Stuff You Missed in History Class

Washington Irving’s ‘American’ Christmas

20 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Washington Irving may come to mind more in connection with Halloween, but his writing had a significant influence on the way Christmas is celebrated i...

SYMHC Classics: Christina of Sweden

18 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2014 episode covers the life of a woman who was smart and learned, but not a particularly good ruler. Her entire life was marked by being kind of...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Ballet and Anchovies

17 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy and Holly discuss their preferences in ways the Nutcracker should be staged, and their love of it from the audience and performer perspectives. ...

Two More Eponymous Foods

15 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This eponymous food episode features a(nother) salad that came together improvisationally out of necessity, and a cracker made to align with specific ...

The Nutcracker

13 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It’s a Russian adaptation of a German story and wasn’t really a Christmas staple in its home country. But music from the Nutcracker has also becom...

SYMHC Classics: S.A. Andrée and the 1897 North Pole Balloon Mission

11 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2015 episode cover the expedition efforts of Andrée, who hoped to succeed in reaching the North Pole where others had failed by doing it by air....

Behind the Scenes Minis: Strikes and Snowflakes

10 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy and Holly discuss the anger-making aspects of working on the story of the Flint sit-down strike. They also discuss the way Holly happened upon t...

Wilson A. Bentley, the Snowflake Man

08 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Bentley was a Vermont farmer and amateur meteorologist who became known to many during his lifetime as the Snowflake Man.  Learn more about your ad-...

The Flint Sit-down Strike

06 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Flint, Michigan was at the heart of auto manufacturing for General Motors in 1936. And while the strike was largely centered around Flint, it also inv...

SYMHC Classics: Vernon Lee

04 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2018 episode covers Violet Paget, more often known by her pen name Vernon Lee, who was a historian and an art and literary critic. She wrote on m...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Amy Levy and Pranksters

03 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Holly and Tracy discuss how Vernon Lee factored into the story of Amy Levy's life. They also talk about what a pain in the neck Theodore Hook must hav...

Three Legendary Pranks

01 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today we have a series of prank stories that aren’t quite substantial enough to be their own episodes. We’ve got a joke that became a living legen...

Amy Levy

29 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Levy was recognized as an extraordinary literary talent of the 1880s. But after her tragic early death, she receded into the background of history.  ...

SYMHC Classics: Walter Potter's Wild and Wonderful Taxidermy

27 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2013 episode covers the taxidermist Potter, who had preserved and mounted 98 birds by the time he was 19. In 1880, his work had grown to a point ...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Purple and Cock Robin

26 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Holly and Tracy discuss Perkin's idealism, and how many things in their lives are impacted by his work. Then they discuss "Who killed Cock Robin?' and...

Six Impossible Episodes: More Mother Goose

24 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is the next installment of our Six Impossible Episodes series, and our second one on nursery rhymes. This one explores the historica...

Sir William Henry Perkin

22 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For Perkin, the creation of the first synthetic dye was the beginning of a career that combined chemistry and business to great success. And he got to...

SYMHC Classics: A Brief History of Colors

20 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2014 episode covers how pigments and dyes have historically come from all manner of animals, vegetables and minerals. From ochre to cochineal red...

Behind the Scenes Minis: The Tarbell Episodes

19 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy talks about the coincidences she encountered while researching this week's episodes. Talk then turns to how complicated Ida Tarbell's story is. ...

Ida M. Tarbell vs. John D. Rockefeller, Part 2

17 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tarbell saw her family and community clash with Standard Oil when she was growing up. This second part covers her work for McClure’s Magazine and th...

Ida M. Tarbell vs. John D. Rockefeller, Part 1

15 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ida Tarbell was one of the first investigative journalists, and the biggest work of her life involved exposing exploitive and illegal business practic...

SYMHC Classics: Inês de Castro and Pedro I of Portugal

13 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When Prince Pedro of Portugal was married off in the 1300s, he only had eyes for his new wife's lady in waiting. This 2017 episode about the relations...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Maggie Lena Walker and Pepper's Ghost

12 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy and Holly discuss the possible inspiration for Maggie Lena Walker's name, and then discuss favorite recipes as inspired by a listener mail. They...

John Henry Pepper and His Ghost

10 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

While the ghost illusion he created for theaters dominates his life story, Pepper's life story has a number of twists and turns. It’s got several pr...

