Stuff You Missed in History Class

Wanda Gág, Part 2

23 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After struggling to raise her siblings and start an art career, Wanda Gág’s life changed almost instantly with the publication of her fir...

Wanda Gág, Part 1

21 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As an artist and writer Wanda Gág is well known for her children’s books. But this first of two parts about her life covers her own unusu...

SYMHC Classics: Theda Bara

19 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This 2022 episode covers Theda Bara, often referenced as the first sex symbol. Photos of her are synonymous with the word vamp, and 100 years later, s...

Behind the Scenes Minis: So You Hate Waffles

18 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy talks about how current events are causing disruptions in work on the podcast. She also discusses the way headlines often misrepresent alleged d...

Unearthed! in Spring 2025, Part 2

16 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Part two of the spring 2025 installment of Unearthed! features the potpourri category, plus drones/radar/lidar, books and letters, animals, edibles an...

Unearthed! in Spring 2025, Part 1

14 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The first part of our springtime edition of Unearthed! for 2025 features so many updates! There are also finds related to Egypt and artwork.  Res...

SYMHC Classics: George Wallace

12 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This 2016 episode covers George Wallace, one of the most prominent voices against the Civil Rights Movement and its objectives. He spent multiple camp...

Behind the Scenes Minis: The Tricky Topic

11 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy shares how she went from concern that there wouldn't be enough research material for an episode to developing this week's topic into two. Both T...

Vietnam Draft Board Raids, Part 2

09 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Vandalism at draft board offices as U.S. involvement in Vietnam was escalating was deeply divisive. Opponents of the war were stereotyped as dirty hip...

Vietnam Draft Board Raids, Part 1

07 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The draft board raids were part of an antiwar movement, largely grounded in Catholic religious convictions, that spanned almost four years. Part one c...

SYMHC Classics: Lucille Ball

05 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This 2017 episode covers Lucille Ball, the grande dame of American comedy. The famed star worked in modeling, radio and film, but she really made her ...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Dorothy and Strawberries

04 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy and Holly talk about Dorothy Arzner's reluctance to talk about her past projects. Holly questions some of the statistics about strawberry consum...

Strawberries

02 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The story of how strawberries went from small forage item to one of the world’s most popular fruits – though they're technically not a tru...

Dorothy Arzner

31 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dorothy Arzner wasn’t the first female film director in the U.S., but she was really the only one working in the studio system during most of th...

SYMHC Classics: William Desmond Taylor Murder

29 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This 2017 episode covers the early days of Hollywood, and its reputation for debauchery. When a high-profile director was murdered, it added to that i...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Strikes and Dear Kurt

28 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy talks about the difficulty of finding English-language writing about another strike she'd like to cover. Holly talks about why Kurt Vonnegut app...

Live From ICC: Kurt Vonnegut

26 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Holly is joined by guest host Bryan Young for a live show at Indiana Comic Con, focused on the life and work of the author Kurt Vonnegut, known for hi...

1946 Oakland General Strike

24 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The 1946 Oakland General Strike was part of a massive wave of strikes that took place in the U.S. in 1945 and 1946. Over two days in Oakland, Californ...

SYMHC Classics: Flint Sit-down Strike

22 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This late 2021 episode covers a strike in Flint, Michigan, which was at the heart of auto manufacturing for General Motors in 1936. And while the stri...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Morality and Friction

21 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Holly and Tracy discuss the creepy nature of the Children's Morality Code project. Tracy covers the varied conflicts that Mary Hunter Austin had with ...

Mary Hunter Austin

19 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Mary Hunter Austin was a U.S. writer known for walking throughout the American Southwest. But her life of activism was far more complicated than brief...

Children’s Morality Code of 1916

17 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1916, the National Institution for Moral Instruction had a contest to see who could come up with the best morality code. For kids. Evolving views o...

SYMHC Classics: Dr. Couney's Baby Sideshow

15 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This 2019 episode looks at Couney's incubator sideshows of premature babies. This is complicated; Couney made money from this, and his medical experie...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Incorrect Lillian and Reading Kids

14 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy notes the wild array of incorrect information that circulates about Lillian Exum Clement. Then she and Holly talk about childhood reading habits...

Gertrude Chandler Warner: ‘The Boxcar Children’ and Beyond

12 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gertrude Chandler Warner's most well known writing is "The Boxcar Children." But that series is far from the only professional writing Chandler did &n...

