Sidedoor
Smithsonian Institution Sidedoor
More than 154 million treasures fill the Smithsonian’s vaults, but where public view ends, Sidedoor begins. With the help of biologists, artists, historians, archaeologists, zookeepers and astrophysicists, host Lizzie Peabody sneaks listeners through Smithsonian’s side door to search for stories that can’t be found anywhere else. Check out si.edu/sidedoor and follow @SidedoorPod for more info.
© Smithsonian 2016
More than 154 million treasures fill the Smithsonian’s vaults, but where public view ends, Sidedoor begins. With the help of biologists, artists, historians, archaeologists, zookeepers and astrophysicists, host Lizzie Peabody sneaks listeners through Smithsonian’s side door to search for stories that can’t be found anywhere else. Check out si.edu/sidedoor and follow @SidedoorPod for more info.
© Smithsonian 2016
In honor of the Smithsonian’s 177th birthday, we’re sharing one of our favorite stories from the Sidedoor collection.
For thousands of years, fluffy white dogs could be found across the Pacific Northwest. But a hundred years ago, the woolly dog vanished. Why?
Hitch a ride on the Chandra X-ray Observatory as it scours deep space for some of the most enigmatic and misunderstood objects in the universe: black holes.
We travel through a cosmic wormhole back to the 1930s to learn how the first astrophysicist to successfully theorize a black hole, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, was ridiculed and rejected by his scientific community.
The cicadas are back for some fun in the sun, and this time, they’re louder than ever!
"God in a cup." Panamanian geisha coffee has been called many things, but never Smithsonian Bird Friendly certified.
We journey to see how carbon is measured, and why so much ends up in tropical forests.
It started as a rumor in the cafeteria of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama: monkeys on an island in the Pacific were doing something no one had ever seen them do before.
Money is power. But who's on our money - or isn’t - can be just as powerful.
This special episode is hopping with Leap Day trivia!
This Valentine’s Day, we bring you some of Japanese theater’s most popular tales of scorned lovers seeking vengeance from beyond the grave.
Lizzie and Sidedoor producer James run around the Smithsonian to answer listeners' questions from the Sidedoor mailbag.
In honor of these furry and feathered war heroes, we bring you the tales of dogs, cats and birds who went above and beyond the call of duty.
Virginia Hall dreamed of being America’s first female ambassador. Instead, she became a spy.
What does “auld lang syne” even mean?
North American River Otters are popping up in places they haven't been seen in decades and nobody really knows why.
The Gray Panthers would galvanize gray haired citizenry and youth alike to challenge the way Americans think about aging.
All three Giant Pandas are leaving the Smithsonian's National Zoo for China by the end of the year.
Why is the Smithsonian home to countless tales of unexplained phenomena and—dare we say—ghost sightings?
U.S. Postal Inspectors tracked down a band of old school outlaws using cutting edge criminal forensics.
Join us as we bust open our devices to figure out how these rare minerals power our phones.
Before Kermit joined Miss Piggy and Big Bird, he was kicking it with Sam & Friends — a local tv show in Washington, D.C. that launched Jim Henson's career.
Sidedoor returns for its tenth season on Wednesday, September 13th!
This guest episode of the Outside podcast brings you an epic camping tale in the name of history.
This guest episode of Twenty Thousand Hertz features Jurassic World sound designer Al Nelson and paleontologist Julia Clarke.
This conversation is a special update from our past episode 'Did Meat Make Us Human?' Bon appétit!
In the early 1800s, a man named William Bache traveled the United States creating hundreds of silhouette portraits of everyday people.
We trace the history of the environmental justice movement from the farmlands of North Carolina to a watershed moment in the nation's capital.
Folkways Recordings —as it's now known— lives on within the Smithsonian, connecting the past, present and future… through sounds.
Women have long fueled America's greatest scientific achievements. But when you go searching for information about these women scientists, you'll likely come up short
In this episode, we dig into the history of our lawnly love to learn where the concept came from...and how we grew so obsessed.
We sit down with Bill Nye to get schooled on science education, comedy, and the 1990s hit TV show that turned him into an entire generation’s favorite science teacher.
Through a series of steps, stumbles —and one epic tackle— running pioneers blazed the trail for women marathoners who followed, including Sunita Williams — the first person to run the Boston Marathon IN SPACE!
We think of paintings as art, but can they also be a source of data?
Most people in North America can't see the Milky Way. The reason? We're ensconced in a luminous fog of artificial lighting 24/7.
When Sidedoor listener Cliff Hall bought a used violin, he found a note tucked alongside instrument.
Sidedoor returns for its ninth season on Wednesday, March 1st!
In three short letters, we offer a glimpse of tender moments in the complex lives of others.
In 1983, the Cabbage Patch Kids were released, causing widespread pandemonium in toy stores and in the media.
This MLK Day we're digging into the story behind Dr. King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech —from its first draft to a rhyming poem and, finally, to the speech we all know today.
Augusta Savage was a Harlem Renaissance sculptor who has been called one of the most influential artists of the 21st century.
What is it about mistletoe that says “smooch?” And what the heck is figgy pudding anyway?
Known for her smashing parties, lighter-than-air souffles and comedic wit, Lucy Hicks Anderson never let anyone tell her how to live her life – not even the courts.
If you’ve heard the phrase, “full blooded,” you’re already familiar with the concept of blood quantum.
It took pride, deceit, and a giant catapult to set off the feud between the Wright brothers and the Smithsonian.
