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iHeartPodcasts

Join Holly and Tracy as they bring you the greatest and strangest Stuff You Missed In History Class in this podcast by iHeartRadio.

Stuff You Missed in History Class

Holly talks about Gladys Bentley's gender presentation, and the trouble with Maceo Sheffield. She and Tracy also discuss James Braid's ethics in both medicine and hypnotism.

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Behind the Scenes Minis: Serving Lip and Ethics

Braid is known for his work in hypnotism. But he was also a surgeon with a reputation for pioneering new treatments before he became fascinated with the scientific underpinnings of mesmerism.
 
Research:
 
 • Braid, James, and Arthur Edward Waite, ed. “Braid on hypnotism. Neurypnology; or, The rationale of nervous sleep considered in relation to animal magnetism or mesmerism and illustrated by numerous cases of its successful application in the relief and cure of disease.” London. George Redway. 1899. https://archive.org/details/braidonhypnotism00brai/page/n7/mode/2up
 • “Clubfoot.” Cleveland Clinic. July 6, 2023. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16889-clubfoot
 • Crabtree A. “1784: The Marquis de Puységur and the psychological turn in the west.” J Hist Behav Sci.2019;55:199–215. https://doi.org/10.1002/jhbs.21974
 • Fletcher, George. “James Braid Of Manchester.” 
The British Medical Journal • , vol. 2, no. 3590, 1929, pp. 776–77. 
JSTOR • , http://www.jstor.org/stable/25334090
 • Hull, Clark L. “Hypnotism in Scientific Perspective.” 
The Scientific Monthly • , vol. 29, no. 2, 1929, pp. 154–62. 
JSTOR • , http://www.jstor.org/stable/14677
 • “Hypnotism.” Yorkville Enquirer. Feb. 23, 1860. https://www.newspapers.com/image/339341468/?match=1&terms=James%20Braid
 • Lafontaine’s Third Conversazione on Mesmerism.” The Manchester Times and Manchester and Salford Advertiser and Chronicle. Nov. 20, 1841. https://www.newspapers.com/image/406088965/?match=1&terms=lafontaine
 • Loudon, I. “Why are (male) surgeons still addressed as Mr?.” 
BMJ (Clinical research ed.) • 321,7276 (2000): 1589-91. doi:10.1136/bmj.321.7276.1589
 • Macklis, R M. “Magnetic healing, quackery, and the debate about the health effects of electromagnetic fields.” 
Annals of internal medicine • 118,5 (1993): 376-83. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-118-5-199303010-00009
 • Martin, Christy. “Mesmerized.” Science History Institute. Dec. 6, 2011. https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/mesmerized/
 • Bramwell, J. Milne. “Hypnotism and treatment by suggestion.” New York. Da Capo Press. 1982. Accessed online: https://archive.org/details/hypnotismandtre00bramgoog/page/n6/mode/1up
 • Rouse, Tyler. “The brief and strange history of mesmerism and surgery.” Hektoen International. Winter 2019. https://hekint.org/2018/12/24/the-brief-and-strange-history-of-mesmerism-and-surgery/
 • Sandby, George. “Mesmerism and its opponents.” London. Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans. 1848. https://archive.org/details/mesmerismandits01sandgoog
 • “Sudden Death of Mr. James Braid, Surgeon.” The Guardian. March 26, 1860. https://www.newspapers.com/image/257847287/?match=1&terms=James%20Braid
 • Weidow, Brandy, M.S. “James Braid.” Ebsco. 2024. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/health-and-medicine/james-braid
 • Yeates, Lindsay Bertram. “James Braid: Surgeon, Gentleman Scientist, and Hypnotist.” University of New South Wales, Sydney. 2013. https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/entities/publication/7573cb34-ceb9-41bb-a8b1-0951e93fdd10
 
 
 
 

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James Braid, Surgeon and Father of Hypnotism

Gladys Bentley was a part of the Harlem Renaissance as a performer – she played piano and sang in ways that drew huge crowds starting in the 1920s, and she was completely out as a lesbian. But her story takes some surprising turns.
 
