the most absorbing and alluring games that has ever captured society. Boredom is a thing of the past in Belgravia since the art of puzzling’: a history of the jigsaw, along with zag-zaws, crazy-cuts … Continue reading →

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Own a small piece of the moon

Posted on February 11, 2015 by things magazine

Moonfire: The epic journey of Apollo 11 is an enhanced pictorial edit of Norman Mailer’s Time reportage on the moon programme. It seems that Mailer didn’t really enjoy the whole experience, feeling that it lacked a certain magic; he certainly … Continue reading →

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Contoured profile domed

Posted on January 21, 2015 by things magazine

Peel, Pucker, Pinch, or Puncture? Coffee Lids, Explored is a piece on the patented coffee lid collection assembled by architects Specht Harpman, a companion to an article in Cabinet a few years ago. These little disks of plastic are massively … Continue reading →

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