Episodes

  • Behind the Scenes Minis: Disease Pact
    May 29 2026

    Tracy talks about a strange statement in a paper she read while working on the Carlos J. Finlay episode. Holly shares her amusement at the pact Hartlib and his friends made.

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    22 mins
  • Samuel Hartlib and the Hartlib Circle
    May 27 2026

    Samuel Hartlib doesn’t exactly spring to mind when thinking about influential figures of the 17th century. But he served as a sort of conduit for information and connections among them as he sought to promote his ideas regarding theology and education.

    Research:

    • Britannica Editors. "Samuel Hartlib". Encyclopedia Britannica, 8 Mar. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Samuel-Hartlib
    • Britannica Editors. "Thirty Years’ War". Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Mar. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/event/Thirty-Years-War
    • Britannica Editors. "John Dury". Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Jan. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Dury
    • Hartlib, Samuel, OR John Dury. “A Further Discoverie Of The Office Of Public Address For Accommodations.” 1648. The Hartlib Papers. University of Sheffield. https://www.dhi.ac.uk/hartlib/view?docset=main&docname=14A_02_03
    • Hartlib, Samuel. “Ephemerides 1635.” The Hartlib Papers. University of Sheffield. https://www.dhi.ac.uk/hartlib/view?docset=main&docname=29_03_01&term0=transtext_ephemerides#highlight
    • Hartlib, Samuel. “Ephemerides 1650.” The Hartlib Papers. University of Sheffield. https://www.dhi.ac.uk/hartlib/view?docset=main&docname=28_01_49&term0=transtext_ephemerides#highlight
    • Hartlib, Samuel. “Ephemerides 1651.” The Hartlib Papers. University of Sheffield. https://www.dhi.ac.uk/hartlib/view?docset=main&docname=28_02_01&term0=transtext_ephemerides#highlight
    • Hartlib, Samuel. “Ephemerides 1659.” The Hartlib Papers. University of Sheffield. https://www.dhi.ac.uk/hartlib/view?docset=main&docname=29_08_01&term0=transtext_ephemerides#highlight
    • McDowell, Nicholas. “The Oxford Handbook of Milton (Oxford Handbooks).” OUP Oxford. 2009. Kindle Edition.
    • Masson, Victoria. “The Origins & Causes of the English Civil War.” Historic U.K. https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Origins-of-the-English-Civil-War/
    • Milton, John. “Tractate on Education. A FACSIMILE REPRINT FROM THE EDITION OF 1673. EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY OSCAR BROWNING, M.Α.” Cambridge University Press. 1890. https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=KzsVAAAAYAAJ&rdid=book-KzsVAAAAYAAJ&rdot=1
    • “Pact Signed By Dury, Comenius And Hartlib, And Later By William Hamilton.” The Hartlib Papers. March 3, 1642. The University of Sheffield. https://www.dhi.ac.uk/hartlib/view?docset=additional&docname=7E_109T&term0=transtext_pact#highlight
    • Trevor-Roper, Hugh. “The Crisis of the Seventeenth Century.” Liberty Fund Indianapolis. 1967. https://web.archive.org/web/20061213185209/http://olldownload.libertyfund.org/Texts/LFBooks/TrevorRoper0256/Crisis17thC/0098_Bk.pdf
    • Turnbull, G. H. “Samuel Hartlib’s Influence on the Early History of the Royal Society.” Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, vol. 10, no. 2, 1953, pp. 101–30. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/530806
    • Turnbull, G.H. “SAMUEL HAKTLIB A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND HIS RELATIONS TO J. A. COMENIUS.” Oxford University Press. 1920. https://ia801209.us.archive.org/21/items/cu31924027998859/cu31924027998859.pdf
    • Webster, Charles. “A Portrait of Samuel Hartlib: In Search of Universal Betterment.” Open Book Publishers. 2025. Accessible online: https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0486

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    38 mins
  • 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