Stuff You Missed in History Class
Episodes
The Dreyfus Affair, Part 2
30 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The court-martial and exile of Alfred Dreyfus was such big news that it started to be referred to simply as “The Affair.” And it divided French so...
The Dreyfus Affair, Part 1
28 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Part one contextualizes the Dreyfus Affair by covering the Franco-Prussian War and the founding of the French Third Republic. Then we’ll cover Alfre...
SYMHC Classics: Harriet Tubman, Part 2
26 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We're continuing our classics with Harriet Tubman's story, which came out in 2016. There was a whole lot more to her life and work than the Undergroun...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Kudzu and Quimby
25 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tracy and Holly talk about their own experiences with and thoughts about kudzu. They also discuss Harriet Quimby's journalism career, her stance on fe...
Harriet Quimby
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Quimby is most well-known for aviation, but journalism was an even bigger part of her life. Before taking up flying, she had managed to carve out a li...
Kudzu: Maligned Vine
21 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Kudzu is a semi-woody, perennial climbing vine in the pea family. How did it get its reputation for being an unkillable menace? And was it really intr...
SYMHC Classics: Harriet Tubman, Part 1
19 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We're revisiting this 2013 topic in honor of Juneteenth. Most people are familiar with Tubman's involvement with the Underground Railroad, but she was...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Lola and Daphne
18 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tracy and Holly talk about Lola Montez's relationship with the truth and references to her in the show "Dickinson." They also discuss how du Maurier's...
Daphne du Maurier
16 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Daphne du Maurier became famous thanks to her books and the adaptations they inspired, and her life story is just as intriguing as any of her writing....
Lola Montez
14 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Aside from her relationship with King Ludwig I, Lola Montez is one of those figures whose life is hard to pin down. That’s not because of a lack of ...
SYMHC Classics: Marie Taglioni
12 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This 2013 episode covers Marie Taglioni, considered THE ballerina of the Romantic era. She's often credited with revolutionizing, restyling and redefi...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Apicius and Struensee
11 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Holly and Tracy compare the Apicius cookbook to cooking today, as well as some confusion over ingredients in the cookbook. They then talk about the li...
Count Struensee and King Christian VII of Denmark
09 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
King Christian VII ruled in the 18th century, and during his reign, his physician finagled a surprising amount of power, and basically ruled the coun...
‘De re coquinaria’ - the Oldest Cookbook of the Western World
07 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“De re Coquinaria,” also referred to as “Apicius,” is a cookbook featuring recipes that may have been collected as early as the first century....
SYMHC Classics: The Defenestrations of Prague
05 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This 2018 episode covers defenestrations - which just means "to throw out of a window." And there's been a surprising amount of defenestration in Czec...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Mrs. Child and Haymarket
04 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Holly and Tracy talk about Child's life, the ways in which she was ahead of her time socially, and the questions surrounding her marriage. The Haymark...
The Haymarket Riot
02 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Haymarket Riot, aka the Haymarket Affair or the Haymarket Massacre, is one of the many interconnected events and people and movements that are all...
Lydia Maria Child
31 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Lydia Maria Child was a writer of children’s literature, historical novels, abolitionist tracts, and poetry. She also wrote literature for children ...
SYMHC Classics: Tulsa Massacre
29 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This 2014 episode covers the devastation of "Black Wall Street," which was a nickname for Greenwood, a vibrant suburb of Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was destr...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Paperclips
28 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tracy and Holly discuss Tracy's research on Operation Paperclip and how recently information about it has been uncovered. After talking about taking s...
Four Paperclippers
26 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Under Operation Paperclip, about 1,600 specialists – most with some involvement with the Nazi party – entered the U.S., and many became citizens. ...
Operation Paperclip
24 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Operation Paperclip, also known as Project Paperclip, which was the U.S. effort to bring German scientists to the U.S. after World War II. Learn mo...
SYMHC Classics: How Tulip Mania Worked
22 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This 2011 episode is from prior hosts Sarah and Deblina. During the 17th century, the Dutch went nuts for tulips, paying exorbitant amounts for a sing...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Paré and Gardens
21 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Holly and Tracy talk about Paré's work in context on the timeline, and then a very cool modern gardening project using the book we mentioned this wee...
A Brief History of Gardening in North America
19 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gardening is a living history that connects us all to people and places through time. This episode covers precolonial North America, Europeans bringin...
Ambroise Paré
17 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sixteenth-century barber surgeon Paré has been called everything from “the gentle surgeon” to “the father of modern surgery.” He advanced the...
