Stuff You Missed in History Class

The story of Madeline Pollard’s relationship with Congressman William C.P. Breckinridge became a national story when it went from a romance to a bitter and dirty court battle. To some, Madeline emerged as an icon of the women’s movement. But to others, she became a cautionary tale. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2014 episode covers the 1925 diphtheria outbreak in Nome, Alaska that put a community in grave danger -- without the proper supplies to fight the disease. A daring sled-dog relay was mounted to deliver needed medicine to small community and their only doctor. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly and Tracy talk about the ire that comes about when examining the press coverage of the Goolds when they were murder suspects. They then discuss the artwork plundered from Benin in 1897, and how that comes with its own biases when looking at contemporary accounts. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many cultural objects and works of art were taken from the Kingdom of Benin in western Africa in 1897, in what is typically described as a punitive raid or a punitive expedition by the British. In the last few years, some nations and institutions have committed to returning these pieces, but only a few have actually been returned at this point. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The violent Monte Carlo Trunk Murder is fascinating as a terrifying crime, and its connection to wealth and fame made it global news. But the way it was covered in the papers offers an unsettling glimpse into bias and privilege. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2015 episode delves into carousels. They're part of childhood, but they were originally billed as an entertainment for adults and children alike. And even further back than that, it's believed that they were used to train horsemen. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy shares the logistics of assembling her lists for Unearthed!, and she and Holly talk about criteria for leaving details out of the show on purpose. They also discuss confusion over days off, and Holly's excitement about Dutch Golden Age paintings. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the second part of the year-end edition of Unearthed! the show covers necropolises and art, and edibles and potables, shipwrecks, and potpourri. But there are also a few last-minute additions to the list before the potpourri! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's time for what was unearthed in the last quarter of 2021! Part one this time includes lots of updates to previous episodes, as well as books and letters, exhumations and and repatriations. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2014 episode discusses Jules Verreaux and his two brothers, who collected an impressive array of flora and fauna specimens from around the world for placement with museums and collectors. They also did some really unsavory things that had long-term ramifications. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy and Holly discuss the natural tendency to find the platypus suspect as an animal. They also talk about some of the tangential pieces of the Cyrano story that didn't make it into Wednesday's episode. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cyrano de Bergerac is often called a man of letters, a philosopher, a soldier, a duelist, a playwright and many more things. But what he may have been best at was self-invention. His real story is blurry to begin with, and he contributed to that blur, but it’s been even more obscured obscured over the centuries by the fictionalized versions of his life. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When European naturalists saw a platypus for the first time, they found it so bizarre that they thought it was fake, and then argued about how to classify it for almost a century. This happened in tandem with similar discussions about another Australian animal – the echidna, or spiny anteater – and discussions of scientific taxonomy in general. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2016 episode covers the Piltdown Man, which is one of the world's most infamous instances of scientific fraud. It derailed the study of evolution for decades. How exactly did scientists in 1912 fall so completely for a hoax? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly and Tracy discuss Daguerre's life, and veer off into VR, and the nature of Daguerre's monetization of photography. Then they talk about the famously handsome Cornelius and the importance of photography to our modern world. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cornelius is famous for having taken what’s often called the world’s first selfie - and he's noted for how handsome he looks in it. But he was smart and inventive in a variety of ways, and he innovated in lighting fixtures the same way he did with photography. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Daguerre comes up almost any time we mention photography, but we’ve never covered his life story. Well before he figured out how to capture images through a camera obscura, he was an artist and innovator in entertainment. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2018 episode takes a look at three creative works that have become staples of the Christmas season. All three of them have played a huge part in how people observe and celebrate Christmas in parts of the world, and they all had milestone birthdays that year. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy and Holly discuss Tracy being frightened by Ichabod Crane's fate in the Disney Sleepy Hollow cartoon as a kid, and the letters between Dickens and Irving. They then discuss the trickiness of researching a historical topic that has the same name as a band. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You may recognize the name as that of a band, but Jethro Tull was an 18th-century gentleman farmer often credited with inventing the seed drill. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Washington Irving may come to mind more in connection with Halloween, but his writing had a significant influence on the way Christmas is celebrated in the U.S. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2014 episode covers the life of a woman who was smart and learned, but not a particularly good ruler. Her entire life was marked by being kind of a contradictory, restless character - starting basically from the moment she was born. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy and Holly discuss their preferences in ways the Nutcracker should be staged, and their love of it from the audience and performer perspectives. Then they compare notes on Caesar salads, anchovies, and the troubles with Sylvester Graham. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This eponymous food episode features a(nother) salad that came together improvisationally out of necessity, and a cracker made to align with specific dietary guidelines, with a namesake who would undoubtedly be horrified at how that item has evolved. