Stuff You Missed in History Class

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Society & Culture History

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Join Holly and Tracy as they bring you the greatest and strangest Stuff You Missed In History Class in this podcast by HowStuffWorks.

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Packard v. Packard, Pt. 2

06.19.2019

After being forcibly admitted to a mental hospital by her husband, Elizabeth Packard began advocating for herself as well as the improvement of treatment in such facilities. After her release, she lobbied for reform to the asylum system. Learn more ...

Stuff You Missed in History Class episodes:

06.19.2019 Packard v. Packard, Pt. 2 After being forcibly admitted to a mental hospital by her husband, Elizabeth Packard began advocating for herself as well as the improvement of treatment in such facilities. After her release, she lobbied for reform to the asylum system. Learn more ...
06.17.2019 Packard v. Packard, Pt. 1 Elizabeth Packard’s marriage started out well, but soon, her questioning nature exploration of new ideas about religion led her husband to decide she was mentally ill. He had her forcibly committed to the Illinois State Asylum and Hospital for the ...
06.15.2019 SYMHC Classics: Sisi - The Empress of Austria and Her Cult of Beauty We're traveling back to 2011 for this one! Empress Elisabeth of Austria, better known as Sisi, is often considered the public's "favorite" member of the Habsburgs. She only reluctantly carried out her duties, but her murder created an outcry across ...
06.12.2019 The General Slocum Disaster The P.S. General Slocum burned in the East River in New York on June 15, 1904. It had been chartered for a group outing that suddenly became a deadly maritime disaster. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
06.10.2019 The Advent of Radioiodine Therapy Humans have recognized thyroid disease for thousands of years. But in the 1930s. Saul Hertz had an insight after hearing a physicist's lecture that changed the treatment of hyperthyroidism forever. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
06.08.2019 SYMHC Classics: Mad King Ludwig Dines Alone In this 2010 episode, previous hosts Katie and Sarah look at Ludwig II of Bavaria. From his opulent, solitary dinners to the amazing Neuschwanstein Castle, it's no surprise that King Ludwig II was known as an eccentric. In fact, people ...
06.05.2019 A Brief History of Doughnuts Making basic pastes or doughs and frying them has been part of human civilization for centuries. From this, the doughnut eventually evolved, and also caused a number of heated debates along the way. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
06.03.2019 Red Summer, 1919 In the summer of 1919, a wave of racist violence played out in the U.S. In many ways, the violence of Red Summer was a response to (but NOT caused by) two earlier events: the Great Migration and the return ...
06.01.2019 SYMHC Classics: Lakshmi Bai -- Who is India's Joan of Arc? Today we revisit a 2011 episode of the podcast. Lakshmi Bai was born into wealthy family in 1830, but she was far from the typical aristocrat. In this episode, Deblina and Sarah recount the life and work of Lakshmi Bai, ...
05.29.2019 Samuel Pepys, Beyond the Diary We’re coming up on the 350th anniversary of Pepys’ last diary entry, written May 31, 1669, so it seemed like a good time to take a closer look not just at the diary, but also at who Pepys was beyond ...
05.27.2019 The Limerick Soviet For two weeks in 1919, the city of Limerick went on a labor strike. During that time, the strike committee managed the workings of the city, including food supplies, and it even began printing its own currency. Learn more about ...
05.25.2019 SYMHC Classics: A Brief History of Time Capsules Today, we're revisiting an episode from 2015! People feel very strongly about time capsules, even though the contents are often a little underwhelming. What actually qualifies as a time capsule, and what are some of the most notable ones? Learn ...
05.22.2019 The 'Mysterious' Birthplace of Chester A. Arthur When Arthur was selected as the Republican party’s vice presidential nominee in 1880, questions arose about whether he had been born in the United States and consequently whether he was eligible to be vice president at all. Learn more about ...
05.20.2019 To the Hon. Chester A. Arthur; Respectfully, Julia I. Sand In 1882 and 1883, decades before women had the right to vote, Julia Sand wrote a series of letters to President Chester A. Arthur that may have influenced his presidency. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
05.18.2019 SYMHC Classics: Lili'uokalan -- Who Was the Last Queen of Hawaii? Today we're revisiting a 2010 episode from previous hosts Katie and Sarah. Born in 1838, Lili'uokalani became the queen of Hawaii in 1891. Unfortunately, she was destined to be Hawaii's last monarch. Listen in and learn how Hawaii became a ...