Exum Clement, Attorney at Law

10 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Lillian Exum Clement Stafford was one of the first women in North Carolina to practice law, and the first woman in the South to be elected to a state ...

SYMHC Classics: Lost Cause of the Confederacy

08 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This 2020 episode covers the myth of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. The Lost Cause was a distortion of the history of the U.S. Civil War that&rsqu...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Tracy’s Frustration

07 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy shares issues she has with overly reductive internet videos that misrepresent the story of nixtamalization. She and Holly also discuss the vario...

Pellagra, Part 2

05 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode on the pellagra epidemic focuses on its prevalence in the U.S. in the early 20th century. Some of the scientific work done to understand ...

Pellagra, Part 1

03 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The pellagra epidemic of the early 20th century may have been the deadliest epidemic of a specific nutrient deficiency in U.S. history. Part one ...

SYMHC Classics: Coxey's Army

01 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This 2020 episode covers the first protest march on Washington, D.C., led by Jacob Sechler Coxey in the 1890s. His plan was job creation for the ...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Spiteful Robert

28 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Holly talks about how impossible it is to build a spite house now, thanks to municipal building codes. She also shares some uncertain stories of the c...

Robert Morris, War Finance, and Early Bankruptcy Law in the U.S.

26 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Robert Morris is one of the lesser-mentioned founding fathers of the U.S. When he is mentioned, he is called the financier of the Revolutionary War. B...

Spite Houses

24 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A spite house is a structure that is built by one party to irritate another, or to cause some sort of difficulty or even damage. And there have been a...

SYMHC Classics: Six Impossible Episodes - Other Ins

22 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This 2020 episode covers direct action demonstrations and protests that have some similarities to the sit-in movement.   See omnystudio.com/...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Hydroponies and Horse Flipping

21 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Holly talks about her gardening efforts and an amusing machine reading error. Tracy talks about her expectations of researching the epizootic of 1872,...

Great Epizootic of 1872

19 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The epizootic of 1872 was a massive outbreak of a flulike illness primarily among horses in North America, Central America, and some islands in the Ca...

The Rise of Modern Hydroponics

17 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The practice of growing plants in water rather than soil isn't new, though early examples are difficult to substantiate. In the 1930s, hydroponic plan...

SYMHC Classics: William Montague Cobb

15 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This 2021 episode covers William Montague Cobb, who was the first Black person in the U.S. to earn a PhD in physical anthropology. He was also an acti...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Law and Medicine

14 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy discusses the inherent challenge of talking about topics that relate to current events. She also shares more information about Emma Reynolds tha...

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams

12 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams is often described as the first person to successfully perform an open-heart surgery. That's not entirely accurate, but he wa...

United States vs. Wong Kim Ark

10 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The 1898 supreme court case called United States vs. Wong Kim Ark had affected enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion Act, because the court found that ...

SYMHC Classics: Chae Chan Ping vs. United States

08 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This 2021 episode covers the Chinese Exclusion Act, the United States’ first major immigration law. As its name suggests it specifically targete...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Helen and Ada

07 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy shares how much she loves the work of Helen McNicoll and how the gaps in her biography posed a challenge during research. Holly talks about Harr...

Ada Coleman and the Savoy’s American Bar

05 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ada Coleman was head bartender at the American Bar at the Savoy Hotel in London in the early 20th century. She created a cocktail that is still served...

Helen McNicoll, Canadian Impressionist

03 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Helen McNicoll was a Canadian painter who had a significant influence on the rise of Impressionism in that country. McNicoll, who lost her hearing in ...

SYMHC Classics: Jelling Stones

01 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This 2016 episode looks at the beginning of Denmark's monarchy and its link to two large rune stones at Jelling. Is it possible that the stones were p...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Iceland and Obstinance

31 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy talks about the way she usually handles names in episodes, and how Icelandic naming conventions changes that. Holly discusses the way that one l...

Isles of Scilly and the 335 Years War

29 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Isles of Scilly were part of one of the longest wars in human history, but the main reason for the length of the very mild conflict was lagging pa...

Jón Arason, Last Catholic Bishop of Iceland

27 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jón Arason was the last Catholic bishop in Iceland before it became a Lutheran country. His story involves a lot of gory details in this story ...

