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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SYMHC Live: Mysteries of th...

10.16.2019

Blue is the most popular color in many parts of the world, and it can seem like it's everywhere. . But many ancient languages didn’t have a word for blue, and some languages still don’t. This show was recorded live ...

Stuff You Missed in History Class episodes:

10.16.2019 SYMHC Live: Mysteries of the Color Blue Blue is the most popular color in many parts of the world, and it can seem like it's everywhere. . But many ancient languages didn’t have a word for blue, and some languages still don’t. This show was recorded live ...
10.14.2019 Jeanne Baret Baret was the first woman known to circumnavigate the globe. But her experience wasn’t just about the travel – she was working, and her work took her to places that were totally unexpected for someone of her gender and economic ...
10.12.2019 SYMHC Classics: The Case of the Colorado Cannibal, Alferd Packer It's an unsettling 2012 episode! In the winter of 1873, Alferd Packer led gold prospectors into the Rockies, but harsh conditions soon set them off course. Packer was the only survivor, and he looked oddly well-fed. He claimed he'd killed ...
10.09.2019 Commercial Aviation in the U.S., Part 2 In this episode, we’ll go from the international agreement that prepared for a global airline industry up to the deregulation of U.S. commercial aviation in the late 1970s. And then we have a special guest -- John Hodgman came by ...
10.07.2019 Commercial Aviation in the U.S., Part 1 Since the possibility of air travel became a reality, many entrepreneurs were trying to figure out a way to make flight into a business. This first of two parts covers those early efforts, and the growth of the airline industry ...
10.05.2019 SYMHC Classics: Beast of Gevaudan This 2014 episode covers attacks on women and children of Gevaudan in the 1760s, which sparked a huge push to hunt and kill the mystery beast behind them. While efforts to track the animal struggled, France was gripped in terror. ...
10.02.2019 The Black Sox Scandal Some of the Chicago White Sox players confessed to taking a bribe to lose the 1919 World Series on purpose, but they never admitted to actually underplaying. And the collective memory about this whole scandal is very different from how ...
09.30.2019 Unearthed! In Autumn 2019 As promised in July, we have some Unearthed this fall! We've got past episode updates, cannonballs, things that are oldests and firsts, textiles, edibles and potables, and a little bit of creepy and eerie stuff at the end. Learn more ...
09.28.2019 SYMHC Classics: The Doctors' Riot of 1788 We're revising a 2014 episode today. In the late 1700s, medical colleges needed cadavers for educational dissection, but there were no legal means for obtaining them. This led to some unorthodox dealings in the acquiring of bodies, and brought New ...
09.25.2019 Interview: Sarah Roberts of the Atlanta History Center Holly sat down with Sarah Roberts, the Vice President of Goizueta Gardens and Living Collections at the Atlanta History Center, to talk about making history a living part of Atlanta's community culture. You can visit the Atlanta History Center's website ...
09.23.2019 Robert Liston, Surgical Pioneer Liston is most known for a tale about how multiple deaths resulted from one of his surgeries. But that means that his entire biography as a surgeon is dominated by the apocryphal events of one day. So today we’ll unpack ...
09.21.2019 SYMHC Classics: Hetty Green, the Witch of Wall Street Today's classic from 2014 features Hetty Green. She was the wealthiest woman in the U.S., skilled when it came to amassing a fortune. But her eccentric behavior and miserly ways led to bad press and a less-than-flaterring nickname. Learn more ...
09.18.2019 Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz She was the Spanish empire’s most widely published poet of her time, and her work has survived until today, but not her own thoughts about much of her life. Consequently, her life, and her very complex poetry, has been really ...
09.16.2019 The Success of Pastellist Rosalba Carriera Venetian portraitist Carriera achieved a surprising level of success in the male-dominated European art world of the early 1700s. Her work helped popularize pastels and her portraits were commissioned by Europe's most prominent figures. Learn more about your ad-choices at ...
09.14.2019 SYMHC Classics: John Harvey Kellogg We're revisiting a 2013 episode about John Harvey Kellogg. His last name is famous for breakfast cereal, but was a 19th-century doctor with some unique (and groundbreaking) beliefs about health and wellness.His Battle Creek Sanitarium was home to anything but ...
09.11.2019 The 1954 Guatemalan Coup Part 2 United Fruit Company was Guatemala’s largest employer and largest single landowner when the October Revolution took place. It also controlled the railroad, the port and the utilities. And it feared that the new government threatened its business interests. Learn more ...
