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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

Tracy talks about her background writing copy for sanitation and cleaning products. She and Holly also discuss how the implementation of the Wells' recommendations could have prevented a lot of illness.

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Behind the Scenes Minis: All Things Clean

Husband-and-wife team William Firth Wells and Mildred Weeks Wells conducted research that had the potential to make a big difference in the safety of indoor air. But it didn’t really have a significant impact on public health.
 
Research:
 
 • Associated Press. “Super-Oyster Is On its Way to Dinner Table Bigger and Better Bivalve Sports Pedigree.” 3/13/1927. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84020064/1927-03-13/ed-1/?sp=14
 • “Brought Back to Texas.” The Houston Semi-Weekly Post. 12/26/1889. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1196039760/
 • Decatur Daily Review. “Scientists Fight Flu Germs with Violet Ray.” 7/30/1936. https://www.newspapers.com/image/94335504/
 • Evening Star. “Scientific Trap-shooter.” 6/26/1937. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045462/1937-06-26/ed-1/?sp=7&q=William+Firth+Wells&r=0.668,0.557,0.438,0.158,0
 • Fair, Gordon M. and William Weeks Wells. “Method and Apparatus for Preventing Infection.” U.S. Patent 2,198,867. https://ppubs.uspto.gov/api/pdf/downloadPdf/2198867
 • Hall, Dominic. “New Center for the History of Medicine Artifact - Wells Air Centrifuge.” Harvard Countway Library. https://countway.harvard.edu/news/new-center-history-medicine-artifact-wells-air-centrifuge
 • “Incubator Is Now Oyster Nurse.” Washington Times. 10/1/1925. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84026749/1925-10-01/ed-1/?sp=12
 • Lewis, Carol Sutton. “Mildred Weeks Wells’s Work on Airborne Transmission Could Have Saved Many Lives—If the Scientific Establishment Listened.” Lost Women of Science Podcast. Scientific American. 5/22/2025. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-public-health-researcher-and-her-engineer-husband-found-how-diseases-can/
 • Library and Archives Team. “William Firth Wells and Mildred Weeks Wells.” Washington College. https://www.washcoll.edu/people_departments/offices/miller-library/archives-special-collections/archives-blog/Wells%20papers.php
 • Molenti, Megan. “The 60-Year-Old Scientific Screwup That Helped Covid Kill.” Wired. 5/13/2021. https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwup-that-helped-covid-kill/
 • Perkins JE, Bahlke AM, Silverman HF. Effect of Ultra-violet Irradiation of Classrooms on Spread of Measles in Large Rural Central Schools Preliminary Report. Am J Public Health Nations Health. 1947 May;37(5):529-37. PMID: 18016521; PMCID: PMC1623610.
 • Randall, Katherine and Ewing, E. Thomas and Marr, Linsey and Jimenez, Jose and Bourouiba, Lydia, How Did We Get Here: What Are Droplets and Aerosols and How Far Do They Go? A Historical Perspective on the Transmission of Respiratory Infectious Diseases (April 15, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3829873
 • Riley, Richard L. “What Nobody Needs to Know About Airborne Infection.” American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Volume 163, Issue 1. https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/10.1164/ajrccm.163.1.hh11-00
 • Simon, Clea. “Did a socially awkward scientist set back airborne disease control?” The Harvard Gazette. 3/7/2025. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2025/03/did-a-socially-awkward-scientist-set-back-airborne-disease-control/
 • “Texas State News.” McKinney Weekly Democrat-Gazette. 4/17/1890. https://www.newspapers.com/image/65385350/
 • WELLS MW, HOLLA WA. VENTILATION IN THE FLOW OF MEASLES AND CHICKENPOX THROUGH A COMMUNITY: Progress Report, Jan. 1, 1946 to June 15, 1949, Airborne Infection Study, Westchester County Department of Health. JAMA. 1950;142(17):1337–1344. doi:10.1001/jama.1950.02910350007004
 • WELLS MW. VENTILATION IN THE SPREAD OF CHICKENPOX AND MEASLES WITHIN SCHOOL ROOMS. JAMA. 1945;129(3):197–200. doi:10.1001/jama.1945.02860370019006
 • WELLS WF, WELLS MW. AIR-BORNE INFECTION. JAMA. 1936;107(21):1698–1703. doi:10.1001/jama.1936.02770470016004
 • WELLS WF, WELLS MW. AIR-BORNE INFECTION: SANITARY CONTROL. JAMA. 1936;107(22):1805–1809. doi:10.1001/jama.1936.02770480037010
 • Wells, W F, and M W Wells. “Measurement of Sanitary Ventilation.” American journal of public health and the nation's health vol. 28,3 (1938): 343-50. doi:10.2105/ajph.28.3.343
 • Wells, William Firth and Gordon Maskew Fair. Viability of B. coli Exposed to Ultra-Violet Radiation in Air.Science82,280-281(1935).DOI:10.1126/science.82.2125.280.b
 • Wells, William Firth and Mildred Weeks Wells. Measurement of Sanitary Ventilation American Journal of Public Health and the Nations Health 28, 343_350, https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.28.3.343
 • Zimmer, Carl. “Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe.” Dutton. 2025.
 
