Stuff You Missed in History Class

This 2013 episode covers Benjamin Banneker, a man of color in Colonial America who became an accomplished scholar despite having almost no formal schooling.

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Holly and Tracy talk about how actuarial science informs other fields, the book "The Player," and insurance mentions in Terry Pratchett's writing.

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As life insurance and assurance became more common, companies that offered coverage ran into in problems in the 18th and 19th century. Part 2 also covers how Insurance has been used by gamblers as a grisly amusement.

Research:

• Bell, John. “London’s Remembrancer … “ E. Cotes. London. 1665. Accessed online: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A27350.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext
• Bellhouse, David R. “A New Look at Halley’s Life Table.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society.” 174, Part 3, pp. 823–832. 2011. https://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/epidemiology/hanley/c609/material/BellhouseHalleyTable2011JRSS.pdf
• Bennetts, N., (2019). MORGAN, WILLIAM (1750 - 1833), actuary and scientist.Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Retrieved 22 Dec 2023, from https://biography.wales/article/s12-MORG-WIL-1750
• Boyce, Niall. “Bills of Mortality: tracking disease in early modern London.” The Lancet. April 11, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30725-X
• Chatfield, Michael and Vangermeersch, Richard, "History of Accounting: An International Encyclopedia" (1996).Individual and Corporate Publications. 168.
  https://egrove.olemiss.edu/acct_corp/168
• CLARK, GEOFFREY. “Life Insurance in the Society and Culture of London, 1700-75.”Urban History, vol. 24, no. 1, 1997, pp. 17–36.JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44612859
• de Roover, Florence Edler. “Early Examples of Marine Insurance.”The Journal of Economic History, vol. 5, no. 2, 1945, pp. 172–200.JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2114075
• Fouse, L. G. “Policy Contracts in Life Insurance.”The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 26, 1905, pp. 29–48.JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1011003
• “James Dodson’s tables of premiums, 1756.” Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. https://www.actuaries.org.uk/learn-and-develop/research-and-knowledge/library-services/historical-collections/archive-equitable-life-assurance-society/highlights-equitable-life-archive/james-dodson-s-tables-premiums-1756
• Eggen, Olin Jeuck. "Edmond Halley".Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 Dec. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edmond-Halley
• Greenwood, Major. “The First Life Table.” Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London. October 31, 1938. Volume 1, Issue 2. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rsnr.1938.0017
• Harford, Tim. “What makes gambling wrong but insurance right ?” BBC News. March 20, 2017. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-38905963
• Ivry, David A. “Historical Development of Some Basic Life Insurance Terminology.”The Journal of Insurance, vol. 28, no. 3, 1961, pp. 65–69.JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/250376
• Lewin, Chris. “The Creation of Actuarial Science.” ZDM – Mathematics Education. 2001. Vol. 33. https://subs.emis.de/journals/ZDM/zdm012i2.pdf
• Ogborn, M.E. “The Professional Name of Actuary.” Journal of the Institute of Actuaries. 1956. https://web.archive.org/web/20081217144303/http://www.actuaries.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/25382/0233-0246.pdf
• Rose, I. Nelson. “How Insurance Became (Mostly) Not Gambling.” Gaming Law Review and Economics.Nov 2014.864-872.http://doi.org/10.1089/glre.2014.1892
• ROWELL, A. H. Journal of the Institute of Actuaries (1886-1994), vol. 88, no. 3, 1962, pp. 387–89. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41139514. Accessed 27 Dec. 2023.
• Thomas, R., & Chambers, Ll. G., (1959). PRICE, RICHARD (1723-1791), philosopher.Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Retrieved 27 Dec 2023, from https://biography.wales/article/s-PRIC-RIC-1723
• “ActuaryOverview.” Best Jobs. U.S. News and World Report. https://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/actuary
• Walford, Cornelius. “History of Life Assurance in the United Kingdom.”Journal of the Institute of Actuaries and Assurance Magazine, vol. 25, no. 2, 1885, pp. 114–33.JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41135809
• Walford, Cornelius. “History of Life Assurance in the United Kingdom (Concluded).”Journal of the Institute of Actuaries (1886-1994), vol. 26, no. 6, 1887, pp. 436–65.JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41136141
• Whittle, Matt. “How To Become An Actuary: Responsibilities, Practice Areas And Certifications.” Forbes. Nov. 29, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/education/become-an-actuary/

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Actuarial science is all about calculating risk – risk of injury, illness, death, risk of market shifts and financial outcomes. Part one covers the earliest population tables and early examples of life insurance and assurance.

