Stuff You Missed in History Class

G.K. Chesterton was a prolific writer across many genres, including fiction, poetry, journalism, literary criticism, biography, social criticism, theology, and Christian apologetics. He was also a vocal critic of eugenics.

Research:

• "Chesterton, G.K." Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature, Merriam-Webster, 1995. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/RN1480001897/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=d75f28d6. Accessed 21 Feb. 2023.
• Schwartz, Adam. "Conceiving a culture of life in a century of bones: G. K. Chesterton and Malcolm Muggeridge as social critics." Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, vol. 11, no. 2, spring 2008, pp. 50+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A370214476/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=f9d4a07a. Accessed 21 Feb. 2023.
• Eden, Dawn. "Thursday's Father; The cosmos in the mind of G.K. Chesterton." The Weekly Standard, vol. 15, no. 47, 30 Aug. 2010. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A236124464/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=9747e015. Accessed 21 Feb. 2023.
• Douglas, J.D. “G.K. Chesterton, the Eccentric Prince of Paradox.” Christianity Today. 5/24/1974, republished 8/1/2001. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/augustweb-only/8-27-52.0.html?paging=off#bmb=1
• "The Inklings." Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Kathy D. Darrow, vol. 258, Gale, 2012. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/GEDIQJ153565504/LitRC?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-LitRC&xid=52d0152e. Accessed 22 Feb. 2023.
• Bergonzi, Bernard. "Chesterton, Gilbert Keith [G. K. C.] (1874–1936), writer." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Date of access 22 Feb. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/32392         
• McDonagh, Melanie. "No saint: G.K. Chesterton was a great journalist, not an angel." Spectator, vol. 322, no. 9652, 24 Aug. 2013, pp. 22+. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A340576384/LitRC?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-LitRC&xid=2c4fc00f. Accessed 22 Feb. 2023.
• "G(ilbert) K(eith) Chesterton." Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors, Gale, 2004. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1000017634/LitRC?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-LitRC&xid=6ef03f18. Accessed 22 Feb. 2023.
• Douglas, James. “Personality in Literature.” The Bookman. July 1903.
• Kenney, W. P. "G(ilbert) K(eith) Chesterton." Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth-Century British Literary Biographers, edited by Steven Serafin, Gale, 1995. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 149. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1200006044/LitRC?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-LitRC&xid=8bdae33c. Accessed 22 Feb. 2023.
• Leitch, Thomas M. "G(ilbert) K(eith) Chesterton." British Mystery Writers, 1860-1919, edited by Bernard Benstock and Thomas F. Staley, Gale, 1988. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 70. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1200002585/LitRC?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-LitRC&xid=5e778e84. Accessed 22 Feb. 2023.
• Schwartz, Adam. “G.K. Chesterton’s Jewish Problem.” VII: Journal of the Marion E. Wade Center , 2017, Vol. 34 (2017). : https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/48600516
• Fraga, Brian. “Group promoting author GK Chesterton faces turmoil over right-wing connections.” National Catholic Reporter. 2/20/2023. https://www.ncronline.org/news/group-promoting-author-gk-chesterton-faces-turmoil-over-right-wing-connections
• Kimball, Roger. “G. K. Chesterton: master of rejuvenation.” The New Criterion September 2011.
• Chesterton, G.K. “Eugenics and Other Evils.” Cassell and Company, Limited London, New York, Toronto & Melbourne 1922.
• Sparkes, Russell. “The Enemy of Eugenics.” https://archive.secondspring.co.uk/articles/sparkes.htm

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We’ve gotten requests to talk about the balloon bombs that Japan used to target North America during World War II. But these were not the only balloons in use during the war, or the first balloons used for military purposes.

Research:

