Unsung History

Latest Episodes:

Hair and the American Presidency Aug 26, 2024

Show notes

In March 1778, while he was camped at Valley Forge, Commander in Chief George Washington sent a lock of his hair to the daughter of the New Jersey Governor. It wasn’t a romantic gift; rather, Washington was responding to a common request made to celebrities of his time, similar to the autographed photo one might request today. Because hair is so long-lasting, people of the 18th and 19th centuries often collected, wore, and displayed the hair of their loved ones and the notable people they met or were inspired by. Even in the 20th century, when Jackie Kennedy took her last look at JFK’s body before the funeral, she cut a lock of his hair to keep. In this episode I look at the practices around collecting hair and making hair artwork; I’m joined by Ted Pappas, author of Combing Through the White House: Hair and Its Shocking Impact on the Politics, Private Lives, and Legacies of the Presidents.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair,” composed by Stephen Collins Foster, and sung by Lambert Murphy, accompanied by an orchestra conducted by Rosario Bourdon on June 29,1922, in Camden, New Jersey; the recording is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is “Child named Carl who became a soldier; with handwritten note and lock of hair in case,” United States, ca. 1856; the photograph is available via the Library of Congress, and there are no known restrictions on publication.

Additional Sources:

“Hair! At the Library? Yes, and Lots of It,” by Neely Tucker, Library of Congress Blog, August 11, 2022.
“Beethoven may have had lead poisoning,” by Ari Daniel, NPR All Things Considered, May 18, 2024.
“A lock of love,” by Vicky Iglikowski-Broad, UK National Archives, June 1, 2015.
“The Real Rules of Courtship: Dating in the Regency Era,” by Dr. Sally Holloway, PBS Masterpiece.
“George Washington to Kitty Livingston,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
“Hair as Historic Artifact,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
“These Strands of Lincoln’s Locks Could Sell for Thousands of Dollars. What’s Behind the Fascination With Presidential Hair?” by Olivia Waxman, Time Magazine, August 23, 2018.
“Why Victorians Loved Hair Relics,” By: Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, April 8, 2019.
“Daniel Webster mourning brooch,” Massachusetts HIstorical Society.
“Charles T. Menge's price list of ornamental hair jewelry and device work, nos. 32 and 34 John Street, New York,” Smithsonian Institution Library, 1873.
“The Intricate Craft of Using Human Hair for Jewelry, Art, and Decoration,” by Anika Burgess, Atlas Obscura, January 12, 2018.
“Homegrown Thread: The Art of Human Hairwork in the Gilded Age,” by Marsha Borden, Piecework Magazine, July 26, 2023.
“The Curious Victorian Tradition of Making Art from Human Hair,” by Allison Meier, Artsy, February 13, 2018.
“Hair Wreaths – Sentimental or Spooky?” Maine State Museum.
“A Little Off the Top for History,” by Jerry Guo, The New York TImes, July 13, 2008.

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Margaret Chase Smith Aug 19, 2024

Show notes

At the Republican National Convention in July 1964, Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith’s name was placed in nomination for the presidency, and she received votes from 27 delegates, the first time a woman was placed in nomination at a major party’s presidential convention in the United States. It was only one of many firsts Smith would achieve in her remarkable decades-long career that included speaking out against McCathyism on the floor of the Senate in 1950 and being the first woman of Congress to break the sound barrier in 1957. Joining this episode to help us learn more about Senator Smith is Dr. Teri Finneman, Associate Professor in the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas and author of Press Portrayals of Women Politicians, 1870s-2000s: From Lunatic Woodhull to Polarizing Palin.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The in-episode audio is from the 1964 Margaret Chase Smith Presidential Campaign Announcement, courtesy Northeast Historic Film Archive, available via C-SPAN. The episode image is “Senator Margaret Chase Smith, ca. 1954,” Records of the U.S. Information Agency, National Archives.