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William Firth Wells and Mildred Weeks Wells

All over the world, for all of human history – and probably going back to our earliest hominid ancestors – people have found ways to try to keep themselves clean. But how did soap come about? 
 
Research:
 
 • “Soap, N. (1), Etymology.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, June 2025, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1115187665.
 • American Cleaning Institute. “Soaps & Detergents History.” https://www.cleaninginstitute.org/understanding-products/why-clean/soaps-detergents-history
 • Beckmann, John. “History of Inventions, Discoveries and Origins.” William Johnston, translator.
 • Bosart, L.W. “The Early History of the Soap Industry.” The American Oil Chemists' Society. Journal of Oil & Fat Industries 1924-10: Vol 1 Iss 2.
 • Cassidy, Cody. “Who Discovered Soap? What to Know About the Origins of the Life-Saving Substance.” Time. 5/5/2020. https://time.com/5831828/soap-origins/
 • Ciftyurek, Muge, and Kasim Ince. "Selahattin Okten Soap Factory in Antakya and an Evaluation on Soap Factory Plan Typology/Antakya'da Bulunan Selahattin Okten Sabunhanesi ve Sabunhane Plan Tipolojisi Uzerine Bir Degerlendirme." Art-Sanat, no. 19, Jan. 2023, pp. 133+. Gale Academic OneFile, dx.doi.org/10.26650/artsanat.2023.19.1106544. Accessed 18 Aug. 2025.
 • Costa, Albert B. “Michel-Eugène Chevreul.” Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michel-Eugene-Chevreul
 • Curtis, Valerie A. “Dirt, disgust and disease: a natural history of hygiene.” Journal of epidemiology and community health vol. 61,8 (2007): 660-4. doi:10.1136/jech.2007.062380
 • Dijkstra, Albert J. “How Chevreul (1786-1889) based his conclusions on his analytical results.” OCL. Vol. 16, No. 1. January-February 2009.
 • Gibbs, F.W. “The History and Manufacture of Soap.” Annals of Science. 1939.
 • Koeppel, Dan. “The History of Soap.” 4/15/2020. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/history-of-soap/
 • List, Gary, and Michael Jackson. “Giants of the Past: The Battle Over Hydrogenation (1903-1920).” https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publication/?seqNo115=210614
 • Maniatis, George C. “Guild Organized Soap Manufacturing Industry in Constantinople: Tenth-Twelfth Centuries.” Byzantion, 2010, Vol. 80 (2010). https://www.jstor.org/stable/44173107
 • National Museum of American History. “Bathing (Body Soaps and Cleansers).” https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object-groups/health-hygiene-and-beauty/bathing-body-soaps-and-cleansers
 • New Mexico Historic Sites. “Making Soap from the Leaves of the Soaptree Yucca.” https://nmhistoricsites.org/assets/files/selden/Virtual%20Classroom_Soaptree%20Yucca%20Soap%20Making.pdf
 • “The history of soapmaking.” 8/30/2019. https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/history-science-technology-and-medicine/history-science/the-history-soapmaking
 • Pliny the Elder. “The Natural History of Pliny. Translated, With Copious Notes and Illustrations.” Vol. 5. John Bostock, translator. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/60688/60688-h/60688-h.htm
 • Pointer, Sally. “An Experimental Exploration of the Earliest Soapmaking.” EXARC Journal. 2024/3. 8/22/2024. https://exarc.net/issue-2024-3/at/experimental-exploration-earliest-soapmaking
 • Ridner, Judith. “The dirty history of soap.” The Conversation. 5/12/2020. https://theconversation.com/the-dirty-history-of-soap-136434
 • Routh, Hirak Behari et al. “Soaps: From the Phoenicians to the 20th Century - A Historical Review.” Clinics in Dermatology. Vol. No. 3. 1996.
 • Smith, Cyril Stanley, and John G. Hawthorne. “Mappae Clavicula: A Little Key to the World of Medieval Techniques.” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 64, no. 4, 1974, pp. 1–128. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1006317. Accessed 18 Aug. 2025.
 • Timilsena, Yakindra Prasad et al. “Perspectives on Saponins: Food Functionality and Applications.” International journal of molecular sciences vol. 24,17 13538. 31 Aug. 2023, doi:10.3390/ijms241713538
 • “Craftsmanship of Aleppo Ghar soap.” https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/craftsmanship-of-aleppo-ghar-soap-02132
 • “Tradition of Nabulsi soap making in Palestine.” https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/tradition-of-nabulsi-soap-making-in-palestine-02112
 • “Soaps.” https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/ethnobotany/soaps.shtml
 • van Dijk, Kees. “Soap is the onset of civilization.” From Cleanliness and Culture. Kees van Dijk and Jean Gelman Taylor, eds. Brill. 2011. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctvbnm4n9.4
 • Wei, Huang. “The Sordid, Sudsy Rise of Soap in China.” Sixth Tone. 8/11/2020. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1006041
 
