Stuff You Missed in History Class

Time for all the things literally or figuratively unearthed in the first quarter of 2024. Part one includes updates, burial sites, walls, edibles and potables, and art and architecture.

This 2020 episode looks at croquet's murky origins. Because of its relative ease of play and low barrier of entry, it went through a surge in popularity almost as soon as it was documented.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy and Holly talk about how much Tracy loves eclipses. They also discuss their favorite TV jingles for the game of Life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Milton Bradley shaped not only the way people in the U.S. and around the globe play, but also how many kids in the U.S. were educated in their youngest years.

On May 28, in the year 585 BCE, there was a total solar eclipse during a battle between the kingdoms of Media and Lydia. This eclipse had been predicted by Thales of Miletus, and it led to the ends of both the battle and the war. Maybe. Research: "Thales of Miletus." Math & Mathematicians: The History of Math Discoveries Around the World, edited by Leonard C. Bruno, UXL, 2008

This 2019 episode covers Sylvia of Hollywood, famous in the 1920s and 1930s for shaping up starlets, cementing the idea that Hollywood's beauties were aspirational figures for the average woman. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly reads Vinnie Ream's account of when she met Franz Liszt. Then discussion turns to Ream's friendships, her shopping habits, and why she lived in Rome instead of closer to Carrara. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Part two of our episode on Vinnie Ream covers the completion of her first major work, and the rest of her life, which was just as controversial as her early adulthood. Research: “Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction.” National Parks Service. https://www.nps.gov/anjo/andrew-johnson-and-reconstruction.htm Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Vinnie Ream". Encyclopedia Britan

Vinnie Ream managed became the first woman to be given an art commission by the U.S. Government when she was still a teenager. Part one covers the controversy that arose as she lobbied for that job.

This 2014 episode covers the story of how in 1859, the United States and Great Britain nearly went to war over an American settler shooting a Canadian pig that was rooting around his garden. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.