Six Impossible Episodes: More Listener Requests

Holly talks about how impossible it is to build a spite house now, thanks to municipal building codes. She also shares some uncertain stories of the childhood of Robert Morris. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

28 Helmi 22min

Robert Morris is one of the lesser-mentioned founding fathers of the U.S. When he is mentioned, he is called the financier of the Revolutionary War. But his story is more complicated than that. Research: “18th Century Currency.” Valley Forge National Historical Park. National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery.htm?id=42877E64-155D-451F-67DACC05A2515349 Bill of Rights Institute. “Stamp Act Resistance.” https://billofrightsinstitute.org/essays/stamp-act-resistance Currot, Nicholas A, and Tyler A. Watts. “WHAT CAUSED THE RECESSION OF 1797?” Studies in Applied Economics, No.48. February 2016. Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and Study of Business Enterprise. https://sites.krieger.jhu.edu/iae/files/2017/04/Curott_Watts_Recession_of_1797.pdf Dencklau, Jason. “Robert Morris.” George Washington’s Mount Vernon. https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/robert-morris The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Robert Morris". Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Jan. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Morris-American-statesman The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Stamp Act". Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Dec. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/event/Stamp-Act-Great-Britain-1765 The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Constitutional Convention". Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Jan. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/event/Constitutional-Convention Ferguson, E. James. “Business, Government, and Congressional Investigation in the Revolution.” The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 16, no. 3, 1959, pp. 294–318. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1916947 “Money in Colonial Times.” Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. https://www.philadelphiafed.org/education/money-in-colonial-times Rappleye, Charles. “Robert Morris: Financier of the American Revolution.” New York. Simon & Schuster. 2010. “Robert Morris.” American Battlefield Trust. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/robert-morris Rosenwald, Michael. “‘Grand inquisitors of the realm’: How Congress got its power to investigate and subpoena.” Washington Post. March 11, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/03/11/grand-inquisitors-realm-how-congress-got-its-power-investigate-subpoena/ “The Stamp Act and the American colonies 1763-67.” UK parliament. https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/legislativescrutiny/parliament-and-empire/parliament-and-the-american-colonies-before-1765/the-stamp-act-and-the-american-colonies-1763-67/#:~:text=The%20British%20needed%20to%20station,publications%20circulating%20in%20the%20colonies. “To George Washington from Robert Morris, 2 July 1781.” National Archives. Founders Online. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-06271 “To George Washington from Robert Morris, 8 February 1790.” National Archives. Founders Online. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-05-02-0062 “Stamp Act of 1765.” American Battlefield Trust. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/stamp-act-1765?ms=nav&ms=qr See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

