Stuff You Missed In History Class

Fawcett’s life has invited controversy and speculation, because he was a man who did a mix of great and shady things. Part one covers his early life, marriage, military service, and early visits to South America. Research: Biello, David. “Ancient Amazon Actually Highly Urbanized.” Scientific American. August 28, 2008. “The Brazilian Indigenous People.” Survival International. https://www.survivalinternational.org/peoples/brazilian Britannica Editors. "Mato Grosso". Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 Jan. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/place/Mato-Grosso Canal-Soler, Jordi. “The man who died searching for the Lost City of Z.” National geographic. June 13, 2024. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/percy-fawcett-search-lost-city-of-z Fawcett, Lt-Col P.H. “Exploration Fawcett.” Hutchinson & Co. London. 1953. “Fawcett’s Bones Believed Found; Explorer Lost in Brazil Jungle in ’25.” New York Times. April 4, 1951. https:/

This 2021 episode covers a period of time when the milk supply in New York was anything but appetizing and wholesome – it was often deadly. But efforts to address the problem were blocked by corrupt officials.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy shares a story of looking for an article in the wrong historical journal. Holly reads a section of the U.S. flag code, and waxes rhapsodic about toys.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Beulah was such a prolific inventor in the early 20th century that the press nicknamed her Lady Edison. She was an outlier as an unmarried woman who got her foot in the door as an inventor by pounding the pavement in 1920s New York.  Research: Bengtson, Harlan H. “Beulah Louise Henry.” EBSCO. 2021. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/beulah-louise-henry “Beulah Louise Henry.” National Inventors Hall of Fame. https://www.invent.org/inductees/beulah-louise-henry Dick, Gerry. “Beulah henry Sits in Chiffon Laboratory Inventing Almost Everything But Excuses.” The Rockford Argus. April 8. 1937. https://www.newspapers.com/image/531344097/?match=1&terms=%22Beulah%20Henry%22&search-id=22e1b59c-1edb-4d9c-895d-9454b6343852&search-rank=7 Hart, Alicia. “Meet Beulah henry, the Inventor.” The Salisbury Post. Sept. 1, 1955. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1026874682/?match=1&terms=%22Beulah%20Henry%22&search-id=be53d62d-90f0-4084-8868-9b0e

Mary Mallon became known as Typhoid Mary in the early 20th century. She has often been vilified in in modern references, though her story is actually quite complex.  Research: "Mary Mallon." Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, vol. 21, Gale, 2001. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1631007781/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=23f34010. Accessed 3 Aug. 2026. Brooks, J. “The sad and tragic life of Typhoid Mary.” CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne vol. 154,6 (1996): 915-6. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1487781/ Brooks, Janet. “The Sad and Tragic Life of Typhoid Mary.” Canadian Medical Association Journal. Vol. 154, No. 6. 3/15/1996. Cutter, Laura. “Typhoid Mary/Mary Mallon: An Asymptomatic Carrier of Salmonella typhi.” National Museum of Health and Medicine. 6/18/2020. https://medicalmuseum.health.mil/micrograph/index.cfm/posts/2020/typhoid_mary_mary_mallon_sa

This 2022 episode examines the development of a systematic approach to food safety, which didn’t happen until the 20th century. And it's tied directly to NASA trying to make sure astronauts didn’t get food poisoning in space.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy and Holly talk about their time visiting Chefchaouen during their Morocco trip. Holly shares her belief that secret societies don't work very well. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The reality of the Bavarian Illuminati is much less dramatic than conspiracy theories would indicate. It wasn’t a mystical organization, but a protest organization formed by a rather conceited man who was frustrated with the Catholic church. Research: Britannica Editors. "illuminati". Encyclopedia Britannica, 18 Feb. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/topic/illuminati-group-designation Carlson, Michael. “Robert Anton Wilson [Obituary].” The Guardian. Jan. 17, 2007. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/jan/18/guardianobituaries.usa “Two Letters from Adam Weishaupt, Founder of the Order of the Illuminati (1776).” German History Intersections. https://germanhistory-intersections.org/en/knowledge-and-education/ghis:document-190 “1776.” Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. https://www.lmu.de/en/about-lmu/lmu-at-a-glance/history/1776/ Goldenbaum, Annika. “250 Years of the Order of the Illuminati: New Research Puts Gotha in the Spotlight.” Centr

A lot of European accounts of Sayyida al-Hurra’s life characterize her as a pirate, but that really isn't accurate. She was a a leader of a city-state and a queen of a sultanate. Research: Ali, Adam. “The Pirate Queen of the Mediterranean: The Story of Al-Sayyida al-Hurra.” Medievalists.net. https://www.medievalists.net/2022/08/pirate-queen-mediterranean-al-sayyida-al-hurra/ Britannica Editors. "Barbarossa". Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Jan. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Barbarossa. Accessed 29 July 2026. El Haimeur, A. (2024). Sayyida Alhurra: A forgotten North African queen and war leader: A forgotten North African queen and war leader. Africana Annual, 1(1), 44-60. https://doi.org/10.17161/africana.v1i1.19207 Hellman, Rick. “Researcher reclaims 16th century Moroccan woman leader from obscurity.” University of Kansas. 4/17/2024. https://news.ku.edu/news/article/researcher-reclaims-16th-century-moroccan-woman-leader-from-obscurity Lebbady, “Women in Northern Mo

