• A history of the office. (Curbed)

• “Giant bronze statue of Roman emperor in Italy is finally given back its middle digit after it was mistaken by the Louvre for a toe.” (Daily Mail)

• Introducing the original anti-vaxxers. (Public Domain Review)

• “This practice of same-sex marriage was documented in more than forty precolonial African societies: a woman could marry one or more women if she could secure the bridewealth necessary or was expected to uphold and augment kinship ties. The idea that a female could be a husband perplexed Europeans, and often lead to fantastical conclusions.” (JSTOR Daily)

• On antiquarians. (London Review of Books)

• Researchers discover that an Egyptian mummy believed to be a male priest was pregnant. (The Guardian)

• “Without personals, Manifest Destiny—flawed, damaging, racist doctrine that it was—couldn’t have, well, manifested.” (Atlas Obscura)

• “The shape of the ancient hominid’s shoulder blades points to gorilla-like way of tree climbing.” (Science News)

• Remembering Hubert Harrison. (Black Perspectives)

• Considering a “rare eighteenth-century carving of a Theravãda Buddhist cosmography” as cartography. (Library of Congress Blog)

• On Mary Seacole. (Nursing Clio)

• Meet a fictional historian. (n+1)

• This week in obituaries: Michael Collins, Daniel Kaminsky, Kathie Coblentz, Christa Ludwig, John Richards, Al Young, Penelope Laingen, Robert Slavin, Shock G, Barry Mason, Arlene Pieper Stine, Diane Adler, June Newton, Clara Lamore Walker, Anne Douglas, Bob Fass, Jill Corey, Milva, May Wynn, Mariano Puig, Helen Weaver, Allon Schoener, Johnny Crawford, Ole Anthony, Trader Faulkner, Anthony Powell, Al Schmitt, Charles Strum, and Hester Ford.