SYMHC Classics: Christine de Pizan

25 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This 2018 episode covers Christine de Pizan, who wrote verse, military manuals, and treatises on war, peace and the just governance. She was the offic...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Tamara and Isaac

24 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Holly and Tracy talk about the spiky parts of Tamara de Lempicka's life story. They also discuss how Isaac Pitman benefitted from his association with...

Isaac Pitman’s Shorthand

22 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Humans have been writing in abbreviated ways as long as writing has existed. In the 19th century, Isaac Pitman developed – and marketed – ...

Tamara de Lempicka

20 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tamara de Lemicka was a trailblazer with an incredible, fresh style that really defined and influenced the development of Art Deco. She lived a life t...

SYMHC Classics: Peter Roget

18 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This 2022 episode covers Peter Roget, a doctor and scientist who really liked putting things into classification systems. His life was very dramatic w...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Petra Peccadillo

17 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy expands on her frustration with coverage of the Petra find. She then discusses selecting topics for Unearthed! that delight her, and Holly share...

Unearthed! Year-end 2024, Part 2

15 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Continuing the end of year 2024 edition of Unearthed!, this installment includes these categories: potpourri, edibles and potables, and books and lett...

Unearthed! Year-end 2024, Part 1

13 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This first installment the end of year 2024 edition of Unearthed! starts with updates, so many shipwrecks, and so much art. Research: Giuffrida, Ange...

SYMHC Classics: Zoë and Theodora

11 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This 2021 episode covers two women rulers of 11th-century Constantinople. Sometimes Zoë ruled alongside one of her husbands, sometimes she and Th...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Accidental Mary Week

10 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Holly talks about Mary Lease's racism, and the barriers to accessing the one biography that really examines it. Tracy traces the steps she took into t...

Mary McLeod Bethune

08 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Mary McLeod Bethune was an educator, activist, and civil servant who dedicated her entire life to the pursuit of racial and gender equality. Her impre...

Mary Elizabeth Lease

06 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Mary Elizabeth Lease was a progressive political activist who fought big business, worked on behalf of the common man, and believed strongly in the im...

SYMHC Classics: Griffith Jenkins Griffith

04 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This 2021 episode covers G.J. Griffith, who today is associated with the Los Angeles park and the observatory. But during his time, Griffith was assoc...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Stitching Hangovers

03 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Holly and Tracy talk about sewing machines in their lives. Tracy talks about how she thought hangover research would be easy, but it turned out to be ...

A Hodgepodge of Hangover History

01 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Humans probably started fermenting things on purpose by about 10,000 BCE. But when did they start discussing the aftereffects that come from drinking ...

Helen A. Blanchard, Sewing Machine Innovator

30 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A lot of sewing techniques being taught and used today came from the mind of one innovator: Helen Blanchard. She held 28 patents, most related to sewi...

SYMHC Classics: F.W. Murnau

28 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This 2019 episode covers F.W. Murnau, most well known for directing the first vampire film. But the German-born creator went on to make a number of in...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Pumpkin Spice Christmas

27 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy and Holly discuss the seasonal nature of pumpkin spice, and medicinal uses of nutmeg. They then talk about artificial versus real Christmas tree...

Christmas Décor

25 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This episode looks at the early days of Christmas trees, the origin of glass ornaments, and the practice of mounting lit candles on trees before elect...

A History of Nutmeg

23 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Nutmeg is native to the Banda Islands in Indonesia. Once Europeans discovered nutmeg, they had an enormous - often violent - impact on the islands it ...

SYMHC Classics: Madame Blavatsky

21 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This 2020 episode covers the iconic figure of mysticism, Madame Blavatsky. She was the founder of the theosophical movement, and lived a life of adven...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Society for Disastrous Accidents

20 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Holly talks about the many, many organizations that Joaquín Torres-García formed. Tracy discusses how there was no plan in place before ...

The SL-1 Reactor Incident

18 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Stationary Low-Power Plant Number 1 was a small boiling-water reactor built at the National Reactor Testing Station, west of Idaho Falls, Idaho. O...

Joaquín Torres-García

16 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Joaquín Torres-García was Uruguayan-born artist who wanted to bring Constructivism and Modernism to Latin America, and worked for much o...

SYMHC Classics: Demon Core

14 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This 2020 episode covers the sphere of plutonium-gallium alloy that the U.S. made for use in an atomic bomb during World War II known as the Demon Cor...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Complicated Ely

13 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy relays how Sarah Winnemucca's story inspired this week's episodes, though they were recorded about a month apart, and also how Ely S. Parker is ...