Additional Sources:

“No Place for a Woman: A Life of Senator Margaret Chase Smith,” by Janann Sherman, Rutgers University Press, 1999.
“Biography,” Margaret Chase Smith Library.
“Margaret Chase Smith; Congressional Trailblazer,” by Staff Sgt. Jarred Martinez, Mountain Home Air Force Base, August 26, 2021.
“Women in Military Service; the Role of Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith,” by Senator Susan Collins, June 26, 2023.
“Declaration of Conscience,” delivered by Senator Margaret Chase Smith to the United States Senate on June 1, 1950.
“Margaret Chase Smith: Breaking the Barrier,” by Jessie Kratz, National Archives, October 15, 2020.
“The Moment That Presaged a Maine Senator’s Downfall,” by Rachel Slade, DownEast, May 2020.
“Margaret Chase Smith Is Dead at 97; Maine Republican Made History Twice,” by Richard Severo, The New York Times, May 30, 1995.

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The 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago Aug 12, 2024

Show notes

Even before Democrats met in Chicago in August to choose their presidential nominee, the year 1968 had been a turbulent, and often violent, time in the United States. In Chicago, the tumult of an open convention inside the International Amphitheatre was matched by the huge anti-war protests downtown. While the Democrats inside the convention hall voted down a peace plank and nominated the incumbent vice president, despite objections, the police on the streets, given free reign by Mayor Richard J. Daley, beat and tear gassed protesters, reporters, and even passers-by. Joining me in this episode to tell the story of the 1968 DNC is Dr. Heather Hendershot, the Cardiss Collins Professor of Communication Studies and Journalism at Northwestern University and author of When the News Broke: Chicago 1968 and the Polarizing of America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Audio in the episode is “March 31, 1968: Remarks on Decision not to Seek Re-Election,” and from “The 1968 Democratic National Convention” from the National Archives. The episode image is “Young ‘hippie’ standing in front of a row of National Guard soldiers, across the street from the Hilton Hotel at Grant Park, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, August 26, 1968,” photographed by Warren K. Leffler; there are no known restrictions on publication, and the image is available by the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Audio in the episode is “March 31, 1968: Remarks on Decision not to Seek Re-Election,” from the National Archives.

Additional Sources:

“Remembering 1968: LBJ Surprises Nation With Announcement He Won't Seek Re-Election,” by Ron Elving, NPR Weekend Edition Sunday, March 25, 2018.
“The 1968 Republican Convention,” by Sarah Katherine Mergel, We’re History, July 21, 2016.
“Shoot to Kill. . . Shoot to Maim” by Christopher Chandler, Chicago Reader, April 4, 2002
“Politics: Thousand of U.S. Troops Mobilized for Guard Duty at Democratic Convention,” by John Kifner, The New York TImes, August 25, 1968.
“Chicago: Law and Disorder: ‘There were two Americas in Chicago, but there always are.’”
“1968: CBS News' Dan Rather gets roughed up while trying to interview a Georgia delegate [video],” CBS News.
“‘Violence Was Inevitable’: How 7 Key Players Remember the Chaos of 1968’s Democratic National Convention Protests,” by Olivia Waxman, Time Magazine, August 28, 2018.
“Looking back at the 1968 Democratic National Convention,” By Lee Hudson, Politico, April 11, 2023.

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Sigrid Schultz Aug 05, 2024

Show notes

In 1926, American Sigrid Schultz became one of the first women to head a foreign bureau for a US newspaper when she was named the chief correspondent for the Berlin bureau of the Chicago Tribune. In her 26 years with the Tribune, Schultz, using her command of German and French, her knowledge of German politics and history, and her wide range of contacts, reported on the rise of Nazism and warned American readers to take Hitler seriously. Joining me in this episode to tell the story of Sigrid Schultz and her journalistic career is writer Dr. Pamela Toler, author of The Dragon From Chicago: The Untold Story of an American Reporter in Nazi Germany.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Over There,” composed by George M. Cohan, and performed by the Peerless Quartet, in New York City on June 13, 1917; the audio is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is “Journalist Sigrid Schultz,” a photo taken in 1943 and in the public domain; it is available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional sources:

“Sigrid Schultz Papers, 1835-1980,” Wisconsin Historical Society.
“Dragon Lady: The Life of Sigrid Schultz,” Westport Museum for History and Culture.
“Dragon Lady,” Chicago Tribune, Originally published September 11, 1988, and updated August 8, 2021.
“Sigrid Schultz is dead; Early Berlin correspondent,” Chicago Tribune, May 17, 1980.
“Sigrid L. Schultz, Reporter Who Covered Rise of Nazism, Is Dead; Tribune's Bureau Chief,” by George Goodman, Jr., The New York Times, May 17, 1980.
“Newly Discovered Photos Reveal Childhood of Groundbreaking Journalist,” by Jay Shefsky, WTTW, January 16, 2020.

