Stuff You Missed In History Class

In the early 20th century, Neal's company Force of Life was investigated for fraud. But somehow, Neal managed to get through the scandal and went on to found a cosmetics company that became very successful.  Research: “Can’t Find E. Virgil Neal.” New York Times. January 15, 1906. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1906/01/15/100496816.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0 “Claimed to Raise the Dead.” Kansas City Star. Jan. 13, 1906. https://www.newspapers.com/image/653825670/?match=1&terms=%22Claimed%20to%20raise%20the%20dead%22 Conroy, Mary Schaeffer. “The Cosmetics Baron You’ve Never Heard Of: E. Virgil Neal and Tokalon.” Third Edition. Altus History Publishing. 2014. “E. Virgil Neal Passes Away at Geneva June 30.” The Sedalia Democrat. July 3, 1949. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sedalia-democrat-e-virgil-neal-obit/185827307/ “False Advertising Chief ‘Stimulant’ in Nixated Iron.” New York Tribune. Dec.

E. Virgil Neal’s career started out with writing successful textbooks, but then took a turn into being a stage hypnotist and then a series of dicey mail-order businesses. Research: “Can’t Find E. Virgil Neal.” New York Times. January 15, 1906. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1906/01/15/100496816.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0 “Claimed to Raise the Dead.” Kansas City Star. Jan. 13, 1906. https://www.newspapers.com/image/653825670/?match=1&terms=%22Claimed%20to%20raise%20the%20dead%22 Conroy, Mary Schaeffer. “The Cosmetics Baron You’ve Never Heard Of: E. Virgil Neal and Tokalon.” Third Edition. Altus History Publishing. 2014. “E. Virgil Neal Passes Away at Geneva June 30.” The Sedalia Democrat. July 3, 1949. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sedalia-democrat-e-virgil-neal-obit/185827307/ “False Advertising Chief ‘Stimulant’ in Nixated Iron.” New York Tribune. Dec. 16,1917. https://www.newspapers.com

This 2022 episode covers Hortense and Marie Mancini, who tried to make a place for themselves in 17th-century Europe, defying all kinds of conventions along the way. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy talks about a book that she didn't use for research on Viola Roseboro'. Holly talks about how wealth inequality has shaped science history.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Boyle is frequently described at the first modern chemist, but his work encompassed much more than that. Among other things, he was a founding member of the Royal Society. Research: Boyle, Robert. “An account of Philaretus during his Minority.” Accessed online: https://celt.ucc.ie/published/E650001-100.html Boyle, Robert. “New experiments physico-mechanicall.” Oxford. 1660. https://archive.org/details/chepfl-lipr-AXA74/mode/1up?q=proportional Boyle, Robert. “New experiments physico-mechanical, touching the air.” London. Richard Davis. 1682. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A29007.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext Boyle, Robert. “The Sceptical Chymist.” London. J. Crooke. 1661. Accessed online: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/22914/pg22914.txt “Copy of Sir Robert Boyle's Will.” Brief History of Blue. https://omekas.prattsi.org/s/HistoryofBlue/item/109 “December 31, 1691: Death of Robert Boyle.” This Month in Physics History. APS News.

Viola Roseboro’ isn’t well-known today, but she played a big behind-the-scenes role in the careers of a lot of American writers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, shaping what’s thought of as the American literary canon.  Research: “4 New Features.” Washington D.C. Evening Star. 4/29/2013. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045462/1913-04-29/ed-1/?sp=10&r=-0.115,-0.055,1.648,0.596,0 Dykeman, Wilma. “Tennessee Women: An Infinite Variety.” Newport. Wakestone Books. 1993. Gorton, Stephanie. “The Strange, Forgotten Life of Viola Roseboro’.” The Paris Review. 2/24/2020. https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/02/24/the-strange-forgotten-life-of-viola-roseboro/ Gregorie, Anne King. “Reviewed Work(s): Viola, The Duchess of New Dorp: A Biography of Viola Roseboro by Jane Kirkland Graham.” The South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. 57, No. 2 (Apr., 1956). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27566059 Howell, Isabel. “Re

This 2016 episode covers the May 30, 1948 flood that destroyed Vanport, Oregon. What really makes the story more than a historical footnote is how it ties into the racial makeup of both Portland and Oregon at the time.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy talks about a strange statement in a paper she read while working on the Carlos J. Finlay episode. Holly shares her amusement at the pact Hartlib and his friends made.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Samuel Hartlib doesn’t exactly spring to mind when thinking about influential figures of the 17th century. But he served as a sort of conduit for information and connections among them as he sought to promote his ideas regarding theology and education. Research: Britannica Editors. "Samuel Hartlib". Encyclopedia Britannica, 8 Mar. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Samuel-Hartlib Britannica Editors. "Thirty Years’ War". Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Mar. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/event/Thirty-Years-War Britannica Editors. "John Dury". Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Jan. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Dury Hartlib, Samuel, OR John Dury. “A Further Discoverie Of The Office Of Public Address For Accommodations.” 1648. The Hartlib Papers. University of Sheffield. https://www.dhi.ac.uk/hartlib/view?docset=main&docname=14A_02_03 Hartlib, Samuel. “Ephemerides 1635.” The Hartlib Papers. University of Sheffield. https://www.dhi.ac.uk/har

