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
Holly talks about an opera based on the life of Eadweard Muybridge. Tracy and Holly talk about how they learned about periods as kids.
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Beatrice Kenner’s inventions were focused largely on making life easier and less annoying for herself and the people around her, including period products. Mildred Smith’s invention was about family, and it grew from her disability after she developed multiple sclerosis.
Research:
- “Deaths.” Evening Star. 11/27/1956. https://www.newspapers.com/image/869672410/
- “Mildred E. Smith.” Obituary. Wa...
The invention Eadweard Muybridge is known for is his zoopraxiscope, an early movie technology. But he also innovated in photography, had some other inventions, and was the defendant in a murder trial.
Research:
- Ball, Edward. “The Inventor and the Tycoon: A Gilded Age Murder and the Birth of Moving Pictures.” Doubleday. 2013.
- Cohen, Paula Marantz. “Flickering Like Photography.” Times Literary Supplement....
This 2019 episode covers Mary Winston Jackson, best known as the first black woman to become an engineer at NASA. But she also worked to clear the way for other underrepresented people at NASA.
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Tracy talks about current events and how they relate to the show and education. She and Holly also talk about the people who work in national parks and historical sites.
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This edition of Unearthed! continues, this time covering the mixed items we call potpourri, shipwrecks, edibles and potables, books and letters, and exhumations.
Research:
- Agencia Brasil. “Cave Paintings Discovered in Rio de Janiero Park.” 4/13/2025. https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/en/educacao/noticia/2025-04/cave-paintings-discovered-rio-de-janeiro-park
- Anderson, R. L., Salvemini, F., Avdeev, M., & Luzi...
This installment of Unearthed! starts with lots of updates! And then some art-related unearthings, and a few things at the end that fall under the category of adult content.
Research:
- Agencia Brasil. “Cave Paintings Discovered in Rio de Janiero Park.” 4/13/2025. https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/en/educacao/noticia/2025-04/cave-paintings-discovered-rio-de-janeiro-park
- Anderson, R. L., Salvemini, F., Avdeev, M.,...
This 2017 episode covers a very short time between Edward VI and Mary I when Lady Jane was, at least nominally, Queen of England and Ireland. Whether she had any right to the title is still the subject of dispute.
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Holly and Tracy discuss the challenge of enlarging sewing patterns from small diagrams. They also talk about one of Butterick's most popular patterns of all time -- the 1952 walk-away dress.
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Ellen Curtis Demorest and Ebeneezer Butterick are the two names most often invoked as the start of multi-sized patterns printed for home sewists. Once they proved it was a viable business, a lot of other offerings appeared.
Research:
- Alcega, Joan de. “Libro de geometria, practica y traça.” Madrid.1580. Accessed online:https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_07333/
- Aldarondo, Abner. “A Master Tail...
Commercially available sewing patterns have been a cornerstone of home stitching for a century. But well before they existed, there were people trying to share sewing patterns.
Research:
- Alcega, Joan de. “Libro de geometria, practica y traça.” Madrid.1580. Accessed online:https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_07333/
- Aldarondo, Abner. “A Master Tailor’s Manual.” Folger Shakespeare Li...
This 2020 episode examines how the U.S. got to the point of having one resource, specifically for poisoning, that’s so reliable and available that it gets printed on the labels of consumer products.
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Tracy and Holly talk about their favorite pens, and Tracy describes a unique radio she had as a child.
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Edwin Howard Armstrong isn’t exactly a well-known inventor, but his work in radio literally changed communications around the globe. But his most famous invention – FM radio – became a source of constant frustration after he developed it.
Research:
- Armstrong, Edwin H. “Frequency Modulation and Its Future Uses.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 213, 1941...
Before the ballpoint pen, people used their hands, reeds, bamboo, brushes, quills, and eventually nibs to write or draw. But how did things evolve from there to get to things like the fountain pen, and eventually, a ballpoint?
Research:
- "pen." Britannica Library, Encyclopædia Britannica, 26 Jul. 2021. libraries.state.ma.us/login?eburl=https%3A%2F%2Flibrary.eb.com&ebtarget=%2Flevels%2Freferencecenter%2Farticle%2Fpen%2...
This 2022 episode starts with the story of John Bibb, credited with cultivating Bibb lettuce. But his family’s legacy, good and bad, is all tied to having enslaved people build their familial wealth.
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Holly discusses the inscription on the Beachamps' headstone and the court of public opinion. Tracy shares information about Wilfred Owen's brother Harold.
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Wilfred Owen is considered one of the most important English-language poets of World War I. His work also part of a shift in how many British poets were writing about war.
Research:
- Bonellie, Janet. “A Portrait of Robert Ross.” Canada’s History. 6/12/2019. https://www.canadashistory.ca/explore/arts-culture-society/a-portrait-of-robert-ross
- British Broadcasting Corporation. “Wilfred Owen: A Remembr...
The Beauchamp-Sharpe tragedy of 1825, sometimes called the Kentucky tragedy, involves a politician, a young lawyer, and the lawyer’s wife. It unfolds as a story of sexual scandal and political intrigue that ultimately led to murder.
Research:
- Beauchamp, Jereboam O. “The confession of Jereboam Beauchamp (written by himself) who was executed at Frankfort, Ky., for the murder of Col. Solomon P. Sharp, a member of the ...
This 2014 episode covers transgender activist Sylvia Rivera. She became famous, in part, for participating in the Stonewall riots, and she spent her life campaigning bravely, stridently and vocally for the rights of gay and transgender people.
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