iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Rabbit Hole #5 My soundtrack is Ladino music. One question about medieval Spain somehow led me to a language carried across the Mediterranean after 1492. I love it when research unexpectedly comes with a playlist.🗃️

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

History has made me suspicious of simple stories. Real people are wonderfully complicated. That's one reason I keep reading.🗃️

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

After researching journalists from the 1920s and 30s, I've become convinced of one thing: Great reporters aren't defined by fearlessness. They're defined by curiosity. The willingness to ask one more question has always changed history. 🗃️

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

“Facts regularly outperform my imagination.” Kimberly Sheeter began Air-Minded as biography before it became historical fiction. We talked about research, aviation, and the details that make the past feel inhabited. 🗃️ tinyurl.com/54cpu75h

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

My favorite historical question isn't "What happened?" It's: "What happened next?" That's often where the real story begins.🗃️

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I've been wondering: What makes someone worth remembering? History doesn't always preserve the most important people. Sometimes it simply preserves the best documented ones. That's why historians keep looking for the missing voices.🗃️

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Agnes Young McAlpin's husband's family tried to hide her away in an attic. She found allies, escaped with her children, and sued for divorce. I talked with Attic Wife author Marcia Biederman about recovering Agnes's story. tinyurl.com/4673wubc

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Who made the map of the modern Middle East? The simple answer: Great Britain. The long answer involves the Ottoman Empire's collapse, competing claims, conflicting agreements, and emerging nationalist movements. 🗃️ From my archives: tinyurl.com/5n6e79zj

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

One of the strangest things about history is how long normalcy survives after the rules change. When the Gestapo first summoned Sigrid Schultz, she wasn’t frightened. She was annoyed they hadn’t made a proper appointment. That detail stays with me.

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cliodialogues.bsky.social @cliodialogues.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Would you recognize the warning signs of authoritarianism if you saw them? @pdtoler.bsky.social joins The Clio Dialogues to discuss Sigrid Schultz, the rise of Nazism, and reporting as Germany’s democracy was dismantled. 🎧 Link in bio to watch or listen to The Clio Dialogues history podcast.

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Eugene V. Debs was a labor organizer, a leader of the Pullman Strike, and a five-time Socialist candidate for president. In 1920, he ran from prison. A Labor Day program sent me back to his story. 🗃️

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I knew the Great Panic of 1893 was bad. I didn't realize how bad—or that the U.S. experienced 18 bank panics between 1863 and 1913. The Gilded Age looks a little different from this angle.🗃️ tinyurl.com/293544k8

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cliodialogues.bsky.social @cliodialogues.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

In 1931, Adolf Hitler told an American reporter precisely what he intended to do with power. It failed to make front page news. @pdtoler.bsky.social joins The Clio Dialogues to discuss 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘨𝘰 ~ Sigrid Schultz, Hitler’s rise, and how Germany lost its democracy. 🎧 Link in bio

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Coaching my husband through making red beans and rice--the next step in his self-directed "learn to cook" course.

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Research led me to the Exposition Flyer, the "fastest train on earth" in 1893. My subject probably didn't take it. The detail may never make it into the book. But I needed to know it. This is how you write a book: one detail at a time. 🗃️ tinyurl.com/ybcfkj6m

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Kara Buchanan 🏳️‍⚧️ @magicariot.com · 02/09/2026

This will be in my head for the rest of my life

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Christine Kooi @christinekooi.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The poets always say it best.

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The spice trade had spies. Jan Huygen van Linschoten got access to Portugal's closely guarded information about the sea routes to Asia. Then he published it. 🗃️ One more trip into the archives: tinyurl.com/3z4e6h5w

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Rabbit Hole #4 I visited a museum... The object everyone stopped to admire wasn't what stayed with me. It was one small museum label tucked off to the side. Amazing how a few sentences can change the way you see history. 🗃️

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Or more accurately freeform little free library. As always, I see the error as I hit send

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Seen in the neighborhood: free form little free library?