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s a Russian adaptation of a German story and wasn’t really a Christmas staple in its home country. But music from the Nutcracker has also become a huge part of the Christmas season and beyond. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2015 episode cover the expedition efforts of Andrée, who hoped to succeed in reaching the North Pole where others had failed by doing it by air. With a seemingly endless positivity, he and two other men hoped to earn bragging rights for Sweden by reaching the pole. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy and Holly discuss the anger-making aspects of working on the story of the Flint sit-down strike. They also discuss the way Holly happened upon the story of Wilson Bentley and what his personality was like. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bentley was a Vermont farmer and amateur meteorologist who became known to many during his lifetime as the Snowflake Man. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Flint, Michigan was at the heart of auto manufacturing for General Motors in 1936. And while the strike was largely centered around Flint, it also involved workers at GM factories all over the U.S. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2018 episode covers Violet Paget, more often known by her pen name Vernon Lee, who was a historian and an art and literary critic. She wrote on myriad subjects including music, travel, aesthetics, psychology and economics. And she was well known for her ghost stories. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly and Tracy discuss how Vernon Lee factored into the story of Amy Levy's life. They also talk about what a pain in the neck Theodore Hook must have been. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we have a series of prank stories that aren’t quite substantial enough to be their own episodes. We’ve got a joke that became a living legend, a large-scale prank that created havoc, and a televised hoax that reminds us all of the importance of critical thinking. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Levy was recognized as an extraordinary literary talent of the 1880s. But after her tragic early death, she receded into the background of history. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2013 episode covers the taxidermist Potter, who had preserved and mounted 98 birds by the time he was 19. In 1880, his work had grown to a point where it had to be moved to a building, which became his museum. Potter's museum collection continues to enthrall collectors and enthusiasts. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly and Tracy discuss Perkin's idealism, and how many things in their lives are impacted by his work. Then they discuss "Who killed Cock Robin?' and Tracy's fascination with it as a child. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today’s episode is the next installment of our Six Impossible Episodes series, and our second one on nursery rhymes. This one explores the historical context of Jack and Jill, London Bridge, Cock Robin and others. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For Perkin, the creation of the first synthetic dye was the beginning of a career that combined chemistry and business to great success. And he got to see the world of industry change in response to his innovation. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2014 episode covers how pigments and dyes have historically come from all manner of animals, vegetables and minerals. From ochre to cochineal red to the rarest of purples, color has been an important part of human life for centuries. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy talks about the coincidences she encountered while researching this week's episodes. Talk then turns to how complicated Ida Tarbell's story is. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tarbell saw her family and community clash with Standard Oil when she was growing up. This second part covers her work for McClure’s Magazine and the most important journalistic work of her life – “The History of the Standard Oil Company.” Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ida Tarbell was one of the first investigative journalists, and the biggest work of her life involved exposing exploitive and illegal business practices at Standard Oil. Part one covers her early life, which led her to that story. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Prince Pedro of Portugal was married off in the 1300s, he only had eyes for his new wife's lady in waiting. This 2017 episode about the relationship between Inês and Pedro has everything: romance, deception, murder, and a corpse crowned as queen. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy and Holly discuss the possible inspiration for Maggie Lena Walker's name, and then discuss favorite recipes as inspired by a listener mail. They also speculate on Pepper's personality, and how he opened up education to a wide audience. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While the ghost illusion he created for theaters dominates his life story, Pepper's life story has a number of twists and turns. It’s got several professional disagreements, world travel, and even an attempt to control the weather. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Maggie Lena Walker was the first Black woman in the U.S. to charter a bank – she was also the first Black woman in the U.S. to serve as a bank’s president. But the bank was only one of her many endeavors which focused on improving the lives of the entire Black community. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2011 episode from previous hosts Sarah and Deblina covers the life of Mary-Elizabeth Bowser, who was released from enslavement by Elizabeth Van Lew, then went on to become an agent in Van Lew's "Richmond Ring" of Civil War spies. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy and Holly discuss the inherent problems with looking at the story of the princes in the tower, particularly many people having the same name. Then they discuss the frustration of discovering the Montaukett Nation's legal status with the state of New York. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Olivia Ward Bush-Banks was a Harlem Renaissance writer who also supported writers and artists, hosted salons, and taught drama courses. She was well-known during her lifetime, but her name recognition has faded over time. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sir Thomas More’s version of what happened to the sons of Edward IV has long dominated popular understanding of it. But the conflict between the House of York and the House of Lancaster has many layers, and any account is colored by the alliances of who gave it. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2017 episode examines how, after a traumatic event, strange things began happening around Esther Cox. In the 1870s, Amherst, Nova Scotia was abuzz with theories as to whether the phenomena were the work of a poltergeist, strange electrical charges, or a hoax. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.