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THE CARPENTER Elizabeth Gregory Aug 03, 2022

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When Sir Christopher Wren was tasked with redesigning Westminster Abbey in 1697, his extravagant vision was brought to life by Head Abbey Carpenter Elizabeth Gregory. In an era when men ruled supreme, this remarkable woman oversaw every one of the hundreds of carpenters working for the Abbey – for over fifteen years. Discover the mysterious life of Elizabeth Gregory, on-location with Westminster Abbey Community Learning Officer Aaron Paterson.

Take a virtual tour of the Queen’s Gallery at Westminster Abbey’s website.

Hear more behind-the-scenes fun from our 2021 Lost Women of England Tour here, or find more information about upcoming tours here.

Guest Aaron Paterson leads the Community Engagement programme at Westminster Abbey and runs a small media company supporting cultural organisations to deliver quality digital content. Alongside these roles Aaron is a trustee for SouthWestFest, a health and culture festival in Westminster, and sits on the working group for the Families in Museums Network. All of these roles are underpinned by a passion for the undervalued and overlooked stories that highlight marginalised people.

Music featured in this episode provided by Solis, Choir of the Sun, Kira Zeeman Rugen, and the Archive of Recorded Church Music.

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THE ONE WHO STAYED Caty Taylor Jul 19, 2022

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What really matters in life? Family, love, kindness, freedom…? And if you had to pick just one, which would it be? Caty Taylor, enslaved at Montpelier Plantation, had to choose. Her brother was sold, her sister joined the largest escape attempt in American history… but Caty stayed. They all took different paths but – miracle of miracles – found a happy ending.

Learn more about Caty and many of the plantation’s other enslaved residents at Montpelier’s wonderful Naming Project. Discover more amazing art by Mera MacKendrick, who created our incredible Caty Taylor illustration, on her website or her Instagram. Read the full text of “Fugitives of the Pearl" here (read for us by James Henderson). Special thanks to Kate Stewart and Caleb Slama.

Guest Hilarie M. Hicks is the Director of Museum Programs at James Madison’s Montpelier. She served on the research and writing team for the award-winning exhibition The Mere Distinction of Colour, and is currently writing biographies of the enslaved for The Naming Project on Montpelier’s Digital Doorway website. Hilarie previously served as Curator of Interpretation at Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens (New Bern, NC) and Executive Director of the Rosewell Foundation (Gloucester, VA). She is an alum of the College of William and Mary (B.A.), the Cooperstown Graduate Program in History Museum Studies (M.A.), and the Seminar for Historical Administration.

Music for this episode was provided by Emmit Fenn, I Think I Can Help You, and the Library of Congress.

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THE QUEEN OF CHOCOLATE Luisa Spagnoli Jul 07, 2022

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Luisa Spagnoli overcame childhood poverty – and the infamously misogynistic fascism of Mussolini’s Italy – to become one of the most famous and influential chocolatiers (and fashion designers!) in European history. But how did she do it?!

Olivia interviews Dr. Diana Garvin, author of Feeding Fascism.

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Travel with us in the footsteps of Luisa Spagnoli! We're headed to the Perugina chocolate factory and so much more on our LOST WOMEN OF ITALY TOUR -- now open for registration!

Diana Garvin is an Assistant Professor of Italian at the University of Oregon. Her first book, Feeding Fascism: The Politics of Women’s Food Work, came out in February 2022.

Music featured in this episode provided by The Green Orbs, Josh Lippi and the Overtimers, the Mini Vandals and Kevin MacLeod.

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THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 100 WOMEN: 100th Episode Special Jun 21, 2022

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For too long, the story of human history has been a story of men. But how would the story change if we put the ‘lost women’ center stage? In our 100th Episode Special, we tell the whole history of the world, in one sweeping narrative, through all 100 What’sHerName women!

Find links to every episode of What'sHerName on our website, or order Katie and Olivia's new book The Book of Sisters from our Bookshop or anywhere books are sold.

Music featured in this episode was provided by Tower of Light, Aaron Kenny, ELFNT, Savfk, Kevin MacLeod, Radio Jarocho and Zenen Zeferino, Sir Cubworth, Chris Haugen, and Daniel Foster Smith.

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THE TEACHER Lois Meek Stolz May 31, 2022

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When Lois Meek Stolz became a teacher, “children as small silent robots”-style education ruled the day. But her innovative vision, empathy for her students, and bold refusal to “do what had always been done” helped change American education forever – but that was only the beginning! Meet the “model teacher” who became one of the most influential Child Development experts in a century… and then was completely forgotten. Olivia interviews Elizabeth More, Historian and Director of Programs at the Jewish Women’s Archive.

Guest Betsy More is a historian and Director of Programs at the Jewish Women’s Archive, a national organization dedicated to collecting and promoting the extraordinary stories of Jewish women. She earned her PhD in American history from Harvard University, where her research focused on the history of work and motherhood in the United States. She lives outside Boston, MA, with her husband and daughter.

Music featured in this episode was provided by Aaron Kenny, Esther Abrami, and the United States Marine Band.

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THE GLEANER Judith Sargent Murray May 17, 2022

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In 1790, Judith Sargent Murray became the first American to publicly argue that men and women were equal. Hailing from seafaring Gloucester Massachusetts, she educated herself, weathered some of life’s cruelest storms, and published hundreds of bold, brave essays. She expected to rock the boat, steering her new American nation toward equality. And America went…meh. Why? Join Katie on location at Sargent House Museum in Gloucester.

