From the garden. BLTs on the way

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. 🗃️ https://tinyurl.com/ybcfkj6m

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

Brittlestar@brittlestar.com · 7d ago

It’s Nice To Be Disliked By One Of Those

The poets always say it best.

Erik Hoffner@erikhoffner.bsky.social · 10mo ago

“It is easy for me to imagine that the next great division of the world will be between people who wish to live as creatures & people who wish to live as machines.” ― Wendell Berry, "Life is a Miracle"

Arrrgh! Thank you for listening.

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: https://tinyurl.com/3z4e6h5w

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. 🗃️

Seen in the neighborhood: free form little free library?

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.  🗃️

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.  🗃️

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: https://tinyurl.com/4rb2pajk

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: https://tinyurl.com/3czkm57a

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. 🗃️

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: https://tinyurl.com/4rb2pajk

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

Ben Railton@americanstudier.bsky.social · 2w ago

The new school year is almost upon us, but summer isn’t quite done, & neither are the summer #ScholarSunday threads! Here’s my 290th of public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, share widely, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ +

Same here, baby. Same.

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.  🗃️

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.🗃️ https://tinyurl.com/bd32mfp9

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.  🗃️

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: https://tinyurl.com/4rb2pajk

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: https://tinyurl.com/mr4x5yd6

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

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.  https://tinyurl.com/4pxv756v

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.   🗃️

My Own True Love and I are planning our next road trip through history: Lewis and Clark. Now we need your help. Historical sites, tiny museums, oddball stops, good food—what shouldn't we miss? More:

Planning a Road Trip Through History (Hopefully With a Little Help From My Friends) – History in the Margins

Planning a Road Trip Through History (Hopefully With a Little Help From My Friends) By Pamela | August 7, 2026 | 0 Two years and two months ago,*[1] My Own True Love and I finished an epic road trip down the Great River Road. It took us ten years and it was absolutely wonderful.*[2] We’ve been con...

tinyurl.com

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. 🗃️

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. 🗃️ https://tinyurl.com/bdvfw3hj

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."   🗃️

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

Ben Railton@americanstudier.bsky.social · 4w ago

#ScholarSunday on a Saturday is just as full o’ public scholarly goodness as always! Check it out for yourself, & if you see this & are able, please share widely to get all this great work out there, thanks! 🗃️ @hcrichardson.bsky.social

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