09.09.2019 The 1954 Guatemalan Coup Part 1 The 1954 coup that overthrew the democratically elected president of Guatemala was orchestrated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Part one will outline the various influences leading up to the coup, including the involvement of United Fruit Company. Learn more ...
09.07.2019 SYMHC Classics: The Sinking of the S-5 Today's episode is a classic from November 2014. 1920, the S-5 left the Boston Navy Yard on its first mission, with a crew of 36 officers and enlisted men. While performing a crash dive as part of a performance evaluation, ...
09.04.2019 The Impious Philosophy of Anaxagoras Anaxagoras and his work in unraveling the mysteries of the cosmos crossed the boundaries between philosophy and astronomy.. And it was, in many ways WAY ahead of its time – ahead enough that he was criminally charged for it. Learn ...
09.02.2019 The Great English Convent Case of 1869 This case fed an already growing anti-Catholic movement in England in the 1860s. Additionally, it played on the shock of women being incredibly cruel to one another – something that was even used by the plaintiff’s legal team when speaking ...
08.31.2019 SYMHC Classics: The Catalpa and the Fremantle Six Today we revisit a 2015 episode about an international jailbreak! In the 1860s, a crew from the United States mounted a mission to Western Australia to rescue imprisoned members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood who had been imprisoned by Great ...
08.28.2019 Sarah Josepha Hale & Godey’s Lady’s Book Godey’s Lady’s Book was the most popular magazine in the U.S. in the middle of the 19th century. Although it’s most well-known for its hand-tinted fashion plates, its content included poetry, fiction, household tips, music, and etiquette. Learn more about ...
08.26.2019 John Wilkins and His 1640s Lunar Exploration Plans In the 1600s, John Wilkins was planning out what he thought it would take for humans to travel to the moon. Wilkins managed to ride out a rocky time in England’s historycomfortably, and was well known; he appears in the ...
08.24.2019 SYMHC Classics: Elizabeth Blackwell, America's First Female M.D Today we revisit a 2014 episode. Dr. Blackwell had no interest in medicine as a child. But she paved the way for women who came after her and changed the face of medicine in the U.S. Learn more about your ...
08.21.2019 Benjamin Lay, the Quaker Comet Benjamin Lay was a Quaker and a radical abolitionist who lived in the period between when the Religious Society of Friends began and when it started formally banning slave ownership among its members. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
08.19.2019 The Rise of the Traffic Light There are multiple contenders when it comes to the question of who invented the traffic light. This episode looks at a few of the moments in traffic light history that got us to where we are today, as well as ...
08.17.2019 SYMHC Classics: Diogenes of Sinope Today we reach back to our 2015 episode on Diogenes of Sinope, the father of the Cynicism school of philosophy. He was also an incredibly eccentric figure who spoke out against pretense, and he used humor to convey his ideals ...
08.14.2019 A Brief History of Thalidomide, Part 2 We’re finishing out our two-parter on thalidomide. This episode covers the response, including criminal trials, changes to drug laws, and debates about the legality of abortion, and how this has continued to evolve for thalidomide survivors until today. Learn more ...
08.12.2019 A Brief History of Thalidomide, Part 1 Thalidomide has been described as the biggest man made medical disaster of all time. This first part covers what thalidomide is, the animal testing that lead its manufacturer to market it as safe, and its release into the market. Learn ...
08.10.2019 SYMHC Classics: Freya of Arabia Today revisits a 2012 episode from previous hosts Sarah and Deblina. After a childhood spent roaming Europe, Freya Stark began saving money to take Arabic lessons. Once fluent, she traveled into areas few outsiders had ever been, documenting her travels ...
08.07.2019 The Peterloo Massacre The Peterloo Massacre took place during a peaceful protest for parliamentary reform in Manchester, England. And there was a lot feeding into why people in Britain, and specifically in the region around Manchester, thought that reform was needed. Learn more ...
08.05.2019 William Maclure and New Harmony’s Boatload of Knowledge When Robert Owen founded his utopian community, he wanted to have the best minds he could find running the educational system. He recruited William Maclure, who in turn brought many great minds with him. Their boat was nicknamed the Boatload ...
08.03.2019 SYMHC Classics: The Klondike Big Inch Land Promotion Today we revisit a fun 2014 episode. In the mid-20th century, one ad company had a wacky plan to actually dole out land deeds as part of a cereal promotion. How did they manage it? And was the land worth ...
