Stuff You Missed in History Class

Daguerre comes up almost any time we mention photography, but we’ve never covered his life story. Well before he figured out how to capture images through a camera obscura, he was an artist and innovator in entertainment.

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This 2018 episode takes a look at three creative works that have become staples of the Christmas season. All three of them have played a huge part in how people observe and celebrate Christmas in parts of the world, and they all had milestone birthdays that year.

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Tracy and Holly discuss Tracy being frightened by Ichabod Crane's fate in the Disney Sleepy Hollow cartoon as a kid, and the letters between Dickens and Irving. They then discuss the trickiness of researching a historical topic that has the same name as a band.

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You may recognize the name as that of a band, but Jethro Tull was an 18th-century gentleman farmer often credited with inventing the seed drill.

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Washington Irving may come to mind more in connection with Halloween, but his writing had a significant influence on the way Christmas is celebrated in the U.S.

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This 2014 episode covers the life of a woman who was smart and learned, but not a particularly good ruler. Her entire life was marked by being kind of a contradictory, restless character - starting basically from the moment she was born.

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Tracy and Holly discuss their preferences in ways the Nutcracker should be staged, and their love of it from the audience and performer perspectives. Then they compare notes on Caesar salads, anchovies, and the troubles with Sylvester Graham.

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This eponymous food episode features a(nother) salad that came together improvisationally out of necessity, and a cracker made to align with specific dietary guidelines, with a namesake who would undoubtedly be horrified at how that item has evolved. 

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It’s a Russian adaptation of a German story and wasn’t really a Christmas staple in its home country. But music from the Nutcracker has also become a huge part of the Christmas season and beyond.

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This 2015 episode cover the expedition efforts of Andrée, who hoped to succeed in reaching the North Pole where others had failed by doing it by air. With a seemingly endless positivity, he and two other men hoped to earn bragging rights for Sweden by reaching the pole.

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