In 1853, a high-profile London dinner party was held inside a life-sized mold of an iguanodon.

Research:

• Cain, Joe. “New Year’s Eve Dinner in the Iguanodon at Crystal Palace 31 December 1853.” https://profjoecain.net/dinner-iguanodon-crystal-palace-dinosaurs/
• Cain, Joe. “Top Questions About New Year’s Eve Dinner in Iguanodon at Crystal Palace.” https://profjoecain.net/top-questions-about-new-years-eve-dinner-iguanodon-crystal-palace-mould-sculpture/
• Carlson, Laura. “Episode 5: A Victorian Dinosaur Dinner.” The Feast. https://www.thefeastpodcast.org/episode-5-a-victorian-dinosaur-dinner
• Friends of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. “Dinner in the Iguanodon.” 7/21/2013. https://cpdinosaurs.org/blog/post/dinner-in-the-iguanodon
• Friends of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. “How were the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs made?” 5/13/2016. https://cpdinosaurs.org/blog/post/how-were-the-crystal-palace-dinosaurs-made
• Routledge & Co., publishers. “Routledge's guide to the Crystal Palace and park at Sydenham.” Crystal Palace. 1854. https://archive.org/details/routledgesguidet00grou/
• Geological Society of London Blog. “The First Dinosaurs’ Dinner.” 4/15/2021. https://blog.geolsoc.org.uk/2021/04/15/the-first-dinosaurs-dinner/
• Hawkins, B. Waterhouse. “On Visual Education, As Applied to Geology.” Journal of the Society of Arts. Vol. II No. 78. 5/19/1854.
• Illustrated London News. “The Crystal Palace, at Sydenham.” 1/7/1854. https://archive.org/details/sim_illustrated-london-news_1854-01-07_24_662/page/21/mode/1up
• McCarthy, Steve. “The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs: The Story of the World’s First Prehistoric Sculptures.” The Crystal Palace Foundation. 1994.
• McCarthy, Steve. "Hawkins, Benjamin Waterhouse (1807–1894), natural history artist and sculptor." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. October 08, 2009. Oxford University Press. Date of access 5 Dec. 2025, https://www-oxforddnb-com.proxy.bostonathenaeum.org/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-54370
• Osterloff, Emily. “The world's first dinosaur park: what the Victorians got right and wrong.” Natural History Museum. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/crystal-palace-dinosaurs.html
• Owen, Richard. “Geology and inhabitants of the ancient world.” Crystal Palace Company. 1854. https://archive.org/details/geologyinhabitan00owen
• Peck, Robert McCracken. "The art of bones: British artist Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, who sparked dinosaur mania in the nineteenth century, still influences how natural history museums represent prehistoric life today." Natural History, vol. 117, no. 10, Dec. 2008, pp. 24+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A189832561/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=f6c80589. Accessed 5 Dec. 2025.
• Phillips, Samuel. “Guide to the Crystal Palace and Park.” Crystal Palace Library. 1854. https://archive.org/details/guidetocrystalpa00phil_0
• Rack, Yannic. “How a Victorian Dinosaur Park Became a Time Capsule of Early Paleontology.” Smithsonian. 8/29/2023. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/how-a-victorian-dinosaur-park-became-a-time-capsule-of-early-paleontology-180982799/
• The History Press. “The Victorian dinner inside a dinosaur.” https://thehistorypress.co.uk/article/the-victorian-dinner-inside-a-dinosaur/
• Witton, Mark and Ellinor Michel. “Crystal Palace dinosaurs: how we rediscovered five missing sculptures from the famous park.” The Conversation. 5/20/2022. https://theconversation.com/crystal-palace-dinosaurs-how-we-rediscovered-five-missing-sculptures-from-the-famous-park-182573

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The origins of self-help writing are often traced back to ancient times. This episode talks through some early versions of it, the goal-setting advice of a founding father, and the beginnings of the modern self-help genre.

Research:

• Brady, Diane. “Charles Manson’s Turning Point: Dale Carnegie Classes.” Bloomberg Businessweek. July 22, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130925204803/http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-22/charles-mansons-turning-point-dale-carnegie-classes
• Britannica Editors. "Lunyu". Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 Jan. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lunyu
• Britannica Editors. "Norman Vincent Peale". Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 May. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Norman-Vincent-Peale
• Carnegie, Dale. “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” London. Vermillion. Digital: https://dn720004.ca.archive.org/0/items/english-collections-1/How%20To%20Win%20Friends%20And%20Influence%20People%20-%20Carnegie%2C%20Dale.pdf
• Fairbanks, Douglas. “Laugh and Live.” New York. Britton Publishing Company. 1917. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/12887/pg12887.txt
• Fontaine, Carole R. “A Modern Look at Ancient Wisdom: The Instruction of Ptahhotep Revisited.” The Biblical Archaeologist, vol. 44, no. 3, 1981, pp. 155–60. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3209606
• Franklin, Benjamin. “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.” HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY. 1916. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/20203/20203-h/20203-h.htm#X
• Battiscombe G. “THE INSTRUCTION OF PTAH-HOTEP AND THE INSTRUCTION OF
  KE'GEMNI: THE OLDEST BOOKS IN THE WORLD.” London. John Murray. 1906. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/30508/30508-h/30508-h.htm
• Lilienfeld, Scott O. and Hal Arkowitz. “Can positive thinking be negative?” Scientific American. May 1, 2011. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-positive-thinking-be-negative/
• Ray, J. D. “Egyptian Wisdom Literature.” Wisdom in Ancient Israel. Ed. John Day, Robert P. Gordon, and Hugh Godfrey Maturin Williamson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. 17–29.
• Stableford, Brian. “Samuel Smiles.” Ebsco. 2023. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/samuel-smiles
• Seneca, Lucius Annaius, and Garth D. Williams (tr.). “On the Shortness of Life.” https://ia601705.us.archive.org/25/items/SenecaOnTheShortnessOfLife/Seneca%20on%20the%20Shortness%20of%20Life.pdf
• Tabor, Nick. "Dale Carnegie". Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Nov. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dale-Carnegie

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This 2019 episode covers Paul Julius Reuter, who had a knack for filling in the gaps in communication systems, and making a lot of money doing so.

