The Reference Desk

In this episode, Katie shares what America knew about the Holocaust as it was unfolding. Recently, Katie volunteered as a docent for the ALA's traveling "Americans and the Holocaust" exhibition in partnership with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The exhibition explores how much Americans knew about the Nazi persecution and murder of Jews in Europe and examines the U.S....

In this episode, Hailee is bewitched by some unsung heroines of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.  While we all know the name Rosa Parks and her rightful place in history, too few know the names Claudette Colvin, Georgia Gilmore, and Elizabeth Jennings. These brave women fought for transportation justice, helping in their own ways a century apart to end segregation on public transportation. Elizabeth Je...

This week, Katie is bewitched by the incredible rescue of 13 people from the flooded Tham Luang cave in Thailand.  In part 2 of this story, efforts at Tham Luang shift from search to rescue as the Thai government explores three possible options to save the Wild Boars: dive, drill, or delay. But when conditions in the cave begin to deteriorate rapidly, their options shrink, and expert cave divers J...

This week, Katie is bewitched by the incredible rescue of the Wild Boars youth soccer team from Tham Luang cave.  In June 2018, twelve boys and their soccer coach headed into a local cave system to celebrate a teammate's birthday. But what was a typical afternoon for kids in this rural northern Thailand town quickly became an unthinkable emergency when an unexpected rainstorm left their only...

In 2014, the Broaddus family of New Jersey closed on their dream home in the beautiful town of Westfield. But before even moving in, their dream home turned into a nightmare. Just three days after closing, the family received a letter in a white, card-shaped envelope addressed to “the New Owners” in thick, chunky letters. This letter is the first of several frightening letters the family would rec...

In this episode, Katie is bewitched by Cassie Chadwick.  In 2021, everyone learned the name "Anna Delvey," fake heiress and SoHo grifter extraordinaire. But over a century before Anna partied with pharma bros and Fyre Fest scammers, Cassie Chadwick was laying the foundation for all female con artists; setting a bar so high for fraud and fakes few would ever come close to achieving her le...

In this episode, Hailee is bewitched by the Lizzie Borden.  Lizzie Borden took an ax and gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one. But is that what really happened? On August 4th, 1892, Andrew and Abbie Borden were murdered in their home by an axe in broad daylight. Lizzie, Andrew's daughter, was the only suspect in the murder but she was acq...

On this episode of The Reference Desk, Katie is bewitched by Key West.  As the southernmost point in the continental U.S., Key West, Florida, takes some work to get to. But you'll find this place of weirdness, inclusivity, and strange history well worth the voyage. From its beginnings as a shipwreck paradise to its current vibrant mix of American, Spanish, and Caribbean influences, Key West i...

In this episode, Hailee is bewitched by the Woodstock Music and Art Fair of 1969.  The Woodstock Music and Art Fair was a music festival that happened from August 15-17 in 1969 on a dairy farm in Bethel, NY. It was billed as an Aquarian Exposition providing three days of music and peace. Thirty-two acts performed for the nearly 500,000 attendees over the three days and Rolling Stone Magazine lists...

In this episode, Katie is bewitched by lobotomies.  The U.S. has a long and tragic history of barbaric and inhumane treatment of people living with mental illnesses. From overcrowded institutions to painful experimental treatments, patients were subjected to the unthinkable. Admittance to a state hospital was tantamount to a death sentence served in inhumane conditions. Then, a promising young neu...

Happy Halloween! The Reference Desk is back with a spooky, special Halloween episode! Turn off the lights, grab some Halloween candy and settle in as Hailee tells you one of Virginia's creepiest urban legends and Katie enthralls you with a haunted house story that is anything but typical. Plus, get some spooky reading recommendations for any level of scare. The Reference Desk will be back for...

Join us in the stacks for our final episode of SEASON 2! This week, and always, we are bewitched by libraries! Learn about how we got into the library profession, listen to some listener stories, and check out some of our recommended readings about these magical places we love so much.  We have had the best time researching and telling each other (and you!) all about the strange things that keep u...

