Sistory Untold

Sistory Untold

By Marva and SabrinaHistory
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Sistory Untold episodes

  • Aphra Behna and Nell Gwyn Part 2: A Conversation with Claire Louise Amias
    Last week, you learned about the individual lives of the playwright Aphra Behn and the actress Nell Gwyn. On today's episode, present day writer and actor Claire Louise Amias joins us to talk about these women's sisterhood and shares some fun anecdotes about each of them. Claire trained as an actor at trained at RADA and Bretton Hall and has appeared both on screen and on stage. After becoming obsessed with the writer/spy Aphra Behn, Claire  wrote and performed in her one-woman play "The Masks of Aphra Behn" at the Women and War festival in 2016. Three years later, she released "Oranges & Ink," a play about our two sisters in today's episode. "Oranges & Ink" recently won an Off West End ‘OnComm’ Award! You can watch both of Claire's plays in a double bill on scenesaver.co.uk for free—we highly recommend that you do! We hope you enjoy this conversation with Claire and learn as much as we did!
    1 hr 1 min
  • Playwrights and Paramours: Aphra Behn and Nell Gwyn Part 1

    In this episode, we talk about Aphra Behn and Nell Gwyn as individuals, so that next time we can talk about their sisterhood. But even alone, these women led interesting and impressive lives! Aphra was a novelist, poet, and and dramatist who was the first professional female writer in English. Nell started off as an actress, but amassed her wealth and property by being mistress to King Charles II. Listen to this episode of Sistory Untold to learn even more about these fascinating women!

