Stuff You Missed In History Class

Hi, Stuff You Missed in History Class listeners! We're excited to share with you a sneak peek at iHeartPodcasts' latest release, Hoax! Hoax!: Why do so many people believe things that aren’t true? In an era when claims of “fake news” come as naturally as breathing, and social media allows lies to spread and multiply like viruses, the question feels more relevant than ever. From the teenage girls who convinced Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that fairies were real in the 19th century to “Balloon boy” in 2009, Hoax! will explore the most audacious and ambitious tricks in history. Along the way, we’ll uncover the reasons people let themselves be fooled and how we can live our lives and engage with the media with a more critical eye. Co-hosted by Noble Blood’s Dana Schwartz and pop culture writer Lizzie Logan, we’ll bring you stories of pranks and grifts throughout history so big and bold they make us question why we believe what we believe in the first place.   Listen

Fitz Hugh Ludlow’s fame as a writer was directly tied to his drug use initially. In his final years, his advocacy for treatment of the illness of addiction was really ahead of its time. Research: “Beyond the Hasheesh Eater: Fitz Hugh Ludlow, A Nineteenth Century Writer and Adventurer.” Schaffer Library. Union College. https://exhibits.schafferlibrarycollections.org/s/beyond-the-hasheesh-eater-fitz-hugh-ludlow-a-nineteenth-century-writer-and-adventurer/page/welcome Bredeson, Robert C. “Landscape Description in Nineteenth-Century American Travel Literature.” American Quarterly, vol. 20, no. 1, 1968, pp. 86–94. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2710992 Day, Horace B. “The Opium Habit.” 1868. Accessed online: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/7293/pg7293-images.html “Death of Fitz Hugh Ludlow, the Hasheesh Eater.” The Buffalo Daily Repiblic. Oct. 7, 1870. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1140456339/?match=1&terms=Fitz%20Hugh%20Ludlow &ldqu

This 2020 episode covers James Baldwin, who was a brilliant essayist, one of the chroniclers of the Civil Rights Movement, and a powerful voice against racism.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly talks about an opera based on the life of Eadweard Muybridge. Tracy and Holly talk about how they learned about periods as kids.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. Washington Post. 8/19/1993. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1993/08/19/n-hugh-mcdiarmid-dies-at-86/beab0fdf-9aec-4ac1-bd0a-cfcef223f1fa/ Byram, W.F. and R.P. Phronebarger. “Current Supply System for Electric Railways.” U.S. Patent 1,134,871. 4/6/1915. Coren, Ashleigh, et al. “The Many Inventions of Beatrice Kenner.” Side Door. Smithsonian Institution. 4/6/2022. https://www.si.edu/sidedoor/many-inventions-beatrice-kenner Davidson, S.N. “Pants Presser.” U.S. Patent 1,088,329. Hambrick, Arlene. “Biographies of Black Female Scientists and

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. https://www.the-tls.com/lives/biography/scoundrel-harry-larkyns-pitiless-killing-photographer-eadweard-muybridge-rebecca-gowers-review “A Fast Trotter Caught by a Skillful Artist on the Fly.” The Lamar Republican. May 29, 1873. https://www.newspapers.com/image/666936878/?match=1&terms=occident%20Muybridge%20 “Madness and Murder.” Whidbey Island Center for the Arts. https://www.wicaonline.org/blog/2020/2/2/1rmzzg46joal5ajvy4tesnui7v314p “A Startling Tragedy.” Los Angeles Herald. October 22, 1874. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH18741022.2.15&am

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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., & Luzin, V. (2025). An African Art Re-Discovered: New Revelations on Sword Manufacture in Dahomey. Heritage, 8(2), 62. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage8020062 Archaeology Magazine. “5,000-year-old Bread Buried in Bronze Age House.” 6/4/2025. https://archaeology.org/news/2025/06/04/5000-year-old-bread-buried-in-bronze-age-house/ Archaeology Magazine. “Fried Thrush Was a Popular Street Food.” 6/6/2025. https://archaeology.org/news/2025/06/06/fried-thrush-was-a-popular-roman-street-food/ Arnold, Paul. “Dentist may have solved 500-year-old mystery in da Vinci's iconi

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., & Luzin, V. (2025). An African Art Re-Discovered: New Revelations on Sword Manufacture in Dahomey. Heritage, 8(2), 62. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage8020062 Archaeology Magazine. “5,000-year-old Bread Buried in Bronze Age House.” 6/4/2025. https://archaeology.org/news/2025/06/04/5000-year-old-bread-buried-in-bronze-age-house/ Archaeology Magazine. “Fried Thrush Was a Popular Street Food.” 6/6/2025. https://archaeology.org/news/2025/06/06/fried-thrush-was-a-popular-roman-street-food/ Arnold, Paul. “Dentist may have solved 500-year-old mystery in da Vi

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Tailor’s Manual.” Folger Shakespeare Library. Jan. 10, 2023. https://www.folger.edu/blogs/collation/a-master-tailors-manual/ Bertrand, J.E. “Descriptions des arts et métiers faites ou approuvées.”  l'Imprimerie de la Société Typographique. 1780. Accessed online: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=SAWFeeXzMgYC&rdid=book-SAWFeeXzMgYC&rdot=1 Boullay, Benoit. “Le Tailleur Sincère, Contenant Ce Qu'il Faut Observer Pour Bien Tracer, Couper.” (Reproduction.) Hachette Livre Bnf. 2012. Buckley, Cheryl. &l

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 Library. Jan. 10, 2023. https://www.folger.edu/blogs/collation/a-master-tailors-manual/ Bertrand, J.E. “Descriptions des arts et métiers faites ou approuvées.”  l'Imprimerie de la Société Typographique. 1780. Accessed online: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=SAWFeeXzMgYC&rdid=book-SAWFeeXzMgYC&rdot=1 Boullay, Benoit. “Le Tailleur Sincère, Contenant Ce Qu'il Faut Observer Pour Bien Tracer, Couper.” (Reproduction.) Hachette Livre Bnf. 2012. Buckley, Cheryl. “On the Margins: Theorizing the History and

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy and Holly talk about their favorite pens, and Tracy describes a unique radio she had as a child.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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, pp. 153–61. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1024069 Armstrong, Edwin H. “Personalities in Science.” Scientific American, vol. 154, no. 1, 1936, pp. 3–3. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26144367 “First public radio broadcast.” Guinness World Records. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/381969-first-public-radio-broadcast “FM Inventor Dies in Fall.” The Patriot News. Feb. 2, 1954. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1094174282/?match=1&terms=%22Edwin%20Howard%20Armstrong%22 Lessing, Lawrence P.. "Edwin

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%2F59036&ebboatid=9265652. Accessed 13 Jun. 2025. "Pen." UXL Science, UXL, 2008. Gale In Context: Science, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CV2646000736/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=52ede570. Accessed 27 May 2025 “Patent of Mr. Frederick Bartholomew Folsch, of Oxford street, for improvements on instruments, and pens, to facilitate writing.” https://archive.org/details/jstor-30072521/mode/2up Bayley, Stephen. “Obituary: Baron Marcel Bich.” The Independent. 6/1/1994. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-baron-marcel-bich-1419867.html Bourq

 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.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly discusses the inscription on the Beachamps' headstone and the court of public opinion. Tracy shares information about Wilfred Owen's brother Harold.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.