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
Carlos Juan Finlay was a Cuban doctor who did a lot of work to understand the spread of Yellow Fever. But Walter Reed got most of the credit.
Research:
- American Experience. “Carlos Finlay (1833-1915).” From The Great Fever. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/fever-carlos-finlay/
- Berenbrok, Dorothy E., "Latin Heritage Month. Carlos Juan Finlay: Outrageous, Courageous and Correct" (2015). Poste...
This 2022 episode covers Deborah Sampson, who could count William Bradford and Myles Standish in her family tree. That tree didn’t include Robert Shurtliff; that was the alias Deborah used to enlist in the Continental Army.
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Holly shares a quote from Daniela Lippi about the importance of ongoing learning in the restoration profession. There is then discussion of the nerve-racking construction of Disneyland.
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Disneyland's opening seemed like an impossibility throughout the construction process. Holly interviews filmmaker Leslie Iwerks about her new film "Disneyland Handcrafted," which shares the journey from an empty dirt lot to the theme park we know today.
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In 1993, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy was damaged by a car bomb. But this story starts in the 16th century with painter Bartolomeo Manfredi, and reaches all the way to the 2000s with an extraordinary restoration project.
Research:
- “600 fragments and one photograph. The restoration of Bartolomeo Manfredi’s “Card Players.” Scala Archives. May 23, 2023. https://scalarchives.com/600-fragments-and-o...
This 2019 episode covers the Regulator War, aka the War of the Regulation, aka the Regulator Movement. It was a North Carolina event which arose in response to unfair taxes, poor representation and corruption.
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Tracy shares why Bhagat Singh Thind rocketed to the top of her topics list. Holly shares a story of bad cat behavior.
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The Carrington Event was a massive geomagnetic storm that happened in 1859. It led to expanded understanding of solar phenomena.
Research:
- “Great Aurora of 1859. Art. XLII – The Great Auroral Exhibition of August 28th to September 4th, 1859.” American Journal of Science. Ser. 2. Vol. 28. July-November 1859.
- Cardenas, Freddy Moreno et al. “The Grand Aurorae Borealis Seen in Colombia in 1859.” Prepr...
United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind was a 1923 case that hinged on what it meant to be white.
Research:
- “Ozawa v. United States, 260 U.S. 178 (1922).” https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/260/178/
- “United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, 261 U.S. 204 (1923).” https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/261/204/
- de la Garza, Amanda. “Doctorji: The Life. Teachings, and Legacy of Dr. Bhagat Singh...
This 2023 episode covers the Insular Cases, which are SCOTUS cases regarding rights of people in U.S. territories.
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Holly talks about how small the circle of London intellectuals was in John Graunt's time. Then there is discussion of disco balls in bathrooms.
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There are so many things in our modern world that we presume are fairly recent inventions. But the three things we’re going to talk about in this instance are quite old, but they have close associations with the recent past.
Research:
- Abbott, David, PhD., ed. “The Biographical Book of Scientists: Engineers and Inventors.” Peter Bedrick Books. New York. 1985.
- “Bad Breath.” Medline Plus. https://med...
John Graunt was a shopkeeper in 17th-century London who followed his own curiosity to a rather grand result. His work gave rise to the fields of demography and epidemiology.
Research:
- Berke, Olaf, et al. “Celebration day: 400th birthday of John Graunt, citizen scientist of London.” Environmental Health Review. 63(3): 67-69. 2020. https://doi.org/10.5864/d2020-018
- Britannica Editors. "John Graunt...
This 2019 episode marked 100 years since a wave of racist violence in the U.S. that became known as Red Summer. In many ways, Red Summer was a response to (but NOT caused by) two earlier events: the Great Migration and the return of black soldiers who had fought in World War I.
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Holly and Tracy commiserate about sending greeting cards. Tracy talks about how she shifted away from an episode exclusively about Frances Thompson.
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The Memphis Massacre was a truly horrific wave of destruction and violence, including sexual violence, against the Black community of Memphis just a year after the end of the U.S. Civil War.
Research:
- “Memphis Daily Appeal Interviews Frances Thompson (1876),” SHEC: Resources for Teachers, accessed April 9, 2026, https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/3717.
- “The Outrage Mill.” The North Missouri Register....
Humans have been exchanging tokens of friendship since before recorded history. From calling cards to Valentines to Christmas cards, the modern greeting card industry evolved.
Research:
- “America’s First Christmas Card.” Albany Institute of History and Art. https://www.albanyinstitute.org/online-exhibition/50-objects/section/america-s-first-christmas-card
- Britannica Editors. "scarab". Encyclopedia Britann...
This 2019 episode covers the color blue, the most popular color in many parts of the world. But many ancient languages didn’t have a word for blue, and some languages still don’t.
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Tracy shares struggles that she encountered pulling together this edition of Unearthed. She and Holly have a tangential discussion about AI.
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Part one of this quarter's edition of Unearthed! includes animals, artwork, edibles and potables, shipwrecks, potpourri.
Research:
- Abdallah, Hannah. “Analysis of charred food in pot reveals that prehistoric Europeans had surprisingly complex cuisines.” EurekAlert. 3/4/2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1117763
- Almeroth-Williams, Thomas. “British redcoat’s lost memoir reveals harsh realities ...
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