Today in 1909, the brothers Abernathy, ages five and eight, started a 1,300 mile trip - on horseback, unsupervised - from Oklahoma to New Mexico and back. The next year they got back on their horses to ride to New York to see their dad's pal, Teddy Roosevelt. Plus: Envision Art Gallery in Wichita, Kansas may be the first art museum meant for blind artists and art lovers. 

Ultimate free-range kids: Two boys, 6 and 10, rode horses to New York — from Oklahoma (Washington Post)

Inside the First Art Gallery for Blind Artists and Audiences (Thrillist)

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Today in 1983, the beginning of an unlikely peace mission: a visit to the Soviet Union by a 10 year old from Maine named Samantha Smith. Plus: a decade earlier, who should travel through the USSR on his way back from a gig but David Bowie?!?

Samantha Smith, the fifth-grader from Maine who became "America's Littlest Diplomat" (CBS Sunday Morning)

David Bowie Crossed the Soviet Union on the Trans-Siberian Express Train in 1973. Fascinating Photos Document a Historic Voyage (Artnet)

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The Soviet Union's paid time off system was different than the one we have today. The government sent many would-be tourists on group excursions with comrades from the local trade union - not friends or even family. Plus: a 17th century Massachusetts ship captain got in trouble with the Puritan authorities for kissing his wife.

Workers of the World, Take PTO! (JSTOR)

THOMAS KEMBLE, THE KISSING PURITAN (New England Historical Society)

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Today in 1865 the US Secret Service formed to stamp out counterfeit money. As part of that effort, it has the International Ink Library, tens of thousands of vintage and modern inks to help investigators sort out what’s what. Plus: a vice president's kid chooses an unusual Secret Service code name.

US Secret Service Laboratory Studies Ink to Solve Crimes (VOA News)

Secret Service’s ink library helps agents foil kidnappings, counterfeiters (SFGATE)

11 Great Secret Service Code Names (TIME)

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Today we celebrate our Independence Day! And on this show, we look at the efforts to protect the Declaration of Independence and our other founding documents even in the face of an alien invasion or a zombie apocalypse (or a less exciting but more realistic emergency). Plus, today in 1851, the start of an unusual 4th of July tradition: the Horribles Parade.

How the Government Would Protect the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence During a Zombie Apocalypse (New York Magazine) 

14 Fantastic Facts About the Fourth of July

This month in 1973, a newspaper in California known as The Recycler started publishing. It was mostly a list of classified ads, but those ads have had a pretty big impact on music. Plus: the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma is hosting an exhibit called “Love Saves the Day: The Subterranean History of American Disco.”

10 Rock Classifieds That Changed Music History (LA Weekly) 

Woody Guthrie Center opens new disco exhibit (FOX 23)

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Today in 1952, the first TV episode of the soap opera Guiding Light. It was one of many hit shows led by a writer and producer sometimes called the “queen of soaps,” Irna Phillips. Plus: there was reportedly an attempt once to replace the ballgirls and ballboys of Wimbledon with dogs?!?

Irna Phillips (Jewish Women's Archive)

The Queen of Soaps Speaks…for Herself (Library of Congress)

Bid to replace Wimbledon ball boys with dogs flopped as they didn't return them (Daily Star)

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Today in 1908, a team of students from Cleveland won a spelling title at the annual meeting of the National Education Association, thanks in part to a Black 14 year old named Marie C. Bolden. Plus: today in Lincoln, it might be the Nebraska Elvis Festival. Unless it isn't.

Cleveland girl's spelling victory created racial controversy, national headlines in 1908 (Cleveland.com) 

Nebraska Elvis Festival

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Today in 1877, President Rutherford B. Hayes got a phone installed at the White House. It's been used to make landmark deals, shape the course of world events, and even say hi to astronauts on the moon. And Lyndon Johnson infamously used that phone to talk to a tailor. Plus: today in 1491, the birthday of Henry VIII, who brought a personal locksmith with him when he was traveling.

A clambake, slurs and phone sex: The long, strange history of presidential calls (Washington Post)

THROWBACK THURSDAY: THE DINING HALL

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Today is National Onion Day. For a very brief time in the 1970s, the preeminent fast food chain on Earth thought the onion might be its pathway to bigger sales. Here's the story of the McDonald's Onion Nugget. Plus: a museum exhibit in Chicago is paying tribute to a famous museum souvenir!

When McDonald’s Tried to Make Onion Nuggets Happen (Mental Floss) 

Mold-A-Rama - Molded for the Future (MSI Chicago)

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