Introducing the brand new newsletter On This Day in Women's History! Every Monday I'll be writing about what a historical woman did on that day in history, such as:

On May 14, 1643, Anne of Austria took control of France after her husband's death, even though his will forbade exactly that. Listen to find out how.

Either way, the story about the historical woman is free, along with news about the podcast, and a place to share your recommendations for historical books, movies, shows, etc. If you sign up as a subscriber, you're also helping me keep this show going, and I'll send you bonus content each week as a thank you.

Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

This show survives on the support of listeners like you. Support the show on my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon page⁠⁠⁠ (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and polls. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Me a Coffee⁠⁠. Your support helps me keep bring the stories of past women into the present.

Join ⁠⁠⁠Into History⁠⁠⁠ for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

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Plenty of women have been rich. Most of them inherited their

Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

This show survives on the support of listeners like you. Support the show on my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon page⁠⁠⁠ (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and polls. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Me a Coffee⁠⁠. Your support helps me keep bring the stories of past women into the present.

Join ⁠⁠⁠Into History⁠⁠⁠ for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

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Ada Lovelace wrote the world's first computer program before computers existed. Her friend, Charles Babbage, was inventing an Analytical Thinking Machine, even if he all he had at the moment was a small demo model. Ada thought through what such a machine could do for humanity. Her ideas were grand and far-reaching, and in one case, extremely detailed: she published a paper on exactly how to use such a machine to calculate Bernoulli numbers. But few would recognize her work as groundbreaking until a century later when a real thinking machine (i.e., a computer) needed to be programmed in exactly that way.

Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

This show survives on the support of listeners like you. Support the show on my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon page⁠⁠⁠ (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and polls. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Me a Coffee⁠⁠. Your support helps me keep bring the stories of past women into the present.

Join ⁠⁠⁠Into History⁠⁠⁠ for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠Evergreen Podcasts⁠⁠⁠ to listen to more great shows.

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Caroline Herschel and her brother William are sometimes called the discoverers of the universe. In the 18th century, they observed and catalogued the heavens. They were not the first astronomers, but they started with catalogues of hundreds of stars and expanded it into thousands. Caroline in particular was famous as a discoverer of comets. Along the way she was the first woman to have a scientific paper published by a major scientific entity. She also drew her own salary from the British crown.

Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

This show survives on the support of listeners like you. Support the show on my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon page⁠⁠⁠ (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and polls. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Me a Coffee⁠⁠. Your support helps me keep bring the stories of past women into the present.

Join ⁠⁠⁠Into History⁠⁠⁠ for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠Evergreen Podcasts⁠⁠⁠ to listen to more great shows.

Follow me on ⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠ as Her Half of History.

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Jeanne Baret circumnavigated the globe by disguising herself as a man and working as a servant on a French scientific mission. Along the way, she collected and preserved an incredible array of botanic specimens, many of whom are named after ... the man she was working for.

Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

This show survives on the support of listeners like you. Support the show on my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon page⁠⁠⁠ (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and polls. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Me a Coffee⁠⁠. Your support helps me keep bring the stories of past women into the present.

Join ⁠⁠⁠Into History⁠⁠⁠ for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠Evergreen Podcasts⁠⁠⁠ to listen to more great shows.

Follow me on ⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠ as Her Half of History.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shakespeare wrote every word of his plays with the firm

In England, that expectation was dashed in a 1660 production of Othello. We know for sure that Desdemona was played by a woman. We're just not sure which woman it was. This episode explains how English theater came to accept women on the stage.

Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

This show survives on the support of listeners like you. Support the show on my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon page⁠⁠⁠ (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and polls. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Me a Coffee⁠⁠. Your support helps me keep bring the stories of past women into the present.

Join ⁠⁠⁠Into History⁠⁠⁠ for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠Evergreen Podcasts⁠⁠⁠ to listen to more great shows.

Follow me on ⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠ as Her Half of History.

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Abigail Adams was the wife of American founding father John Adams. In 1776, she asked him to "remember the ladies" in the new code of laws for a new country. So much is relatively well known, but much less well known is his response. Listen for the full exchange.

Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

This show survives on the support of listeners like you. Support the show on my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon page⁠⁠⁠ (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and polls. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Me a Coffee⁠⁠. Your support helps me keep bring the stories of past women into the present.

Join ⁠⁠⁠Into History⁠⁠⁠ for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠Evergreen Podcasts⁠⁠⁠ to listen to more great shows.

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The earliest universities only admitted men. Occasionally a woman was allowed to attend, but not to graduate. The first woman to buck that trend was Elena Cornaro Piscopia. But that didn't mean it was any easier for those who came after her. The battle for women's education had only just begun.

Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

This show survives on the support of listeners like you. Support the show on my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon page⁠⁠⁠ (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and polls. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Me a Coffee⁠⁠. Your support helps me keep bring the stories of past women into the present.

Join ⁠⁠⁠Into History⁠⁠⁠ for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠Evergreen Podcasts⁠⁠⁠ to listen to more great shows.

Follow me on ⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠ as Her Half of History.

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Annie Londonderry was the first international female sports star. But an unlikely one. When she decided to bicycle around the world, she did not yet know how to ride a bicycle. But her trip was a media sensation because she was even better at self-promotion than she was at bicycling.

Visit the ⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

This show survives on the support of listeners like you. Support the show on my ⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon page⁠⁠ (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and polls. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Me a Coffee⁠. Your support helps me keep bring the stories of past women into the present.

Join ⁠⁠Into History⁠⁠ for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit ⁠⁠Evergreen Podcasts⁠⁠ to listen to more great shows.

Follow me on ⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠ as Her Half of History.

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Humanity dreamed of flight for a very long time, but the reality of it was mostly failure. The first woman to truly fly went up in a hot air balloon in 1784.

Visit the ⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

This show survives on the support of listeners like you. Support the show on my ⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon page⁠⁠ (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and polls. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Me a Coffee⁠. Your support helps me keep bring the stories of past women into the present. If you support during March 2026, you'll be entered into a prize drawing for free Her Half of History merch.

Join ⁠⁠Into History⁠⁠ for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit ⁠⁠Evergreen Podcasts⁠⁠ to listen to more great shows.

Follow me on ⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠ as Her Half of History.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices