Stuff You Missed in History Class

This episode covers President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s decision to move the date of Thanksgiving with the hope of helping businesses that were trying to recover from the Great Depression – and the controversy that caused. 

Research:

• Associated Press. “’Omnipotence of Hitler.’” Decatur Daily Review. 8/17/1939.
• Associated Press. “Roosevelt to Move Thanksgiving; Retailers For It, Plymouth is Not.” New York Times. 8/15/1939. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1939/08/15/93946606.html
• Franklin D. Roosevelt, Proclamation 2373—Thanksgiving Day Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/210189
• Franklin D. Roosevelt, Proclamation 2571—Thanksgiving Day Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/210254
• Franklin D. Roosvelt Library and Museum. “The Year We Had Two Thanksgivings.” http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/thanksg.html
• George Washington’s Mount Vernon. “Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789.” https://www.mountvernon.org/education/primary-source-collections/primary-source-collections/article/thanksgiving-proclamation-of-1789
• Greninger, Edwin T. “Thanksgiving: An American Holiday.” Social Science , WINTER 1979, Vol. 54, No. 1 (WINTER 1979). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41886345
• History, Art and Archives: U.S. House of Representatives. “The Thanksgiving Holiday.” https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1901-1950/The-Thanksgiving-holiday/
• Isbell, Matthew. “’Franksgiving’ – The Period from 1939 through 1941 when Thanksgiving was Partisan.” MCIMaps. 11/22/2017. https://mcimaps.com/franksgiving-the-period-from-1939-through-1941-where-thanksgiving-was-a-partisan-issue/
• Kratz, Jessie. “Thanksgiving as a Federal Holiday.” U.S. National Archives. 11/20/2023. https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2023/11/20/thanksgiving-as-a-federal-holiday/ Notre Dame Magazine. “From the Archives: Franksgiving.” https://magazine.nd.edu/stories/from-the-archives-franksgiving/
• Pilgrim Hall Museum. “Continental Congress Proclamations 1778-1784.” https://pilgrimhall.org/pdf/TG_Continental_Congress_Proclamations_1778_1784.pdf
• Pilgrim Hall Museum. “Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamations.” https://pilgrimhall.org/pdf/TG_Presidential_Thanksgiving_Proclamations_1789_1815.pdf.
• Public Opinion News Service. “Public Sees Thanksgiving Issue Through Party Glasses.” Gallup. 8/25/1939.
• “Protests Against Advance Date for Thanksgiving Day Pour In.” The Bulletin. 8/15/1939. https://www.newspapers.com/image/101168276/
• Shafer, Ronald G. “Franklin Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving up a week to goose the economy. Chaos ensued..” Washington Post. 11/24/2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/11/24/franskgiving-fdr-moved-thanksgiving/
• Soodalter, Ron. "'For all the great and various favors': George Washington happily obliged Congress' request for a national day of thanksgiving. Opponents worried it was an overreach of executive privilege." American History, vol. 49, no. 5, Dec. 2014, pp. 44+. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A383327692/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=64a53d59. Accessed 24 Oct. 2024.
• The Center for Legislative Archives. “Congress Establishes Thanksgiving.” https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/thanksgiving
• Thomas, Heather. “A Presidential History of Thanksgiving.” 11/24/2021. Library of Congress Blog. https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2021/11/a-presidential-history-of-thanksgiving/
• Washington Papers. “Thanksgiving Proclamation.” https://washingtonpapers.org/documents/thanksgiving-proclamation/

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Charles Farrar Browne is often called the first standup comedian. He was, in the 1860s, wildly famous, but his early death, and the soaring career of one of his friends, have contributed to Browne fading from the spotlight in history.

Research:

• “Born 1834; Married 1835. Artemus Ward’s Alleged Widow Claims His Estate.” The Savannah Morning News. April 15, 1891. https://www.newspapers.com/image/852548808/?match=1&terms=artemus%20ward
• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Artemus Ward". Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 Apr. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Artemus-Ward
• Dahl, Curtis. “Artemus Ward: Comic Panoramist.” The New England Quarterly, vol. 32, no. 4, 1959, pp. 476–85. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/362502
• Hingston, Edward P. “The Genial Showman, Reminiscences of the Life of Artemus Ward.” London: Chatto and Windus. 1881. https://archive.org/details/genialshowmanrem00hingiala/page/n5/mode/2up
• Hofferth, Micah. “Charles Farrar Browne, the Sometimes-racist Father of Standup Comedy.” Vulture. Feb. 28, 2012. https://www.vulture.com/2012/02/charles-farrar-browne-the-sometimes-racist-father-of-standup-comedy.html
• “Mark Twain on Artemus Ward.” The Albany Evening Journal. Nov. 29, 1871. https://twain.lib.virginia.edu/roughingit/lecture/awlectaj.html
• Reed, John Q. “Artemus Ward’s First Lecture.” American Literature, vol. 32, no. 3, 1960, pp. 317–19. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2922080
• Seitz, Don C. “Artemus Ward.” Harper & Brothers. 1919. Accessed online: https://archive.org/stream/artemuswardchar00seituoft/artemuswardchar00seituoft_djvu.txt
• “Ward, Artemus (1834-1867).” The Vault at Pfaff’s, Lehigh University. https://pfaffs.web.lehigh.edu/node/54123
• Ward, Artemus. “The Complete Works of Artemus Ward.” https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6946/6946-h/6946-h.htm#bio

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This 2017 episode covers Katharina von Bora, Marguerite d’Angoulême and Jeanne d’Albret, who all left their mark on the Reformation, but all in different ways. 

