It’s become a tradition here on the Margins that I use my first blog post of the year to share the historical topics that I hope/plan/expect to read, write and think about over the course of the coming year. It’s the mental equivalent of writing thank-you notes (1), clearing out the Christmas clutter, and setting up my calendar on New Year’s Day. A way of clearing the decks for action. A little self-indulgent perhaps, but I hope some of you find it thought provoking.

2018 brought no surprises. Women Warriors was my primary focus(,2) though I did take some side excursions to consider D-Day, William the Conqueror, and the Great River Road.

Women Warriors and women warriors will continue to be a big deal for me in 2019. I’m already lining up speaking gigs and podcast appearances and blog interviews. (3) But history buff does not live by women warriors alone. Here are some other historical topics that I expect to be thinking about in 2019:

1. Women’s history in general (I’ve got some great stuff lined up for the blog in Women’s History Month.)
2. The suffragist movement in particular, as well as all the ways that women began to push against the norm at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries
3. The development of the toy industry (4)
4. World War II aviation (unavoidable if you spend any time with My Own True Love), as well as the related topic of plane-spotting.

If I’m lucky, something totally unexpected will catch my imagination. (I love a good detour.) If it does, I’ll let you know.

What kind of history buff stories are you pursuing into the new year?

(1) Yes. Honest-to-dog illegible handwritten thank-you letters on note cards.

(2) And rightly so.

(3) And speaking of speaking: I’m not going to clog up my blog posts with all the details of when and where, though I will list them on the newsletter. If you’re interested in following along, you can check the events page on this blog. If you belong to a group that needs speakers ( Historical society?  Service league? Book club? AAUW chapter? Knitting circle? Revolutionary cell?), give me a shout at pdtoler@sbcglobal.com. I can’t promise, but I’ll do my best to make it work, by Skype if not in person.

(4) Bet you didn’t expect that one.