Episodes

  • Carlos Juan Finlay and Yellow Fever
    May 25 2026

    Carlos Juan Finlay was a Cuban doctor who did a lot of work to understand the spread of Yellow Fever. But Walter Reed got most of the credit.

    Research:

    • American Experience. “Carlos Finlay (1833-1915).” From The Great Fever. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/fever-carlos-finlay/
    • Berenbrok, Dorothy E., "Latin Heritage Month. Carlos Juan Finlay: Outrageous, Courageous and Correct" (2015). Posters: Jefferson History. 3. https://jdc.jefferson.edu/jeffhistoryposters/3
    • "Carlos Juan Finlay." Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, Gale, 1998. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1631002194/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=bfeecc25. Accessed 29 Apr. 2026.
    • Chaves-Carballo, Enrique. “Carlos J. Finlay: The mosquito man.” Hektoen International. 11/2/2020. https://hekint.org/2020/11/02/carlos-j-finlay-the-mosquito-man/
    • Corbitt, Duvon C. “Carlos J. Finlay, Cuban Physician.” The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 45, No. 3 (Aug., 1965). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2511751
    • Del Regato, Juan A. “Carlos Juan Finlay (1833-1915).” Journal of Public Health Policy , 2001, Vol. 22, No. 1 (2001). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3343556
    • Faerstein, Eduardoa; Winkelstein, Warren Jrb. Carlos Juan Finlay: Rejected, Respected, and Right. Epidemiology 21(1):p 158, January 2010. | DOI: 10.1097/EDE.0b013e3181c308e0
    • Ferreira Moreno, Víctor Guillermo. “Evocation to the Dr. Carlos J. Finlay Barres on the centennial of his death.” Colombia medica (Cali, Colombia) vol. 47,1 63-6. 30 Mar. 2016
    • Finlay, Carlos J. “The Mosquito Hypothetically Considered as the Agent of Transmission of Yellow Fever.” Read before the Royal Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences Session of August 14th, 1881. https://archive.org/details/b33448541/page/590/mode/1up
    • Finlay, Carlos Juan. “Trabajos selectos del Dr. Carlos J. Finlay. Selected papers of Dr. Carlos J. Finlay.” Habana. 1912. https://archive.org/details/trabajosselectos00finl
    • Finlay, Charles. “Inoculations for Yellow Fever by Means of Contaminated Mosquitoes.” Published in The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, n.s. 102: 264-268, 1891. https://archive.org/details/b33445242/page/n4/mode/1up
    • Finlay, Charles. “Yellow Fever: Its ‘Transmission by Means of the Culex Mosquito.” Published in The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, n.s. 92: 395-409, 1886. https://archive.org/details/b33435698/page/613/mode/1up
    • Palmer, Steven. “A Cuban Scientist Between Empires: Peripheral Vision on Race and Tropical Medicine.” Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies / Revue canadienne desétudes latino-américaines et caraïbes, Vol. 35, No. 69, Special Issue: Landscapes of LatinAmerican Health, 1870-1970. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41800498
    • Spears, Ellen Griffith and Rosa López-Oceguera. “Carlos Juan Finlay, William Gorgas, and Walter Reed and the U.S. Army Yellow Fever Controversy: Competing Historical Memories.” Alabama Review The University of Alabama Press. Volume 74, Number 1, January 2021. https://doi.org/10.1353/ala.2021.0011
    • Stepan, Nancy. “The Interplay between Socio-Economic Factors and Medical Science: Yellow Fever Research, Cuba and the United States.” Social Studies of Science , Nov., 1978, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Nov., 1978). Via JSTOR. http://www.jstor.com/stable/284817
    • Thomas Jefferson University. “10 Notable Jefferson Alumni of the Past.” https://library.jefferson.edu/archives/exhibits/notable_alumni/juan_carlos_finlay.cfm
    • Tone, John Lawrence. (2002) “How the mosquito (man) liberated Cuba.” History and Technology, 18:4, 277-308, DOI: 10.1080/07341512.2002.11417735
    • “Carlos J. Finlay.” 5/16/2023. https://www.unesco.org/en/prizes/carlos-j-finlay/about
    • Woodall, Jack. "Yellow Fever." Infectious Diseases: In Context, edited by Brenda Wilmoth Lerner and K. Lee Lerner, vol. 2, Gale, 2008, pp. 925-931. In Context Series. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3045200265/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=bf646a26. Accessed 29 Apr. 2026.

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    42 mins
  • SYMHC Classics: Deborah Sampson
    May 23 2026

    This 2022 episode covers Deborah Sampson, who could count William Bradford and Myles Standish in her family tree. That tree didn’t include Robert Shurtliff; that was the alias Deborah used to enlist in the Continental Army.

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    38 mins
  • Behind the Scenes Minis: Art and Theme Parks
    May 22 2026

    Holly shares a quote from Daniela Lippi about the importance of ongoing learning in the restoration profession. There is then discussion of the nerve-racking construction of Disneyland.