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The History of Synchronized Swimming Jul 29, 2024

Show notes

When the 1934 World’s Fair in Chicago was looking for an aquatic act to complement their new underwater lights, organizers turned to physical educator Katherine Curtis, who put together a wildly popular show called the Modern Mermaids. No one could quite figure out what to call it, trying out water ballet and figure swimming until a radio announcer landed on “synchronized swimming.” Soon synchronized swimming teams were forming and competing, but while the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) quickly embraced the sport, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) resisted, with the president of the IOC sneeringly referring to the sport as aquatic vaudeville. Finally, decades after the origin of synchronized swimming, the IOC voted to include it in the 1984 games in Los Angeles. Joining me in this episode to tell this history is writer and masters synchronized swimmer Vicki Valosik, author of Swimming Pretty: The Untold Story of Women in Water.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Come Take a Swim in My Ocean,” composed by Gus Edwards with Lyrics by Will Cobb; this recording was performed by the Haydn Quartet in New Jersey on June 4, 1909; it is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is “Swimmers,” Harris & Ewing, photographer, 1936; the image is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress.

Additional Sources:

“History of Artistic Swimming,” USA Artistic Swimming.
“The amazing life of Australia’s ‘million-dollar mermaid,’” by Luke Buckmaster, BBC, November 2, 2017.
“The General Slocum Disaster of June 15, 1904,” by Valerie Wingfield, New York Public Library Archives Unit, June 13, 2011.
“Commodore Wilbert E. Longfellow (USA),” International Swimming Hall of Fame
“Water Pageants, Games and Stunts,” by Olive McCormick, A. S. Barnes, incorporated, 1933.
“1933 Modern Mermaids [video]” Property of Chicago Film Archives.
“Rhythmic Swimming: A Source Book of Synchronized Swimming and Water Pageantry,” by Katharine Whitney Curtis, Burgess publishing Company, 1942.
“1952: Avery Brundage, fifth IOC President,” International Olympic Committee.
“No male artistic swimmers at Olympics after U.S. leave May out of squad,” by Lori Ewing, Reuters, June 8, 2024.

Synchro Routines:

"Team Gold Medal [video],” Russian Olympic Committee, Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games
“Duet Gold Medal [video],” Romania, Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games.

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The FTA & Antiwar Protests in 1971 Jul 22, 2024

Show notes

In 1971, a group of performers calling themselves the Free Theatre Associates (FTA), including Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland, began putting on popular antiwar shows for audiences of active-duty GIs. Over 10 months they performed near military bases all over the United States and in the Pacific Rim. The Pacific Rim tour led to a documentary, which was released briefly in July 1972 and then quickly yanked from theaters. To help us learn about the FTA, I’m joined by theater historian Dr. Lindsay Goss, Assistant Professor in the School Of Theater, Film And Media Arts at Temple University and author of F*ck the Army!: How Soldiers and Civilians Staged the GI Movement to End the Vietnam War.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier,” composed by Al Piantadosi with lyrics by Alfred Bryan; the performance by the Peerless Quartet in New York City on January 6, 1915, is in the public domain and is available via the LIbrary of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is “Jane Fonda and Michael Alaimo in the FTA Show 1971;” the image is available via CC BY-SA 3.0 and can be found on Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

“The Vietnam War: Reasons for US involvement in Vietnam,” BBC.
“U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War: the Gulf of Tonkin and Escalation, 1964,” Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute, United States Department of State.
“Tonkin Gulf Resolution (1964),” The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
“Vietnam: An unpopular war, but an important legacy,” by Kenneth Dodd, Kessler Air Force Base, January 27, 2016.
“The Vietnam War,” Iowa PBS.
“GI Movement Special Section“ coordinated by Jessie Kindig, Antiwar and Radical History Project, University of Washington.
“How Coffeehouses Fueled the Vietnam Peace Movement,” by David L. Parsons, The New York Times, January 9, 2018.
“FTA! Behind the Scenes on the Anti-war Show Tour in Asia,” by Elaine Elinson, Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
“FTA [video],” directed by Francine Parker, 1972.

