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
After a difficult childhood, Rosina Bulwer-Lytton landed in a marriage that quickly turned chaotic and stressful, and then became abusive. Part one covers the period of her life up to their separation.
Research:
- “A Scene at the Hertfordshire Election.” The Tiverton Gazette. 6/29/1858. https://www.newspapers.com/image/803824054/
- Blain, Virginia. “Rosina Bulwer Lytton and the Rage of the Unheard.” H...
This 2017 episode covers Theodosia Burr Alston, Aaron Burr's incredibly smart and well educated daughter. She vanished without a trace as an adult, and her ultimate fate is still a matter of debate.
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Tracy and Holly share experiences of having their hearts monitored using EKG technology. They also talk about whether or not Albert Bierstadt had any natural talent.
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Albert Bierstadt’s story runs counter to the romanticized idea of a passionate starving artist. He was strategic in his career, selecting imagery that he knew would appeal to U.S. audiences, and monetizing his art outside of selling paintings.
Research:
- Appman, Sarah Bean. “How One Building Turned Greenwich Village Into an Artists’ Mecca.” Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. August 6, 2...
The first electrocardiograph was invented in 1895. That device looked a lot different from today’s machines, and there are some other contenders for the title of “first.”
Research:
- AlGhatrif, Majd, and Joseph Lindsay. “A brief review: history to understand fundamentals of electrocardiography.” Journal of community hospital internal medicine perspectives vol. 2,1 10.3402/jchimp.v2i1.14383. 30 Apr. ...
This 2020 episode covers one of the transitional events between the Black Death and the Renaissance. Wat Tyler’s Rebellion was also known as the Uprising of 1381 or the Great Rising.
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Holly and Tracy talk about Tracy growing up in a mostly Protestant community with little exposure to Catholicism. They also talk about the Gorsuch family's ties to John Wilkes Booth.
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The Christiana Incident offers a snapshot of the U.S. when the country was sorting into states where slavery was upheld and states that had abolished it, and what racist tension looked like at border states in the mid-1850s.
Research:
- “The Christiana Affair Again.” New York Times. Sept. 20, 1851. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1851/09/20/87821677.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
- “Christiana Resis...
Pope Leo XIII sought to find a way forward for the Catholic church at a time when the world was rapidly changing and the church was often at odds with those changes.
Research:
- Aubert, Roger-François-Marie. "Leo XIII". Encyclopedia Britannica, 18 May. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leo-XIII
- “ELECTION OF POPE LEO XIII.” New York Times. Feb. 21, 1878. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachi...
This 2022 episode covers Griswold v. Connecticut, the U.S. supreme court decision that overturned laws banning contraception – at least, for married couples.
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Tracy talks about her experiences with the Blue Ridge Parkway growing up, including her mixed feelings about it. Holly talks about the theft of the Mona Lisa.
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The Blue Ridge Parkway is the longest roadway in the U.S. that was planned as a single unit. Its origin is connected to government efforts to provide relief from the Great Depression, and conservation of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Research:
- "Restoring Western North Carolina's Infrastructure: NCDOT Receives $250 Million in Federal Emergency Relief Funds." National Law Review, 21 Feb. 2025. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale...
Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park is a scenic road tied to the “See America First” movement of the early 20th century. The acquisition of land for the project was difficult, and displaced many families from their homes.
Research:
- Harrison, Sarah Georgia. “The Skyline Drive: A Western Park Road in the East.” From Parkways: Past, Present and Future. International Linear Parks Conference. Appalachi...
This 2016 continuation of our coverage of the Palmer Raids covers a series of raids on perceived threats to national security by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer. Thousands of people were rounded up, many without cause or warrant, and kept in horrifying conditions.
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Tracy outlines all the way RFK Jr.'s claims regarding disease history make no sense. Holly talks about the section of her career that was spent working in a university library.
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The Library of Congress has a lot of responsibilities. It’s massive in both physical scale and in scale of services. So how did it start, and how did it evolve to be the largest library in the world?
Research:
- Cole, John Y. “America’s Greatest Library: An Illustrated History of the Library of Congress.” Library of Congress, Washington, DC, in Association with D. Giles Limited, London. 2017.
- “Dr. C...
Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and Crohn’s disease are autoimmune diseases that share a lot of commonalities. This episode covers when and how they were first recognized and described.
Research:
- Aceves-Avila, Francisco Javier et al. “The Antiquity of Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Reappraisal.” The Journal of Rheumatology 2001; 28:4.
- Arnaud, Laurent et al. “The History of Lupus Throughout the Ages.” ...
Part one of this 2016 classic covers the social unrest in the U.S. after WWI. There was a fear that Communist revolutionaries would try to take over the country. Adding fuel to the fear were two bomb plots in 1919.
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Holly shares her experience visiting the Meiji Jingu shrine. Tracy mentions that she never found out why the Triple Nickles used the spelling they did, and her use of the Wayback Machine for show research.
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The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, also called the Triple Nickles, were the first Black paratroopers in the U.S. military, and their story is connected to the desegregation of the military after World War II.
Research:
- 555th Parachute Infantry. “Malvin L. Brown.” http://triplenickle.com/malvinbrown.htm
- Aney, Warren. “Triple Nickles -- 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion.” Oregon Encyclopedia. https:...
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