Maggie Lena Walker

08 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Maggie Lena Walker was the first Black woman in the U.S. to charter a bank – she was also the first Black woman in the U.S. to serve as a bank’s p...

SYMHC Classics: Mary-Elizabeth Bowser

06 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2011 episode from previous hosts Sarah and Deblina covers the life of Mary-Elizabeth Bowser, who was released from enslavement by Elizabeth Van L...

Behind the Scenes Minis: So Many Edwards, Just One Olivia

05 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy and Holly discuss the inherent problems with looking at the story of the princes in the tower, particularly many people having the same name. Th...

Olivia Ward Bush-Banks

03 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Olivia Ward Bush-Banks was a Harlem Renaissance writer who also supported writers and artists, hosted salons, and taught drama courses. She was well-k...

The Princes in the Tower

01 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sir Thomas More’s version of what happened to the sons of Edward IV has long dominated popular understanding of it. But the conflict between the Hou...

SYMHC Classics: Esther Cox and the Great Amherst Mystery

30 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2017 episode examines how, after a traumatic event, strange things began happening around Esther Cox. In the 1870s, Amherst, Nova Scotia was abuz...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Haunts and Demons

29 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Holly and Tracy talk about their experiences with haunted houses, then discuss watching "The Exorcist," and the dynamics in play in Roland Doe's story...

The Possession Case of Roland Doe

27 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The 1973 horror film “The Exorcist” was inspired by a 1949 alleged possession case in a suburb of Washington, D.C. Roland Doe’s story is more ta...

The Rise of Haunted House Attractions

25 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Interest in being scared on purpose -- for fun -- led to the development of haunts as entertainment over the last several hundred years. But the 20th ...

SYMHC Classics: The Tussaud Test of Popularity

23 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2011 episode from previous hosts Sarah and Deblina covers the story of Marie Tussaud and her famous wax figures. So who exactly was she, and how ...

Behind the Scenes Minis: October Unearthed!

22 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy and Holly discuss a surprise change to the research process for Unearthed! episodes. They also talk about analysis of post-mortem stomach conten...

Unearthed! in October 2021, part 2

20 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Part 2 of our October 2021 coverage of items literally or figuratively unearthed covers exhumations, shipwrecks, books and letters, and edibles and po...

Unearthed! in October 2021, part 1

18 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This October 2021 instance of Unearthed! covers updates, some oldest things, animals and graves. There's also an exception to the show's moratorium on...

SYMHC Classics: Tunguska Event

16 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2018 episode covers an even from June 30, 1908, when at approximately 7:15am, the sky over Siberia lit up with what was described by witnesses as...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Two Williams

15 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy and Holly discuss problematic aspects of trials and the parts of Rice's story that they each found themselves thinking about. Then, Palmer's sta...

William Palmer, the Rugely Poisoner

13 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

William Palmer often turns up on lists of historical serial killers. Though his trial for murder is generally considered a settled case, it was judged...

The Murder(?) of William Marsh Rice

11 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Rice amassed a big enough fortune to establish a whole university – and become a target for murder. But is that actually how he died? Learn more a...

SYMHC Classics: Hernandez v. Texas

09 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2017 episode covers Hernandez v. Texas, which addressed civil rights for Mexican Americans, was the first case to be argued before the Supreme Co...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Crowley and Cagliostro

08 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy shares her limited knowledge of Crowley before she started researching the podcast, and the incomprehensible nature of some of Crowley's writing...

Cagliostro

06 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

He’s connected with everything from petty crime to mysticism to claims of nearly eternal life to one of the most famous deceptions in all of history...

Bad Women: The Ripper Retold Trailer

05 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In late 1888, five women were brutally murdered in a slum neighborhood of London. The violent killer earned himself a nickname - Jack the Ripper. But ...

Aleister Crowley

04 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Crowley was a truly prolific and deliberately transgressive occultist whose practices included sex and drug use, and he went on to influence modern Sa...

SYMHC Classics: Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol

02 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2016 episode tells the story of a small theater in Paris which was open from 1897 to 1962, and became famous for its grisly, terrifying plays. L...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Tod Browning

01 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Holly and Tracy discuss the career of Tod Browning and how difficult it is to know the true nature of certain aspects of the filmmaker's life. Learn...

Tod Browning, Part 2

29 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tod Browning’s contributions to the horror film genre are massive. And the films that are most responsible for that reputation are covered in this e...