SYMHC Classics: Mary Ann Shadd Cary
15 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Revisiting our 2016 episode on black Canadian-American Mary Ann Shadd Cary, who became the first woman in North America to publish and edit a newspape...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Ralph McQuarrie
14 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Holly and Tracy talk about how they decided to cover the life of Ralph McQuarrie, and discuss the breadth of his awe-inspiring work. Learn more abou...
Ralph McQuarrie, Part 2
12 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In our second part of McQuarrie's life story, we cover how Star Wars became Ralph’s most well-known area of work, but also how it led to a lot of ic...
Ralph McQuarrie, Part 1
10 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
McQuarrie is responsible for some of the most recognizable imagery in cinema and culture. In part one, we’ll talk about his early life, his work bef...
SYMHC Classics: The Jacobite Rising of 1745
08 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This 2016 episode covers a piece of Scottish and English history that's often simultaneously romanticized and oversimplified. It's a great deal more c...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Poetry and Birth Control
07 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tracy and Holly discuss their memories of nursery rhymes, and their experiences with women's health care. Learn more about your ad-choices at https:/...
The Nelson Pill Hearings
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the U.S., the idea that people should know about the risks involved with the drugs that they are taking is tied directly to the complicated and oft...
Six Impossible Episodes: Mother Goose
03 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A number of English-language poems are generally lumped together as “Mother Goose" poems. But was there an actual Mother Goose? And do any of these ...
SYMHC Classics: The London Match Girls Strike of 1888
01 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This 2016 episode covers the London Match Girls Strike of 1888. This was an important labor rights event, when factory workers protested hazardous and...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Spring 2021 Unearthed!
30 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tracy and Holly speculate about the kitsch of historical cultures, and how we interpret historical objects. Learn more about your ad-choices at http...
Unearthed! Spring 2021, Part 2
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Part two of our spring 2021 Unearthed! coverage includes exhumations, books and letters, and some other favorites! Learn more about your ad-choices a...
Unearthed! Spring 2021, Part 1
26 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Part one of our early 2021 edition of Unearthed! covers updates, cute animals and their pictures, edibles and potables, and shipwrecks. Learn more ab...
SYMHC Classics: The Antikythera Mechanism
24 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today we revisit a 2013 episode. In 1900, a shipwreck was discovered near the island of Antikythera, including an assortment of luxury goods: statues,...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Immigration Law and Bridges
23 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tracy and Holly discuss the difficulty in researching the life of Chae Chan Ping, and exclusionary immigration legislation in U.S. history. Talk also ...
The First Tacoma Narrows Bridge – Galloping Gertie
21 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The drama of the first Tacoma Narrows bridge is hardly relegated to its turbulent end. There’s more to the story – from its inception to financing...
Chae Chan Ping v. United States
19 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Chinese Exclusion Act was the United States’ first major immigration law, and as its name suggests it specifically targeted people from China. I...
SYMHC Classics: Annie Edson Taylor, Niagara Daredevil
17 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This 2018 episode covers Annie Edson Taylor, the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Taylor's whole barrel trip was part of a much bigg...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Teresa and Sonora
16 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tracy and Holly talk about the care needed when exploring the biographies of people in history who offer representation, but won't reflect the experie...
Sonora Webster Carver
14 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Atlantic City performer Sonora Carver was the most famous horse diver of her time, and probably ever. It was an entertainment that was incredibly dang...
Teresa de Cartagena
12 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Teresa de Cartagena was a woman who was deaf, chronically ill, and from a Converso family. In spite of the things working against her, she wrote two t...
SYMHC Classics: 1958 Bombing of The Temple
10 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This 2017 episode covers Rabbi Jacob Rothschild, a vocal activist who spoke out for civil rights despite the danger in doing so. White supremacists bo...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Rum Rebellion and Jewish History
09 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tracy and Holly discuss how the Rum Rebellion is less harrowing than other similar incidents that have been covered on the show. They then discuss the...
Interview: Jeremy Katz of The Breman Museum
07 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Holly sits down with Jeremy Katz, the director of archives at The Breman Museum to talk about his new book "The Jewish Community of Atlanta," his care...
The Rum Rebellion
05 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Rum Rebellion overthrew William Bligh, governor of New South Wales, in 1808. It was Australia’s only military coup and was only given that nickn...
