Elizabeth Bisland, Beyond the Trip Around the World

Journalist and writer Elizabeth Bisland was sent on a trip around the world in 1889, in a sort of race against Nellie Bly. But that was not something she wanted to be known for. Research: Bisland, Elisabeth. “At the Sign of the Hobby Horse.” Houghton, Mifflin and Co. Riverside Press. 1910. https:/…

SYMHC Classics: Marie Laurencin

This 2019 episode explores the difficult-to-study work of Laurencin. In addition to her work not quite falling in line with the artists who were her contemporaries, her personal papers are difficult to access, are censored, and have strict limitations put on their use. 

Behind the Scenes Minis: Censorship Cats

Tracy talks about how the show's recording schedule meant that this week's Monday episode got revised repeatedly to reflect current events. Holly talks about the way theater performances during portions of heavy censorship in France incorporated audience participation.

Théophile Steinlen Beyond 'Le Chat Noir'

“Le Chat Noir” is one of the most famous pieces of late 19th century European art, but the artist behind it was also very active in France's anarchist and socialist political groups of the time. Research: Asimakis, Magdalyn. “War, Socialism, and Cats: Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen's Political Artis…

Hercules Posey & the President’s House

The President's House was the first home of the U.S. president in the temporary capital of Phildelphia. While George Washington lived there, he had nine enslaved people that we know of., including the cook, Hercules.  Research: “George Washington to Tobias Lear, 12 April 1791,” Founders Online, Na…

SYMHC Classics: Pueblo Revolt

This 2014 episode covers the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, in which Native Americans rose up against Spanish colonists and missionaries at the turn of the 17th century.

Behind the Scenes Minis: Coffee, 'Pirats' and Sea Robbers

Holly and Tracy talk about their coffee preferences. Then Tracy traces the path that led her from a listener mail to the topic of Fort Mose.

Francisco Menéndez & Fort Mose

Fort Mose was the first officially sanctioned settlement for free Black people in what’s now the United States. It was established as a place where people who escaped enslavement in the U.S. could live in the Spanish territory of Florida. Research: Blumetti, Jordan. “The First Floridians.” The Bit…

Melitta Bentz and the Coffee Filter

Melitta Bentz invented the coffee filter in 1908 and changed coffee culture forever. Through the decades and after reckoning with its relationship with the Third Reich, the company she founded in her Dresden apartment endures today. Research: “The Weimar Republic 1918-1929 - EdexcelChanges in soci…

SYMHC Classics: COINTELPRO 2

Part two of this 2020 episode looks at some of the specifics of the COINTELPROs that targeted black liberation organizations and the New Left, as well as how these programs were finally exposed to the public.