07.31.2019 SYMHC Live: The New Harmony Utopias We did a live show for the Indiana Historical Society about the town of New Harmony, Indiana in the window from 1815-1827. In that period, two different communal societies occupied the town, one right after the other. But one was ...
07.29.2019 Unearthed in July, Part 2 Part two of this year's Unearthed! in July features some longtime listener favorites like edibles, potables and of course shipwrecks. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
07.27.2019 SYMHC Classics: Heaven on Earth, the Brook Farm Community Today we revisit a 2013 episode. In the 1840s, Boston's West Roxbury suburb -- which was completely rural at the time -- was home to an experiment in transcendentalist utopian living: the Brook Farm community. The idea was to create ...
07.24.2019 Unearthed in July, Part 1 It's time for the July edition of Unearthed! And this one is in two parts! Today, we have updates and connections to previous episodes. Then some things about Neanderthals and early humans, and the unearthed books, letters and works of ...
07.22.2019 Thomas Harriot: Mathematician, Astronomer, Relative Unknown Harriot's story is tied to SO MANY other notable historic things, including a lot of business with Sir Walter Raleigh. He’s really not a household name like many of his contemporaries, even though he was neck-and-neck with them in terms ...
07.20.2019 SYMHC Classics: Charles IX of France Today we revisit a 2015 episode about French royalty. Much like many of the other mad royals that have been discussed on the podcast through the years, Charles IX of France was prone to fits of rage so intense that ...
07.17.2019 The Port Chicago Disaster This was the worst stateside disaster in the United States during World War II. Apart from being a horrific tragedy, the disaster itself and its aftermath were threaded through with racism and injustice. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
07.15.2019 Ferdinand and Barbara, Married Mad Royals Despite ascending to power in a court filled with intrigue, juggling relations with Britain and France, and both likely having mental health conditions, the reign of Ferdinand VI of Spain and his wife Barbara was surprisingly stable. Learn more about ...
07.13.2019 SYMHC Classics: Ibn Battuta, the Traveler of Islam Today we revisit an episode from 2017 about Ibn Battuta, whose 14th-century travels were extensive. He was away from home for roughly 24 years and during that time traveled through virtually every Muslim nation and territory, becoming the traveler of ...
07.10.2019 Fearless, Feisty and Unflagging: The Women of Gettysburg Military history rarely focuses on the women who lived through conflict and worked on recovery efforts. This episode covers women who assisted troops, buried the dead, nursed the wounded, and managed to survive the fighting in Gettysburg Pennsylvania. Learn more ...
07.08.2019 Thomas Cook, John Cook, and the Rise of the Tourism Industry Thomas Cook and his son John Mason Cook were pioneers of the idea of a travel agency to manage tourist holidays. But Thomas Cook was initially motivated by his support of the temperance movement and his deeply held religious beliefs. ...
07.06.2019 SYMHC Classics: Hartford Circus Fire This 2015 episode covers an event in 1944, when one of the most disastrous fires in U.S. history broke out during a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performance. Dozens of lives were lost and hundreds of people were ...
07.03.2019 Hatshepsut and the Expeditions to Punt One of our biggest sources of information on Punt comes from Hatshepsut, who sent a huge expedition there in the 15th century B.C.E. The expedition to Punt is also an important and illustrative part of Hatshepsut’s reign. Learn more about ...
07.01.2019 Sylvia of Hollywood – Beauty Consultant to the Stars In the 1920s and 1930s, Sylvia was famous for shaping up starlets, cementing the idea that Hollywood’s beauties were aspirational figures for the average woman. Many of Sylvia's ideas about fitness were totally sensible, but she could also be quite ...
06.29.2019 SYMHC Classics: The Compton's Cafeteria Riot This episode reached back to 2015 for some LGBTQ history. In 1966, a restaurant in San Francisco's Tenderloin district was the site of a violent incident in LGBT history. After the riot, a grassroots effort grew to improve relationships between ...
06.26.2019 Marie Laurencin: Avante-garde Painter of Paris Laurencin is a difficult painter to study. In addition to her work not quite falling in line with the artists who were her contemporaries, her personal papers are difficult to access, are censored, and have strict limitations put on their ...
06.24.2019 The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 The 1919 strike is the largest in Canada’s history, and shut Winnipeg down. While the strike started out as a simple labor dispute, there were many factors involved in how it played out, and a conspiracy theory that it was ...