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

After all these years, the thing I love most about history isn't finding answers. It's being surprised. One footnote. One museum label. One old newspaper. That's often all it takes to send me in a new direction. I wouldn't have it any other way. And if I'm very lucky... Another rabbit hole. 🗃️

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The historical figures who stay with me aren't always the famous ones. Usually they're the people who quietly changed how I think. History has a wonderful way of introducing us to remarkable companions. 🗃️

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Tomorrow I get to do one of my favorite things: talk about Sigrid Schultz. I’ll be sharing her story at Holocaust Museum Houston. If you’re in Houston, come say hello. I’d love to see you there. 📍 Holocaust Museum Houston 📅 Thursday, August 27 ⏰ 6:30 PM RSVP: tinyurl.com/4rb2pajk

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

European merchants wanted Asian spices and luxury goods. But they had very little Asian markets wanted in return. So how did the spice trade actually work? 🗃️ A trip into the archives: tinyurl.com/3czkm57a

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I have never successfully read just one book on a subject. One bibliography always leads to another. Research isn't a straight line. It's a branching river. Fortunately, wandering is part of the job. 🗃️

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

On August 27, I’ll be at Holocaust Museum Houston talking about Sigrid, her years reporting from Nazi Germany, and the extraordinary lengths she went to in order to keep doing her job. Houston friends, I hope you’ll join me. ⏰ 6:30 PM Details and RSVP: tinyurl.com/4rb2pajk

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Looking forward to sinking into the reliable goodness of #ScholarSunday after a tough week

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Jim Zub @jimzub.com · 20/08/2026

Same here, baby. Same.

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

The past is finished. History isn't. Every new archive, museum exhibit, diary, photograph, or question has the potential to deepen our understanding of what came before. History is an ongoing conversation—and that's one of the reasons I love it. 🗃️

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Eliza Lucas Pinckney helped make indigo a major crop in colonial South Carolina. She was also an enslaver, and her success depended on enslaved labor and expertise. Both belong in her story.🗃️ tinyurl.com/bd32mfp9

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Rabbit Hole #3 A completely unexpected discovery: I started reading about Central Asia... ...which somehow led me to the history of trousers. History is wonderfully strange. Ordinary things often have extraordinary stories. 🗃️

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Houston friends, where are you? I’m headed your way! On August 27, I’ll be at Holocaust Museum Houston talking about The Dragon from Chicago and the remarkable woman at the center of the story, Sigrid Schultz. I’d love to see some of you there. Details and RSVP: tinyurl.com/4rb2pajk

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

You may not know Fanny Palmer’s name, but there’s a good chance you know her work. She was one of Currier and Ives’ most prolific artists—and the only woman illustrator on staff. 🗃️ More: tinyurl.com/mr4x5yd6

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

That moment when you realize you are the same age as the feisty little old ladies who are solving the murder in the book you’re reading

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Sometimes I think our subjects choose us. I certainly didn’t set out to write about Sigrid Schultz. I joined the Infinite Women podcast to talk about Sigrid, journalism, and the complicated historical record. 🗃️ Listen here. tinyurl.com/4pxv756v

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

History depends on witnesses. Not because memory is perfect. Because someone had to notice. Someone had to write it down. Every diary, letter, newspaper article, and photograph helps us see the past a little more clearly. 🗃️

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

One of the best parts of being a historian? Changing my mind. Sometimes one letter or one newspaper article sends me back to rethink everything I thought I knew. That's not failure. That's good history. 🗃️

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

In 1929, Berenice Abbott began walking New York with her camera, taking what she called “tiny photographic notes.” Together, they became a remarkable portrait of a changing city. 🗃️ tinyurl.com/bdvfw3hj

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

The most dangerous thing Sigrid Schultz carried wasn't a weapon. It was a notebook. The Nazis feared reporters who asked questions, checked facts, and refused to look away. As Sigrid wrote: "The greatest service we could render our country was to marshal the facts as they were." 🗃️

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Ready to settle down for my Sunday history-nerd binge!

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Pamela Toler (she/her) @pdtoler.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

First tomato from my garden, with a cherry for a sense of scale

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