Alison K. Smith
@profaks.bsky.social
(Russian) history prof at the University of Toronto and (very) occasional blogger at russianhistoryblog.org. Mostly posts things from research and teaching. She/her.
Pinned
Alison K. Smith
@profaks.bsky.social
· May 12
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."
"I am weary, cold, and empty. I have no hope of any personal happiness. Woe! Woe! Life is exposed."
“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.”
November 13, 2025 at 6:20 PM
“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.”
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.)
November 3, 2025 at 12:52 PM
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.)
Great postdoc opportunity at University of Toronto! (It's super competitive but possible!) www.artsci.utoronto.ca/faculty-staf...
Find Funding
Get the latest information about external and internal funding opportunities to support your research program, including funds that support the recruitment of research trainees. Internal Funding Oppor...
www.artsci.utoronto.ca
August 27, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Great postdoc opportunity at University of Toronto! (It's super competitive but possible!) www.artsci.utoronto.ca/faculty-staf...
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...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
“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
www.cambridge.org
August 18, 2025 at 12:31 PM
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...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
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?...
Lost Rivers
YouTube video by Wychwood Clarinet Choir
youtu.be
June 27, 2025 at 9:05 AM
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?...
Excellent description of Cyrillic from a 19th century American traveler: "the letters are all drunk and run the wrong way, like lopsided crabs."
May 15, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Excellent description of Cyrillic from a 19th century American traveler: "the letters are all drunk and run the wrong way, like lopsided crabs."
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."
"I am weary, cold, and empty. I have no hope of any personal happiness. Woe! Woe! Life is exposed."
May 12, 2025 at 6:56 PM
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."
"I am weary, cold, and empty. I have no hope of any personal happiness. Woe! Woe! Life is exposed."
There is still an awful lot of awful out there, but gosh I have enjoyed Chicago Pope day.
May 9, 2025 at 1:43 AM
There is still an awful lot of awful out there, but gosh I have enjoyed Chicago Pope day.
Amazing.
Canada goose fights off bald eagle in rare, symbolism-laden battle on ice
Canada goose fights off bald eagle in rare, symbolism-laden battle on ice
Photographer captures 20-minute clash between birds emblematic of Canada and US amid high political tensions
For the second time in weeks, a Canadian icon has emerged as the unlikely victor in an existential battle on the ice.
Mervyn Sequeira, an…
www.theguardian.com
March 5, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Amazing.
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.”
February 28, 2025 at 8:57 PM
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.”
Reposted by Alison K. Smith
I need a good shorthand to describe the now regular feeling of being not at all surprised by what happens, yet still horrified and repulsed when it does happen.
February 28, 2025 at 8:21 PM
I need a good shorthand to describe the now regular feeling of being not at all surprised by what happens, yet still horrified and repulsed when it does happen.
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.
February 28, 2025 at 3:48 PM
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.
Reposted by Alison K. Smith
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...
February 27, 2025 at 1:45 PM
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...
I knew Arcimboldo painted fruit/vegetable portraits but a BOOK portrait?? Amazing. I could not love this more.
Source: samlingar.shm.se/object/465F6...
Source: samlingar.shm.se/object/465F6...
January 16, 2025 at 7:16 PM
I knew Arcimboldo painted fruit/vegetable portraits but a BOOK portrait?? Amazing. I could not love this more.
Source: samlingar.shm.se/object/465F6...
Source: samlingar.shm.se/object/465F6...
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.
January 16, 2025 at 5:07 PM
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.
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.."
January 3, 2025 at 2:10 PM
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.."
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
January 2, 2025 at 2:45 PM
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
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."
January 2, 2025 at 1:57 PM
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."
Furthermore, Nicholas I and the Russian government did not "recognize the validity of the numeral III as adopted by the Emperor of the French."
TIL that in the run-up to the Crimean War, one issue was that Nicholas I did not want to call Louis Napoleon, recently declared emperor in France, "mon frère" and was OUTRAGED that the Austrian and Prussian emperors were willing to do so.
January 2, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Furthermore, Nicholas I and the Russian government did not "recognize the validity of the numeral III as adopted by the Emperor of the French."
TIL that in the run-up to the Crimean War, one issue was that Nicholas I did not want to call Louis Napoleon, recently declared emperor in France, "mon frère" and was OUTRAGED that the Austrian and Prussian emperors were willing to do so.
January 2, 2025 at 1:27 PM
TIL that in the run-up to the Crimean War, one issue was that Nicholas I did not want to call Louis Napoleon, recently declared emperor in France, "mon frère" and was OUTRAGED that the Austrian and Prussian emperors were willing to do so.
Reposted by Alison K. Smith
RÚV, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Agency, shows this dance EVERY New Years Day, and has done so as long as there has been television.
Please click play and enjoy this magnificent spectacle, without which it could never feel like a new year is truly coming.
Please click play and enjoy this magnificent spectacle, without which it could never feel like a new year is truly coming.
Heiða var að kynna mig fyrir Korktappadansinum sem var sýndur eitthvað svona einu sinni í Finnlandi en hefur verið sýndur hver einustu áramót síðan hjá RÚV og ég hef bara aldrei séð þetta
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6KA...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6KA...
Korktappadansinn
YouTube video by María Sól
www.youtube.com
December 31, 2024 at 11:52 AM
RÚV, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Agency, shows this dance EVERY New Years Day, and has done so as long as there has been television.
Please click play and enjoy this magnificent spectacle, without which it could never feel like a new year is truly coming.
Please click play and enjoy this magnificent spectacle, without which it could never feel like a new year is truly coming.
Suddenly I understand why my 8th grade social studies teacher (in Oak Park, just west of Chicago, in 1984-5) told us we were lucky because we’d be immediately dead if there were a nuclear war.
A new post on Doomsday Machines for your post-holiday light reading, on the wild nuclear maps of "Wild" William Bunge.
open.substack.com/pub/doomsday...
open.substack.com/pub/doomsday...
"The battlefield is everywhere"
The nuclear maps of "Wild" William Bunge (1988)
open.substack.com
December 31, 2024 at 3:48 AM
Suddenly I understand why my 8th grade social studies teacher (in Oak Park, just west of Chicago, in 1984-5) told us we were lucky because we’d be immediately dead if there were a nuclear war.
I have been waiting for this day.
Wordle 1,290 1/6*
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Wordle 1,290 1/6*
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
December 30, 2024 at 11:56 AM
I have been waiting for this day.
Wordle 1,290 1/6*
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Wordle 1,290 1/6*
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
I had a massive baking fail last week so the fact that this appears to have come out well is a relief!
December 24, 2024 at 7:22 PM
I had a massive baking fail last week so the fact that this appears to have come out well is a relief!
Сельдь под шубой may be the single most difficult to explain Russian dish even without fish heads.
I make my lowest bow before this queen who has literalized the “Herring Under A Fur Coat” salad up to the point that it still remains edible in what she, herself, admits is “the most frightening salad” she’s ever made for New Years.
www.instagram.com/reel/DDj0enz...
www.instagram.com/reel/DDj0enz...
December 16, 2024 at 3:56 PM
Сельдь под шубой may be the single most difficult to explain Russian dish even without fish heads.