Research:
 
 • Adkins, Judith. “These People Are Frightened to Death.” Prologue Magazine. National Archives. Summer 2016. Vol. 48, No. 2. https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2016/summer/lavender.html
 • Britannica Editors. "rent party". Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Nov. 2016, https://www.britannica.com/topic/rent-party
 • Chase, Bill. “House Rent Parties Were an Institution.” New York Age. Oct. 29, 1949. https://www.newspapers.com/image/40993834/?match=1&terms=Gladys%20Bentley
 • Church, Moira Mahoney. “If This Be Sin: Gladys Bentley And The Performance Of Identity.” University of South Carolia. (Theses and Dissertations.) 2018. https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5705&context=etd
 • “Colored Detective Lieutenant Acquitted of Murder Charge.” Philadelphia Tribune. Aug. 4, 1927. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1135383911/?match=1&terms=Maceo%20Sheffield
 • The Doll House advertisement. Dec. 12, 1947. https://www.newspapers.com/image/580248504/?match=1&terms=Gladys%20Bentley
 • “Gladys Bentley, Entertainer, Dies.” Alabama Tribune. Montgomery, Alabama. February 12, 1960. https://www.newspapers.com/image/554602763/?clipping_id=66402293
 • “Harlem’s Gladys Alberta Bentley, Friend Of Cary Grant, Stanwyck, And Others, Way ‘Out’ Ahead Of Her Time.” Harlem World. June 24, 2023 https://www.harlemworldmagazine.com/harlems-gladys-alberta-bentley-friend-of-cary-grant-stanwyck-and-others-way-out-ahead-of-her-time/
 • “J.T. Gipson Dead.” California Eagle. July 17, 1952. https://www.newspapers.com/image/693556889/?clipping_id=172230200
 • Levette, Harry. “Movie Lots Gossip.” The Call. Aug, 22, 1952. https://www.newspapers.com/image/957555211/?match=1&terms=%22Never%20Married%20to%20Gladys%20Bentley%22
 • Moses, Alvin. “Alvin Moses Says.” Chicago Defender. Dec. 30, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1135809373/?match=1&terms=Gladys%20Bentley
 • “New York Police Launch Drive on Harlem Cafes.” The Chicago Defender. March 17, 1934. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1136311398/?match=1&terms=Gladys%20bentley
 • Onion, Rebecca. “An Affectionate 1932 Illustrated Map of Harlem Nightlife.” Slate. April 15, 2016. https://slate.com/human-interest/2016/04/e-simms-campbell-s-1932-illustrated-map-of-harlem-nightlife.html
 • Roy, Rob. “’8 to the Bar,’ Style Gladys Bentley Made Famous, a World Favorite Today.” The Chicago Defender. May 14, 1955. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1135895140/?match=1&terms=Gladys%20Bentley
 • Russonello, Giovanni. “Gladys Bentley.” New York Times. Overlooked. 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/obituaries/gladys-bentley-overlooked.html
 • Shah, Haleema. “The Great Blues Singer Gladys Bentley Broke All the Rules.” Smithsonian. March 14, 2019. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/great-blues-singer-gladys-bentley-broke-rules-180971708/
 • “Wales Padlock Law Censors Risque Theater.” EBSCO. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/social-sciences-and-humanities/wales-padlock-law-censors-risque-theater
 • Wilson, James F. “Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies PERFORMANCE, RACE, AND SEXUALITY IN THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE.” University of Michigan Press. 2010.
 • Winchell, Walter. “On Broadway.” Evening Courier. Feb. 6, 1933. https://www.newspapers.com/image/480106281/?match=1&terms=%22Gladys%20Bentley%22
 • Yaeger, Patricia. “Editor’s Note: Bulldagger Sings the Blues.” PMLA, vol. 124, no. 3, 2009, pp. 721–26. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25614318
 
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Gladys Bentley

This 2022 episode covers Moms Mabley, whose career lasted more than six decades. She was hugely influential, and inspired so many comedians and other performers who came after her.

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SYMHC Classics: Moms Mabley

Holly and Tracy discuss the idea of autosuggestion and positive self-talk. Tracy shares her thoughts on writings about the Pompey stone. 

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Behind the Scenes Minis: Self-talk Hoax

The Pompey Stone was discovered in the early 1820s, and was believed to be hundreds of years old. It turned out to be a hoax, but a fairly benign one.
 
