iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

These are two great images from an early 18th c. travel account: "extraordinary turnips" near Arkhangelsk and rhubarb and eggplant seen on the way to Persia via the Caspian. Per the author, eggplant "is admirable in soup, fried in butter and in several other manners."

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

This just really doesn't have a consistent message. What does Henry VIII have to do with a country doctor??

Advertisement for Country Doctor Pipe Mixture tobacco, featuring an image of Henry VIII smoking a pipe with the message "Zounds! WIVES I changeth often, but NOT my tobacco! It doth smoke so smooth, so sweet, so mellow"

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

I have no explanation for this one.

A woman screams as a person in a gorilla suit leaps at her (?!)

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

This is part of my absolute favorite nineteenth-century diplomatic ado, which is that Nicholas I was outraged by Louis Napoleon Bonaparte naming himself Napoleon III. He had problems with the III and with his fellow sovereigns calling him "my brother" instead of "my friend."

Hand-written letter saying: My Lord, Without at present entering into many details I may inform Your Lordship, as I am able to do on certain authority, that much resentment & anger has been manifested by the Emperor upon learning that the Sovereigns of Austria and Prussia have resolved upon employing the form of "mon frêre" in their correspondence with Louis Bonaparte."

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

This was also for that class, when I talked about newspapers (the invention of paper is my first event that changed the world). I can't remember which newspaper I got this from but I wanted to show students classified ads since that's not something they'd likely have seen.

Newspaper classified ads, showing columns for "Help Wanted--Male," "Help Wanted--Female," and "Wanted to Rent"

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

This I remember, for the first day of my big first-year class "Ten Events that Changed the World," part of explaining the origin of the title.

Newspaper clipping with headline "John Reed, Writer, Not Dead."

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

I'm avoiding marking by cleaning out my screenshots folder. So many odd things I can't remember why I saved. Very very busy (and oddly humanoid?) beavers of Canada.

Black and white engraving showing a very very large number of oddly human-ish beavers building a dam near Niagara Falls. Text at bottom begins "A view of the industry of the beavers of Canada in making dams to stop the course of a rivulet in order to form a Great Lake, about which they build their Habitations."

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

I got the notecards from ITFF more than a decade ago and wish I’d thought of this sooner!

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

I keep walking down the hallway to read things aloud to my colleague because they're so great. YAY AMAZING STUDENTS YOU ROCK.

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

(Also, I've done the notecard thing for years but the idea to do the end of class reflection exercise came from Fiona Bell after I shared the notecard thing with her!)

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

The results are amazing! They're being so thoughtful about the kinds of questions they asked and how the evolved over the term, thanks to new information or just getting used to different kinds of readings. It's really, really wonderful. I have literally teared up twice from joy.

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

I am marking something and it is making me SO HAPPY with my wonderful students. I have them turn in index cards with questions about readings each week, and this year I gave them all their cards back, asked them to read through them, and then to write a reflection on their own reading practice.

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

This makes me think of an awesome 1941 article I stumbled upon about how much better paperbacks would be for reading in bed! (But I can also see how a hardcover really truly says I WROTE A BOOK.) bsky.app/profile/prof...

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

I love so many things about this page, including the fact that the 80s lasted a very long time, apparently. I also want to know what was going on in 2017. eu.daleofnorway.com/explore-dale...

eu.daleofnorway.com

Iconic sweaters

Dale of Norway has made official sweaters for the Norwegian ski team for every Winter Olympics and World Ski Championships from 1956 to 2022.

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

I am writing a short piece about dacha-going and it taking so much will not to make a reference to Russians coming to the cottage.

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Ugh. Completely unsurprising, but ugh.

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

This is WILD. So many things! Folk tales! 19th century literature! An explanation of Tarkovsky's films! Why trees have leaves!!

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

Would really really really love to see the 2026 version of Miliukov standing up in the Duma and giving the “is this stupidity or is this treason” speech.

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Ha, I got bougie which is maybe actually accurate but hurtful.

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

Emotional support chickens, ready for exam-weeks duty.

Photograph of a desk with a laptop computer, a water bottle, and two knitted chickens.

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Sir James Harris, British envoy to St. Petersburg, in a letter back to London, May 24/June 4, 1779.

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

“On the other hand, to those who reside in this Empire, and who perceive the unaccountable and imperfect manner in which all their plans are traced, and the improper instruments selected for their execution, it must be a matter of astonishment that they do not fail in everything they undertake.”