26 Helmi 37min

A spite house is a structure that is built by one party to irritate another, or to cause some sort of difficulty or even damage. And there have been a lot of them built over the years, though there aren’t a huge number remaining. Research: Bailey, Steve. “A Tiny, Beloved Home That Was Built for Spite.” New York Times. Feb. 29, 2008. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/travel/escapes/29away.html “Charles A. Froling, Local Contractor, Passes Away.” Alameda Times Star. June 2, 1924. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1097386049/?match=1&terms=%22Charles%20Froling%22 Deschenes, Steven. “Spite House in Rockport Maine: Garden Papers and Correspondence.” Maine Historical Society. April 5, 2018. https://mainehistory.wordpress.com/2018/04/05/spite-house-in-rockport-maine-garden-papers-and-correspondence/ “Detailed Property Description: 523 QUEEN ST, ALEXANDRIA, VA.” City of Alexandria Virginia. https://realestate.alexandriava.gov/detail.php?accountno=12113500 “Died.” Alameda Times Star. June 2, 1924. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1097386249/?article=4c7443f8-0d33-4599-ad46-da94afa4e09b&terms=%22Froling%22&match=1 “Famed ‘Spite House’ at Phippsburg Will be Moved Intact to Rockport, an Eighty-five Mile Journey by Water.” Portland Press Herald. June 19, 1925. https://www.newspapers.com/image/847107454/?terms=%22Donald%20Dodge%22 “Freak House May Have Been One of the Causes of Woman Taking Her Life.” Oakland Tribune. Nov. 12, 1908. https://www.newspapers.com/image/76448900/?match=1&terms=%22Charles%20Froling%22 “From 1774 to Today.” 1774 Inn. https://www.1774inn.com/our-history “Hill, Mark Langdon, 1772-1842.” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/H000602 Kelly, Richard D. (on behalf of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission). "NRHP nomination for Spite House." Prepared October 1974, accepted Aug. 13, 1974. National Park Service. https://npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/74000175.pdf Kilduff, Paul. “Alameda Spite House likely built in ill will but ‘a little jewel box’ today.” East Bay Times. July 24, 2024. https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2024/07/23/alameda-spite-house-likely-built-in-ill-will-but-a-little-jewel-box-today/ Leffler, Christopher T et al. “The first cataract surgeons in Anglo-America.” Survey of ophthalmology 60,1 (2015): 86-92. doi:10.1016/j.survophthal.2014.08.002 Neal, Jill Hudson. “Narrow Thinking.” Washington Post. April 22, 2006. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/2006/04/23/narrow-thinking/96441f95-b38b-412c-b6c6-a5abf0200f55/ Nelson, George. “Two Narrow Houses Have All Comforts.” Oakland Tribune. June 30, 1957. https://www.newspapers.com/image/296868118/?match=1&terms=Gilbert%20froling Roth, Maggie. “Alexandria’s Spite House is Small, But It Has a Big History.” Northern Virginia Magazine. Jan. 2, 2024. https://northernvirginiamag.com/culture/culture-features/2024/01/02/alexandria-spite-house-is-small-but-it-has-a-big-history/ Schulte, Brigid. “A Narrow-minded Pursuit.” Washington Post. Jan. 23, 2005. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2005/01/24/a-narrow-minded-pursuit/d346f89e-8e1a-4e66-8cd1-653ff05b59af/ Senk, Julie. “James McCobb House.” Down East. https://downeast.com/home-and-garden/james-mccobb-house/ “Spite House.” Cultural Landscape Foundation. https://www.tclf.org/landscapes/spite-house Williams, Lynn. “This Maryland House Was Built Just for Spite.” Los Angeles Times. April 29, 1990. https://www.newspapers.com/image/176103952/?terms=%22This%20Maryland%20House%20Was%20Built%20Just%20for%20Spite%22 Waters, Ed Jr. “Historic Tyler Spite House on market.” The Frederick News-Post. June 20, 2006. https://www.fredericknewspost.com/archives/video-historic-tyler-spite-house-on-market/article_8c43e490-cd98-58c0-9964-554e2a67fc0e.html See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

24 Helmi 35min

This 2020 episode covers direct action demonstrations and protests that have some similarities to the sit-in movement. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

22 Helmi 48min

Holly talks about her gardening efforts and an amusing machine reading error. Tracy talks about her expectations of researching the epizootic of 1872, and My Little Pony toys turning 40. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