Research:

• Bell, John. “London’s Remembrancer … “ E. Cotes. London. 1665. Accessed online: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A27350.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext
• Bellhouse, David R. “A New Look at Halley’s Life Table.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society.” 174, Part 3, pp. 823–832. 2011. https://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/epidemiology/hanley/c609/material/BellhouseHalleyTable2011JRSS.pdf
• Bennetts, N., (2019). MORGAN, WILLIAM (1750 - 1833), actuary and scientist.Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Retrieved 22 Dec 2023, from https://biography.wales/article/s12-MORG-WIL-1750
• Boyce, Niall. “Bills of Mortality: tracking disease in early modern London.” The Lancet. April 11, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30725-X
• Chatfield, Michael and Vangermeersch, Richard, "History of Accounting: An International Encyclopedia" (1996).Individual and Corporate Publications. 168.
  https://egrove.olemiss.edu/acct_corp/168
• CLARK, GEOFFREY. “Life Insurance in the Society and Culture of London, 1700-75.”Urban History, vol. 24, no. 1, 1997, pp. 17–36.JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44612859
• de Roover, Florence Edler. “Early Examples of Marine Insurance.”The Journal of Economic History, vol. 5, no. 2, 1945, pp. 172–200.JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2114075
• Fouse, L. G. “Policy Contracts in Life Insurance.”The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 26, 1905, pp. 29–48.JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1011003
• “James Dodson’s tables of premiums, 1756.” Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. https://www.actuaries.org.uk/learn-and-develop/research-and-knowledge/library-services/historical-collections/archive-equitable-life-assurance-society/highlights-equitable-life-archive/james-dodson-s-tables-premiums-1756
• Eggen, Olin Jeuck. "Edmond Halley".Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 Dec. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edmond-Halley
• Greenwood, Major. “The First Life Table.” Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London. October 31, 1938. Volume 1, Issue 2. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rsnr.1938.0017
• Harford, Tim. “What makes gambling wrong but insurance right ?” BBC News. March 20, 2017. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-38905963
• Ivry, David A. “Historical Development of Some Basic Life Insurance Terminology.”The Journal of Insurance, vol. 28, no. 3, 1961, pp. 65–69.JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/250376
• Lewin, Chris. “The Creation of Actuarial Science.” ZDM – Mathematics Education. 2001. Vol. 33. https://subs.emis.de/journals/ZDM/zdm012i2.pdf
• Ogborn, M.E. “The Professional Name of Actuary.” Journal of the Institute of Actuaries. 1956. https://web.archive.org/web/20081217144303/http://www.actuaries.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/25382/0233-0246.pdf
• Rose, I. Nelson. “How Insurance Became (Mostly) Not Gambling.” Gaming Law Review and Economics.Nov 2014.864-872.http://doi.org/10.1089/glre.2014.1892
• ROWELL, A. H. Journal of the Institute of Actuaries (1886-1994), vol. 88, no. 3, 1962, pp. 387–89. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41139514. Accessed 27 Dec. 2023.
• Thomas, R., & Chambers, Ll. G., (1959). PRICE, RICHARD (1723-1791), philosopher.Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Retrieved 27 Dec 2023, from https://biography.wales/article/s-PRIC-RIC-1723
• “ActuaryOverview.” Best Jobs. U.S. News and World Report. https://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/actuary
• Walford, Cornelius. “History of Life Assurance in the United Kingdom.”Journal of the Institute of Actuaries and Assurance Magazine, vol. 25, no. 2, 1885, pp. 114–33.JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41135809
• Walford, Cornelius. “History of Life Assurance in the United Kingdom (Concluded).”Journal of the Institute of Actuaries (1886-1994), vol. 26, no. 6, 1887, pp. 436–65.JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41136141
• Whittle, Matt. “How To Become An Actuary: Responsibilities, Practice Areas And Certifications.” Forbes. Nov. 29, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/education/become-an-actuary/

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This 2019 episode covers the career Alfred Wegener had outside of his ideas around what we now understand as plate tectonics, which had both detractors and supporters.

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Holly and Tracy talk about the new year and the ways they use calendars. Tracy mentions the birds that often receive ire from humans.

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In the 19th century, a heated dispute arose over the house sparrow and its introduction into North America. Elliot Coues and Thomas Mayo Brewer held opposing opinions on the matter which they defended their entire lives.