05.15.2019 The Showings of Julian of Norwich Julian was a medieval mystic who wrote down her visions, which she called showings. In this episode, we talk about her life in context of mysticism and how it fit into the context of Christianity in medieval Europe. Learn more ...
05.13.2019 Godzilla: The Start of His Story When Godzilla first hit the big screen, there was no intention that it would launch a film franchise that would run for decades. Director Ishiro Honda intended to make a film warning of the dangers of nuclear testing and man's ...
05.11.2019 SYMHC Classics: Kamehameha The Great We're traveling back to 2010 to revisit this one from the archive! Born shortly after the appearance of Halley's comet over Hawai'i in 1758, Kamehameha was hailed as the king who would unite the Hawai'ian islands. But how did he ...
05.08.2019 They Were Her Property: An Interview With Stephanie Jones-Rogers Holly was lucky enough to chat with historian Stephanie Jones-Rogers, author of “They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South,” which pieces together details that add new understanding of slavery in the U.S. Learn more ...
05.06.2019 Alice Hamilton and the Birth of Occupational Medicine Dr. Alice Hamilton was a trailblazer in science and medicine, and dedicated her life to improving the workplace standards for laborers in an effort to reduce illnesses that came from working with toxic chemicals. Learn more about your ad-choices at ...
05.04.2019 SYMHC Classics: The Bawdy House Riots of 1668 We're going back to a 2016 episode today. In early modern London, there was a tradition of sorts where apprentices would amass on holidays and physically destroy brothels. One of the largest such riot took place during Easter week in ...
05.01.2019 Evil May-day Riots On May Day in 1517 a riot was carried out by apprentices, journeymen and other workers. While this was an uprising of laborers, this incident, called the Evil May-day or Ill May-day, was also rooted in immigration and xenophobia in ...
04.29.2019 Hennig Brand and the Discovery of Phosphorus Spoiler alert: Hennig Brand discovered phosphorous by boiling pee. And phosphorous is the first element whose discoverer we can name. But he was really trying to do something else: He thought the secret to the philosopher’s stone might be found ...
04.27.2019 SYMHC Classics: Secret Science - Alchemy! We're revisiting an episode from Sarah and Deblina from 2011. Many think of alchemy as a fool's pursuit, but alchemy has a rich history closely tied to medicine and metallurgy. Additionally, techniques developed by alchemists strongly influenced chemistry. So why ...
04.24.2019 Smithsonian American Art Museum: An Interview With Stephanie Stebich Holly had the privilege of sitting down with Stephanie Stebich, director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, for a chat in the museum. The discussion covers the building's history, one of the new exhibits there, and one of Stephanie's favorite ...
04.22.2019 James G. Fair, Silver King Fair was a contemporary of Levi Strauss, living and working in San Francisco around the same time as the denim magnate, but though Fair often appears on lists of the richest men in U.S. history, he doesn’t have the same ...
04.20.2019 SYMHC Classics: John Dee, Her Majesty's Secret Sorcerer We're revisiting an episode from 2011 featuring previous hosts Sarah and Deblina. Born in 1527 to a Welsh family, John Dee grew to become one of Queen Elizabeth's most memorable advisors. Join Sarah and Deblina as they delve into the ...
04.17.2019 Bacon's Rebellion, Part 2 Last time, we talked about the many reasons Virginia colonists were frustrated by the 1670s, including the price of tobacco, taxation, and disparities between the richest colonists and everyone else. But another issue actually sparked the rebellion. Learn more about ...
04.15.2019 Bacon’s Rebellion, Part 1 For a long time Bacon’s Rebellion was primarily interpreted as a precursor to the Revolutionary War, with patriotic colonists rising up against the tyranny of the British colonial government. But there are a lot more moving parts than that. This ...
04.13.2019 SYMHC Classics: Rosalind Franklin, DNA's Dark Lady We're reaching back to 2011 for an episode from Sarah and Deblina about a woman scientist. The men who are usually credited with discerning DNA's structure won the Nobel Prize in 1962, but they used Rosalind Franklin's research. In 1952, ...
04.10.2019 Stop-motion Animation History With LAIKA Studios Holly recently got to visit the set of LAIKA's new film "Missing Link," and the production team there agreed to be part of an episode about the history of stop-motion animation. This made for a supersized episode with a regular ...
04.08.2019 Baron Franz Nopcsa Nopcsa lived an adventurous, scholarly life, funded entirely by his family money. He identified dinosaurs, inserted himself into Albanian politics, and wrote volumes and volumes of books and papers. But his life was not entirely charmed. Learn more about your ...
