Alison Smith
Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St. George Street
Professor Smith is a historian of the Russian Empire. Her research has focused along several lines: the history of food, drink, and drunkenness; the history of social stratification, social mobility, and serfdom; and most recently a microhistory of autocracy centred on one imperial palace. She has published three monographs and many articles and chapters in edited volumes. Forthcoming works include the co-edited volume A Frozen State: Experiencing Cold in Russian History and Culture (University of Toronto Press, expected May 2026) and “‘To Each Their Grievance Is Bitter and Unbearable’: Petitions and Complaints in 18th-century Russia,” Law and History Review (forthcoming late 2025 or early 2026). Professor Smith also served as the Chair and Graduate Chair of the Department of History (2019-2024) and serves on the Manuscript Review Committee of the University of Toronto Press.
Education
- PhD, University of Chicago
- MA, History
- BA, University of Chicago
Research Interests
- Food
- Russia
- Social State, Politics, and Law
- Imperial Russia
- Social structures
- Governance
Publications
- Prosperity and Precarity in Imperial Russia’s Long Nineteenth Century (Cambridge University Press : 2023)
- Drunkenness and Disorder in the Imperial Russian Army (The Russian Review : 2023)
- Cabbage and Caviar: A History of Food in Russia (The University of Chicago Press, Distributed for Reaktion Books : 2021)
- The Life Cycle of Russian Things From Fish Guts to Fabergé, 1600 - Present (Bloomsbury Publishing : 2021)
- For the Common Good and Their Own Well-Being: Social Estates in Imperial Russia (Oxford University Press : 2014)
- Recipes for Russia: Food and Nationhood under the Tsars ( : 2011)