SYMHC Classics: Mutiny on the Bounty
03 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this 2010 episode, previous hosts Sarah and Katie take a closer look at the legendary mutiny on the HMS Bounty -- and figure out whether William Bl...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Esperanto and Bodiam
02 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tracy and Holly discuss their relationships with language learning, and then discuss the ways that historical sites and museums have offered informati...
Bodiam Castle
31 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This castle is unique in its design and the extent to which the ground surrounding it are part of that design. It’s also closely tied to the turbule...
L.L. Zamenhof and the Hope of Esperanto
29 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Esperanto was developed by a Jewish man living in the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It’s a story linked to both persecut...
SYMHC Classics: Hildegard von Bingen
27 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This 2016 episode examines a Christian mystic of medieval Europe who was way, way ahead of her time. If she had lived a few hundred years later, and b...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Arsinoë and Sissieretta
26 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tracy and Holly talk about the trickier aspects of researching a story like Arsinoë's, as well as women trying to find agency in Arsinoë's time. Dis...
Sissieretta Jones
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sissieretta Jones was a Black operatic and popular music singer in the early 20th century. And she was famous in her day, but then kind of vanished fr...
Arsinoë II, Ptolemaic Queen
22 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Ptolemies were a Greek dynasty that ruled Egypt during the Hellenistic period. And in a lot of ways Arsinoë II really set the standard for the ge...
SYMHC Classics: Plessy v Ferguson
20 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This 2015 episode covers a landmark legal moment. The ruling in this infamous U.S. Supreme Court case stated that segregation was legal as long as the...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Duke and Hawaii
19 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Holly and Tracy talk about the appeal of Duke Kahanamoku, his story being illustrative of the problematic nature of cultures being subverted in an eff...
Duke Kahanamoku, Part 2
17 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Part 2 of our coverage of Duke Kahanamoku's life delves into about what happened to Duke after that sudden onslaught of Olympic fame, and how it wasn’...
Duke Kahanamoku, Part 1
15 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Kahanamoku became world-famous as an Olympic swimmer, and his love for sports of all kinds started from his childhood on Oahu. Part one covers his ear...
SYMHC Classics: Skellig Michael
13 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we revisit a December 2017 episode about Skellig Michael. This small island off the west coast of Ireland recently became a film star, but Skel...
Behind the Scenes Minis: 1918 Pandemic Revisited
12 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tracy and Holly discuss where they're at a year into the pandemic. Tracy also talks about how frustrated she was researching this week's episodes, and...
1918 Flu Pandemic, Revisited - Part 2
10 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The comparison of the modern pandemic to the 1918 pandemic continues in part two. This time, the show covers ventilation, supply shortages, and vaccin...
1918 Flu Pandemic, Revisited - Part 1
08 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Now that we’ve lived through a year of a global pandemic, our approach to looking at the 1918 flu pandemic had shifted. We’re revisiting the event...
SYMHC Classics: Paul Poiret
06 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is a revisit of our 2013 episode on the often avante-garde French designer Paul Poiret. He got rid of corsets, introduced the concept of lifestyl...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Grand Central and Zoe and Theodora
05 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Holly and Tracy talk about what a jerk Cornelius Vanderbilt was, trivia about the Grand Central story, and Tracy’s first visit to Grand Central Term...
Zoë & Theodora, Byzantine Empresses
03 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Over almost 30 years in 11th-century Constantinople, sometimes Zoë ruled alongside one of her husbands, sometimes she and Theodora ruled together, an...
Grand Central Terminal
01 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Grand Central's story starts with one of the wealthiest names in U.S. history, but it also is in many ways the story of the city itself since the 1800...
SYMHC Classics: The Dyatlov Pass Incident
27 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This 2014 episode covers the incident in 1959, in which nine students ventured into the Ural mountains for a ski hiking trip, and never returned. Whil...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Isadora
26 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Holly and Tracy talk about Holly's childhood perceptions of Isadora Duncan and how the famous dancer broke convention. They also talk about the peccad...
Isadora Duncan, Part 2
24 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The comforts afforded by fame were forever clouded for Duncan by an ongoing series of tragedies, leading right up to the famous – and horrifying –...
Isadora Duncan, Part 1
22 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Duncan, often called the mother of modern dance, had an unconventional upbringing, and a VERY unconventional life. Her early life was full of struggle...
SYMHC Classics: The Nazi Games and Jesse Owens
20 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This 2012 episode covers the 1936 Berlin Olympics and African-American sprinter Jesse Owens, as well as the games as Nazi propaganda. More nations tha...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Freedom Summer and Cobb
19 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tracy and Holly talk about how young everyone had been during the Mississippi Freedom Summer, voter suppression, and Holly's trick to stop crying when...