Research:

• Mosco, Rosemary. “Meet the Little Brown Bird That Holds a Mirror Up to Humanity.” Audubon. 4/5/2023. https://www.audubon.org/news/meet-little-brown-bird-holds-mirror-humanity
• Wills, Matthew. “The Great Sparrow War of the 1870s.” JSTOR Daily. 6/23/2016. https://daily.jstor.org/the-great-sparrow-war-of-the-1870s/
• Sterling, Keir B. et al, editors. “Thomas Mayo Brewer.” From Biographical Dictionary of American and Canadian Naturalists and Environmentalists.” Greenwood Press. 1997. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/yc_pubs/9/
• Glass, Chris. “The House Sparrow in Boston, Part I.” Boston Public Library Blog. 7/28/2022. https://www.bpl.org/blogs/post/the-house-sparrow-in-boston-part-i/
• Glass, Chris. “The House Sparrow in Boston, Part II.” Boston Public Library Blog. 7/28/2022. https://www.bpl.org/blogs/post/the-house-sparrow-in-boston-part-ii/
• Glass, Chris. “The House Sparrow in Boston, Part III.” Boston Public Library Blog. 7/28/2022. https://www.bpl.org/blogs/post/the-house-sparrow-in-boston-part-iii/
• Ashworth, William B. “Scientist of the Day – Thomas Mayo Brewer.” Linda Hall Library. 11/21/2018. https://www.lindahall.org/about/news/scientist-of-the-day/thomas-mayo-brewer/
• Burton, Adrian. “Suffering sparrows.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. doi:10.1002/fee.2632. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/fee.2632
• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Elliott Coues". Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 Sep. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elliott-Coues. Accessed 11 December 2023.
• Allen, J.A. “Biographical Memoir of Elliot Coues: 1842-1899.” Read before the National Academy of Sciences, April 1909. https://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/coues-elliott.pdf
• Evening star. [volume], July 28, 1886, Image 1. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1886-07-28/ed-1/seq-1/
• Coues, Elliott. “Psychic Research” and “Can Ghosts Be Investigated?” The Nation. 12/25/1884. https://books.google.com/books?id=5ixMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA543#v=onepage&q&f=false
• Dearborn, Ned. “How to Destroy English Sparrows.” Government Printing Office. 1910. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc85667/m1/1/
• Gurney, J.H. et al. “The House Sparrow.” London, W. Wesley and Son. 1885. https://archive.org/details/housesparrow00gurn/
• Cutright, Paul Russell. “Elliott Coues : naturalist and frontier historian.” Urbana : University of Illinois Press. 1981.
• Thomas Mayo Brewer. Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 15 (May, 1879 -May, 1880). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25138584
• Brodhead, Michael J. “Elliott Coues and the Sparrow War.” The New England Quarterly , Sep., 1971, Vol. 44, No. 3 (Sep., 1971). https://www.jstor.org/stable/364783
• Anderson, Warwick. “Climates of Opinion: Acclimatization in Nineteenth-Century France and England.” Victorian Studies , Winter, 1992, Vol. 35, No. 2 (Winter, 1992). https://www.jstor.org/stable/3828004
• Osborne, Michael A. “Acclimatizing the World: A History of the Paradigmatic Colonial Science.” Osiris , 2000, Vol. 15, Nature and Empire: Science and the Colonial Enterprise (2000). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/301945
• Fine, Gary Allen and Lazaros Christoforides. “Dirty Birds, Filthy Immigrants, and the English Sparrow War: Metaphorical Linkage in Constructing Social Problems.” Symbolic Interaction , Vol. 14, No. 4 (Winter 1991). https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/si.1991.14.4.375
• Coates, Peter. “Eastenders Go West: English Sparrows, Immigrants, and the Nature of Fear.” Journal of American Studies , Dec., 2005, Vol. 39, No. 3, British Association for American Studies 50th Anniversary (Dec., 2005). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27557692
• Coues, Dr. Elliott. “The Ineligibility of the European House Sparrow in America.” The American Naturalist. Vol. XII, No. 8 August 1878.
• Allen, J.A. “Notes on Some of the Rarer Birds of Massachusetts (Continued).” The American Naturalist , Feb., 1870, Vol. 3, No. 12 (Feb., 1870). https://www.jstor.org/stable/2446674
• Robbins, Chandler S. “Introduction, Spread, and Present Abundance of the House Sparrow in North America.” Ornithological Monographs , 1973, No. 14, A Symposium on the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) and European Tree Sparrow (P. Montanus) in North America (1973). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40168051
• Coues, Elliott. “On the Present Status of Passer Domesticus in America With Special Reference to the Western States and Territories.” United States Geological Survey. Extracted from the Bulletin of the Survey Vol. V. No. 2.
• Barrows, Walter R. and C. Hart Merriam. “The English Sparow (Passer Domesticus) in North America, Especially in its Relations to Agriculture.” United States Department of Agriculture Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy. Bulletin 1. Government Printing Office. 1889. https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=ofwYAAAAYAAJ&pg=GBS.PA1&hl=en
• “Thomas Mayo Brewer.” Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, Vol. 5, No. 2 (APRIL, 1880). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24723261?seq=1
• Brewer, T.M. “The European House-Sparrow.” The Atlantic. May 1868. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1868/05/the-european-house-sparrow/628410/
• “Zoology.” The American Naturalist, Vol. 8, No. 9 (Sep., 1874), pp. 553-565. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2448426?seq=4
• “Zoology.” The American Naturalist, Vol. 8, No. 7 (Jul., 1874), pp. 425-441 (17 pages). https://www.jstor.org/stable/2447653?seq=12