In this episode, Katie is bewitched by the tragic story of the Radium Girls. Hundreds of young women were thrilled at the chance to paint clock faces and dials with a new kind of glow-in-the-dark paint in the 1920s. Factories that produced these new products paid three times as much as similar employers, with the added bonus of free access to the highly valuable radium that gave its paint its sign...

This week, Hailee is bewitched by the tragic life of Marilyn Monroe. Born Norma Jean in 1926, she was moved from foster home to foster home, living for a time in an orphanage and never having a stable home base. She was married off when she was only 16 years old and was discovered by an Army Airforce photographer sent to take morale-boosting photographs of female workers during WWII.  Marilyn work...

This week, we continue telling the story of Julia Child.  After returning to America, Julia Child became a star within the culinary world, thanks to her best-selling cookbook. But it was a local television studio that made her a household name. After a successful guest appearance, Julia was given her own series on PBS. For nearly four decades, Julia remained a constant presence in American homes,...

This week, Katie is bewitched by the one and only Julia Child. Beloved for her warm and inviting presence on screen that made her a star, Julia Child's life before she became America's favorite French cook is less well known.  Abandoning her career as a copywriter to serve her country during World War II, Julia traveled to Asia, working for the OSS, where she met her husband, Paul Cushin...

This time last year, we released what remains my absolute favorite episode I’ve researched to date. I got SO into this topic, and since we seem to have quite a few new listeners, I wanted to re-release this episode. So please enjoy as I continue to be completely bewitched by Rock and Roll Myths, Legends, and Curses.  _________________________________________________________________________________...

Dearest reader, As the social season draws near and the second season of Bridgerton is ready to premier this week, we are rereleasing Katie’s episode on Debutants and the London Season! Consider this your exclusive invitation to learn all about this bizarre ritual dating back hundreds of years and shockingly still happening in some capacity today, along with all of its problematic history of sexis...

Join us as we finish the story of Christa McAuliffe and the Challenger Disaster.  In part 2, Hailee tells us how Christa won the Teacher in Space position out of thousands of applicants, how she trained for weeks and gives brief bios for the rest of the Challenger crew. We will also learn how this disaster very well could have been avoided.  What We're Reading Verity by Colleen Hoover The Lit...

This week, Hailee tells us about Christa McAuliffe and the Challenger disaster in this two-part episode!  In part 1, Hailee gives us a (brief, layman’s version) history of the beginnings of the space age and the space race between the Soviet Union and the United States. You will also learn about Astronaut Group 8, the most diverse group of astronauts NASA ever employed up to that point and we will...

In this FIRST-EVER in-person episode of The Reference Desk, Katie and Hailee talk about banned books. In recent months, the number of challenged books has skyrocketed. Politicians and parents across the country have called for the removal of books that feature LGBTQIA+ references and material that may make white students feel uncomfy. Katie and Hailee tell you the history of book bans, talk you th...

In this episode of The Reference Desk, Katie is bewitched by unexplained disappearances. Each year, nearly 90,000 people are listed as missing in America. People of color and Indigenous women make up a large percentage of missing people, despite accounting for smaller percentages of the population. No one group is immune from disappearances, but statistically, BIPOC people are more likely to remai...

Many people know and recognize the name Florence Nightingale and recognize her as the founder of modern nursing. And, while she did some amazing things for the field of nursing there was another woman who many argue was actually the first nurse practitioner, largely forgotten by history. This week, Hailee is bewitched with Mary Seacole, a British-Jamaican nurse and businesswoman and one of the pio...

In this episode of The Reference Desk, Katie is bewitched by the incredible story of Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine. Following the landmark Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education, all school districts were instructed to begin integrating public buildings. But in Little Rock, Arkansas, the resistance to integration became a national spectacle. As Governor Orval Faubus went to e...

This week on the Reference Desk, Hailee is bewitched by stories of children who remember having a past life. While reincarnation is a common belief and philosophy in Eastern religions and traditions, it is not as common in the West. Yet, two researchers have investigated over 2000 cases of children in the United States who have reported experiencing memories of a past life.  What We Are Reading Gr...