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
In the aftermath of the shipwreck, France was scandalized by what had happened as the details emerged. And artist Théodore Géricault became obsessed with it.
Research:
- Amigo, Ignacio. “How a biologist turned amateur sleuth to solve a century-old art riddle.” The Guardian. Oct. 23, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/oct/27/how-a-biologist-turned-amateur-sleuth-to-solve-a-century-old-ar...
The first episode of this two-parter covers the French mission to Senegal that the frigate Medusa led in 1816. Soon, the mission fell disastrously apart.
Research:
- Amigo, Ignacio. “How a biologist turned amateur sleuth to solve a century-old art riddle.” The Guardian. Oct. 23, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/oct/27/how-a-biologist-turned-amateur-sleuth-to-solve-a-century-old-art-riddle
- Bar...
This 2013 episode covers the years after the Industrial Revolution and the Civil War when the oyster supply became so scarce that people turned to oyster piracy.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Holly shares a story about Augustin Fresnel's early career. Tracy discusses an article criticizing the Smithsonian and points out its incorrect contents.
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Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton is known as one of the earliest Mexican-American authors published in English, and her life story is tied closely to the Mexican-American war and the establishment of California as a state.
Research:
- Amero, Richard W. “The Mexican-American War in Baja California.” The Journal of San Diego History. Winter 1984, Volume 30, Number 1. https://sandiegohistory.org/journal/1984/january/war/
- Ann...
Augustin Fresnel didn’t live a long life, but he contributed significantly to the understanding of light and to the safety of coastlines. Neither of those had anything to do with his career.
Research:
- Anderson, F.L. “Huygens' Principle geometric derivation and elimination of the wake and backward wave.” Sci Rep11, 20257 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-99049-7
- Aglialoro, Todd. “Jansenism....
This 2020 episode talks about how Pettenkofer's ideas about cholera's spread weren’t exactly right, but they still had really beneficial impacts on the way we live.
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Tracy talks about her background writing copy for sanitation and cleaning products. She and Holly also discuss how the implementation of the Wells' recommendations could have prevented a lot of illness.
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Husband-and-wife team William Firth Wells and Mildred Weeks Wells conducted research that had the potential to make a big difference in the safety of indoor air. But it didn’t really have a significant impact on public health.
Research:
- Associated Press. “Super-Oyster Is On its Way to Dinner Table Bigger and Better Bivalve Sports Pedigree.” 3/13/1927. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84020064/1927-03-13/ed-1/?s...
All over the world, for all of human history – and probably going back to our earliest hominid ancestors – people have found ways to try to keep themselves clean. But how did soap come about?
Research:
- “Soap, N. (1), Etymology.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, June 2025, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1115187665.
- American Cleaning Institute. “Soaps & Detergents History.” https:/...
This 2021 episode covers John Dalton, famous for his work in atomic theory. But he wrote one of the first thorough descriptions of what he called “anomalous vision” – he realized he wasn’t perceiving color the same way as other people.
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Holly talks about nebulous passages in the writing of Jane Croly and her brother. Tracy and Holly talk about watching TV as children.
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The initial time period where a TV remote control was developed was pretty short. And it shows how two different people perceive their work, and how that work is perceived differently over time by their employer.
Research:
- Adler, R. “Control System.” Dec. 17, 1957. U.S. Patent Office. https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/9a/fb/1a/619d2580b08526/US2817025.pdf
- AFX News. “COMPANY NEWS; MOTOROLA TO BUY ZEN...
Jane Cunningham Croly, who wrote under the pen name Jennie June, was a journalist who advocated for equality for women. She is most well known for founding one of the earliest clubs for women in the U.S.
Research:
- Croly, Jennie June. “Jennie June's American Cookery Book, Containing Upwards of Twelve Hundred Choice and Carefully Tested Receipts.” Excelsior. 1878. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Jennie_June_s_Am...
This 2022 episode discusses how modern rabies prophylaxis is almost 100% effective at preventing human death from the bite of a rabid animal. How did people come to understand rabies, and then develop a vaccination for it?
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Holly talks about the arguments she found online about whether graffiti is art. Tracy talks about how the Dickin Medal impacted veterinary medicine.
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Maria Dickin wanted to raise the status of animals in society and bring more awareness to the work they were doing during World War II. The Dickin Medal was created to honor military working animals. This episode covers six of those recipients.
Research:
- “Cats and Dogs.” Sabretache: The Official Journal of the Calgary Military Historical Society. August Extra #1. 2022. http://cmhs.ca/sabretache/Sabretache_2022_08_1...
The possible contenders for the title of inventor of spray paint were actually working across decades. And really, all those people contributed pieces of the story.
Research:
- Abplanalp, R.H. “Valve mechanism for dispensing gases and liquids under pressure.” U.S. Patent Office. March 17, 1953. https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/e2/65/be/710e864cf870d8/US2631814.pdf
- “About Binks.” https://binks.c...
This 2021 episode covers Eunice Newton Foote, who became the first person to make a connection between the Earth’s temperature and the concentration of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere in 1856.
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Tracy discusses the concept of race as it has and hasn't existed in European history. Both Tracy and Holly share their frustration and fury about the Buck v. Bell story.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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