04.06.2019 SYMHC Classics: The Battle of Hastings Today we're traveling back to a episode from 2014 about the Battle of Hastings, which is often boiled it down to a sentence: The Normans invaded Britain in 1066, and their victory ended the Anglo-Saxon phase of English history. But ...
04.03.2019 Juliette Gordon Low The, founder of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America had an early life that’s somewhat surprising. But she was deeply interested in helping other from an early age, and when she learned about the scouting movement, she ...
04.01.2019 The Tiara of Saitaphernes Our April Fool’s Day story is the tale of an elaborate hoax. It starts with the Scythians and how their artifacts became highly prized in 19th century Europe, and ends with an artist who came into fame as a result ...
03.30.2019 SYMHC Classics: Laura Bridgman's Education Today we're revisiting the 2012 episode from previous hosts Sarah and Deblina on Laura Bridgman, the first deafblind person to be educated -- a feat accomplished by Samuel Gridley Howe in the 1830s. People from around the world came to ...
03.27.2019 The Life and Disappearance of Ettore Majorana Had his life had taken a different course, he may have become as widely known as Albert Einstein. In the 1930s, Majorana contributed to the field of quantum mechanics in ways that fundamentally shaped the field. And then he vanished. ...
03.25.2019 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was part of the Women’s Army Corps during World War II. The 6888th was the only battalion of black women from the U.S. to serve in Europe during World War II. Learn more about ...
03.23.2019 SYMHC Classics: Emmy Noether, Mathematics Trailblazer Today we revisit a 2015 episode about Emmy Noether pursued a career in mathematics in the early 20th century in Germany, despite many obstacles in her path. She became one of the most respected members of her field, and developed ...
03.20.2019 Fanny Brice, Part 2 Comedian Fanny Brice's personal life was often a mess even though her onstage personas were all about laughter. Even as her beloved, Nick Arnstein, was in deep legal trouble, she supported him, started a family, and kept her career going. ...
03.18.2019 Fanny Brice, Part 1 Fanny made a space for herself on stage as a comedian because she felt she could never be pretty enough to be an actress. And her personal life was a complete roller coaster. But she remains the original funny girl, ...
03.16.2019 SYMHC Classics: Caroline Herschel, Astronomy's Cinderella Today we revisit a 2014 episode about Caroline Herschel, who managed to break the barrier of women in scientific fields far earlier than you might suspect, in part because of her association with her brother, and in equal measure due ...
03.13.2019 Sappho Sappho is described as the greatest female poet of ancient Greece. Or, the greatest Greek lyric poet, period. Her reputation as one of the world’s finest poets has persisted for more than 2500 years, but the overwhelming majority of her ...
03.11.2019 Raphael Lemkin and the Genocide Convention Dr. Raphael Lemkin is often described as the person who coined the term “genocide.” And he did do that – but was also the driving force behind the existence of the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the ...
03.09.2019 SYMHC Classics: Evliya Çelebi, World Traveler and Companion to Mankind Today we revisit a 2012 episode from previous hosts Sarah and Deblina. Evliya Çelebi grew up in 17th century Istanbul as the "boon companion" of Sultan Murad IV. In his 20s, Evliya had a prophetic dream and spent decades traveling. ...
03.06.2019 Transatlantic Cruising Before the Titanic Ships were of course carrying cargo for centuries before the idea of carrying passengers in any sort of vacation sense existed. But once the Black Ball line decided to prioritize passenger comfort, the development of the cruise industry began. Learn ...
03.04.2019 Olga of Kiev Most of what we know about Olga comes from the Russian Primary Chronicle, also known as the Chronicle of Nestor or the Tale of Bygone Years. Some elements of the story may borrow more from legend than from history – ...
03.02.2019 SYMHC Classics: Katie Sandwina, the Glamorous Strongwoman We're revisiting a 2015 episode about Katie Sandwina, who wowed crowds from an early age, first as a wrestling act and then exclusively as professional strongwoman. During a time when women's suffrage was a hot button issue, she cultivated an ...
02.27.2019 Alexandre Dumas Père Alexandre Dumas wrote such classics as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, and both those books’ sequels, eight Marie Antoinette romances, and a BUNCH of other novels and plays. And essays. And travel books. And memoirs. And ...
02.25.2019 General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas General Dumas sounds like a character out of one of his son’s books. Because he pretty much was. His life is a series of dramatic and daring adventures, including an impressive rise up through the ranks of the French military. ...

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