• Barnett, Glenn. “Another Way to Bomb Germany.” Warfare History Network. June 2021. https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/another-way-to-bomb-germany/
• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "airship". Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 Feb. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/technology/airship. Accessed 15 February 2023.
• Czekanski, Tom. “Museum Acquires Item Related to the First African American Unit in Normandy.” National World War II Museum. 2/1/2020. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/museum-acquires-item-related-first-african-american-unit-normandy
• Drapeau, Raoul E. “Operation Outward: Britain’s World War II offensive balloons.” IEEE Power and Energy Magazine. September/October 2011. https://site.ieee.org/ny-monitor/files/2011/09/OPERATION-OUTWARD.pdf
• Juillerat, Lee. “Balloon Bombs.” Oregon Encyclopedia. https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/balloon_bombs/#.Y-6VRHbMJPa
• Knight, Judson. "Balloon Reconnaissance, History." Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence and Security, edited by K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, vol. 1, Gale, 2004, pp. 91-94. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3403300069/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=3191fc84. Accessed 15 Feb. 2023.
• Lienhard, John H. “No. 2192: Franklin and Balloons.” Engines Of Our Ingenuity. https://www.uh.edu/engines/epi2192.htm
• Maskel, Rebecca. “Why Was the Discovery of the Jet Stream Mostly Ignored?” Smithsonian. 4/2018. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/as-next-may-unbelievablebuttrue-180968355/
• Mikesh, Robert C. “Japan's World War II Balloon Bomb Attacks on North America.” Smithsonian Annals of Flight. No. 9. 1973. https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/18679/SAoF-0009-Lo_res.pdf
• National Archives. “Barrage Balloons - the nation's defender.” https://www.findmypast.com/1939register/barrage-balloons
• “The First Air Raid Happened When Austria Dropped Bombs on Venice from Pilotless Hot-Air Balloons (1849).” 9/7/2021. https://www.openculture.com/2021/09/the-first-air-raid-in-history.html
• Paone, Thomas. “Protecting the Beaches with Balloons: D-Day and the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion.” National Air and Space Museum. 6/4/2019. https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/protecting-beaches-balloons-d-day-and-320th-barrage-balloon-battalion
• Paone, Thomas. “The Most Fashionable Balloon of the Civil War.” Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. 11/5/2013. https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/most-fashionable-balloon-civil-war
• Rogers, J. David. “How Geologists Unraveled the Mystery of Japanese Vengeance Balloon Bombs in World War II.” https://web.mst.edu/~rogersda/forensic_geology/Japenese%20vengenance%20bombs%20new.htm
• Royal Air Forces Association. “Barrage Balloons in the Second World War.” 10/13/2020. https://rafa.org.uk/blog/2020/10/13/barrage-balloons-in-the-second-world-war/
• Royal Meteorological Society. “Jetstreams.” 8/22/2013. https://www.rmets.org/metmatters/jetstreams
• Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. “Presidential Writings Reveal Early Interest in Ballooning.” 2/15/2016. https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/presidential-writings-reveal-early-interest-ballooning
• Uenuma, Francine. “In 1945, a Japanese Balloon Bomb Killed Six Americans, Five of Them Children, in Oregon.” Smithsonian. 5/22/2019. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1945-japanese-balloon-bomb-killed-six-americansfive-them-children-oregon-180972259/
• Ziegler, Charles A. “Weapons Development in Context: The Case of the World War I Balloon Bomber.” Technology and Culture , Oct., 1994, Vol. 35, No. 4 (Oct., 1994). http://www.jstor.com/stable/3106505.

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In 2017, the show covered the fears, prejudices and societal issues that drove the eugenics movement in the U.S., which focused on identifying, sequestering and even sterilizing people who were deemed to be "unfit."

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Tracy and Holly talk about the way that the eugenics movement pops up almost any time there's research into late 19th and early 20th century figures. They also discuss the nature of chicken and dumplings in their experience.

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Eliza Fenning worked as a cook in a London household until she found herself in the middle of a poisoning accusation. Her controversial trial brought the bias of the 19th-century British criminal justice system into focus. 

Research:

• “Circumstantial Evidence.” The Abilene Gazette. June 23, 1876. https://www.newspapers.com/image/367010505/?terms=eliza%20fenning&match=1
• Hempel, Sarah. “The Inheritor’s Powder.”  W. W. Norton & Company. 2013.
• Hempel, Sarah. “Eliza Fenning: the case of the poisoned dumplings.” The Telegraph. June 17, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130620172222/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/10117903/Eliza-Fenning-the-case-of-the-poisoned-dumplings.html
• Clarke, Kate. “Trial of Eliza Fenning.” Mango Books. May 2021.
• “Circumstantial evidence : The extraordinary case of Eliza Fenning, who was executed in 1815, for attempting to poison the family of Orlibar Turner, by mixing arsenic in yeast dumplings. With a statement of facts, since developed tending to prove her innocence of the crime.” https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/pdf/b21051732
• Watkins, John. “The important results of an elaborate investigation into the mysterious case of Elizabeth Fenning: being a detail of extraordinary facts discovered since her execution, including the official report of her singular trial, now first published, and copious notes thereon.” London. William Hone. 1815. Accessed online: https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/pdf/b2840807x
• MARSHALL, TIM. “Not Forgotten: Eliza Fenning, ‘Frankenstein’, and Victorian Chivalry.” Critical Survey, vol. 13, no. 2, 2001, pp. 98–114. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41557107
• “The Story of Eliza Fenning.” The Wells Journal. August 8, 1857. https://www.newspapers.com/image/812381127/?terms=eliza%20fenning&match=1

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Ellen Swallow Richards was a big part of the establishment of home economics as a field.  But well before that, she broke a lot of ground and was often way ahead of her time.