21 Helmi 26min

The epizootic of 1872 was a massive outbreak of a flulike illness primarily among horses in North America, Central America, and some islands in the Caribbean. Research: "WHEN A FLU REINED IN NEW YORK." States News Service, 28 Apr. 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A622209555/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=2bf7de71. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025. Andrews, Thomas G. “Influenza’s Progress: The Great Epizootic Flu of 1872-73 in the North American West.” Utah Historical Quarterly. Vol. 89. No. 1. Andrews, Thomas G. “The Great Horse Flu of 1872-1873.” The Bill Lane Center for the American West. Stanford University. https://west.stanford.edu/events/great-horse-flu-1872-1873 Andrews, Thomas. “The Great Horse Flu of 1872-1873.” Bill Lane Center for the American West Stanford Department of History. 5/4/2023. https://west.stanford.edu/events/great-horse-flu-1872-1873 Bierer, Bert W. “History of Animal Plagues of North America.” USDA. 1939. https://archive.org/details/CAT75660671/page/22/mode/1up Department of Health, the City of New York. “Report on the Epizootic Influenza Among Horses in 1872-73.” https://archive.org/details/reportdepartmen05unkngoog/page/n259/mode/1up Durkin, Kevin. “The Great Epizootic of 1872.” Reprinted from SustainLife: uarterly Journal of the Ploughshare Institute for Sustainable Culture. Fall 2012. https://www.heritagebarns.com/the-great-epizootic-of-1872 Freeberg, Ernest. “The Horse Flu Epidemic That Brought 19th-Century America to a Stop.” Smithsonian. 12/4/2020. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-horse-flu-epidemic-brought-19th-century-america-stop-180976453/ Judson, A B. “History and Course of the Epizoötic among Horses upon the North American Continent in 1872-73.” Public health papers and reports vol. 1 (1873): 88-109. Judson, A.B. “Report on the Origin and Progress of the Epizootic among Horses in 1872, With a Table of Mortality in New York (Illustrated with Maps). The Veterinarian : a monthly journal of veterinary science. Volume 47 (Vol. 20 of Fourth Series), January - December 1874. https://archive.org/details/s2023id1378227/page/492/mode/1up Kelly, John. "Why the long face? Because in 1872, nearly every horse in Washington got very ill." Washingtonpost.com, 5 Nov. 2016. Gale OneFile: Business, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A468927553/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=26db57c2. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025. Kheraj, Sean. “The Great Epizootic of 1872-73.” NiCHE. https://niche-canada.org/2018/05/03/the-great-epizootic-of-1872-73/ Kheraj, Sean. “The Great Epizootic of 1872–73: Networks of Animal Disease in North American Urban Environments.” Environmental History, July 2018, Vol. 23, No. 3 (July 2018). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/48554105 Law, James. “Influenza in Horses.” Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture, 1872. 1874. https://archive.org/details/reportofcommissi1872unit/page/203/mode/1up Lazarus, Oliver. “The Great Epizootic of 1872: Pandemics, Animals, and Modernity in 19th-Century New York City.” The Gotham Center for New York City History. 2/25/2021. https://www.gothamcenter.org/blog/the-great-epizootic-of-1872 Liautard, A.F. “Report on the Epizootic, as it Appeared in New York.” Report of the Department of Health, the City of New York. https://archive.org/details/reportdepartmen05unkngoog/page/n295/mode/1up McCloskey, Patrick J. “The Great Boston Fire & Epizootic of 1872.” Dakota Digital Review. 12/3/2020. https://dda.ndus.edu/ddreview/the-great-boston-fire-epizootic-of-1872/ McClure, James P. “The Epizootic of 1872: Horses and Disease in a Nation in Motion.” New York History , JANUARY 1998, Vol. 79, No. 1 (JANUARY 1998). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23182287 McShane, Clay. “Gelded Age Boston.” The New England Quarterly , Jun., 2001, Vol. 74, No. 2 (Jun., 2001). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3185479 Morens and Taubenberger (2010) An avian outbreak associated with panzootic equine influenza in 1872: an early example of highly pathogenic avian influenza? Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses 4(6), 373–377. Powell, James. “The Great Epizootic.” The Historical Society of Ottawa. https://www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/publications/ottawa-stories/momentous-events-in-the-city-s-life/the-great-epizootic Sack, Alexandra, et al. "Equine Influenza Virus--A Neglected, Reemergent Disease Threat." Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 25, no. 6, June 2019, pp. 1185+. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2506.161846. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025. Stolte, Daniel. “UA Study on Flu Evolution May Change Textbooks, History Books.” University of Arizona. https://news.arizona.edu/news/ua-study-on-flu-evolution-may-change-textbooks-history-books See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