    1 hr 1 min
  • Evelyn Nesbit and Edna Goodrich
    **trigger warning** This episode covers subjects of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse. Our first episode of season 2.5! Thanks for sticking with us! This weeks episode is all about Edna Goodrich and Evelyn Nesbit! For pictures and more info on the episode check us out on instagram or twitter @sistoryuntold and see all of our sources on our blog at sistoryuntold.com.
    1 hr 2 min
  • Blue Bloods: The Blue Stockings Society Minisode
    In the mid-eighteenth century, everyone who's anyone would attend salons at aristocrats' houses to drink, play cards, and gossip. But the Bluestocking philosophers had something else in mind. This group of women bonded over tea, enlightened conversation, and literary discussion. As an informal club made up of Britain's best and brightest ladies, the Bluestockings Society gives us a glimpse into the lives of women of Georgian aristocracy. Writers, actors, singers, artists, and housewives all came together to encourage and support one another's professional endeavors and build lasting friendships. 
    P.S. a few corrections from the episode: Erasmus Darwin IS Charles Darwin's grandfather (no greats needed). Jane Austen did subscribe to Frances Burney's novel “Camilla.”
    44 min
  • The Glamorous Gabors: Magda, Zsa Zsa, and Eva Gabor
    The first celebrities of their kind, the Gabors were considered famous for just being famous. With 19 husbands among the three of them and their fair share of very public affairs, they became notorious. But there was so much more to them than that. They were a tight-knit family of Hungarian immigrants who fought and escaped encroaching Nazi forces (all in their own unique way). They were successful businesswomen and talented performers who excelled together as well as apart. And, most importantly to us, they were sisters! Magda, Zsa Zsa, and Eva Gabor represent the best side of sisterhood: they were there for each other during their highs and lows, helped each other’s careers, and stood by each other’s sides until the end of their lives. Tune in to hear the whole story of the glamorous Gabor sisters! Follow us @sistoryuntold to stay up to date on all things Sistory! Head to our website sistoryuntold.com to see our sources and ask us any questions you have.
    1 hr 9 min
  • Samurai Sisters: Yamakawa Sutematsu and Tsuda Ume Part 2
    This is Part 2 of the “Samurai Sisters” episodes. Today, we will finish telling the story of Sutematsu and Ume, two girls and who studied abroad in America in the 19th century, then returned to Japan and transformed their education system. Sutematsu played a huge role in bringing philanthropy to Japan while also being a major supporter of all of Ume’s work. Ume traveled to America and England multiple times throughout her life to research women’s education and ended up founding one of the first women’s colleges in Japan, which still exists today. Ume and Sutematsu’s personal and professional lives constantly overlapped. They were close friends whose unique experience kept them close from childhood until the end of their lives. We hope you enjoy this sistory! A huge shout out to For the Love of History Podcast for giving amazing insights into this story. Some other incredible sources for this episode are the books “Daughters of Samurai” by Janice P. Nimura and “The White Plum” by Yoshiko Furuki. For all of our sources, check out our blog on sistoryuntold.com. For more information, follow us on Instagram @sistoryuntold!
    1 hr 7 min
  • Samurai Sisters: Yamakawa Sutematsu and Tsuda Ume
    In December of 1871, five young girls from samurai families embarked on the adventure of a lifetime. They sailed from Yokohama, Japan to San Francisco, California then traveled the country on a brand new railroad, finally arriving in Washington DC. While the men they were with went on to complete the political component of their mission, the five girls remained to start on the cultural one: living among Americans for 10 years and receiving an education. Public education for girls did not exist in Japan at the time, and private education was limited and very gendered. These girls were expected to take the best of the American education system while maintaining a strong Japanese identity, then return to reform Japan. Two of these girls, Ume and Sutematsu, are the subject of this episode of Sistory Untold. They became fast friends and sisters and their lives would remain intertwined for the years to come. Part 1 covers a bit of Japanese history and the early childhoods of Sutematsu and Ume. Come back next week to learn about their lives as adults! Trigger Warning: this episode mentions suicide and sexual assault
    58 min
  • Galentine’s Day Minisode: Bachelor Girls
    With the advent of the “New Woman” in the late 19th century, England and America saw a resurgence of empowered women. They smoked, rode bikes, went to college, and said no to marriage proposals. And so, a new type of sisterhood emerged: bachelor girls. Bachelor girls were eligible, career-focused women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s who chose not to marry, and refused to be called spinsters or old maids. They might change their minds if the right man came around, but they would rather focus on their careers and their friendships with one another than wait around for their prince to come. On this minisode, we look at a history of the spinster stereotype and how that evolved into bachelor girls. We also read clips from newspapers in the 1890s and early 1900s to paint a picture of what bachelor girls were and get a sense of how their contemporary society viewed them. To learn more about bachelor girls, make sure to follow us @sistoryuntold on Instagram and Twitter. Check out our blog for sources on sistoryuntold.com
    45 min
  • Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary: Mary Astell and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

    Mary Astell and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu had a lot more in common than having a record book full of firsts— the first English feminist, the founder of the first school with an all female board of governors, the first English female travel writer, the first woman published in the Spectator. They were also connected by a passion for politics, a commitment to justice, and a strong friendship. Throughout their more than fifteen-year friendship, the women certainly influenced each other, and even the ends of their lives mirrored each other. Find out all about them in this episode of Sistory Untold!

    For more information follow us on Twitter and Instagram @sistoryuntold, email us at [email protected] or find our episode sources on our website sistoryuntold.com

    1 hr 23 min
  • Sinners and Sisters: The Sisters of Mercy and Magdalene Laundries

    This week we are crossing the Irish sea to talk about the dark side of sisterhood through the magdalene laundries and the nuns who ran them. You will definitely be questioning who exactly are the sinners and who are the sisters. In classic Marva fashion this is not a light story to take in. Can sisterhood also be a source of evil? We hope to answer these questions in this weeks episode of Sistory Untold. 


    For more information follow us on twitter and Instagram @sistoryuntold, email us at [email protected] or find our episode sources on our website sistoryuntold.com

    1 hr 9 min

About Sistory Untold

From the publisher's feed

Join us as we explore history through the eyes of sisterhood.