Research:
 
 • Barber, John Warner and Henry Howe. “Historical collections of the state of New York : containing a general collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, &c. relating to its history and antiquities, with geographical descriptions of every township in the state ; illustrated by 230 engravings.” New York : S. Tuttle. 1841. https://archive.org/details/historicalcollec01barbg/
 • Beauchamp, W.M. “The Pompey Stone.” The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal April-June 1911: Vol 33 Iss 2. https://archive.org/details/sim_american-antiquarian-and-oriental-journal_april-june-1911_33_2/page/7/ 
 • Clark, Joshua Victor Hopkins. “Onondaga, or, Reminiscences of earlier and later times : being a series of historical sketches relative to Onondaga, with notes on the several towns in the county, and Oswego.” Syracuse, N.Y. : Stoddard and Babcock. 1849. https://archive.org/details/onondagaorremini00clar/
 • Conlon, John Thomas. “The Beginnings of Catholicism in New Netherland.” United States Catholic Historical Society 1933: Vol 23. https://archive.org/details/sim_united-states-catholic-historical-society-records_1933_23/page/171
 • Crowell, Kathy. “Early Development of the Town of Pompey.” Dwight H. Bruce (ed.), Onondaga's Centennial. Boston History Co., 1896, Vol. I, pp. 595-608; 627-631.. https://onondaga.nygenweb.net/POMPEY/EARLYDEV.HTM
 • Homes, Henry A. “The Pompey (N.Y.) Stone with an Inscription and Date of A.D. ” Transactions of the Oneida Historical Society at Utica. 1881. https://archive.org/details/transactionsofon00onei/page/83/mode/1up
 • Huguenin, Charles A. “The Pompey Stone.” New York Folklore Quarterly. Spring 1958: Vol 14 Iss 1. https://archive.org/details/sim_new-york-folklore-quarterly_spring-1958_14_1/
 • O’Connor, Thomas F. “An Alleged Spanish Entrada into New York.” Mid-America : an historical review. Chicago, Ill. : Loyola University. 1943. https://archive.org/details/midamericahistor25unse/
 • “Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society at the Semi-annual Meeting in Boston, April 29, 1863.” Boston. John Wilson and Son. 1863.
 • Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe. “Notes on the Iroquois, or, Contributions to American history, antiquities, and general ethnology.” Albany : E.H. Pease. 1847. https://archive.org/details/bp_1739112/
 • Squier, E. G. “Antiquities of the state of New York; being the results of extensive original surveys and explorations, with a supplement on the antiquities of the west.” Buffalo, G. H. Derby. 1851. https://archive.org/details/antiquitiesofsta00squi/
 • “The Pompey Stone.” Harper's Weekly 1879-12-20: Vol 23 Iss 1199. https://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-weekly_harpers-weekly_1879-12-20_23_1199/page/983/mode/1up
 
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The Pompey Stone Hoax

Émile Coué genuinely seems to have wanted to help people by teaching them how to plant helpful directives in their subconscious minds. Whether he was effective is something that's still debated. 
 
Research:
 