Tod Browning, Part 1

27 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Browning’s story is both fascinating and difficult; he was a golden boy of Hollywood for a time, but also plagued with personal problems. He has a c...

SYMHC Classics: William Hogarth

25 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2017 episode covers an early 18th century engraver-turned-artist who made his mark on the art world by producing satirical prints in series that ...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Colchester and Gin

24 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Holly and Tracy discuss the Lincoln's relationship with the spiritual, and whether they can themselves juggle. Tracy shares a fun story of collectible...

A Distilled History of Gin

22 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Like many spirits, gin was originally meant for medicinal or alchemical use. But eventually, people started combining juniper with alcohol to make a b...

The Rise and Fall of Charles Colchester

20 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Colchester claimed to be psychic and probably did warn President Abraham Lincoln that he was going to be assassinated. He became an icon for Spiritua...

SYMHC Classics: Who was the real Sherlock Holmes?

18 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2010 episode from past hosts Sarah and Deblina covers Arthur Conan Doyle's brilliant protagonist Sherlock Holmes, who became world-famous. But wa...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Apples and Grace

17 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Holly and Tracy talk about the apples from the childhoods, fruit-based desserts, and a cocktail that Holly stumbled across while researching nachos. G...

Grace Quackenbos Humiston, aka Mrs. Sherlock Holmes

15 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Grace was an attorney and an investigator who did a lot of work to exonerate people who were wrongly convicted, expose corruption, and, in one particu...

Three Eponymous Foods

13 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Lots of foods are named after people, but sometimes the stories of those names are hard to pin down. This episode looks at where Granny Smith apples, ...

SYMHC Classics: Emma Lazarus

11 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2018 episode covers one of the United States' first successful Jewish American writers, moving in the New York literary scene of the late 1800s. ...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Laënnec and Eunice

10 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Holly and Tracy talk about the aspects of the stethoscope story that didn't make it into the episode, including the classism related to cleanliness st...

Eunice Newton Foote

08 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In 1856, Foote became the first person to make a connection between the Earth’s temperature and the concentration of carbon dioxide gas in the atmos...

Invention of the Stethoscope

06 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

One of the most basic tools of the medical profession is the stethoscope, but it’s a more recent invention than you might suspect. Its invention is ...

SYMHC Classics: Frederic Tudor, the Ice King

04 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2017 episode covers Tudor's clever plan: In cold weather, he would harvest ice for cheap, and then sell it all around the world when it was hot. ...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Kitties and Smallpox

03 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Holly and Tracy talk about the kitties in their lives and Mike's good fortune to have had his meals cooked for him. When they turn to smallpox, discus...

The Eradication of Smallpox

01 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Smallpox is a viral disease that has existed for millennia. But it’s now one of only two diseases that’s been eradicated through human activity, a...

Three Upbeat Historical Cats

30 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

From caterer cat to war cat to museum guard, these three cats have their own unique places in history. Rest assured, while all creatures pass on, none...

SYMHC Classics: The Beheading of Sir Walter Raleigh

28 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2018 episode covers the famed courtier, explorer, historian, Member of Parliament and soldier. He was part of England's defense against the Spani...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Jo and Kerner

27 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Holly and Tracy discuss Jo Nivison Hopper’s complex life story and how frustrating and angering it can be to research biographies like hers. They al...

The Kerner Commission Report

25 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Half a century ago, a commission established by President Lyndon Johnson wrote a report that concluded that “Our nation is moving toward two societi...

Josephine Nivison Hopper

23 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jo Nivison was an established artist before she married Edward Hopper. But her art career quickly became secondary to Ed's, and their life together, w...

SYMHC Classics: Battle of Blair Mountain

21 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2014 episode covers events from 1921, when coal miners fed up with unfair labor practices and exploitation took up arms against their employers. ...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Morisot and Rosenwald

20 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy shares a story of hunting for a Berthe Morisot exhibit and her favorite painting by the artist. She and Holly also talk about scheduling guests ...

Interview: Rosenwald Schools with Andrew Feiler

18 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Holly is joined by photographer Andrew Feiler, author of “A Better Life for Their Children: Julius Rosenwald, Booker T. Washington, and the 4,978 S...

Berthe Morisot

16 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Morisot primarily worked in oils, watercolors and pastels, and her favorite subjects were the other women in her life, often captured very tenderly in...