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A History of Soap

This 2021 episode covers John Dalton, famous for his work in atomic theory. But he wrote one of the first thorough descriptions of what he called “anomalous vision” – he realized he wasn’t perceiving color the same way as other people. 

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SYMHC Classics: John Dalton

Holly talks about nebulous passages in the writing of Jane Croly and her brother. Tracy and Holly talk about watching TV as children. 

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Behind the Scenes Minis: Jane and the Clicker

The initial time period where a TV remote control was developed was pretty short. And it shows how two different people perceive their work, and how that work is perceived differently over time by their employer.
 
Research:
 
 • Adler, R. “Control System.” Dec. 17, 1957. U.S. Patent Office. https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/9a/fb/1a/619d2580b08526/US2817025.pdf
 • AFX News. “COMPANY NEWS; MOTOROLA TO BUY ZENITH ELECTRONICS NETWORK SYSTEMS.” New York Times. July 20, 2000. https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/20/business/company-news-motorola-to-buy-zenith-electronics-network-systems.html
 • Benson-Allott, Caetlin. “Remote Control.” Bloomsbury Academic. 2015.
 • Dowling, Stephen. “The Surprising Origins of the TV Remote.” BBC. Aug. 31, 2018. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180830-the-history-of-the-television-remote-contro
 • Fox, Margalit. “
Eugene Polley, Conjuror of a Device That Changed TV Habits, Dies at 96.” New York Times. May 22, 2012. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/23/business/eugene-t-polley-inventor-of-the-wireless-tv-remote-dies-at-96.html • Gertner, Jon. “A Clicker Is Born.” New York Times Magazine. Dec. 30, 2007. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/magazine/30Adler-t.html
 • Gregory, Ted. “Remote’s Inventor Hopes to Push Buttons of History.” Press of Atlantic City. Feb. 5, 2006. https://www.newspapers.com/image/926298372/?match=1&terms=eugene%20polley
 • “Heritage.” Zenith. https://zenith.com/heritage/
 • “Man who glued TV watchers to the couch dies.” Cnn.com (via AP). Feb 16, 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20070219040307/http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/02/16/obit.remote.control.ap/index.html
 • “Now … a Flash of Light Without wires!” (Advertisement.) The Salt Lake Tribune. Nov. 20, 1955. https://www.newspapers.com/image/598655702/?match=1&terms=Flash-matic
 • Polley, Eugene J. “Control System.” U.S. Patent Office. Sept. 8, 1959. https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/f7/02/b1/5716b40ac9c0fc/US2903575.pdf
 • “Robert Adler.” National Inventors Hall of Fame. https://www.invent.org/inductees/robert-adler
 • “Robert Adler - TV Wireless Remote.” Lemelson-MIT. https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/robert-adler
 • Schofield, Jack. “Eugene Polley Obituary.” The Guardian. May 23, 2012. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/may/23/eugene-polley
 • Slodysko, Brian. “Eugene Polley dies at 96; inventor of wireless TV remote control.” May 23, 2012. https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-eugene-polley-20120523-story.html
 • Stroh, Michael. “The Couch Potato’s Best Friend.” Baltimore Sun. Nov. 22, 2006. https://www.newspapers.com/image/173151815/?match=1&terms=eugene%20polley
 • “TV remote control inventor Eugene Polley dies at 96.” BBC. May 22, 2012. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-18164200
 • “You have to see it to believe it!” (Advertisement.) Syracuse herald-Journal. Sept. 27, 1955. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1088093208/?match=1&terms=Flash-matic
 • “Zenith Space Command …” Evening World Herald/ Dec. 26, 1956. https://www.newspapers.com/image/883665550/?match=1&terms=%22Space%20Command%22
 