Guest Jen Turner is a doctoral candidate in history at UMass Amherst and a long time adjunct faculty member in the history department at Bridgewater State University. She is also a museum professional and has worked at various museums throughout Massachusetts, including the Paul Revere House and Plimoth Patuxet Museums. Currently, she is the part-time Museum Educator at the Buttonwoods Museum in Haverhill, Mass and the Lead Tour Guide, Curatorial Associate, and Site Manager of the Sargent House Museum in Gloucester, Massachusetts. She is the harried mother of a toddler son born in the middle of a global pandemic and a first grader who may or may not like history as much as her mother.

Music featured in this episode was provided by Doug Maxwell, Aaron Kenny, Amulets, Advent Chamber Orchestra, the United States Army Field Band, and Kevin MacLeod.

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THE CONSTANT SCANDAL Valeska Gert May 03, 2022

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Even in the wildly eccentric cabaret culture of 1920s Berlin,Valeska Gert stood out. And though it would take nearly fifty years for society to “catch up” with Valeska’s vision – this unique and irrepressible dancer would eventually (and against all odds) become revered as the “Mother of Punk”! Olivia interviews dancer and dance historian Janet Collard.

Watch Janet Collard’s show Performing Valeska here, and see newly-discovered footage of Valeska Gert performing “Tanz in Orange” here.

Guest Janet Collard (she/her/hers) is a dancer, actor, singer, and choreographer from the San Francisco Bay Area. She has a BFA in dance from CalArts and an MFA in dance performance and choreography from Mills College, and is currently pursuing an MA in Dance Philosophy and History at Roehampton University in London. As a dancer, Janet has performed for many choreographers and companies in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Janet was a member of AXIS Dance Company from 2008-2011 where she toured the country performing in the works of many renowned choreographers. As a choreographer, Janet has created dance works for youth through adults, and choreographs for theatrical productions. Janet Collard Dance Theater is interested in highlighting historical feminist themes and the performance of lost history through re-creation and re-interpretation.

Music featured in this episode included: Jelly Roll Morton, Audionautix, Clara Schumann, Claire Waldoff, Aaron Kenny and the Corona Dance Orchestra.

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THE GOOD WIFE Elizabeth Bray Allen Mar 22, 2022

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What makes a good wife? In 1700s Virginia, there was one clear path for colonial women: Marry. Have children. Preserve the family wealth. Fail at this, and you’ve failed at life. But what if the family wealth you were tasked to preserve was an old mansion…and a slave plantation? Katie takes us on location to Bacon’s Castle, one of America’s oldest houses.

You can read Elizabeth Bray Allen’s will here, and take a 3D tour of the entire house here! You can also see more photos and information about the house and the family here.

Guest Carol Wiedel is the site coordinator at Preservation Virginia’s Bacon’s Castle in Surry County where she has worked for 9 years. She is a strong member of the community, serving on the Chamber of Commerce as well as the Tourism Advisory Group. She lives in Surry with her husband and their chickens and has 4 grown children and 7 grandchildren. Carol loves Bacon’s Castle and all of its many years of history and works to make more people aware of its importance and place in the greater community. She enjoys introducing new guests to the castle as well as building relationships with those who have family or other connections to the site.

Music featured in this episode was provided by Kevin MacLeod, Brian Bolger, Late Night Feeler and Cooper Cannell.

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THE PHOTOJOURNALIST Catherine Leroy Mar 08, 2022

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When 21 year-old Catherine Leroy hopped on a plane in Paris, headed for Vietnam, she had no idea what she was getting herself into. Despite having no experience of either war or photography, Leroy was determined to make her mark as a world-class combat photojournalist. And somehow, against all odds – and against massive opposition from most of her male colleagues, top-ranking military officers, and the press itself – she did it. But at what cost? Olivia brings us the story of this incredible, indomitable woman with guest Elizabeth Becker, author of You Don’t Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War.

View Catherine Leroy’s photos on the website of the Catherine Leroy foundation.

Guest Elizabeth Becker is an award-winning journalist and author, most recently of You Don’t Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War. She began her career as a war correspondent for the Washington Post in Cambodia. She later became the Senior Foreign Editor of National Public Radio. As a New York Times correspondent she covered national security and international economics and was a member of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of 9/11. Her earlier books include Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism and When the War Was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge. In 2015 she testified as an expert witness at the international war crimes tribunal of the senior Khmer Rouge leaders. She was a fellow at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center, holds a degree from the University of Washington and studied language at the Kendriya Hindi Sansthaan in Agra, India. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the board of the Oxfam America Advocacy Fund.

Music for this episode was provided by Aaron Kenny, Doug Maxwell, Jeff Cuno, Josh Lippi and the Overtimers, Esther Abrami, Kevin Macleod, Dan Lebowitz and Quincas Moreira.

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THE NATURALIST Maria Sibylla Merian Feb 22, 2022

Show notes

Germany was still burning witches when Maria Sibylla Merian daringly filled her 17th-century home with spiders, moths, and all kinds of toxic plants. Bold choices saved her from accusations of witchcraft–and from a mundane life. Merian’s fascination with metamorphosis led her all the way to the rainforests of South America, where she recorded countless new species, 130 years before Darwin!

Guest Kim Todd is the author of four books of literary nonfiction, including Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis, Tinkering with Eden: a Natural History of Exotic Species in America, Sparrow, and her newest work, Sensational: The Hidden History of America’s “Girl Stunt Reporters,” which dives into the lives of undercover journalists who exposed societal ills in the 1880s and 1890s. Todd was raised in California, educated in Montana, and after moving from coast to coast and landing many places in between, now lives in Minneapolis. She is on the faculty at the MFA program at the University of Minnesota.

Music for this episode was provided by Aaron Kenny, Kevin MacLeod, Emmit Fenn, Daniel Foster Smith, Sir Cubworth, and Doug Maxwell.

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