SYMHC Classics: Thomas Harriot

14 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2019 episode covers a man who's story is tied to SO MANY other notable historic things, including a lot of business with Sir Walter Raleigh. He's...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Torricelli and Acadians

13 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Holly and Tracy discuss the many different professional titles that many people in history have and how tricky it can be to select the proper one to u...

Expulsion of the Acadians, or the Great Upheaval

11 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Starting in 1755, the French-speaking Acadians were expelled from what’s now the Maritime provinces of Canada and northern Maine, with many of them ...

Evangelista Torricelli

09 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Torricelli was born in the middle of a heady few decades when the lives and work of people like Galileo and Johannes Kepler were changing humankind’...

SYMHC Classics: A Handful of Eclipses in History

07 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Back in 2017 with the "Great American Eclipse" everywhere in the news, we walked through some of the famous eclipses in history, all while wearing pro...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Annie and Mildred

06 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy and Holly discuss the surprising lack of biographical writing about Annie Jump Cannon. In contrast, they cover how much effort has been made to ...

Mildred Fish-Harnack

04 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Mildred Fish-Harnack was a woman from Wisconsin who found herself at the center of a resistance group in Germany working to undermine the Nazis. But h...

Annie Jump Cannon, Census Taker of the Sky

02 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Annie Jump Cannon has been described as doing for stars what Carl Linnaeus did for organisms. She compiled a massive star catalogue, and became known ...

SYMHC Classics: Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek

31 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2018 episode covers Leeuwenhoek, who wasn't REALLY a scientist -- he had no formal training. But he made dozens of scientific discoveries. He's c...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Unearthed! July 2021

30 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy and Holly discuss how much Tracy loves working on the Unearthed! shows, and how they both feel about library fines. They also talk about the Egy...

Unearthed! in July 2021, Part 2

28 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The second part of the July 2021 Unearthed! installment includes exhumations, repatriations, some mysteries that have been solved, and a potpourri of ...

Unearthed! in July 2021, Part 1

26 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In part one of the 2021 July edition of unearthed things, there are updates to previous episodes, along with books and letters, edibles and potables, ...

SYMHC Classics: A Pure Food Father and His Poison Squad

24 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2011 episode from previous hosts Sarah and Deblina covers the U.S. in the late 1800s, when no one really monitored food additives. After Congress...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Migraines and Milk

23 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy and Holly talk about family and experiential history with headaches, and the persistent problems in what people do and don't know about them. Th...

The Swill Milk Scandal of 1858

21 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1850s, much of the milk supply in New York was anything but appetizing and wholesome – it was often deadly. But efforts to address the proble...

A History of Migraine

19 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Migraine is one of the three most prevalent conditions in the world along with anemia and hearing loss. But in spite of that prevalence, migraine is w...

SYMHC Classics: Ira Frederick Aldridge

17 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2017 episode covers one of the first Americans to achieve fame as a Shakespearean actor, and the first black man to do so, becoming a famous figu...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Adolf and Hugo

16 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It's divisive figures week! Holly and Tracy discuss the difficulty in sorting out the reality of Lorenz's work, because of the polarized view of him w...

Hugo Gernsback

14 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ray Bradbury said Hugo “made us fall in love with the future.” But he’s also been berated as a hack whose proclamations about what does and does...

Adolf Lorenz, the Bloodless Surgeon

12 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Lorenz is credited with developing treatments that addressed pediatric orthopedic problems. During his lifetime, he was both celebrated and protested ...

SYMHC Classics: Fort Shaw Indian School, Basketball Champions (Pt. 2)

10 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Part two of our Fort Shaw classic covers the four months the Fort Shaw Indian School women's basketball team spent at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair....

Behind the Scenes Minis: Vacuum Cleaners and Schomburg

09 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Holly and Tracy talk about the localization of copycat companies in the cleaning industry, and Holly shares how her robotic vacuum met its untimely en...

Arturo Alfonso Schomburg

07 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture has come up in a lot of research for the show. Schomburg the man was an Afro-Puerto Rican activist ...

Vacuum Cleaners

05 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tracking the history of how we clean and why our cleaning needs have shifted also tells the story of human progress in a wider sense. How did we get f...

SYMHC Classics: Basketball at Shaw Indian School (Pt. 1)

03 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This 2017 episode covers the Fort Shaw Indian School , part of a boarding school system designed to make Native American students conform to white cul...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Dreyfus Affair

02 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy and Holly discuss the difficulty of covering the Dreyfus Affair, including the contextual history that needs to be covered for it. They also tal...