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TV Remotes

Jane Cunningham Croly, who wrote under the pen name Jennie June, was a journalist who advocated for equality for women. She is most well known for founding one of the earliest clubs for women in the U.S.
 
Research:
 
 • Croly, Jennie June. “Jennie June's American Cookery Book, Containing Upwards of Twelve Hundred Choice and Carefully Tested Receipts.” Excelsior. 1878. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Jennie_June_s_American_Cookery_Book_Cont/enEEAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
 • Croly, J.C. “Sorosis: Its Origin and History.” New York. J.J. Little & Co. 1886. Accessed online: https://archive.org/details/sorosisitsorigin00crol/page/n3/mode/2up
 • Croly, J.C. “Thrown on her own resources, or, What girls can do.” New York. T.Y. Crowell & Co. 1891. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100170730
 • Croly, J.C. “The history of the woman's club movement in America.” New York. H.G. Allen. 1898. https://archive.org/details/historywomanscl00clubgoog/page/n10/mode/2up
 • “The Dickens Dinner.” Louisville Daily Courier. April 19, 1868. https://www.newspapers.com/image/119304180/?match=1&terms=%22Jennie%20June%22%20press%20club%20dickens
 • https://web.archive.org/web/20120120014321/http://www.gfwc.org/gfwc/Jane_Cunningham_Croly.asp
 • “Jane Cunningham Croly.” General Federation of Women’s Clubs. https://web.archive.org/web/20120120014321/http://www.gfwc.org/gfwc/Jane_Cunningham_Croly.asp
 • “Jane Cunningham Croly.” National Women’s Hall of Fame. https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/jane-cunningham-croly/
 • “Jane Cunningham (“Jennie June”) Croly.” Ebsco. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/womens-studies-and-feminism/jane-cunningham-jennie-june-croly
 • “Our Mission.” General Federation of Women’s Clubs. https://www.gfwc.org/who-we-are/
 • “Rockford Register (Rockford, Ill.) 1855-187?” Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn82014331
 • Morse, Caroline M., ed, and Woman’s Press Club of New York City, “Memories of Jane Cunningham Croly, ‘Jenny June,’” Produced by Ari J Joki and PG Distributed Proofreaders. Accessed online: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/12099/pg12099-images.html
 • “The New York Sorosis.” The Charleston Daily News. Nov. 5, 1868. https://www.newspapers.com/image/87596013/?match=1&terms=sorosis
 • Puchko, Kristy. “Journalist Jennie June Was "Having It All" in the 19th Century.” Mental Floss. April 14, 2015. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/62964/journalist-jennie-june-was-having-it-all-19th-century
 • “The Sorosis Lunch.” Chicago Evening Post. Sept. 28, 1868. https://www.newspapers.com/image/668238331/?match=1&terms=sorosis
 • “Sorosis.” Leavenworth Daily Commercial. Aug. 11, 1868. https://www.newspapers.com/image/425238609/?match=1&terms=sorosis
 
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Jane Cunningham Croly, aka Jennie June

This 2022 episode discusses how modern rabies prophylaxis is almost 100% effective at preventing human death from the bite of a rabid animal. How did people come to understand rabies, and then develop a vaccination for it?

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SYMHC Classics: Rabies

Holly talks about the arguments she found online about whether graffiti is art. Tracy talks about how the Dickin Medal impacted veterinary medicine. 