19 Helmi 38min

The practice of growing plants in water rather than soil isn't new, though early examples are difficult to substantiate. In the 1930s, hydroponic plant culture made headlines, but the field also had conflict among researchers. Research: Bacon, Francis. “Sylva sylvarum; or, A natural history, in ten centuries. Whereunto is newly added the History natural and experimental of life and death, or of the prolongation of life.” London. 1670. https://archive.org/details/sylvasylvarumorn00baco/page/116/mode/2up Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Hanging Gardens of Babylon". Encyclopedia Britannica, 13 Jan. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/place/Hanging-Gardens-of-Babylon Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "chinampa". Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 May. 2017, https://www.britannica.com/topic/chinampa Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Julius von Sachs". Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 Sep. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julius-von-Sachs. Ebel, Roland. "Chinampas: An Urban Farming Model of the Aztecs and a Potential Solution for Modern Megalopolis". HortTechnology hortte 30.1 (2020): 13-19. < https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTTECH04310-19 Gericke, W. F. “The Complete Guide To Soilless Gardening.” Prentice Hall. 1940. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.271694/page/n1/mode/2up Gericke, W. F. “The Meaning of Hydroponics.” Science101,142-143. 1945. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.101.2615.142 "General Mills' Big Gamble on Indoor Farming." Dun's Review. 1979. https://www.nal.usda.gov/sites/default/files/card-image/DunsReviewGeneralMillsImage.jpg “Growing Crops Without Soil.” United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural research service. June 1965. https://www.nal.usda.gov/sites/default/files/card-image/RaisingCropsWithoutSoil1965_0.jpg Hall, Loura. “NASA Research Launches a New Generation of Indoor Farming.” NASA. Nov. 23, 2021. https://www.nasa.gov/technology/tech-transfer-spinoffs/nasa-research-launches-a-new-generation-of-indoor-farming/ Hoagland, D.R. and D.I. Arnon. “The Water-culture Method for Growing Plants Without Soil.” Berkeley. 1950. https://archive.org/details/watercultureme3450hoag/page/n5/mode/2up “A Hydroponic Farm on Wake Island.” Science87,12-3. (1938). DOI:1126/science.87.2263.12.u Janick, Jules et al. “The cucurbits of mediterranean antiquity: identification of taxa from ancient images and descriptions.” Annals of botany vol. 100,7 (2007): 1441-57. doi:10.1093/aob/mcm242 Silvio, Caputo. “History, Techniques and Technologies of Soil-Less Cultivation.” Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99962-9_4 Singer, Jesse. “A Hydroponics Timeline. Garden Culture Magazine. Feb. 8, 2021. https://gardenculturemagazine.com/a-brief-overview-of-the-history-of-hydroponics/#:~:text=1627:%20Sylva%20Sylvarum,Chemist%20Jean%20Baptist%20van%20Helmont Stanhill, G. "JOHN WOODWARD—A NEGLECTED 17TH CENTURY PIONEER OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY". Israel Journal of Plant Sciences 35.3-4 (1986): 225-231. https://doi.org/10.1080/0021213X.1986.10677056 Stuart, Neil W. “About Hydroponics.” Yearbook of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. 1947. Accessed online: https://archive.org/details/yoa1947/page/289/mode/2up Taylor, Judith. “National Nutrition Month: Hydroponics feed ailing WWII Army Air Forces personnel.” Air Force Medical Service. March 26, 2014. https://www.airforcemedicine.af.mil/News/Article/582803/national-nutrition-month-hydroponics-feed-ailing-wwii-army-air-forces-personnel/ “Plants Without Soil.” Brooklyn Eagle. Feb. 28, 1937.https://www.newspapers.com/image/52623587/?match=1&terms=hydroponics “Hydroponics.” Courier-Journal. March 2, 1937. https://www.newspapers.com/image/107727971/?match=1&terms=hydroponics See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

17 Helmi 41min

This 2021 episode covers William Montague Cobb, who was the first Black person in the U.S. to earn a PhD in physical anthropology. He was also an activist and an anatomy professor at Howard University. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

15 Helmi 36min