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The Incorruptibles & Organized Jewish Crime in New York City in the Early 20th Century Jul 15, 2024

Show notes

In 1912, a group of wealthy and influential German Jews in uptown New York funded an effort to root out organized crime on the lower East Side, then the most densely populated neighborhood on Earth, home to half a million people, many of them recent Jewish Russian immigrants. As a result, a Jewish investigator and a Jewish lawyer joined the NYPD and pulled together a group of cops who refused to be paid off. The Incorruptibles, as the vice squad came to be known, quickly quashed the criminal element, but as war loomed in Europe, the attention and funds of the uptowners shifted abroad, and the Incorruptibles folded. Crime, of course, remained, and Jewish organized crime in New York only grew as the Prohibition Era dawned.

Joining me in this episode is writer Dan Slater, author of The Incorruptibles: A True Story of Kingpins, Crime Busters, and the Birth of the American Underworld.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Havdole gut Schabes,” performed by Lizzie Einhorn Abramson in 1910; audio is in the public domain and available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is a photo of Arnold Rothstein, taken on November 1, 1919, which appeared in several newspaper stories about the Black Sox scandal; it’s in the public domain and available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

“The Life of a City: Early Films of New York, 1898 to 1906,” Library of Congress.
“The Lower East Side,” Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History, Library of Congress.
“Uncovering the History of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire,” by David von Drehle, Smithsonian Magazine, August 2006.
“‘Ten Thousand Bigamists In New York’: The Criminalization Of Jewish Immigrants Using White Slavery Panics,” by Mia Brett, The Gotham Center for New York City History, October 27, 2020.
“SAY SLAYERS DIDN'T RESEMBLE GUNMEN; Defense Rests After Calling Some of Those Who Saw the Murder of Rosenthal,” The New York Times, November 16, 1912.
“Abraham Shoenfeld Papers,”American Jewish Historical Society.
“An Assassin’s Bullet Took Three Years to Kill NYC Mayor William Jay Gaynor,” by Rose Eveleth, Smithsonian Magazine, September 11, 2013.
“How Arnold ‘the Brain’ Rothstein Modernized the Mob,” by Angela M.H. Schuster, Avenue Magazine, May 22, 2020.
“Ninety Years Later, Arnold Rothstein Murder Still a Mystery,” by Christian Cipollini, The Mob Museum, November 6, 2018.

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Dr. Claudia Hampton & the History of Affirmative Action in California Jul 08, 2024

Show notes

In 1974, Republican governor Ronald Reagan appointed educator Dr. Claudia Hampton, a Democrat active in her local NAACP, as the first Black woman trustee to the board of California State University. For the next twenty years Hampton would be known as the affirmative action trustee as she advocated for policies and budgets that would help support and diversify the CSU faculty, staff, and students. To discuss Dr. Hampton’s legacy, and the history of affirmative action in California, I’m joined in this episode by Dr. Donna J. Nicol, the Associate Dean of Personnel and Curriculum and professor of history in the College of Liberal Arts at California State University Long Beach and author of Black Woman on Board: Claudia Hampton, the California State University, and the Fight to Save Affirmative Action.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is "Blue Feather," by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com); Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. The episode image is a photograph of Dr. Claudia Hampton at an unidentified graduation ceremony, used on the CSU website.