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Behind the Scenes Minis: Graffiti Animals

Maria Dickin wanted to raise the status of animals in society and bring more awareness to the work they were doing during World War II. The Dickin Medal was created to honor military working animals. This episode covers six of those recipients.
 
Research:
 
 • “Cats and Dogs.” Sabretache: The Official Journal of the Calgary Military Historical Society. August Extra #1. 2022. http://cmhs.ca/sabretache/Sabretache_2022_08_1.pdf
 • Classic Warbirds. “Pigeons at War - The RAF and the National Pigeon Service.” https://www.classicwarbirds.co.uk/articles/pigeons-at-war-the-raf-and-the-national-pigeon-service.php
 • Elidemir, Gulistan. “Maria Dickin and the history of the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals.” The Slice Whitechapel. 2/20/2022. https://whitechapellondon.co.uk/maria-dickin-pdsa-animal-charity-history/
 • Gardiner, Andrew. “The 'Dangerous' Women of Animal Welfare: How British Veterinary Medicine Went to the Dogs.” Social History of MedianeVol. 27, No. 3 pp. 466-487. https://archive.org/details/pubmed-PMC4109695/mode/1up
 • Harrison, Brian. “Dickin, Maria Elisabeth.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 11/23/2004. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/53789
 • Historic England. “Heroic War Animals: The History of the PDSA Dickin Medal.” 12/21/2023. https://heritagecalling.com/2023/12/21/heroic-animals-at-war-the-history-of-the-pdsa-dickin-medal/
 • Imperial War Museums. “What Was The Yangtze Incident?” https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-was-the-yangtze-incident
 • Kennedy, Maev. “Pet heroes honoured as cemetery reopens.” The Guardian. 12/14/2007. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2007/dec/14/art
 • Long, David. “The animals' VC : for gallantry and devotion : the PDSA Dickin Medal - inspiring stories of bravery and courage.” Preface. 2012.
 • Ministry of Defense. “Judy: The Dog who became a prisoner of war.” 7/24/2015. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/judy-the-dog-who-became-a-prisoner-of-war
 • National Archives. “Judy, the only dog registered as a prisoner of war.” https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/stories/judy-the-only-dog-registered-as-a-prisoner-of-war/
 • National Archives. “Judy, the only dog registered as a prisoner of war.” https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/stories/judy-the-only-dog-registered-as-a-prisoner-of-war/
 • Naval History. “HMS AMETHYST INCIDENT, YANGTSE RIVER, April to May 1949.” https://www.naval-history.net/WXLG-Amethyst1949.htm
 • “Rip.” https://www.pdsa.org.uk/media/5494/47646_dm-75_recipient-book_27_rip_digital.pdf
 • “Sergeant Reckless – PDSA Dickin Medal 68.” https://www.pdsa.org.uk/what-we-do/animal-awards-programme/pdsa-dickin-medal/sergeant-reckless
 • “Simon - PDSA Dickin Medal 54.” https://www.pdsa.org.uk/what-we-do/animal-awards-programme/pdsa-dickin-medal/simon
 • “Story of Maria Dickin and PDSA.” Via YouTube. 10/8/2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A1mMVDL4oo
 • “White Vision.” https://www.pdsa.org.uk/what-we-do/animal-awards-programme/pdsa-dickin-medal/white-vision
 • “Winkie: DM 1.” https://www.pdsa.org.uk/media/5491/47646_dm-75_recipient-book_01_winkie_digital.pdf
 • Royal Pigeon Racing Association. “Pigeons In War.” https://www.rpra.org/pigeons-in-war/
 • S. Marine Corps Museum. “Sgt. Reckless - Marine War Horse.” https://www.usmcmuseum.com/uploads/6/0/3/6/60364049/sgt._reckless.pdf
 • Wooster, Martin Morse. “Dickin Medal awards, a great philanthropic initiative.” Philanthropy Daily. https://philanthropydaily.com/dickin-medal-awards-a-great-philanthropic-initiative/
 
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Six Impossible Episodes: The Dickin Medal

This was one of the worst disasters in Texas history, the worst school disaster in U.S. history, and it was a horrific tragedy that stemmed from a huge number of small decisions and moments.

 
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The New London School Explosion

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