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Holly talks about the ways Joseph Medill could be both problematic and surprising. Tracy shares her additional thoughts on the book about caroling she used during research that wasn't always about caroling.

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William Sandys was an antiquarian who published a collection of Christmas carols in the 19th century that turned out to be really influential.

Research:

• Archambo, Shelley Batt. “The Development of the English Carol Through the Fifteenth Century.” The Choral Journal, OCTOBER 1986, Vol. 27, No. 3. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23547224REFERENCES
• Brain, Jessica. “History of Christmas Carols.” Historic UK. 12/13/2024. https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/History-Christmas-Carols/
• “Carol, N.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, June 2025, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1684298837.
• Carter, Michael. “The origins of Christmas carols.” English Heritage. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/inspire-me/origins-of-christmas-carols/
• Cartwright, Mark. "The History of Christmas Carols." World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia, 05 Dec 2023, https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2339/the-history-of-christmas-carols/. Web. 03 Dec 2025.
• Davey, Henry, and Elizabeth Baigent. "Sandys, William (1792–1874), writer on music and antiquary." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. September 23, 2004. Oxford University Press. Date of access 3 Dec. 2025, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-24654
• Ditchfield, Peter Hampson. “Old English customs extant at the present time; an account of local observances.” London, G. Redway. 1896. https://archive.org/details/studentshistoryo00gardrich
• Dreamer, Percy R. et al. “The Oxford Book Of Carols.” Oxford University Press. 1928.
• English Heritage. “A Brief History of Christmas Carols.” https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/members-area/members-magazine/podcast-extras/history-of-carols/
• Sandys, William. “Christmas carols, ancient and modern; including the most popular in the west of England, and the airs to which they are sung. Also specimens of French provincial carols. With an introduction and notes.” London, R. Beckley. 1833. https://archive.org/details/christmascarolsa00sandrich/mode/1up
• Sandys, William. “Christmastide: Its History, Festivities and Carols.” London: John Russell Smith. 1860. https://archive.org/details/christmastideits00sandrich/
• The Law Bod Blog. “Heading towards Christmas.” 12/2/2013. https://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/lawbod/2013/12/02/heading-towards-christmas/
• Huxtable, Sally-Anne. “Wassailing: ritual and revelry.” National Trust. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/history/art-collections/wassailing-ritual-and-revelry

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Joseph Medill was a powerhouse in 19th century journalism who made no attempt to conceal his bias when it came to political writing. He also had a fascinating second career due to a tragedy, when he became a politician.

Research:

• Anderson, Jeffrey Justin. “JOSEPH MEDILL: HOW ONE MAN INFLUENCED THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION OF 1860.” Thesis. Roosevelt University. 2011. https://www.proquest.com/openview/6c0d810b769e5f18c08a028835deba88/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750
• Britannica Editors. "Joseph Medill". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Apr. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Medill
• Britannica Editors. "Chicago Tribune". Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 Aug. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chicago-Tribune
• “Chicago History.” Chicago.gov. https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/about/history.html#:~:text=Incorporated%20as%20a%20city%20in,Hare%20and%20Midway%20International%20airports.
• Hughes, Frank. “Lincoln and the Tribune: A Great American and a Great Paper to Mold U.S. History.” Chicago Tribune. June 10, 1947. https://www.newspapers.com/image-view/169275545/
• “Joseph Medill, Giant of Journalism.” Chicago Tribune. June 10, 1947. https://www.newspapers.com/image-view/370685102/?match=1&terms=Joseph%20Medill
• “Joseph Medill Is Dead.” Chicago Tribune. March. 17, 1899. https://www.newspapers.com/image-view/355009623/?fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjM1NTAwOTYyMywiaWF0IjoxNzY1MjUwOTIxLCJleHAiOjE3NjUzMzczMjF9.T6Xs_g5fD6JZTwZSYECT73-0gILoXji25OQ_fIX1MI4
• McKinney, Megan. “The Magnificent Medills: America's Royal Family of Journalism During a Century of Turbulent Splendor.” Harper Collins. 2011.
• Medill, Joseph. “Mayor Joseph Medill Inaugural Address, 1871.” https://www.chipublib.org/mayor-joseph-medill-inaugural-address-1871/
• Moses, John. “Biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of the representative men of the United States : Illinois volume.” Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co. 1896. Accessed online: https://archive.org/details/biographicaldi1271mose/page/12/mode/2up
• Smith, Richard Norton. “The Colonel: The Life and Legend of Robert R. McCormick 1880-1955.” Houghton Mifflin. 1997.

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This 2018 episode covers the sinking of the SS Princess Sophia, a massive tragedy for both Canada and the United States. But it was also really overshadowed by the end of World War I and the flu pandemic.

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Tracy shares her experiences watching the show "Molly of Denali." The discussion then turns to glacier surge.

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