W. Montague Cobb, MD, PhD
17 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
W. Montague Cobb was the first Black person in the U.S. to earn a PhD in physical anthropology, worked to debunk racist theories in the field, was an ...
Mississippi Freedom Summer, 1964
15 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Mississippi Summer project of 1964, now known as Freedom Summer, was a in part a voter registration project that was met with an extremely violent...
SYMHC Classics: Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas
13 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This 2018 episode covers Gertrude Stein, an icon in the world of modernist literature. Alice B. Toklas is often described as her partner and assistant...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Smallpox and Cowpox
12 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tracy and Holly talk about Spain's effort to spread the smallpox vaccine, and how Balmis handled things. They also discuss fear about vaccines, bodily...
The Royal Philanthropic Vaccine Expedition, Part 2
10 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With the smallpox vaccine established, Spain’s wanted to deliver it to its colonies in the Americas and the Caribbean. Francisco Xavier de Balmis ca...
The Royal Philanthropic Vaccine Expedition, Part 1
08 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Once Edward Jenner developed the smallpox vaccine, it spread from England, where he lived, to other parts of the world. Meanwhile, events were unfoldi...
SYMHC Classics: The Nazca Lines
06 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This 2013 episode covered the Nazca lines in the desert about 200 miles southeast of Lima, Peru, between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Th...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Tello and Du Châtelet
05 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Holly and Tracy talk about how many things don't make it into episodes, sometimes due to cutting for narrative structure, and sometimes due to transla...
Émilie du Châtelet
03 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Du Châtelet challenged the philosophic and scientific world of her time, but she's often eclipsed by her far more famous lover. Learn more about you...
Julio Tello, Peru’s Archaeological Trail Blazer
01 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tello is often called some variation of the father of Peruvian archaeology or the first indigenous Peruvian archaeologist. And his work was playing ou...
SYMHC Classics: Paxton's Crystal Palace
30 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A throwback to 2013! Sir Joseph Paxton was a 19th-century botanist who became instantly famous for the hall he designed for the Great Expo of 1851. Af...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Griffith and Crosse
29 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Holly and Tracy talk about the fascination of the Griffith story and how contemporary journalists covered Griffith's crime, as well as how his story t...
Andrew Crosse, The Electrician
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the early 1800s, Andrew Crosse observed a strange thing happening on an electrified rock in his lab, and he was catapulted into the public spotligh...
Griffith J. Griffith
25 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
While the Griffith name today is associated with the Los Angeles park and the observatory, during his time, G.J. Griffith was associated with other th...
SYMHC Classics: The Wilmington Coup of 1898, Part 2
23 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Part two of this 2018 classic delves into the only known successful coup d'etat in U.S. history, when a white mob enacted a violent plan against their...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Olympe and Dalton
22 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tracy and Holly chat about Olympe de Gouges and the less-than-robust information about her life's details. When talking about John Dalton and color vi...
John Dalton’s Anomalous Color Vision
20 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
John Dalton is far more famous for his work in atomic theory. But he wrote one of the first thorough descriptions of what he called “anomalous visio...
Olympe de Gouges
18 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Olympe de Gouges is known primarily for her 1791 pamphlet “Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Citizen.” But her writing and political act...
SYMHC Classics: The Wilmington Coup of 1898, Part 1
16 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This much-requested 2018 episode covers how open racism and hotly contested elections led to a climate of unrest and white supremacist violence in lat...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Late 2020 Wrap Up
15 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tracy and Holly talk about the travel thoughts that the show's recent Unearthed! episode brings up. Talk also turns to the various biases that people ...
Unearthed! Year-end 2020, Part 2
13 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this second part of the year-end Unearthed! for 2020, topics include art, music, edibles and potables, and exhumations and repatriations, and potpo...
Unearthed! Year-end 2020, Part 1
11 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Time for a wrap up of things unearthed in the last quarter of 2020! Part one includes updates, books and letters, Vikings, mummies, and some other stu...
SYMHC Classics: Knitting's Early History
09 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This 2016 classic delves into knitting. which has been around for a long time. Exactly how long isn't entirely clear, but we do know a good bit about ...
Behind the Scenes Minis: Transfusions
08 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Holly and Tracy talk about how small details that get changed in the retelling of history change the context of the larger story, as well as some of t...