 • Baldwin, J. Mark, et al. “A Disclaimer.” Science, vol. 12, no. 309, 1900, pp. 850–850. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1629542
 • Baudouin, Charles. “Émile Coué and His Life’s Work.” American Library Service. New York. 1923. https://digirepo.nlm.nih.gov/ext/dw/55330740R/PDF/55330740R.pdf
 • Baudouin, Charles. “Suggestion and Autosuggestion.” New York. Dodd, Mead and Company, 1921. https://dn720207.ca.archive.org/0/items/suggestionauto00bauduoft/suggestionauto00bauduoft.pdf
 • Britannica Editors. "Émile Coué". Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 Feb. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Emile-Coué
 • “Coue, After Goodby Lecture, Flees City.” Boston Globe. January 31, 1923. https://www.newspapers.com/image/430295545/
 • “Coue Explains How to Use Auto-Suggestion.” Boston Globe. January 7, 1923. https://www.newspapers.com/image/430953338/?match=1&terms=Coue
 • COUÉ, EMILE. “SELF MASTERY THROUGH CONSCIOUS AUTOSUGGESTION.” AMERICAN LIBRARY SERVICE PUBLISHERS. NEW YORK. 1922. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/27203/27203-h/27203-h.htm
 • “Delirium Tremens.” Cleveland Clinic. June 5, 2023. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/25052-delirium-tremens
 • “EMILE COUÉ DEAD; A MENTAL HEALER; Many Made Well by Saying ‘Every Day, in Every Way, I'm Growing Better and Better.’” New York Times. July 3, 1926. https://www.nytimes.com/1926/07/03/archives/emile-Coué-dead-a-mental-healer-many-made-well-by-saying-every-day.html
 • Heid, Markham. “Is Hypnosis Real? Here’s What Science Says.” Time. March 2, 2023. https://time.com/5380312/is-hypnosis-real-science/
 • Myga, Kasia A et al. “Autosuggestion: a cognitive process that empowers your brain?.” 
Experimental brain research • 240,2 (2022): 381-394. doi:10.1007/s00221-021-06265-8
 • Neal, E. Virgil, ed. “Hypnotism and hypnotic suggestion. A scientific treatise on the uses and possibilities of hypnotism, suggestion and allied phenomena.” New York State Publishing Company. Rochester, NY. 1906. https://archive.org/details/hypnotismhypnoti00roch/page/n9/mode/1up
 • “Pliny 1813 Years Ahead of Coue … “ Boston Globe. January 30, 1923. https://www.newspapers.com/image/430295455/?match=1&terms=Coue
 • Rapp, Dean R. “‘Better and Better—’ Couéism as a Psychological Craze of the Twenties in England.” 
Studies in Popular Culture • , vol. 10, no. 2, 1987, pp. 17–36. 
JSTOR • , http://www.jstor.org/stable/23413989
 • Sage, X. Lamotte. “Hypnotism As It Is: A Book for Everybody.” New York State Publishing Company. Rochester, NY. 1900. Accessed online: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Hypnotism_as_it_is%3B_a_book_for_everybody_%28IA_hypnotismasitisb00sage%29.pdf
 • Sari, N. K. 
et al. • “The role of autosuggestion in geriatric patients’ quality of life: a study on psycho-neuro-endocrine-immunology pathway.” 
Social Neuroscience • , 12(5), pp. 551–559. 2017. doi: 10.1080/17470919.2016.1196243
 • Schlamann, Marc et al. “Autogenic training alters cerebral activation patterns in fMRI.” 
The International journal of clinical and experimental hypnosis • 58,4 (2010): 444-56. doi:10.1080/00207144.2010.499347
 • Whiteside, Thomas. “Better and Better.” The New Yorker. May 9, 1953. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1953/05/16/better-and-better
 • Yeates, Lindsay B. “Émile Coué and his Method (I): The Chemist of Thought and Human Action.” Australian Journal of Clinical Hypnotherapy & Hypnosis, Volume 38, No.1, (Autumn 2016), pp.3-27. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/374753633_Emile_Coue_and_his_Method_I_The_Chemist_of_Thought_and_Human_Action
 
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Émile Coué and Autosuggestion

This 2021 episode covers Louis Daguerre, who comes up almost any time we mention photography. Well before he figured out how to capture images through a camera obscura, he was an artist and innovator in entertainment.

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SYMHC Classics: Louis Daguerre

Holly talks about the frustration of not finding any solid evidence of where Richard Peters stood on the issue of slavery. Tracy wonders what Elizabeth Fulhame's relationship with her husband was like.

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Behind the Scenes Minis: Atlanta and Textiles

Elizabeth Fulhame’s biography is largely a mystery, but in 1794 she wrote a book on chemistry that was way ahead of its time.
 
Research:
 
