My first three books recounted the European immigrant experience. These photographs taken by an Ellis Island clerk show the incredible diversity of people who braved the journey and the soul of the country that received them. You will be stopped…
Blog Archives
Invitation to Time Travel
I was recently asked for an interview with the Pittsburgh Examiner. This turned out to be questions about History in general, with an invitation to time travel. Here are my answers. You can imagine yours. http://www.examiner.com/article/10-questions-with-historical-fiction-author-pamela-schoenewaldt (I’m traveling without much…
Our Irish-Bulgarian Cabbage Connection
Are you pondering St. Patrick’s Day? I modestly propose a fusion pairing of Irish corned beef and Bulgarian cabbage. The recipe for the later was part of our daughter Emilia’s patrimony when we adopted her at age 10 from Bulgaria.…
Fancy dining in 1915
During World War I, the time frame of Under the Same Blue Sky, here’s what you’d find at San Francisco’s Hotel St. Francis. Notice: quite a lot of shellfish, not much meat, chicken cost less than lobster, and one dessert.…
Posted in WWWS
So many orphans
Pre-20th Century European literature is full of orphans. For good reason. Consider these statistics from the Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society. In 17th & 18th C western European, 1 out of 3 children had lost at…
Posted in WWWS
Our Irish-Bulgarian Cabbage Connection
For St. Patrick’s Day, we’re having corned beef and Bulgarian cabbage. The recipe for the latter was part of our daughter Emilia’s patrimony when we adopted her at age 10 from Bulgaria. With no English, she took us shopping for…
Lessons from Raking
We have two large red oak trees in our front yard. I am the designated raker. Nobody is jockeying to take this post from me so I have plenty of time to muse while raking each fall. As in, “I…
What could get you locked up
The research I did in writing Swimming in the Moon on treatment of mental illness in the early 20th C was scary enough. Here are reasons a person (especially a woman, foreigner or poor person) could get committed in the…
End of the Red Baron
My novel in progress includes mention of the Baron Manfred von Richthofen, aka the Red Baron, the Kaiser’s fearless flying ace, who reached cult status on both sides during World War I for his prowess in shooting down Allied planes.…
The real Rosie the Riveter
I’m thinking lots of people knew this but it’s new to me. The woman featured in the iconic “We Can Do It!” wartime poster is not Rosie the Riveter. More on her later. The “We Can Do It!” poster was…
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