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    21 mins
  • Interview: Leslie Iwerks
    May 20 2026

    Disneyland's opening seemed like an impossibility throughout the construction process. Holly interviews filmmaker Leslie Iwerks about her new film "Disneyland Handcrafted," which shares the journey from an empty dirt lot to the theme park we know today.

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    40 mins
  • Uffizi: A Painting, A Bombing, A Restoration
    May 18 2026

    In 1993, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy was damaged by a car bomb. But this story starts in the 16th century with painter Bartolomeo Manfredi, and reaches all the way to the 2000s with an extraordinary restoration project.

    Research:

    • “600 fragments and one photograph. The restoration of Bartolomeo Manfredi’s “Card Players.” Scala Archives. May 23, 2023. https://scalarchives.com/600-fragments-and-one-photograph-the-restoration-of-bartolomeo-manfredis-card-players/#:~:text=The%20Georgofili%20bombing%20also%20left,to%20have%20been%20destroyed%20forever.
    • Clough, Patricia. “Blast Tears Apart 400 Years of Italy’s Heritage.” The Independent. May 28, 1993. https://www.newspapers.com/image/718976357/?match=1&terms=uffizi
    • Cowell, Alan. “Italians Try to Place Blame For Bomb Damage at Uffizi.” New York Times. May 29, 1993. https://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/29/world/italians-try-to-place-blame-for-bomb-damage-at-uffizi.html
    • “Cupid Chastised.” Art Institute of Chicago. https://www.artic.edu/artworks/59847/cupid-chastised
    • “Documentation of the damage from the 1993 bombing in Via dei Georgofili.” Uffizi Galleries. https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/documentation-damage-1993-bombing-georgofili
    • Folkestad, William B. and Mark Miller. “Bomb Damages the Uffizi Gallery.” EBSCO. 2023. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/law/bomb-damages-uffizi-gallery
    • Follain, John. “Push Comes to Shove at Italy’s Uffizi.” Miami Herald. March 21, 1993. https://www.newspapers.com/image/637973344/?match=1&terms=uffizi
    • Gage, Frances. “Caravaggio’s Rumore: Fact, Fiction and Authority in Giovanni Baglione’s Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects.” Past & Present. Volume 257, Issue Supplement_16, November 2022, Pages 111–140. https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtac031
    • “History of the Uffizi Gallery.” https://www.visituffizi.org/museum/history/
    • Kimmelman, Michael. “Bombed Uffizi Begins Recovery.” Berkshire Eagle. June 20, 1993. https://www.newspapers.com/image/533051992/?match=1&terms=uffizi
    • Moir, Alfred. “An Examination of Bartolomeo Manfredi's ‘Cupid Chastised.’” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies , Spring, 1985, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Spring, 1985), pp. 156-167. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4108732
    • Morselli, Raffaella. “Bartolomeo Manfredi and Pomarancio: Some New Documents.” The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 129, No. 1015 (Oct., 1987), pp. 666-668. https://www.jstor.org/stable/883135
    • Nicolson, Benedict. “Caravaggesques in Florence.” The Burlington Magazine. Sep., 1970, Vol. 112, No. 810 (Sep., 1970), pp. 636+639- 641. https://www.jstor.org/stable/876434
    • Pianigiani, Gaia. “Florence’s Answer to Mafia Violence: A Painting’s Loving Restoration.” New York Times. May 25, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/world/europe/uffizi-florence-mafia-card-player.html
    • Robb, Peter. “M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio.” Henry Holt and Co. 2015.
    • “Uffizi: on display two masterpieces damaged by the 1993 Georgofili mafia attack.” Uffizi Galleries. https://www.uffizi.it/en/events/georgofili-commemoration-2024
    • Wakin, Daniel J. “Prosecutor Joins Italy Bomb Probe.” Florence Morning News. May 16, 1993. https://www.newspapers.com/image/985131856/?match=1&terms=%22Maurizio%20Costanzo%22
    • “World: Europe Mafia bosses jailed for life.” BBC. June 6, 1998. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/108127.stm

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    38 mins
  • SYMHC Classics: Regulator War
    May 16 2026

    This 2019 episode covers the Regulator War, aka the War of the Regulation, aka the Regulator Movement. It was a North Carolina event which arose in response to unfair taxes, poor representation and corruption.

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    37 mins
  • Behind the Scenes Minis: Bad Laws, Bad Cats
    May 15 2026

    Tracy shares why Bhagat Singh Thind rocketed to the top of her topics list. Holly shares a story of bad cat behavior.

