Stuff You Missed in History Class
Join Holly and Tracy as they bring you the greatest and strangest Stuff You Missed In History Class in this podcast by iHeartRadio.
Episodes
Montserrat is a culturally important place with a lot of stories. This episode focuses on three to show its importance as a religious center, as a strategic military location, and finally, as a place that has been home to political protest.
Research:
- Buttery, Helen. “The Dark Queen.” National Post. March 31, 2001. https://www.newspapers.com/image/513661243/?terms=madonna%20montserrat&match=1
- “Basque Country and Catalon...
This episode was recorded (mostly) live at the AC Hotel Los Angeles South Bay, where we talked about Collinses, the Bees Knees, and a man who is iconic in bartending history.
Research:
- Brown, Jared, and Anistatia Miller. “Is the Bee’s Knees Cocktail Making a Comeback?” Imbibe Live. Feb. 22, 2022. https://live.imbibe.com/en-gb/blog/spirits-and-cocktails/bees-knees-cocktail-comeback.html
- “The Gourd Club.” New York Times. May...
This 2018 episode covers the four Mirabal sisters, who are national heroes in the Dominican Republic. But they weren't very well-known elsewhere until 20 or so years ago when they became the subject of a historical novel.
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Holly and Tracy discuss Bertillon's influence in the practice of people carrying ID cards. Tracy talks about how much she loves historical uprisings that include smashing things.
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The Rebecca Riots took place in Wales in the 1830s and 1840s. While these events are often described as a protest against heavy road tolls, that was only a small part of the story.
Research:
- Age of Revolution. “Rebecca and her daughters.” https://ageofrevolution.org/200-object/rebecca-and-her-daughters/
- Age of Revolution. “Tollhouse designed by Thomas Telford.” https://ageofrevolution.org/200-object/tollhouse-designed-by-...
Bertillon developed a system of identification via body measurements that was designed to identify whether crime suspects had an existing criminal history. But his contributions to police work have been occluded by some terrible missteps.
Research:
- Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Alphonse Bertillon". Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Apr. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alphonse-Bertillon
- “Identifying Pri...
This 2019 episode covers Sarah Josepha Hale's well-known poetry, and her publication Godey's Lady's Book, the most popular magazine in the U.S. in the middle of the 19th century,
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Tracy and Holly discuss elementary school experiences with Mourning Dove's work, and Tracy ponders whether her story intersected with other topics from the show.
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In 1916, Mourning Dove gave an interview that described the book she had written as soon to be published, but it turned out to still be years away. Part two covers the years it took to get that book published, and her life after it.
Research:
- American Folklore Society. “Mourning Dove (Hum-ishu-ma / Christine Quintasket).” https://notablefolkloristsofcolor.org/portfolio/mourning-dove-hum-ishu-ma-christine-quintasket/
- Arnol...
Mourning Dove was an activist, ethnographer and novelist, and one of the first, if not the first, Indigenous women in the U.S. to publish a novel. Part one covers the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and her early career.
Research:
- American Folklore Society. “Mourning Dove (Hum-ishu-ma / Christine Quintasket).” https://notablefolkloristsofcolor.org/portfolio/mourning-dove-hum-ishu-ma-christine-quintasket/
- Ar...
This 2015 episode examines that humans have always longed to explore underwater, but need to breathe air. From as far back as the 4th century B.C.E., clever inventors have been designing technology to give us face time with the creatures of the sea.
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Tracy shares her cat’s input on the Empress of Ireland outline. She and Holly also discuss the relatability of Mary Somerville’s writing.
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Mary Somerville was dubbed the Queen of Science, a title earned through a lifetime of learning all she could about various math and science subjects and then parsing those concepts out in her writing for more general audiences.
Research:
- Collins, Helen. “Mary Somerville: Her Legacy for Women in Science.” Oxford Scientist. Feb. 11, 2022. https://oxsci.org/mary-somerville-her-legacy-for-women-in-science/
- Gregersen, Erik. "Ma...
The shipwreck of the Empress of Ireland happened just before the start of World War I and was the worst maritime disaster in Canadian history to happen during peacetime.
Research:
- Blatchford, Andy. “Empress of Ireland, ‘Canada’s Titanic,’ finally getting its due after 100 years.” Globe and Mail. 5/23/2014. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/empress-of-ireland-canadas-titanic-finally-getting-its-due-after-100-year...
This 2017 episode examines the practice of British and French monarchs laying on hands to cure sick people from the medieval period to the 18th century. One disease was so often "cured" it came to be known as the King's Evil.
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Holly discusses the strange reassurance she finds in examining historical crime stories. Tracy talks about the way Lenormand cartomancy decks differ from tarot.
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Lenormand was a fortune-teller in France in the 19th century. She was hugely influential, because despite her work being illegal, very important and powerful people consulted her for cartomancy readings.
Research:
- "Marie Anne Lenormand." Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, vol. 38, Gale, 2018. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1631010818/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=13b27256. Ac...
The story of what happened to Pearl Bryan is horrifying and frightening. The scandalous particulars of the events that led to her murder captivated the attention of the U.S. in the late 1800s, but Pearl gets sort of lost in the shuffle.
Research:
- “An Awful Find.” Cincinnati Enquirer. Feb. 2, 1896. https://www.newspapers.com/image/30900213/?terms=%22body%20found%22&match=1
- Associated Press. “Youth’s Depravity.” The Lexi...
This 2019 episode notes that the Catacombs contain the bones of an estimated 6 to 7 million people, and explains that their history is really two interconnected stories of mines and human remains.
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Holly and Tracy talk about pumpkin carving traditions and techniques. They also discuss Pearl Curran's life and the writing output of Patience.
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