Research:

• Bettex, Morgan. “A life filled with firsts.” MIT News. 1/26/2011. https://news.mit.edu/2011/timeline-richards-0126
• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Ellen Swallow Richards". Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 Nov. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ellen-Swallow-Richards. Accessed 8 February 2023.
• Chapman, Sasha. “The Woman Who Gave Us the Science of Normal Life.” Nautilus. 3/28/2017. https://nautil.us/the-woman-who-gave-us-the-science-of-normal-life-236534/
• Daniels, Elizabeth A. “The Disappointing First Thrust of Euthenics.” Vassar Encyclopedia. https://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/interviews-and-reflections/the-disappointing-first-thrust-of-euthenics/
• Durant, Elizabeth. “Ellencyclopedia.” MIT Technology Review. 8/15/2007. https://www.technologyreview.com/2007/08/15/36578/ellencyclopedia/
• Dyball, Robert and Liesel Carlsson. Human Ecology Review, Vol. 23, No. 2, Special Issue: Human Ecology—A Gathering of Perspectives: Portraits from the Past—Prospects for the Future (2017). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26367977
• Egan, Kristen R. “Conservation and Cleanliness: Racial and Environmental Purity in Ellen Richards and Charlotte Perkins Gilman.” Women's Studies Quarterly , FALL/WINTER 2011, Vol. 39, No. 3/4. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41308345
• Hunt, Caroline Lousia. “The life of Ellen H. Richards, 1842-1911.” Boston: Whitcomb & Barrows. 1918. https://archive.org/details/lifeofellenhrich1918hunt
• Kwallek, Nancy. "Ellen Swallow Richards: visionary on home and sustainability." Phi Kappa Phi Forum, vol. 92, no. 2, summer 2012, pp. 8+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A291498991/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=7050163b. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
• McNeill, Leila. “The First Female Student at MIT Started an All-Women Chemistry Lab and Fought for Food Safety.” Smithsonian. 12/18/2018. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/first-female-student-mit-started-women-chemistry-lab-food-safety-180971056/
• Richardson, Barbara. “Ellen Swallow Richards: Advocate for ‘Oecology,’ Euthenics and Women’s Leadership in Using Science to Control the Environment.” Michigan Sociological Review , Fall 2000, Vol. 14 (Fall 2000). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40969050
• Smith, Coleen. "The William Barton Rogers Building - The Door Opens." Clio: Your Guide to History. October 24, 2022. Accessed February 8, 2023. https://theclio.com/entry/147331
• Smith, Nancy DuVergne. “Scene at MIT: Ellen Swallow Richards leads the Women's Laboratory.” MIT News. 3/21/2017. https://news.mit.edu/2017/scene-at-mit-ellen-swallow-richards-womens-laboratory-0321
• Talbot, H.P. “Ellen Swallow Richards.” Technology Review, volume 13, pp. 365-373. https://wayback.archive-it.org/7963/20190702115713/https://libraries.mit.edu/archives/exhibits/esr/esr-biography.html
• Vassar Encyclopedia. “Ellen Swallow Richards ’1870.” https://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/distinguished-alumni/ellen-swallow-richards/

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In 2016, Secretary of Education Dr. John B. King Jr. joined Tracy to discuss the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which gave rebelling states 100 days to return to the Union or have their enslaved population freed during the U.S. Civil War.

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Tracy and Holly talk about the ways enslaved people found to push back against their enslavement. They then examine the animal welfare aspect of Old Rip’s story. 

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Old Rip was a reptile with quite a legend. Some people believed that he survived a 31-year entombment in a courthouse cornerstone, and he became celebrity, even gaining an audience with President Calvin Coolidge. But was it all a hoax?

Research:

