Marjorie Merriweather Post is most often mentioned today as the person who built Mar-a-Lago. But she was a unique figure as a woman who helmed a huge corporation when she was still in her 20s in the early 20th century.

Research:

• Britannica Editors. "C.W. Post". Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 Oct. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/C-W-Post
• “C.W. Post a Suicide in California Home.” New York Times. May 10, 1914. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/05/10/100089022.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
• “The Diplomatic Legacy of Marjorie Merriweather Post.” National Museum of American Diplomacy. April 8, 2021. https://diplomacy.state.gov/stories/the-diplomatic-legacy-of-marjorie-merriweather-post/
• Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens. https://hillwoodmuseum.org/
• “Mrs. Marjorie Merriweather Post Is Dead at 86.” New York Times. Sept. 13, 1973.
• Gruson, Kerry. “Post Home for Sale for $20 Million.” New York Times. July 16, 1981. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1981/07/16/195929.html?pageNumber=59
• Martin, Roland. "Marjorie Merriweather Post". Encyclopedia Britannica, 8 Sep. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marjorie-Merriweather-Post
• Merolle, Guilhem. “Marjorie Merriweather Post’s most famous jewels.” Collectissim. Dec. 15, 2024. https://www.collectissim.com/en/marjorie-merriweather-post-most-famous-jewels/
• Reid, Jan. “C.W. Post.” Texas Monthly. March 1987. https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/c-w-post/
• Stuart, Nancy Rubin. “American Empress: The Life and Times of Marjorie Meriweather Post.” Villard. 1995.
• Stuart, Nancy Rubin. “Marjorie Merriweather Post: The Philanthropic Heiress Who Built Mar-a-Lago.” Saturday Evening Post. November 14, 2023. https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2023/11/marjorie-merriweather-post-the-philanthropic-heiress-who-built-mar-a-lago/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mary Golda Ross was the first Indigenous woman in the U.S. known to have become an engineer. Her impact on the field of aerospace engineering is hard to quantify, because much of her work is still classified.

Research:

• Agnew, Brad. “Cherokee engineer a space exploration pioneer.” Tahlequah Daily Press. 3/27/2016. https://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/news/golda-ross-left-teaching-to-support-war-effort/article_c500cbc4-eeba-11e5-9b57-2b127651fcb5.html
• Agnew, Brad. “Golda’ Ross left teaching to support war effort.” Tahlequah Daily Press. 3/20/2016. https://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/news/golda-ross-left-teaching-to-support-war-effort/article_c500cbc4-eeba-11e5-9b57-2b127651fcb5.html
• Brewer, Graham Lee. “Rocket Woman.” Oklahoma Today. July/August 2018.
• Cochran, Wendell. “Cherokee Tear Dress Facts.” The People’s Paths. https://www.thepeoplespaths.net/Cherokee/WendellCochran/WCochran0102TearDressFacts.htm
• Hogner-Weavel, Tonia. “History of the Cherokee Tear Dress.” Cherokee Nation. Via YouTube. 9/15/2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90V5fM0DiMk
• Lake, Timothy. "Mary Golda Ross". Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 Aug. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-Golda-Ross. Accessed 21 October 2025.
• Margolis, Emily. A. “Mary Golda Ross: Aerospace Engineer, Educator, and Advocate.” Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/mary-g-ross-aerospace-engineer
• Museum of Native American History. “Historic Trailblazer: Mary Golda Ross.” Via YouTube. 12/17/2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzC14hGbPug
• National Park Service. “Mary G. Ross.” https://www.nps.gov/people/mary-g-ross.htm
• New Mexico Museum of Space History. “Mary Golda Ross: First Native American Aerospace Engineer.” Via YouTube. 3/31/2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT9r5trwZEs
• Oklahoma Hall of Fame. “Mary Golda Ross Induction Ceremony Video.” 11/22/2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bovabx6ITW4
• Rosengren, Paul Lief. “Mary Golda Ross: She Reached for the Stars.” IEEE-USA and Paul Lief Rosengren. 2025.
• Schroeder, Mildred. “A Far-out Cherokee Chick.” San Francisco Examiner. 4/16/1961.
• Smith, Betty. “Pure Cherokee Gold.” Tahlequah Daily Press. 6/26/2008. https://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/archives/pure-cherokee-gold/article_44c0a25a-94e2-53d8-b80c-be1ff86305e7.html
• Viola, Herman. “Mary Golda Ross: She Reached for the Stars.” American Indian: Magazine of Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Vol. 19, No. 4. Winter 2018. https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/mary-golda-ross-she-reached-stars
• Wallace, Rob. “Mary Golda Ross and the Skunk Works.” National World War II Museum. 11/19/2021. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/mary-golda-ross-and-skunk-works
• Watts, Jennifer. “John Ross: Principal Chief of the Cherokee People.” Tennessee State Museum. https://tnmuseum.org/junior-curators/posts/john-ross-principal-chief-of-the-cherokee-people
• Yang, John. “The cutting-edge work of Native American aerospace engineer Mary Golda Ross.” 11/26/2023. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/the-cutting-edge-work-of-native-american-aerospace-engineer-mary-golda-ross
• Zhorov, Irina. “Years Later, Miss Indian America Pageant Winners Reuniteg.” NPR Code Switch. 7/12/2013. https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/07/12/201537264/Years-Later-Miss-Indian-America-Pageant-Winners-Reunite

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2019 episode covers Alexandre Dumas, who wrote hundreds and hundreds of works, including “The Three Musketeers,” “The Count of Monte Cristo,” and even a dictionary of cuisine.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy discusses the challenge of parsing all the nuance of the French Revolution. Holly talks about how little Clarence Birdseye shared of his interior thoughts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Before Clarence Birdseye, frozen food was perceived as being low-quality and kind of gross. But after spending time in extremely cold climates, Birdseye figured out that speed freezing was the key to retaining freshness.