Older episodes

Stuff You Missed in History Class

What's Stuff You Missed in History Class about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Stuff You Missed in History Class episodes:

SYMHC Live: Mysteries of the Color Blue

Jeanne Baret

SYMHC Classics: The Case of the Colorado Cannibal, Alferd Packer

Commercial Aviation in the U.S., Part 2

Commercial Aviation in the U.S., Part 1

SYMHC Classics: Beast of Gevaudan

The Black Sox Scandal

Unearthed! In Autumn 2019

SYMHC Classics: The Doctors' Riot of 1788

Interview: Sarah Roberts of the Atlanta History Center

Robert Liston, Surgical Pioneer

SYMHC Classics: Hetty Green, the Witch of Wall Street

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

The Success of Pastellist Rosalba Carriera

SYMHC Classics: John Harvey Kellogg

The 1954 Guatemalan Coup Part 2

The 1954 Guatemalan Coup Part 1

SYMHC Classics: The Sinking of the S-5

The Impious Philosophy of Anaxagoras

The Great English Convent Case of 1869

SYMHC Classics: The Catalpa and the Fremantle Six

Sarah Josepha Hale & Godey’s Lady’s Book

John Wilkins and His 1640s Lunar Exploration Plans

SYMHC Classics: Elizabeth Blackwell, America's First Female M.D

Benjamin Lay, the Quaker Comet

The Rise of the Traffic Light

SYMHC Classics: Diogenes of Sinope

A Brief History of Thalidomide, Part 2

A Brief History of Thalidomide, Part 1

SYMHC Classics: Freya of Arabia

The Peterloo Massacre

William Maclure and New Harmony’s Boatload of Knowledge

SYMHC Classics: The Klondike Big Inch Land Promotion

SYMHC Live: The New Harmony Utopias

Unearthed in July, Part 2

SYMHC Classics: Heaven on Earth, the Brook Farm Community

Unearthed in July, Part 1

Thomas Harriot: Mathematician, Astronomer, Relative Unknown

SYMHC Classics: Charles IX of France

The Port Chicago Disaster

Ferdinand and Barbara, Married Mad Royals

SYMHC Classics: Ibn Battuta, the Traveler of Islam

Fearless, Feisty and Unflagging: The Women of Gettysburg

Thomas Cook, John Cook, and the Rise of the Tourism Industry

SYMHC Classics: Hartford Circus Fire

Hatshepsut and the Expeditions to Punt

Sylvia of Hollywood – Beauty Consultant to the Stars

SYMHC Classics: The Compton's Cafeteria Riot

Marie Laurencin: Avante-garde Painter of Paris

The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919

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