Ely S. Parker and Ulysses S. Grant (Part 2)

11 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

While working for the Treasury Department, Ely S. Parker met someone who would become a big part of much of the rest of his life – Ulysses S. Gr...

Ely S. Parker and the Tonawanda Seneca (Part 1)

09 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ely S. Parker was instrumental in the creation of President President Ulysses S. Grant’s “peace policy." Parker was Seneca, and he was the...

SYMHC Classics: Scurvy

07 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This 2020 episode covers scurvy, a deficiency in vitamin C. Its story goes way back in history – all the way to our evolutionary ancestors living m...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Impossible Shoes

06 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy talks about getting listener requests, and wonders about the details of one the stories from Monday's show. Tracy and Holly talk about the size ...

Jan Ernst Matzeliger

04 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The shoes you’re wearing today likely were made possible by an invention from the late 19th century. But the inventor of that machine, who had littl...

Six Impossible Episodes: Listener Requests III

02 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This episode includes six stories requested by listeners that wouldn't quite work as standalone episodes. The topics include: Nellie Cashman, Ela of S...

SYMHC Classics: Ko'olau Rebellion

30 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This 2016 episode covers the introduction of Hansen's disease to Hawaii, when businessmen, especially from the U.S., were having an increasing influen...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Unplanned Sarah Week

29 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy talks about the SYMHC calendar, and the controversial nature of Sarah Winnemucca's life story. She also discusses the different ways people have...

Sarah Winnemucca, Part 2

27 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As an adult, Sarah Winnemucca spent a lot of time trying to advocate for the Northern Paiute, although her legacy in that regard has some complexities...

Sarah Winnemucca, Part 1

25 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sarah Winnemucca was Northern Paiute and was born not long before her band had their first contact with people of European descent. That happened in t...

SYMHC Classics: Treaty of Waitangi

23 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This 2014 episode covers the Treaty of Waitangi, a treaty between the British and the Maori that established New Zealand as a nation. The goal was to ...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Questionable Jokes and Turkey

22 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Holly notes the racist views of one of Charles Brown's biographers. Tracy and Holly also discuss presidential proclamations and the ways Thanksgiving ...

Thanksgiving vs. Franksgiving

20 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This episode covers President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s decision to move the date of Thanksgiving with the hope of helping businesses that were tr...

Charles Farrar Browne, the First Standup Comedian

18 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Charles Farrar Browne is often called the first standup comedian. He was, in the 1860s, wildly famous, but his early death, and the soaring career of ...

SYMHC Classics: 3 Reformation Women Classic

16 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This 2017 episode covers Katharina von Bora, Marguerite d’Angoulême and Jeanne d’Albret, who all left their mark on the Reformation, but all in d...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Hans, Mike, and Nate

15 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Holly talks about realizing how Hans Sloane’s early life likely normalized the idea of colonization for him, and also Museum Mike the cat. Tracy tal...

Interview - Nate DiMeo and The Memory Palace

13 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy talks with Nate DiMeo about podcasting, varying approaches to talking about history, and his new book, "The Memory Palace." You can find the boo...

Sir Hans Sloane and the British Museum

11 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sir Hans Sloane’s legacy is a bit mixed. He is the reason there’s a British Museum, but there are a lot of problematic aspects to the way he gathe...

SYMHC Classics: Victorian Orchidelirium

09 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This 2018 episode covers the craze in the 1800s when orchids became a status symbol and the cornerstone of a high-dollar industry. Collecting the plan...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Lyon and the Family

08 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Holly talks about the bias against Lyon in his bank robbing trial. Tracy talks about the way other podcasts that cover history are made, and the dynam...

Interview - Toby Ball/Rip Current

06 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy speaks with Toby Ball, creator and host of the podcast Rip Current, which explores the story of the two assassination attempts against President...

1798 Robbery of the Bank of Pennsylvania

04 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The first recorded bank robbery in the U.S. resulted in the wrong man sitting in jail, a very strange confession, and a serious lawsuit for the admini...

SYMHC Classics: Bram Stoker

02 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This 2020 episode covers the life of the man who created Dracula. But even Bram Stoker's own life story - at least as he told it - may have some ficti...

Behind the Scenes Minis: Farewell, Halloween

01 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Holly shares some of the theories about the Brown Lady photographers that characterizes them as charlatans. Tracy and Holly also share their experienc...