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Holly talks about realizing how Hans Sloane’s early life likely normalized the idea of colonization for him, and also Museum Mike the cat. Tracy talks about the structure of Nate DiMeo's book as it compares to his podcast. 

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Tracy talks with Nate DiMeo about podcasting, varying approaches to talking about history, and his new book, "The Memory Palace."

You can find the book "The Memory Palace" wherever books are sold; it's out on November 19. The podcast The Memory Palace is available at https://thememorypalace.us/

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Sir Hans Sloane’s legacy is a bit mixed. He is the reason there’s a British Museum, but there are a lot of problematic aspects to the way he gathered his collection.

Research:

• Blair, Molly. “350 years of the Chelsea Physic Garden: A brief history.” Gardens Illustrated. https://www.gardensillustrated.com/features/chelsea-physic-garden-350
• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Sir Hans Sloane, Baronet". Encyclopedia Britannica, 12 Apr. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sir-Hans-Sloane-Baronet
• Delbourgo, James. “Collecting the World: Hans Sloane and the Origins of the British Museum.” Cambridge, MA and London, England: Harvard University Press, 2017. 
• “Health in the 17th Royal Museums Greenwich. https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/health-17th-century
• “Introducing Sir Hans Sloane.” The Sloane Letters Project. https://sloaneletters.com/about-sir-hans-sloane/
• Lemonius, Michele. “‘Deviously Ingenious’: British Colonialism in Jamaica.” Peace Research, vol. 49, no. 2, 2017, pp. 79–103. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44779908
• “London, January 13.” The Derby Mercury. Jan. 12, 1753. https://www.newspapers.com/image/394230860/?match=1&terms=Sir%20Hans%20Sloane
• Pavid, Katie. “Hans Sloane: Physician, collector and botanist.” National History Museum. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/hans-sloane-physician-collector-botanist.html
• “Sir Hans Sloane.” Sir Hans Sloane Centre. https://sirhanssloanecentre.co.uk/who-is-hans-sloane/
• “Sir Hans Sloane.” The British Museum. https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/british-museum-story/sir-hans-sloane
• Stearns, Raymond Phinneas. “James Petiver Promoter of Natural Science, c.1663-1718.” Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society. October 1952. https://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/44807240.pdf

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This 2018 episode covers the craze in the 1800s when orchids became a status symbol and the cornerstone of a high-dollar industry. Collecting the plants involved adventure and excitement -- and a high death rate.

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Holly talks about the bias against Lyon in his bank robbing trial. Tracy talks about the way other podcasts that cover history are made, and the dynamics of the Manson family.

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Tracy speaks with Toby Ball, creator and host of the podcast Rip Current, which explores the story of the two assassination attempts against President Gerald Ford that were carried out less than three weeks apart in 1975. 

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The first recorded bank robbery in the U.S. resulted in the wrong man sitting in jail, a very strange confession, and a serious lawsuit for the administrators of the bank that was robbed.

Research:

• Avery, Ron. “America’s First Bank Robbery.” Carpenters’ Hall. https://www.carpentershall.org/americas-first-bank-robbery
• “Democratic Mystery Unraveled.” The North American. Nov. 20, 1798. https://www.newspapers.com/image/593171719/?match=1&terms=%22isaac%20davis%22
• Hunt, Kristin. “The first major bank heist in America happened 225 years ago in Philly — and the wrong guy went to prison.” Philly Voice. Aug. 31, 2023. https://www.phillyvoice.com/first-bank-robbery-us-philly-carpenters-hall-patrick-lyon/
• Lloyd, Thomas. “Robbery of the Bank of Pennsylvania in 1798. The Trial in the Supreme Court of the State of Pennsylvania. Reported from the Notes by T. Lloyd. Upon Which the President of That Bank, the Cashier, One of the Directors (Who Was an Alderman) and Another Person Who Was the High Constable of Philadelphia; Were Sentenced to Pay Patrick Lyon Twelve Thousand Dollars Damages, for a False and Malicious Prosecution against Him, without Either Reasonable or Probable Cause.” Philadelphia: Printed for the publishers. 1808. https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=WfcdAAAAMAAJ&rdid=book-WfcdAAAAMAAJ&rdot=1
• Lyon, Patrick. “The narrative of Patrick Lyon, who suffered three months severe imprisonment in Philadelphia gaol; on merely a vague suspicion, of being concerned in the robbery of the Bank of Pennsylvania: : with his remarks thereon.” Philadelphia. Francis and Robert Bailey. 1799. Accessed online: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/N26860.0001.001/1:3?rgn=div1;view=fulltext
• “Pat Lyon at the Forge.” MFABoston. https://collections.mfa.org/objects/34216/pat-lyon-at-the-forge?ctx=797a5f9d-a27a-4ae4-996d-f277ad579544&idx=0
• Rakich, Whitney, PhD. “Patrick Lyon (1769-1829).” Mount Vernon. https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/patrick-lyon-1769-1829#note2
• “Well-known Tenants of Carpenters' Hall.” Carpenters Hall. https://www.carpentershall.org/tenants
• Xiang, Enya. “Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia: A Crossroads for Early American History.” Global Philadelphia. Aug. 11, 2023. https://globalphiladelphia.org/news/carpenters-hall-philadelphia-crossroads-early-american-history

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