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

“To those who live out of Russia, and who only can form their judgment of it from the great events its interference and weight everywhere produce, it must appear as if it was conducted with superior judgment, and defective in no one essential point of its government.”

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

“The lead this Court takes in all the great transactions of Europe; the successes which attend every part of its public conduct, and at the same time the supineness and insufficiency of its administration, are facts so seemingly incompatible that, in a future day, they must appear incredible.”

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

One of Catherine the Great’s grandsons, when aged about nine, asked this about someone: “Is he a real genuine Briton? Does he appear frightened when he enters a room where there is any company? Is he at a loss where to put his hat, when he is so polite as to take it off?” (Reported by Swinton.)

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

Now available (open access!): the article I might not have written had I not been department chair, on eighteenth century Russian rulers trying to stop people asking them for things. (Also on how autocracy works, should that be of current interest SIGH.) www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

cambridge.org

“To Each Their Grievance Is Bitter and Unbearable”: Petitions, Autocracy, and the Rule of Law in Eighteenth-Century Russia | Law and History Review | Cambridge Core

“To Each Their Grievance Is Bitter and Unbearable”: Petitions, Autocracy, and the Rule of Law in Eighteenth-Century Russia

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

My music group commissioned a piece by Beverley McKiver; she was inspired by the lost rivers of Toronto and wrote us a truly lovely piece: youtu.be/FcAnjaFS9Us?...

youtu.be

Lost Rivers

YouTube video by Wychwood Clarinet Choir

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Excellent description of Cyrillic from a 19th century American traveler: "the letters are all drunk and run the wrong way, like lopsided crabs."

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Whew, Belinsky when he realizes he can't actually find rationality in the world around him is too relatable: "I am weary, cold, and empty. I have no hope of any personal happiness. Woe! Woe! Life is exposed."

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

There is still an awful lot of awful out there, but gosh I have enjoyed Chicago Pope day.

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

He then later shared the news report that Lavrov’s gift to the new president was going to be a lap dog.

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Once again, I am reminded of the archive security guard who, in fall 2016, asked me who I was going to vote for. Before I could answer, he said “you’re probably going to say Clinton, but Trump would be better for Russia.”

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Also I honestly did not realize how much of a problem wolves were in nineteenth-century Russia.

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

I wish I could say that surprised me but it totally doesn't -- it really was!

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

I'm reading through 19th century mortality reports and holy shit we are so lucky to live in a world of modern public health. Why the hell would anyone want to go back to that? It is infuriating.

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Reposted by Alison K. Smith

Ruth Deyermond @ruthdeyermond.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Boris Nemtsov was assassinated 10 years ago today. The street outside the Russian embassy in Washington D.C. was renamed in his memory - a move instigated by a senator determined to hold the Kremlin accountable for its crimes. I wonder how he thinks that's going. www.voanews.com/a/us-bill-wo...

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

I knew Arcimboldo painted fruit/vegetable portraits but a BOOK portrait?? Amazing. I could not love this more. Source: samlingar.shm.se/object/465F6...

Portrait of a man made out of books! Several small books make up his face, with ribbons indicating his ear. A splayed open book is his hair/hat. A large red book makes up one upper arm, with a white and cream book with ribbons hanging out the end serving as lower arm and fingers. A blue/gray drapery behind serves as a cape.

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Today I stumbled on this stunning piece of... embroidery? I think that's the best word for this kind of needle art? ... made by Maria Christina Frosterus in Uleåborg/Oulu Finland, 1820, in the collections of The National Museum of Finland. I love it.

Photograph of a piece white on white embroidery in the shape of a star with flowers and vines around the edges; the star is divided into many smaller triangles each with its own stitch pattern.

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

It is a bonkers take. Making music with other people is the best.

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

Honestly the thing that might turn me into a diplomatic historian is all the snark.

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

The British ambassador to St. Petersburg in 1859 on his French counterpart: "...a kind hearted and conciliatory man, but troubled occassionally with that susceptibility which not uncommonly renders a Frenchman more intent upon trifles than upon matters of serious import.."

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

A powder commonly in use among Russians to prevent cholera, taken “with such good results” by the British ambassador that he is sending the information on to the foreign office! NA FO 65/424/252

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Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

It is also fascinating and troubling to read the dispatches by the British ambassador in early 1853, passing on reports of increased Russian military presence in the south, and then following them up with what amounts to "but Nicholas can't possibly intend there to be war, Russia can't afford it."

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