Research:

• “$1,900,000 Fraud Attempt Alleged in Insurance Deal.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch. May 2, 1917. https://www.newspapers.com/image/138253870/?match=1&terms=%22Clarence%20Birdseye%22
• “Alleged Clean-up of $1,900,000 in Two Days.” The Bennington Evening Banner. May 2, 1917. https://www.newspapers.com/image/546110078/?match=1&terms=%22Clarence%20Birdseye%22
• Birdseye, C. “Animal Food Product.” U.S. Patent Office. Aug. 12, 1930. https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/ff/f3/e3/ea3d0a5d1b6b7a/US1773080.pdf
• Birdseye, C. “METHOD OF PRESERVING PISCATORIAL PRODUCTS.” U.S. Patent Office. April 18, 1924. https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/b7/d9/5a/aeb7fae023f47e/US1511824.pdf
• Birdseye, Clarence, 1886-1956. Some Common Mammals of Western Montana in Relation to Agriculture and Spotted Fever, pamphlet, 1912; Washington D.C.. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc87555/
• Britannica Editors. "Clarence Birdseye". Encyclopedia Britannica, 3 Oct. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Clarence-Birdseye
• “Celebrating American Innovation: Clarence Birdseye.” Council for Innovation Promotion. Sept. 14, 2023. https://c4ip.org/celebrating-american-innovation-clarence-birdseye/
• “Clarence Birdseye.” Lemelson-MIT. https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/clarence-birdseye
• “Clarence Birdseye Is Dead at 69; Inventor of Frozen-Food Process; Developed Method for Quick Freezing and Also Devised System for Dehydrating.” New York Times. Oct. 9, 1956. https://www.nytimes.com/1956/10/09/archives/clarence-birdseye-is-dead-at-69-inventor-of-frozenfood-process.html
• “Frozen Food Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Frozen Ready Meals, Frozen Seafood & Meat Products, Frozen Snacks & Bakery Products, and Others), Distribution Channel (Supermarkets/Hypermarkets, Specialty Stores, Convenience Stores, and Online Retail), and Regional Forecast, 2025-2032.” Fortune Business Insights. Oct. 6, 2025. https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/frozen-food-market-10413
• “How Did Clarence Birdseye Shape the American Diet?” National Inventors Hall of Fame. Nov. 28, 2022. https://www.invent.org/blog/inventors/clarence-birdseye
• Kile, O.M. “Food That Is Fresh Though Frozen: New Preserving Process Aims to Maintain Cell Structure.” The Baltimore Sun. Nov. 10, 1929. https://www.newspapers.com/image/373627550/?match=1&terms=%22quick-frozen%22%20
• Kurlansky, Mark. “Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man.” Thorndike Press. 2012.
• “Reinsurance for Policyholders in Defunct Concerns.” New-York Tribune. Nov. 11, 1917. https://www.newspapers.com/image/894239796/?match=1&terms=%22Clarence%20Birdseye%22
• “Supervisory Methods Lax.” The Kansas workman. Nov. 1, 1917. https://www.newspapers.com/image/480092568/?match=1&terms=%22Clarence%20Birdseye%22
• “Who invented frozen food?” Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/technology/item/who-invented-frozen-food/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Great Fear was a panic during the French Revolution that spread through rural areas. It all started with a conspiracy theory.

Research:

• Davies, Alun. “The Origins of the French Peasant Revolution of 1789.” History, 1964, Vol. 49, No. 165 (1964). https://www.jstor.org/stable/24404527
• Elster, Jon. “The Two Great Fears of 1789.” Prepared for the Conference on “Emotions and Civil War”, Collège de France June 10-11 2010. https://www.college-de-france.fr/media/jon-elster/UPL13205_LePillouerThe_two_great_fears_of_1789.pdf
• Hill, Henry Bertram. “An Aftermath of the Great Fear.” The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 22, No. 4 (Dec. 1950). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1875896
• Kasal, Krystal. “Mapping out France's 'Great Fear of 1789' shows how misinformation spreads like a virus.” Phys.org. 8/28/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-france-great-misinformation-virus.html
• Lefebvre, Georges. “The Great Fear of 1789; rural panic in revolutionary France.” Joan White, translator. Pantheon Books. 1973.
• Lenharo, Mariana. “An abiding mystery of the French Revolution is solved — by epidemiology.” Nature. 8/27/2025. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-02739-9
• Mark, Harrison W. “Great Fear.” World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/Great_Fear/
• Markoff, John. “Contexts and Forms of Rural Revolt: France in 1789.” The Journal of Conflict Resolution , Jun., 1986, Vol. 30, No. 2 (Jun., 1986), pp. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/174254
• Pelz, William A. “The Rise of the Third Estate: The French People Revolt.” From A People's History of Modern Europe. Pluto Press. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1c2crfj.8
• Tackett, Timothy. “Conspiracy Obsession in a Time of Revolution: French Elites and the Origins of the Terror, 1789-1792.” The American Historical Review , Jun., 2000, Vol. 105, No. 3. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2651806
• Zapperi, Stefano et al. “Epidemiology models explain rumour spreading during France’s Great Fear of 1789.” Nature. 8/27/2025. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09392-2

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2019 episode is about general Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, who sounds like a character out of one of his son’s books. His life was a series of dramatic and daring adventures, including his rise up through the ranks of the French military.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly talks about the unsubstantiated stories associated with the Villa de Vecchi in northern Italy. Tracy talks about getting angry about a passage she read in Wednesday's show.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.