Carlos Juan Finlay was a Cuban doctor who did a lot of work to understand the spread of Yellow Fever. But Walter Reed got most of the credit. Research: American Experience. “Carlos Finlay (1833-1915).” From The Great Fever. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/fever-carlos-finlay/ Berenbrok, Dorothy E., "Latin Heritage Month. Carlos Juan Finlay: Outrageous, Courageous and Correct" (2015). Posters: Jefferson History. 3. https://jdc.jefferson.edu/jeffhistoryposters/3 "Carlos Juan Finlay." Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, Gale, 1998. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1631002194/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=bfeecc25. Accessed 29 Apr. 2026. Chaves-Carballo, Enrique. “Carlos J. Finlay: The mosquito man.” Hektoen International. 11/2/2020. https://hekint.org/2020/11/02/carlos-j-finlay-the-mosquito-man/ Corbitt, Duvon C. “Carlos J. Finlay, Cuban Physician.” The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 45,

This 2022 episode covers Deborah Sampson, who could count William Bradford and Myles Standish in her family tree. That tree didn’t include Robert Shurtliff; that was the alias Deborah used to enlist in the Continental Army.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly shares a quote from Daniela Lippi about the importance of ongoing learning in the restoration profession. There is then discussion of the nerve-racking construction of Disneyland.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Disneyland's opening seemed like an impossibility throughout the construction process. Holly interviews filmmaker Leslie Iwerks about her new film "Disneyland Handcrafted," which shares the journey from an empty dirt lot to the theme park we know today.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1993, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy was damaged by a car bomb. But this story starts in the 16th century with painter Bartolomeo Manfredi, and reaches all the way to the 2000s with an extraordinary restoration project. Research: “600 fragments and one photograph. The restoration of Bartolomeo Manfredi’s “Card Players.” Scala Archives. May 23, 2023. https://scalarchives.com/600-fragments-and-one-photograph-the-restoration-of-bartolomeo-manfredis-card-players/#:~:text=The%20Georgofili%20bombing%20also%20left,to%20have%20been%20destroyed%20forever. Clough, Patricia. “Blast Tears Apart 400 Years of Italy’s Heritage.” The Independent. May 28, 1993. https://www.newspapers.com/image/718976357/?match=1&terms=uffizi Cowell, Alan. “Italians Try to Place Blame For Bomb Damage at Uffizi.” New York Times. May 29, 1993. https://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/29/world/italians-try-to-place-blame-for-bomb-damage-at-uffizi.html “Cupid Chastised.” Art I

This 2019 episode covers the Regulator War, aka the War of the Regulation, aka the Regulator Movement. It was a North Carolina event which arose in response to unfair taxes, poor representation and corruption.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy shares why Bhagat Singh Thind rocketed to the top of her topics list. Holly shares a story of bad cat behavior.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Carrington Event was a massive geomagnetic storm that happened in 1859. It led to expanded understanding of solar phenomena. Research: “Great Aurora of 1859. Art. XLII – The Great Auroral Exhibition of August 28th to September 4th, 1859.” American Journal of Science. Ser. 2. Vol. 28. July-November 1859. Cardenas, Freddy Moreno et al. “The Grand Aurorae Borealis Seen in Colombia in 1859.” Preprint submitted to Advances in Space Research. August 21, 2015. Cliver, E.W. “The 1859 space weather event: Then and now.” Advances in Space Research. 38 (2006) 119-129. Cliver, E.W. and L. Svalgaard. “The 1859 Solar-Terrestrial Disturbance and the Current Limits of Extreme Space Weather Activity.” Solar Physics. (2004) 224: 407–422. Cliver, Edward W. and William F. Dietrich. “The 1859 space weather event revisited: limits of extreme activity.” J. Space Weather Space Clim. 3 (2013) A31 DOI:10.1051/swsc/2013053 Dobrijevic, Daisy and Andrew May. &ld

United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind was a 1923 case that hinged on what it meant to be white. Research: “Ozawa v. United States, 260 U.S. 178 (1922).” https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/260/178/ “United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, 261 U.S. 204 (1923).” https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/261/204/ de la Garza, Amanda. “Doctorji: The Life. Teachings, and Legacy of Dr. Bhagat Singh Thind.” David Bhagat Thind. 2010. Deslippe, Philip. “Bhagat Singh Thind in Jail.” SAADA. https://www.saada.org/tides/article/bhagat-singh-thind-in-jail Deslippe, Philip. “Doctorji the Divorcé: Understanding Bhagat Singh Thind Through His Marriage to Inez Buelen.” Ethnic Studies Review 1 July 2023; 46 (1-2): 52–68. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/esr.2023.46.1-2.52 Kanwar, Joy. “Stories from the Negative Spaces: United States v. Thind and the Narrative of (Non)Whiteness.” Mercer Law Review. Vol. 74, No. 3. 2023. https://digitalcommons.

This 2023 episode covers the Insular Cases, which are SCOTUS cases regarding rights of people in U.S. territories. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly talks about how small the circle of London intellectuals was in John Graunt's time. Then there is discussion of disco balls in bathrooms.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.