Footnoting History

(Christine) Laura Bridgman made headlines in the 19th century when her parents enrolled her at the Perkins Institute for the Blind. Under the guidance of Samuel Gridley Howe she learned how to speak with her fingers and became the first formally educated deaf-blind person in the United States. Though we hear little about her today, she was regularly named as an inspiration by Helen Keller- so who...

(Nicole) The sixth century was one of serious upheaval and shifting alliance. Get a glimpse of this world as we explore the life of Rosamund, a Gepid princess who witnessed the rise of the power of the Lombards, through their final defeat of her people and their invasion of Italy, before delivering a near fatal blow to it.

(Ryan) Who were the Fenians and what were their goals? This is a question that historians have debated for years- this podcast will trace the life of a prominent Fenian, Lawrence O'Brien, to, perhaps, help explain the origins of this rather interesting Irish American nationalist organization during the Civil War.

(Nathan) Picking up where we left off in Part I , in this episode, we'll look at where film aspect ratios come from, why production studios began to move to Southern California, how World War I affected the film industry, the role of women in editing and production, and what the advent of sound meant for motion pictures.

(Lucy) Käthchen Paulus was born in the late 1860s, in a German village where she supported her mother by working as a seamstress. She died in the mid-30s in relative obscurity. But in between, she ran away with an adventurer, made and lost a fortune, became an international celebrity, an entrepreneur, a WWI military advisor, and an inventor of lasting influence.

(John) A student of Socrates, a friend of kings, a general and pirate, Alcibiades defies definition. He argued for a more aggressive policy against the Spartans only to later serve as one of their trusted advisers. He left Sparta to live in Persia where he subverted both Spartan and Athenian interests. Join as we explore how this rogue challenged democracy, governments and identity in Classical At...

(Christine) May 29, 2014 marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Empress Josephine, first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. Josephine’s life did not begin when she married the famous Corsican so this week, to honor her, we are looking at the time before she became a Bonaparte. Join Christine as she explores the years when Josephine answered to a different name, had a husband named Alexandre, and alm...

(Elizabeth and Nathan) In 1611, a group of men completed what has become one of the most well-known translations of the Bible. But why did King James ask them to do it?

(Kirsti) What kind of plums were in Jack Horner's pie? Why were the lion and the unicorn spoiling for a fight? Why did Humpty Dumpty fall? This week, Kirsti talks about the collective memory found in the nursery.

(Christina) Head to a dog park and you’re sure to see a greyhound, a pug, or a German Shepherd. Which one is most closely related to the wolf? The answer may surprise you. Through concentrated effort across continents and centuries, humans manipulated canine raw material into made-to-measure companions. In this installment of Doggy History, we'll look at the origin and evolution of these three pop...

(Esther) Urban legend has it that when President Woodrow Wilson first saw D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915), he said "it is like writing history with lightning." While the first epic movie in American film history was as deeply innovative as it was deeply racist, The Birth of a Nation ushered in a new era of blockbuster movie making in the early history of the medium.

(Lesley) Weddings are ceremonies steeped in cultural traditions. From the costumes to the carefully-selected color schemes, marriage ceremonies often become orchestrated events more than a public celebration of love. But where do these traditions originate? In this episode, Lesley explores the surprising history of "jumping the broom" at wedding ceremonies throughout history.

(Nathan) For early movie-goers, film was a magical experience, but also sometimes a crowded and stuffy one. From the magic lantern shows of the eighteenth century to the heyday of the nickelodeon in the twentieth, in this episode we'll look at the origins of film as a medium and the early decades of the film industry.

(Mariah) For decades, comic book fans across the globe have reviled Dr. Fredric Wertham as the man who single-handedly brought down the "Golden Age" of comics.  But is he truly the Lex Luthor he's been made out to be? Today's podcast takes a deeper look at one of the most controversial figures of the 20th century.

(Nicole) Join Nicole as she discusses Diocletian’s rise from obscure beginnings and low social standing to emperor, his reign, and his decision to retire, something that no Roman emperor had done before.

(Samantha) Richard the Lionheart hardly seems like a footnote in history. He is celebrated as a great warrior king and is commemorated in just about every film version of Robin Hood. Yet he has become so mythologized that his actual deeds have become obscured. This podcast will look at contemporary sources to re-construct Richard's journey and attempt to retake Jerusalem from the infidel.

(John) What can the experience of one family tell us about authority in early modern Ireland? Quite a bit! John will discuss how the many wives, many children and many subsequent problems of the earls of Clannrickard illustrate the complexity of authority in early modern Irish society.

(Lucy) How did a swashbuckling seventeenth-century opera singer become the heroine of a nineteenth-century novel? What does this tell us about the performance and perception of gender in both eras? And did the mysterious Mademoiselle de Maupin really run away with a nun? This week’s episode of Footnoting History looks at all that... and dueling!

(Nathan and Esther) Full of gowns, gaffes, and gushing, the Academy Awards are the epitome of pageantry and must-see television that sometimes has little to do with the actual purpose of the ceremony: to reward outstanding achievement in film. Join Nathan and Esther in the first installment of their new Film History Series as they explore the history of the Oscars, from its origins in the labor di...

(Christine) The love story of infamous American outlaw pair Bonnie and Clyde is cemented in modern pop culture- but they were not the only couple in the Barrow Gang. Clyde’s older brother, Buck, and his wife, Blanche, often traveled with their relatives and had a dynamic (and tragic) love story of their own. This week, Christine delves into the outlaw romance of the American depression era that is...

(Lucy) Who were the pirates of the 17th and 18th centuries, and what enabled them to rise to power? In Europe, pirates could be treated as celebrities or tried as criminals. At sea, pirate crews made legal agreements covering not only the division of loot, but forms of health insurance and injury benefits. Contrary to the pirates of Hollywood, moreover, crews were often multiracial, with men (and...

On February 2, 2013, the first episode of Footnoting History went live. To celebrate our first anniversary, Nathan conducted a series of brief interviews with several of our historians (Lucy, Nicole, Christine, and Elizabeth) to help you get to know us a bit better. Listen in to learn what makes us tick and help us celebrate the anniversary we would never have reached without your support!

(Ryan) In 1862, William, Christopher, and Phillip Raber enlisted in Company K of the 9th Regiment, Virginia Infantry. As loyal Union men, they joined nearly one thousand other volunteers for three years' service to put down the rebellion of the Confederacy. One year later, Phillip was marched before a firing squad and executed. By war’s end, Christopher was an outlaw, and their mother had been arr...

(Christina) They are warm, fuzzy beings that come in many different shapes and sizes, yet they all sense our emotions and thrive in our company. But they are also descended from wolves, fierce and elusive social predators. How did dogs become so integrated into human society? And how can we reconstruct any species’ prehistory? In the first installment of our new Doggy History series, we examine se...

(Elizabeth) What was life like for those on the Canadian home front during WWI? Join Liz as she uses L.M. Montgomery's final book in her Anne series, Rilla of Ingleside, to answer questions about the ones who stayed behind.