This 2021 episode covers Jethro Tull. Today, most people only know that as the name of a band, but Tull was an 18th-century gentleman farmer often credited with inventing the seed drill.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy talks about papers about history written by economists. Holy talks about linoleum having a bad reputation because of the designs of the 1970s and '80s.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Frederick Walton caused a lot of financial family friction on the way to developing linoleum. And even though he believed he had revolutionized home dec, he didn't expect to be remembered. Research: “4,000 for His ‘Devoted Attendant.’” Western Daily Press. August 3, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/image/813758815/?match=1&terms=%22Frederick%20Walton%22 Baker, Anne Pimlott. "Walton, Frederick Edward (bap. 1834, d. 1928), inventor of linoleum." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.  September 23, 2004. Oxford University Press. Date of access 20 Jul. 2026, <https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-67799 Kaldewei, Gerhard, ed. “Linoleum: History, Design, Architecture 1882-2000.” Hatje Cantz. 2000. “Cork Carpets.” The Chatauquan. Volume 21. 1895. https://books.google.com/books?id=a2cXAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA471#v=onepage&q&f=false Gross, Linda. “The Evolution of Linoleum.&

The Swing Riots took place in eastern and southern England in the years between the Luddite uprising and the Rebecca Riots. One of the hallmarks of the riots was the destruction of threshing machines – but that’s just part of the story. Research: Caprettini, Bruno and Hans-Joachim Voth. “Rage Against the Machines: Labor-saving Technology and Unrest in England, 1830-32.” American Economic Review: Insights. Vol. 2, no. 3, September 2020. https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/aeri.20190385 Carl J. Griffin, “Luddism, Machine-Breaking and the Swing Riots”, Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique [Online], XXX-1 | 2025, Online since 13 January 2025, connection on 14 April 2026. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/12984 ; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/133dc Chiltern Open Air Museum. “What were the Swing Riots?” https://www.coam.org.uk/blogs/swing-riots Cobbett, William. “Selections from Cobbett's political works : being a complete abridgmen

This 2018 episode covers the Battle of Amiens, near the end of World War I. It was the start of what came to be known as the 100 Days Offensive, which was the Allies’ final push to win the war. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy and Holly talk about experiences in intensely hot weather. Holly shares how moved she was by Samuel Plimsoll’s obituaries.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Samuel Plimsoll was an advocate for better working conditions for sailors, and for a lot of other things. A lot of contemporary accounts refer to him as an agitator. Research: Bibby, Miriam. “Samuel Plimsoll and the Plimsoll Line.” Historic UK. June 14, 2024. https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Samuel-Plimsoll-Line/ Britannica Editors. "Samuel Plimsoll". Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 May. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Samuel-Plimsoll “Death of Mr. Samuel Plimsoll.” The Lichfield Mercury. June 4, 1898. https://www.newspapers.com/image/797510210/?match=1&terms=%22samuel%20plimsoll%22 “Friends of Humanity.” Democrat and Chronicle. Apr 27, 1913. https://www.newspapers.com/image/135735684/?match=1&terms=%22samuel%20plimsoll%22 Glover, William. “Samuel Plimsoll and the 1880 Carriage of Grain Legislation.” The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord, XXX, No. 4 (Winter 2020), 419-448. https://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vo

Heat waves don’t get as much attention as blizzards, floods, and hurricanes, but extreme heat is one of the deadliest weather events on average. Research: National Weather Service. “Weather Related Fatality and Injury Statistics.” https://www.weather.gov/hazstat Last, John. “This Summer’s Drought Is Europe’s Worst in 500 Years. What Happened Last Time?” Smithsonian Magazine. 9/8/2022. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-summers-drought-is-europes-worst-in-500-years-what-happened-last-time-180980711/ Wetter, Oliver; Seneviratne, Sonia I. et al. “The year-long unprecedented European heat and drought of 1540 - a worst case.” Climatic Change 125(3-4), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-014-1184-2 Orth, Rene et al. “Did European temperatures in 1540 exceed present-day records?” Environmental Research Letters. 11 (2016) 114021 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/11/11/114021. United Nations Environment Programme. “Impacts of summer 2003 heat wave in Eur

This 2018 episode covers Libertalia, which, in truth, may be completely fictional. It's called a pirate settlement, though the man who spearheaded it claimed he wasn't actually a pirate.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy shares the topics she considered for the recording in the Bahamas but decided against. Holly talks about her admiration for Thomas Huxley.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Huxley is an example of having a good attitude about publicly acknowledging errors and learning from them. He earned the nickname “Darwin’s bulldog” for his very vocal support of Darwin’s work, and he wanted to promote science and education, particularly to people that didn’t normally have access to those things.  Research: Bernoulli, D., Jenkyns, H.C. “Thomas Henry Huxley, a stone tablet, coccoliths, and deep-sea sediments in the high Alps.” Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 112, 1661–1669 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-023-02330-5 Bowen, Keith. “Thomas Henry Huxley.” Ebsco. 2024. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/thomas-henry-huxley Burkhardt, Richard W.. "Jean-Baptiste Lamarck". Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Dec. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Baptiste-Lamarck Darwin, Charles. “On the Origin of Species.” JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. London. 1859. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1