• “Toad Alive After 31 Years Sealed in Texas Cornerstone.” New York Times. Feb, 20, 1928. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/02/20/91477181.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
• “Coolidge Sees Famous Horned Toad of Texas.” The Greenville News. May 4, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/image/188233123/?terms=toad&match=1
• “Texas Horned Frog Upsets Scientists.” Times Record News. Feb. 21, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/image/774886762/
• “Horned Lizard Facts.” Texas Parks and Wildlife. https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/wildlife_diversity/texas_nature_trackers/horned_lizard/facts/#:~:text=Its%20horny%20appearance%20and%20coloration,(actually%2C%20its%20eyelid).
• “RipFest.” https://www.eastlandchamber.com/ripfest/
• “Texas Court Frees Entombed Toad.” New York Times. May 14, 1928. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/05/15/91511824.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
• “Experts Are Skeptical About Horned Frog.” Fort Worth Record-Telegram. Feb 21, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/image/634555101/?terms=Eastland%2C%20Texas&match=1
• “Old Frog Leaps Back Into Case.” Austin American-Statesman. September 29, 1961. https://www.newspapers.com/image/357861533/
• House, Boyce. “Amazing Story of Rip Is Told in Its Entirety.” Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Feb, 13, 1938. https://www.newspapers.com/image/636009835/
• “Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum).” Texas Parks and Wildlife. https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/thlizard/
• “Eastland Asks Old Rip’s Return.” Fort Worth Star-Telegram. April 18, 1972. https://www.newspapers.com/image/644137888/?terms=old%20rip&match=1
• “Three-corner Fight Rages for Possession of Eastland’s Reptile.” The Amarillo Globe-Timed. Feb. 27, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/image/29483459/?terms=will%20m.%20wood&match=1
• “Famous New York Scientist Tells Whopper Frog Tale as Illustration That He Believes Texas Toad Story.” Wichita Falls Times. Feb. 21, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/image/773773857/
• “’Rip,’ Famous Sleeping Horned Toad, Here but Still Drowsy.” Indianapolis Star. May 1, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/image/104983172
• “Tulsa Barber Aided in Placing Famous ‘Rip’ Frog in Stone.” The Tulsa Tribune. Feb. 21, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/image/884100535/?terms=Eastland%2C%20Texas
• “The Spirit of Old Rip to Be Revived.” The Odessa American. Sept. 11, 1977. https://www.newspapers.com/image/301920827/?
• Donnelly, Claire.” How Curious: What Happened To All Of The ‘Horny Toads’?” KGOU. https://www.kgou.org/oklahoma-news/2019-09-10/how-curious-what-happened-to-all-of-the-horny-toads
• “Frog Question Acute and Threatens to Become National.” Wichita Daily Times. Feb. 26, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/image/773773951/
• “Doubts Horned Toad Tale.” New York Times. February 21, 1928. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/02/21/109853229.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
• Dabney, James. “Letter Reawakens ‘Rip’ Toad Legend.” Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Sept. 10, 1976. https://www.newspapers.com/image/633757078/

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As a child, Susie King Taylor forged passes so her grandmother could go places in Savanna she otherwise couldn’t. As an adult, she penned the only Civil War memoir known to have been written by a Black woman who was actively involved in the military.

Research:

• Hancock, Kelly. “Lunch & Learn Talk by Kelly Hancock: Susie King Taylor’s Civil War.” The American Civil War Museum. 11/15/2016. Via YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=613s3tg_Zlk
• "Susie King Taylor." Contemporary Black Biography, vol. 13, Gale, 1996. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1606001325/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=0670abcd. Accessed 31 Jan. 2023.
• "Susie King Taylor." Notable Black American Women, Gale, 1992. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1623000434/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=62d16da2. Accessed 31 Jan. 2023.
• McCurry, Stephanie. "'In the company' with Susie King Taylor." America's Civil War, vol. 27, no. 2, May 2014, pp. 26+. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A360610510/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=04a62ac5. Accessed 31 Jan. 2023.
• Chittenden, Karen and Micah Messenheimer. “Susie King Taylor: An African American Nurse and Teacher in the Civil War.” Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/ghe/cascade/index.html?appid=5be2377c246c4b5483e32ddd51d32dc0&bookmark=Early%20Years
• Butchart, Ronald. "Susie King Taylor." New Georgia Encyclopedia, 09 December 2003, https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/susie-king-taylor-1848-1912/.
• Syed, Camille. “Group wants square renamed after Susie King Taylor.” WTOC. 12/2/2022. https://www.wtoc.com/2022/12/02/group-wants-square-renamed-after-susie-king-taylor/
• Glass-Hill, Hermina. “Susie King Taylor: Civil War nurse and early social justice activist.” Saporta Report. 3/21/2016. https://saportareport.com/susie-king-taylor-civil-war-nurse-early-social-justice-activist/archived-columnists/jamils-georgia/nge/
• Taylor, Susie King. “Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops Late 1st S. C. Volunteers.” Boston. Published by the author. 1902.
• Prologue Magazine. “The Freedman's Savings and Trust Company and African American Genealogical Research.” Summer 1997, Vol. 29, No. 2. https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1997/summer/freedmans-savings-and-trust.html
• Boisseau, Tracey Jean. “Travelling with Susie King Taylor.” Thirdspace: A Journal of Feminist Theory and Culture. Volume 7, Issue 2 (Winter 2008). https://journals.lib.sfu.ca/index.php/thirdspace/article/view/boisseau/3214

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