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People have kept diaries and recorded notes since writing was invented. But planners as we think of them today have their roots in almanacs.

Research:

• Atkins, Samuel. “Kalendarium Pennsilvaniense.” W. Bradford. 1685. https://books.google.com/books/about/Kalendarium_Pennsilvaniense_Or_America_s.html?id=wT0wAAAAYAAJ
• Nichols, Charles L. “Notes on the Almanacs of Massachusetts.” American Antiquarian Society. 1912. https://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/45647891.pdf
• Railton, Stephen. “Anti-Slavery Almanacs.” University of Virginia. https://utc.iath.virginia.edu/abolitn/gallaaaf.html
• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "almanac".Encyclopedia Britannica, 9 Oct. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/almanac
• Badian, E.. "fasti".Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 Dec. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/topic/fasti-Roman-calendar
• Winlock, H. E. “The Origin of the Ancient Egyptian Calendar.”Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 83, no. 3, 1940, pp. 447–64.JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/985113
• Smith, William, et a. “A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.” Albemarle Street, London. John Murray. 1890. Accessed online: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:entry=fasti-cn
• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Richard Pynson".Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Jan. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Pynson
• Driver, Martha W. “When Is a Miscellany Not Miscellaneous? Making Sense of the ‘Kalender of Shepherds.’”The Yearbook of English Studies, vol. 33, 2003, pp. 199–214.JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3509026
• Hockey, Thomas et al. (eds.).“The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers.”Springer Reference. New York: Springer, 2007, pp. 1258-1260 https://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Zarqali_BEA.htm
• “Diaries and Planners Market Size, Share, Growth, and Industry Analysis by Type (Diaries and Planners) By Application (Premium, and Mass), Latest Trends, Regional Insights, and Forecast From 2024 to 2031.” Business Research Insights. April 2023. https://www.businessresearchinsights.com/market-reports/diaries-and-planners-market-102040
• Hubrigh, Joachim. “An almanacke, and prognostication, for the yeare of our Lorde God. 1565. : seruing for all Europia, and also most necessary for all students, marchantes, mariners and trauellers, both by sea and lande, composed and gathered by Ioakim Hubrigh, Doctor in Phisick. Also the most principall fayres in Englande, very necessary for people that doe resorte to the same.” Imprinted by Henry Denham for William Pickring. 1565. Accessed online: https://catalog.folger.edu/record/170062?ln=en
• Shank, Michael. "Regiomontanus".Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Jul. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Regiomontanus
• Danforth, Samuel and Royster, Paul (transcriber & editor), "Samuel Danforth's Almanack Poems and Chronological Tables 1647-1649" (1649). Faculty Publications, UNL Libraries. 36. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/36
• “History of The Nautical Almanac.” Astronomical Applications Department, U.S. Government. https://aa.usno.navy.mil/publications/na_history
• “William Pierce.” Town Memorials, Winthrop, Massachusetts.” https://winthropmemorials.org/great-allotment/pages/william-pierce.html

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For New Year's Eve, we're resharing our Sept 2021 episode on the history of gin. Happy New Year to all our listeners, and cheers to you no matter your drink of choice!

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In 2014, the show covered the 1903 fire at the new Iroquois Theater. The horrible, incredibly tragic incident was the result of multiple code violations and wrongdoings.

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