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    24 mins
  • Carrington Event
    May 13 2026
    The Carrington Event was a massive geomagnetic storm that happened in 1859. It led to expanded understanding of solar phenomena. Research: “Great Aurora of 1859. Art. XLII – The Great Auroral Exhibition of August 28th to September 4th, 1859.” American Journal of Science. Ser. 2. Vol. 28. July-November 1859.Cardenas, Freddy Moreno et al. “The Grand Aurorae Borealis Seen in Colombia in 1859.” Preprint submitted to Advances in Space Research. August 21, 2015.Cliver, E.W. “The 1859 space weather event: Then and now.” Advances in Space Research. 38 (2006) 119-129.Cliver, E.W. and L. Svalgaard. “The 1859 Solar-Terrestrial Disturbance and the Current Limits of Extreme Space Weather Activity.” Solar Physics. (2004) 224: 407–422.Cliver, Edward W. and William F. Dietrich. “The 1859 space weather event revisited: limits of extreme activity.” J. Space Weather Space Clim. 3 (2013) A31 DOI:10.1051/swsc/2013053Dobrijevic, Daisy and Andrew May. “The Carrington Event: History's greatest solar storm.” Space.com. 5/20/2022. https://www.space.com/the-carrington-eventGiegengack, Robert. “The Carrington Coronal Mass Ejection of 1859.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society , DECEMBER 2015, Vol. 159, No. 4. Via JSTOR.https://www.jstor.org/stable/26159195Green, James L, and Scott Boardsen. “Duration and extent of the great auroral storm of 1859.” Advances in space research : the official journal of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) vol. 38,2 (2006): 130-135. doi:10.1016/j.asr.2005.08.054Green, James L. et al. “Eyewitness Reports of the Great Auroral Storm of 1859.” Submitted to Advances in Space Research. NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) 20050210157. 8/5/2005.Haeberle, Tom. “The Carrington Affair!” Amateur Astronomers Association Eyepiece. 9/1/2018. https://aaa.org/2018/09/01/the-carrington-affair/Hayakawa, Hisashi et al. “Temporal and Spatial Evolutions of a Large Sunspot Group and Great Auroral Storms Around the Carrington Event in 1859.” Space Weather. 8/29/2019. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2019SW002269Hodgson, R. “On a Curious Appearance Seen in the Sun.” Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society vol. 19-20 (1858-1860). https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/20/1/15/983497Hodžić, Jasna. “The Carrington Event of 1859 Disrupted Telegraph Lines. A ‘Miyake Event’ Would Be Far Worse.” JSTOR Daily. 9/7/2023. https://daily.jstor.org/the-carrington-event-of-1859-disrupted-telegraph-lines/Howard, R.A. (2006). A Historical Perspective on Coronal Mass Ejections. In Solar Eruptions and Energetic Particles (eds N. Gopalswamy, R. Mewaldt and J. Torsti). https://doi.org/10.1029/165GM03Josefowicz, Diane. “The British Magnetic Scheme (1839-1851): People and Institutions.” Victorian Web. https://victorianweb.org/science/geomagnetism/magneticcrusade.htmlKaminski, Isabella. “'The fate of nations and the fall of kingdoms': History's epic theories of what causes aurora.” BBC. 11/16/2025. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20251114-historys-epic-theories-of-what-causes-auroraKimball, D.S. “A Study of the Aurora of 1859.” Scientific Report No. 6. NSF Grant No. Y/22.6/327. April 1960.Klein, Christopher. “A Perfect Solar Superstorm: The 1859 Carrington Event.” History. 1/29/2025. https://www.history.com/articles/a-perfect-solar-superstorm-the-1859-carrington-eventMarinus Anthony van der Sluijs, Hisashi Hayakawa. “A candidate auroral report in the Bamboo Annals, indicating a possible extreme space weather event in the early 10th century BCE.” Advances in Space Research. Volume 72, Issue 12. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2022.01.01Mills, Virginia. “A message from Alexander von Humboldt.” The Royal Society. 9/23/2019. https://royalsociety.org/blog/2019/09/a-message-from-alexander-von-humboldt/Muller, C. “The Carrington solar flares of 1859: consequences on life.” Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere : the journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life vol. 44,3 (2014): 185-95. doi:10.1007/s11084-014-9368-3Phillips, Tony. “A Warning from History: The Carrington Event Was Not Unique.” Space Weather Archive. 9/1/2020. https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2020/08/30/a-warning-from-history-the-carrington-event-was-not-unique/Phillips, Tony. “Near Miss: The Solar Superstorm of July 2012.” NASA. 12/22/2014. https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/planetary-science/23jul_superstorm/C. Carrington, Description of a Singular Appearance seen in the Sun on September 1, 1859, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 20, Issue 1, November 1859, Pages 13–15, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/20.1.13Starmans, Barbara J. “Carrington Solar Flare of 1859.” The Social Historian. 11/27/2016. https://www.thesocialhistorian.com/carrington-solar-flare-of-1859/Thompson, D. (2009) The Carrington Event and the Electric Telegraph in Victoria in Museums Victoria ...
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    44 mins