Additional Sources:

“Claudia H. Hampton; First Woman to Head CSU Trustees,” by Myrna Oliver, Los Angeles Times, August 17, 1994.
“Trustee Emerita Claudia H. Hampton,” California State University.
“Honoring the Voices of Our Ancestors,” California State University.
“Watts Rebellion,” History.com, Originally posted on September 28, 2017, and Updated on June 24, 2020.
“25 Years After the Watts Riots : McCone Commission’s Recommendations Have Gone Unheeded,” by Darrell Dawsey, Los Angeles Times, July 8, 1990.
“Higher Education Guidelines for Executive Order 11246,” Office for Civil Rights (DHEW), October 1972.
“Affirmative Action Reversal: Understanding the History and Implications,” by Jennifer Pierce, University of Minnesota, June 30, 2023.
“Here's what happened when affirmative action ended at California public colleges,” by Emma Bowman, NPR, June 30, 2023.

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Josephine McCarty: Mother, Lobbyist, Spy & Abortionist Jul 01, 2024

Show notes

Josephine McCarty, née Fagan, aka Mrs. Virginia S. Seymour, dba Emma Burleigh. M.D., was many things: mother, teacher, saleswoman, spy, lobbyist, and abortionist. And in 1872 she was also an accused murderer, after eyewitnesses saw her fire a pistol on a public streetcar in Utica, New York, killing one man and wounding another. Historian R.E. Fulton, author of The Abortionist of Howard Street: Medicine and Crime in Nineteenth-Century New York, joins the podcast this week to discuss how Josephine was both extraordinary and completely ordinary and what her life can tell us about the changing arena of medicine and law and the role of women in both in the late 19th Century United States.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Sad Violin,” by Oleggio Kyrylkoww from Pixabay and is available for use under the Pixabay Content License. The episode image is "Walking dress ; Fichu for afternoon ; Bonnet," 1872; via the New York Public Library Digital Collections; laid on top of a "Lithograph of Albany, New York in 1879," in the public domain and available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

“THE UTICA CAR MURDER.; Coroner's Inquest on the Body of Henry R. Hall--Circumstances of the Killing,” The New York Times, January 21, 1872.
“Mrs. Dr. Emma Burleigh :the mysterious death of Margaret Campbell critically examined, with a review of the testimony, verdict of the jury, comments of the press, etc.,” by T. D. Crochers, Albany, NY, 1872; available via the Harvard Law School Library.
“Medical Education in the 19th Century,” National Museum of Civil War Medicine, December 18, 2023.
"The Entry of Women into Medivine in America: Education and Obstacles 1847-1910,” by Meryl S. Justin, Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
“Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War,” by Karen Abbott, Harper Perennial, 2015.
“Abortion, Race, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century America,” by Nicola Beisel and Tamara Kay, American Sociological Review, 2004, Vol. 69 (August:498–518).
“Abortion was once common practice in America. A small group of doctors changed that,” by Ramtin Arablouei and Rung Abdelfatah, NPR All Things Considered, June 6, 2022.

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The Auburn Prison System & the Case of William Freeman Jun 24, 2024

Show notes

In 1817, the second state prison in New York opened in Auburn, situated on a fast-flowing river so waterpower could be used to run machinery in the factories that would be housed in the prison. In a new practice of incarceration that would come to be known as the Auburn System, the prisoners labored in silence during the day for the profit of the prison, stayed in solitary confinement every night, and lived under the constant threat of brutal violence from the guards. One prisoner, a man named William Freeman, who was locked up for a crime he swore he didn’t commit, demanded that he be compensated for his labor when he was released, and when no one would listen, he sought payback instead, committing a horrific crime.

Joining me in this episode is historian Dr. Robin Bernstein, the Dillon Professor of American History and Professor of African and African American Studies and of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Harvard University and author of Freeman's Challenge: The Murder That Shook America's Original Prison for Profit.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Bleeding hearted blues,” song and lyrics by Lovie Austin, with vocals by Bessie Smith and piano by Fletcher Henderson, recorded in New York City on June 14, 1923; the recording is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is an illustration of prisoners at Auburn wearing striped outfits and moving in lockstep from Historical Collections of the State of New York: Containing a General, by John Warner Barber, Henry Howe, published in 1845 and available via Google Books.

Additional Sources: