Stuff You Missed In History Class

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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, 2019. https://www.villagepreservation.org/2019/08/06/how-one-building-turned-greenwich-village-into-an-artists-mecca/ “Albert Bierstadt Dead.” Indianapolis News. Feb. 19, 1902. https://www.newspapers.com/image/37784929/?match=1&terms=Albert%20Bierstadt Avery, Kevin J. “Hudson River School.” The Met. Oct. 1, 2004. https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/the-hudson-river-school “Bierstadt Painting Surfaces After 100 Years.” Greenville News. June 7, 1990. https://www.newspapers.com/image/192068392/?match=1&terms=Albert%20Bierstadt%20Lucerne “Dealer

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. 2012, doi:10.3402/jchimp.v2i1.14383 Baldassarre, Antonio et al. “The Role of Electrocardiography in Occupational Medicine, from Einthoven's Invention to the Digital Era of Wearable Devices.” International journal of environmental research and public health vol. 17,14 4975. 10 Jul. 2020, doi:10.3390/ijerph17144975 Browne, Sir Thomas. “Chap. IV: Of Bodies Electrical.” From Pseudodoxia Epidemica. 1672. https://penelope.uchicago.edu/pseudodoxia/pseudo24.html Case Western Reserve. “Cambridge Electrocardiograph, 1920.” https://artsci.case.edu/dittrick/onlin

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Resistance 1851.” Christiana Historical Society. https://www.christianahistoricalsociety.com/christiana-resistance “The Christiana Trials.” New York Times. Nov. 4, 1851. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1851/11/04/87823549.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0 The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Fugitive Slave Acts". Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 Feb. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/event/Fugitive-Slave-Acts “Fatal Fugitive Slave Riot.” Boston Evening Transcript. Sept. 12, 1851. https://www.newspapers.com/image/734734274/ Forbes, David R. “

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/timesmachine/1878/02/21/issue.html Jedin, Hubert and John Patrick Dolan. “History of the Church: The Church in the Industrial age.” Burns & Oates. 1981. https://books.google.com/books?id=h5LYAAAAMAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s Masci, David. “A look at popes and their encyclicals.” Pew Research Center. June 9, 2015. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2015/06/09/a-look-at-popes-and-their-encyclicals/ Miller, James Martin. “The life of Pope Leo XIII : containing a full and authentic account of the illustrious pontiff's life and work.” G.H. Harr. Omaha, Neb

This 2022 episode covers Griswold v. Connecticut, the U.S. supreme court decision that overturned laws banning contraception – at least, for married couples. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.com/apps/doc/A828346450/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=b22cedc8. Accessed 12 May 2025. "The Blue Ridge Parkway." NCpedia. Accessed on May 14th, 2025. https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/blue-ridge-parkway. “Report In Full of Secretary Work’s Appalachian National Park Committee. “National Parks and Conservation Magazine.” 1924-11-25: Iss 42. https://archive.org/details/sim_national-parks_1924-11-25_42/page/n5/ Averill, Graham. “The Blue Ridge Parkway: A Monumental Drive.” Our State. 9/27/2021. https://www.ourstate.com/the-blue-ridge-parkw

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. Appalachian State University. (1987). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1xp3kv8.13 Jolley, Harley E., “Blue Ridge Parkway: The First 50 Years,” Appalachian State University Libraries Digital Collections, accessed May 14, 2025, https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/items/show/43667. Jones, Jenny. “Skyline Drive: Engineered with Nature In Mind.” Civil Engineering. April 2001. Kyle, Robert. “The Dark Side of Skyline Drive.” Washington Post. 10/17/1993. Miles, Kathryn. “Shenandoah National Park Is Confronting Its History.” Outside. 9/23/2019. h

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. Carla Hayden delivers opening statement at Library of Congress hearing.” Committee on House Administration. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3LrEsNycZ4 “Library of Congress Classification.” Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcc.html “The Library of Congress Is Your Library.” Library of Congress. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Ze_bpATac “National Digital Library Program.” Library of Congress. https://webarchive-beta.loc.gov/general/20150701231729/https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/dli2/html/lcndlp.html “Preservation Science.&

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.” Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. Volume 87, Issue 6, December 2022. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0190962220307726 Barber, Megan R W et al. “Global epidemiology of systemic lupus erythematosus.” Nature reviews. Rheumatology vol. 17,9 (2021): 515-532. doi:10.1038/s41584-021-00668-1 Bornstein, Joseph E. and Randolph M. Steinhagen. “History of Crohn’s Disease.” From Crohn’s Disease: Basic Principles. Springer. 2015. Crohn & Colitis Foundation. “IBD before the Foundation.” https://www.crohnscolitisfo

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/555th_parachute_infantry_triple_nickle_batallion/ Associated Press. “Air Force Starts Probe Into Troop Bombing.” The Miami Herald. 9/18/1948. https://www.newspapers.com/image/617847549/ Associated Press. “Army Lists Dead in Bomb Blast.” The Tampa Times. 9/18/1948. https://www.newspapers.com/image/326171714/ Biggs, Bradley. “The Triple Nickles: America’s First All-Black Paratroop Unit.” Hamden, Conn. Archon Books. 1986. Bradsher, Greg and Sylvia Naylor. “Firefly Project and the 555th Parachute Infantry

Emperor Meiji of Japan’s reign began in 1867, and it marks a time of significant change in the country’s history. After the emperor and his consort died in the early 20th century, the Meiji Jingu shrine was built to memorialize them. Research: Atsushi, Kawai. “Prefectures, Power, and Centralization: Japan’s Abolition of the Feudal Domains.” Nippon.com. Aug. 27, 2021. https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/g01159/ Bernard, Rosemary. “Shinto and Ecology: Practice and Orientations to Nature.” Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology. https://fore.yale.edu/World-Religions/Shinto/Overview-Essay Cali, Joseph and John Dougill. “Shinto Shrines: A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan's Ancient Religion: A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan’s Ancient Religion.” University of Hawaii Press. 2015. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Charter Oath". Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Mar. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/event/Charter-Oath The Editors of Encyclopaedia