Pamela Toler (she/her)

pulling that cookbook off my shelf...

Women's history tip: they used to sign themselves with their husband's initials and last name. Am I old for knowing this? Just ran into another scholarly article that couldn't identify an author named Mrs. L Smith because they went looking for women with L names.

Research chaos: Ghibli. Cute Studies. Kawaii everything.
If you like history in progress—and don’t mind a few rabbit holes—this week’s newsletter is for you.🗃️

Subscribe here to read: eepurl.com/dIft-b

I was just denied entry to the Dilley detention facility while my constituent, seven-year-old Diana, remains inside.

What kind of sick, horrific conditions are children being forced to endure in there?

I will be back tomorrow. Accountability can’t wait.

After ICE release St. Paul woman, she says agents keep returning to her home Thi Dua Vang legally came to the U.S. two years ago. So when ICE showed up, she thought it must have been a mistake.

www.kare11.com/article/news...

Gladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technology She made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman.

No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition.

Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Sometimes I wish I could travel back in time to give child-me a hug.

I want to scope them up in my arms and tell them, "don't worry, kiddo. Things are scary in the future sometimes, but you are so loved, and I know you have what it takes to be happy."

Then I remember I can tell myself that now.

Books – Pamela Toler

Why did Sigrid Schultz stay in Nazi Germany?

Not out of passivity—but purpose. She stayed to keep reporting, to keep the world watching.

Her story is the heart of The Dragon from Chicago.

Thank you April Grossinger & @Missy Gibson for this wonderful conversation. sheelanagigpodcast.com/episode-67-p...

Episode 67 – Pamela Toler presents her Sheela, American WWII Reporter, ‘The Dragon From Chicago,’ Sigrid Schultz – SHEELA

What happens when a sharp-eyed woman refuses to look away?
I joined the Sheela Na Gig podcast to talk about journalist Sigrid Schultz—one of the first to report on Hitler's rise. 🗃️
Listen here:

Have you heard of Nellie Francis, a Gospel singer who became of the most successful anti-lynching advocates? Lena Olive Smith, the only Black woman with a law practice in MN in the 20s & 30s? William Hazel, the stained-glass artist who helped desegregate St. Paul hotels? 🗃️ @eddsmitty.bsky.social

Looking forward to these. I devoured Cooper's novels when I was in high school

Last week I shared the story of parachuting pioneer Tiny Broadwick—and wondered what happened to her daughter. Thanks to the digging of my friend Nancy Kennedy, we now know: Verla Jacobs lived a grounded, proud life, and kept in touch with her remarkable mother. 🗃️

Read here:  tinyurl.com/37kkd4n9

a bald eagle is standing next to the statue of liberty in front of an american flag Alt: a bald eagle is standing next to the statue of liberty in front of an american flag

On the road for an errand this morning, I saw a bald eagle in a tree. It's sunny, so no doubt he saw his shadow! That means only six more weeks of the current unpleasantness, and then warmth and regeneration will return, right?!

I think "rhymes like poet" will stick with me.

Just learned I've been mispronouncing "inchoate" my entire life--mostly in my head since it doesn't come up in conversation very often. Turns out it rhymes with "poet"--who knew? Thank you @merriam-webster.com

History in the Margins – Pamela Toler Tiny Broadwick: “First Lady of Parachuting” By Pamela | January 27, 2026 Georgia Ann “Tiny”[1] Thompson Broadwick (1893-1978) fell in love with aviation in 1907 at the age of 14 when she attended an aerial show at the North Carolina State Fair. The show featured pioneering balloonist Charles...

This week on my blog, I wrote about a chapter of American history I hadn’t learned until I stood at Fort Snelling: the U.S.–Dakota War of 1862 and what followed. A story with disturbing echoes.
Read here: https://www.historyinthemargins.com 🗃️

Consider my day made!

History in the Margins – Pamela Toler Tiny Broadwick: “First Lady of Parachuting” By Pamela | January 27, 2026 Georgia Ann “Tiny”[1] Thompson Broadwick (1893-1978) fell in love with aviation in 1907 at the age of 14 when she attended an aerial show at the North Carolina State Fair. The show featured pioneering balloonist Charles...

At 14, Tiny Broadwick was working in a cotton mill to support her daughter. Then she saw a man parachute from a balloon—and everything changed.

This week on History in the Margins, I share the story of the “First Lady of Parachuting”:
🗃️

A Black man was killed by ICE (off duty) in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve. And like Renée Good, he was an American citizen. But most people have not heard about Keith Porter.

I need y’all to realize this. Black people experience this lack of visibility all the time when it comes to being victims.

CHARLES RAFFERTY The Problem with Early Warnings People don't like to leave a party unless the house is actually on fire. Even then, if the flames are far enough away to be pretty, they'll finish their drink, take one more pass at the hors d'oeuvres. How things happen has always been unclear. Hurricanes begin in a place where no one lives. Agents of the government start to wear masks. Fascism is a word my neighbors won't use yet. They are following the law, they say, and the sirens are coming for someone else.

This hit so fucking hard today.

"Into it they shoveled all of their reason, their logic, their knowledge, but worst of all, their conscience. And the moment we forget this -- the moment we cease to be haunted by its remembrance -- then *we* become the gravediggers." (2/2)

Twilight Zone's "Deaths-Head Revisited"

This is a fabulous thread by @jackiantonovich.bsky.social, I love this photo, and can't wait to read her book.

The cover of The Crown's Silence: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery in the Americas--out TODAY with Mariner!

Out today: THE CROWN'S SILENCE

I'm delighted to share that my new book is officially out! It traces the British monarchy's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade and colonial slavery over hundreds of years. Please buy a copy, tell your library, & spread the word. bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

Teacups and ICE When disaster comes to our doorstep.

Teacups and ICE --An excellent essay on bearing witness and resistance
open.substack.com/pub/ruthfran...

ICE Out - Fundraising Nail Polish **Shipping Update** Shipping will continue once more ingredients have arrived for this polish. Orders should go out in about 2 weeks. Ice Out is a blurple based polish with a blue/aqua shift and pink ...

If you're a nail polish person, the MN-based small polish maker Atomic Polish is selling Ice Out, and 100% of the proceeds of it are going to the Immigrant Rapid Response Fund

History in the Margins – Pamela Toler Neysa McMein: Illustrator and Jazz Age Icon By Pamela | January 23, 2026 Illustrator Neysa McMein (1888-1949) was born Marjorie McMein in Quincy, Illinois in 1888. She left Quincy and the name Marjorie behind as soon as she could. After high school, Marjorie left Quincy for Chicago where she studied...

New on the blog: Neysa McMein—illustrator, Jazz Age icon, and the woman behind the first Betty Crocker.

She lived boldly and painted even bolder. 🗃️

"It was not Hitler or Himmler who abducted me, beat me and shot my family. It was the shoemaker, the milkman, the neighbor, who received a uniform and then believed they were the master race."
-Auschwitz survivor Karl Stojka

Lots of good stuff just in time to keep me from doom scrolling...

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Most history doesn’t just forget individual women. It forgets categories of women—reporters, warriors, inventors—entirely. 🗃️

This week’s newsletter explores what’s lost and what I’m digging up. Join me: