The Missing Chapter Podcast

We love highlighting the unknown, the obscure, the forgotten - that has been and continues to be our mission for this podcast.  Many of the stories we discover and are amazed and bewildered by their obscurity and their anonymity sometimes.  Why don’t we know more about some of these stories?  Well, this time, a story came to us - by means of our very special guest today, Dr. Marsha Gordon, Profess...

Chances are that if you apply for a job as a secretary you possess certain skills.  Things like:  multi-tasking, taking phone calls, and… typing. Bette Graham Nesmith, however, was not a good typist when she accepted her position as executive secretary at the Texas Bank and Trust in 1956. And yes, the job description included extensive typing, especially in this day and age before computers and ev...

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines the term Renaissance man as someone who has wide interests and is an expert in several areas.  The discussion in the Missing Chapter classroom today is a man that certainly fits the bill.  His knowledge in a variety of fields, combined with his humble beginnings, has given him a mind that many historians have called brilliant, inventive, and history-making.  Th...

History is full of accidental discoveries, including Teflon, Velcro, x-rays, and plastic.  Today we are going to explore the world of music.  Rock and Roll music and the electric guitar to be exact.  Have you ever wondered how a rock guitarist can get their instrument to howl through a 12 bar blues or scream over top of the thundering bass and drums?  Many of those sounds have been created using s...

Just when you think you’ve heard it all, you stumble upon a story that makes you say, no way, come on, really?  Has this ever happened to you?  Well it just happened to me - and let me tell you, it’s bizarre.  Upon researching and studying our country’s origins, I came across a very, uh, peculiar, strange, and I don’t know, puzzling founding father.  Of all the framers of the Constitution, there i...

History iis full of people who set out with grand ambitions – lofty goals of fortune and fame. Others came across these shared desires by chance and their success reached heights even they could never have anticipated. A simple mid-western boy graduated from Purdue University in 1928, with a degree in soil management & crop production. Upon his graduation, he began working as a county agricult...

In many of our episodes the past 3 seasons, we have kept the main character or punchline hidden until the end.  But on this episode, I’m going to hide the main character right out in the open. A guy by the name of Josephus Daniels.  Ring a bell?  Hmm. Well the story isn’t so much about what this individual accomplished, and I mean, accomplished he was, but it’s more about what his name is synonymo...

Memorialized in song by the late Gordon Lightfoot, the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975 is considered one of the worst maritime disasters in history and the worst that the Great Lakes has ever seen. A grizzled sea captain, a boat that boasted to be one of the largest of its kind, and a crew of some 28 sailors set out on Lake Superior on a grey, windy November day. They departed Wisconsin on...

At the end of the American Revolution, the newly formed U.S. Congress was deep in debt. During that time, in order to settle debts, many states ended up selling some land to compensate.  In 1784, the province of North Carolina chose to do just that.  They voted to give away 29 million acres of land. So what would they do with all that land? Why wouldn't they just dig their roots deep into Nort...

One of the most fulfilling aspects of teaching is seeing a student begin to recognize their gift and begin to fulfill their purpose.  From students that are historians through and through and want to pursue teaching, to mechanically-minded individuals that love working on cars and plan on being successful auto mechanics and technicians, to art students that have their artwork being bought from out...

In May of 1905, a 26-year old clerk in Bern, Switzerland was on his nightly commute home from work. As was his usual routine, he boarded the trolley and made himself comfortable for the relaxing ride home. The clerk found himself deep in thought and engrossed in a nagging question that he had been unable to solve for years. The trolley navigated its way through the center of town and past Bern’s f...

You know, some of the greatest discoveries and inventions came from someone who started with a question.  How do we solve this problem?  What would happen if we mixed this with that?  How can we make this part of life easier for ordinary people? Many times, it’s just sheer curiosity that becomes the vehicle for discovery.  Now, in the 1960s, I think it’s safe to say that amidst the cold war, the u...

History can be understood in a good novel.  It can be taught by good storytellers.  It can be visualized by good documentaries.  But the sacredness can only be felt by experiencing the site first hand. We have had the opportunity and blessing to visit many historic sites around the country and around the world.  And in these summer months, why not take the time to visit historic locations that wil...

The story of America and the struggles our country endured in its early years, is the story of its people. If we are to learn from history and appreciate the stories and grow from our early ancestors, its necessary to hear the accounts of what they endured. In many ways, Mary Jemison’s birth and start in the New World with her family, represented the birth of new colonies and a new democratic nati...

In the fall of 1743 (33 years before the birth of the United States of America), somewhere on the stormy, turbulent Atlantic Ocean, a child was born. Thomas and Jane Jemison were blessed with a beautiful baby girl, while aboard the ship, William & Mary.  She would be named Mary and Mary would embark on a separate journey… a voyage, in and of itself, that commenced as soon as their vessel docke...

The 2nd book of Genesis describes what life was like before sin entered the world. No sin…so no evil, no disease, no shame, no guilt, no poverty, no famine, no tension and hostility between humans and animals or humans and God Himself for that matter.  Then of course, the perfect Garden of Eden, and humanity thereafter, became tainted, diseased with the entangling pains of sin when Eve ate the for...

The complicated relationship that existed between the United States and its Soviet advisory, Joseph Stalin, was one that changed with almost every shift in the global climate of the 1930s and 1940s. From defending the eastern front from Adolf Hitler’s advances in World War II to the negotiating table of the Paris Peace Conference, few leaders from history have had a more divisive legacy in our nat...

We’ve done a bunch of top 5’s - and we’ve gotten great feedback on them.  We’ve also had a great deal of guests on our show, from colleagues to students to historians and editors of worldwide magazines and nationally-renowned books.  Today, we’re combining the best of both worlds.  That’s right!  We’re taking a top 5 and mixing it with a guest speaker.  Welcome to the Top 5 Weirdest Traditions…it’...

Oh if these walls could talk - how many times have you heard that?  Well, how would you react if I told you that the office walls of a certain US ambassador were talking - to spying KGB members outside the US embassy in Moscow.  Now wait a second, how could this have happened?  And isn’t this the sort of stuff we see on Bond films and sci-fi movies?  That kind of stuff doesn’t really happen right?...

In the days following September 2, 1945, there were few labels more abhorrent than that of ‘Nazi.’ As the events of the Holocaust and Adolf Hitler’s genocide against Europe’s Jewish community and other groups and minorities came to light, anyone associated with the Nazi’s or anyone linked to their repulsive deeds were put on trial and held accountable for their actions. SS officers and Nazi offici...

Any historian or history buff will tell you, there are certain people throughout history that used their gift of leadership for great things.  Some, on the other hand, have used this gift for well, not so great things.  On this episode of the Missing Chapter, we’re taking a look back almost a millennia in time, to the 13th century, where we see a very, shall we say, skillful and strategic leader w...

The shadowy figure emerged from the staircase onto the roof of the hospital – the tallest building in Tokyo at the time. The series of lies and bluffs that he had used to this point had, in fact, worked gaining him access to the spot in the city skyline he would need to complete his mission. From beneath his kimono, he drew a small movie camera and began to pan the view before him, albeit draped u...

Historical Coincidences was a big hit with our fan base, so guess what, it’s a part II.  That's right, the sequel!  And are sequels ever as good as the original? Well, in this case, it is! We had a blast talking about the original top 5, so let’s expand on that initial episode and get into the coincidental, the odd, and maybe even get a little weird. It’s the part II episode of history’s...

In the United States, the Roaring 20’s represented an era of great change and growth. Music, industry, arts & literature, entertainment and fashion were evolving at an extraordinary pace and out of this a hot new item emerged. Decorated with a recently discovered miracle substance, this accessory would change the way people were able to tell time. However, no one could have known that this mir...

Here in Central NY, we are in close proximity to many historic sites and cities…Cooperstown, Albany, Saratoga, Niagara Falls, and of course New York City just to name a few.  We’ve mentioned it before in previous episodes - we really are centrally located to many places that have some serious historical significance!  It’s a playground for historians!  One of the best parts of being so historicall...