 • Steinmark, Ida Emilie. “Elizabeth Fulhame: The Scientist the World Forgot.” Royal Society of Chemistry. 10/10/2017. https://edu.rsc.org/opinion/elizabeth-fulhame-the-scientist-the-world-forgot/3008111.article
 • Shah, Irfan. “Rivers of Silver, Cities of Gold.” History Today. Volume 69 Issue 11 November 2019. https://www.historytoday.com/archive/history-matters/rivers-silver-cities-gold
 • Lewes, Darby. “Fulhame, Elizabeth.” The Encyclopedia of Romantic Literature. Wiley Online Library. 4/12/2012. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118300916.wberlf007
 • Booth, Catherine. “Elizabeth Fulhame: Chemist.” Minerva Scientifica. https://minervascientifica.co.uk/elizabeth-fulhame/
 • Mills, Virginia. “Worthy of Public Attention.” Royal Society. 7/4/2025. https://royalsociety.org/blog/2025/07/worthy-of-public-attention/
 • Jarvis, Claire. “Elizabeth Fulhame, a forgotten chemistry pioneer.” Physics Today. 6/17/2020. https://physicstoday.aip.org/news/elizabeth-fulhame-a-forgotten-chemistry-pioneer
 • Brazil, Rachel. “Elizabeth Fulhame, the 18th century chemistry pioneer who faded from history.” Chemistry World. 6/6/2022. https://www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/elizabeth-fulhame-the-18th-century-chemistry-pioneer-who-faded-from-history/4015638.article
 • Smith, Thomas P. “A Sketch of the Revolutions in Chemistry.” Philadelphia : Printed by Samuel H. Smith. 1798. https://archive.org/details/b32885726/
 • Linker, Jessica C. “The Pride of Science: Women and the Politics of Inclusion in 19th-Century Pennsylvania.” Pennsylvania Legacies , Vol. 15, No. 1 (Spring 2015). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5215/pennlega.15.1.0006
 • Pancaldi, Giuliano. “On Hybrid Objects and their Trajectories: Beddoes, Davy and the Battery.” Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 20 September 2009, Vol. 63, No.3. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40647277
 • Davenport, Derek A. "Fulhame, Elizabeth [known as Mrs Fulhame] (fl. 1780–1794), chemist." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. September 23, 2004. Oxford University Press. Date of access 11 Mar. 2026, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-39778
 • Palmer, Bill. “Elizabeth Fulhame: The Invisible Chemist.” Teaching Science. Volume 54, Number 4. December 2008.
 • Laidler, Keith J. “The Development of Theories of Catalysis.” Archive for History of Exact Sciences, 1986, Vol. 35, No. 4 (1986). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41133790
 • Davenport, Derek A. and Kathleen M. Ireland. “The Ingenious, Lively and Celebrated Mrs. Fulhame and the Dyer’s Hand.” Bulletin for the History of Chemistry. 1989.
 • The Gentleman's Magazine. Review of New Publications. “An Essay on Combustion …”. Vol. 65, Issue 6. June 1795.
 • Beddoes, Thomas. “Mrs. Fulhame’s Essay on Combustion, &c.” The Monthly Review. Vol. 20. July 1796. https://archive.org/details/sim_the-monthly-review_1796-07_20/page/303/
 • Anderson, R. G. W. "Black, Joseph (1728–1799), chemist and physician." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. October 03, 2013. Oxford University Press. Date of access 11 Mar. 2026, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-2495
 • Cameron, Anne. “THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CIVIL REGISTRATION IN SCOTLAND.” Historical journal (Cambridge, England) vol. 50,2 (2007): 377-395. doi:10.1017/S0018246X07006115
 • McCloughlin, Thomas J.J. “Lost and found: The Nooth apparatus.” Endeavour. Volume 45, Issues 1–2. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.endeavour.2021.100763.
 • Lim, XiaoZhi. "The new breed of cutting-edge catalysts." Nature, vol. 537, no. 7619, 8 Sept. 2016. Gale Academic OneFile, dx.doi.org/10.1038/537156a. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026. Gale Document Number: GALE|A462784622
 • MacPherson, Hamish. "The mysterious case of Elizabeth Fulhame, a chemist and true pioneer of science." National [Glasgow, Scotland], 31 Jan. 2023. Gale OneFile: News, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A735208005/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=896de822. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026.
 • Benjamin Count of Rumford. “An Inquiry concerning the Chemical Properties That Have Been Attributed to Light.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 1798.
 • Wheeler, T.S. “The life and work of William Higgins, chemist, 1763-1825, including reprints of ‘A comparative view of the phlogistic and antiphlogistic theories’ and ‘Observations on the atomic theory and electrical phenomena’.” New York, Pergamon Press. 1960.
 
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Elizabeth Fulhame’s Colorful Chemistry

This 2021 episode shares how in the U.S., the idea that people should know about the risks involved with the drugs that they are taking is tied directly to the complicated and often troubling history of oral contraceptives. 

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SYMHC Classics: Nelson Pill Hearings

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