Who were the enslaved African Americans who built the White House?
The Smithsonian Institution was founded on principles of reason and scientific inquiry. So why is the museum home to countless tales of unexplained phenomena and —dare we say — ghost sightings?
Eating meat is what made us human. At least, that's one of the leading theories to explain how our brains got so big. The theory says that our human ancestors evolved bigger brains as a result of switching from a plant-based to a nutrient-rich meat diet. But earlier this year a Smithsonian researcher discovered that this theory may not have as much meat on its bones as previously believed.
When LOL just isn't enough, emoji are there for you. But for many people, there isn't an emoji to represent them.
Dorothy Liebes was a whirlwind in the weaving world.
In 19th century Japan, two sumo wrestlers faced down dozens of firefighters in a brawl so epic it inspired a Kabuki play.
When bombs explode, or natural disaster strikes, who’s pulling a sculpture from the rubble? Enter the Smithsonian Cultural Heritage Initiative.
As NASA releases the James Webb Space Telescope's first images, we focus our lens on its predecessor: the Hubble Space Telescope.
Which came first, the flag or the song? Sidedoor is celebrating this Independence Day with the story behind our flag.
In this episode, we dig into the history of our lawnly love to learn where the concept came from...and how we grew so obsessed.
In honor of the 50th anniversary of giant pandas at Smithsonian's National Zoo, we peep into the (not so secret) sex lives of pandas.
Sidedoor returns for its eighth season on Wednesday, June 15th!
We’re sharing a special guest episode of Portraits, from the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. In this episode, grassroots organizer Dolores Huerta talks about how she took on the status quo during the landmark Delano Grape Strike.
We’re sharing a special guest episode of Collected, a podcast from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
This story is about a truly intoxicating period of American history – Prohibition!
When a 200-year-old legal document anonymously arrived at conservator William Bennett's office he found a juicy tale about the founding of the Smithsonian.
Beatrice Kenner is of the most prolific African American inventors of the mid 20th century. This time on Sidedoor, we explore what might be Beatrice Kenner's greatest invention of all.
Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag. At least, that's what we were taught in school.
Baseball fan or not, you know this song…or at least, you think you do.
Before here was here Raven was a white bird, and the world was in darkness.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream Speech is one of the most famous speeches in the world. But it almost didn’t happen.
It’s easy to think artificial intelligence is objective. It doesn’t have emotions. It operates based on cold hard calculations. But artificial intelligence is built on human intelligence, and it may be carrying our old prejudices into the future with us
A skill for brewing beer and $100 reward for her capture. Those were the clues in an old newspaper ad that got Smithsonian brewing historian Theresa McCulla hooked on the story of Patsy Young, an enslaved African American woman who fled to freedom in 1808 and made a life for herself brewing beer.
In 1890, Americans were delighted when they heard the news that Thomas Edison was using his phonograph technology to give voice to porcelain dolls. But their delight soon turned to horror.
When Chiura Obata painted “Moonlight Over Topaz, Utah,” he was a prisoner at the camp: one of 120,000 Japanese Americans to be incarcerated during World War II.
When LOL just isn't enough to respond to a friend's killer joke, emoji are there for you. But for many people, there isn't an emoji to represent them or the things they want to say. This has pushed activists, designers, and straight up regular folks to create their own emoji.
There’s a new sculpture at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden: a giant torch that’s strikingly familiar – and entirely unique.
It’s a wild herb that countless cultures have used for centuries as a wonder drug to cure any ailment. It's so rare and valuable that it’s been dug to extinction nearly everywhere, except a small area of the United States.
Leeches don’t get a lot of love. They’re slimy, wriggly, and, well, they suck — blood that is. But there’s a lot to learn about the lowly leech.
The endangered Asian Elephant may be a conservation success story as its rapid decline appears to be stabilizing. But this has created a new set of problems. With little remaining habitat, these elephants have nowhere left to go but into roads, farms, and cities
Sidedoor returns for its seventh season on Wednesday, October 6th!
A new season of Sidedoor is just two weeks away! In the meantime, we’re sharing a special guest episode from Wonder Media Network’s podcast, “Encyclopedia Womannica.” In this episode, you’ll hear about the life of Patsy Mink, the first Asian-American woman to serve in Congress and run for U.S. President.
To mark the 175th anniversary of the Smithsonian’s founding, the National Portrait Gallery’s Portraits podcast takes us back in time – to trace how the concept of progress has evolved.
This summer – for the first time ever - skateboarding will be an Olympic sport. In honor of its Olympic debut, we’re revisiting one of our favorite episodes: the story of how the best women skateboarders stood toe-to-toe with the most powerful people in the industry to demand equal pay.
100 years ago, in the hills of West Virginia, Black, white and European immigrant coal miners banded together to demand better pay and safer working conditions … and were met with machine guns.
Every 17 years, the notorious Brood X cicadas crawl out of the earth by the billions to deafen Washington D.C.
When Diosa Costello took the stage in the 1939 production of “Too Many Girls,” she became the first Puerto Rican performer to tread the boards on Broadway.
LeRoy Neiman was a colorful man, both figuratively and literally. His handlebar mustache, long cigar, and sketchpad were fixtures at the sidelines of American pop culture: from boxing matches to jazz clubs and political conventions.
One hundred years ago this week, from May 31 and June 1, 1921, a mob targeted and destroyed nearly 40 blocks of a wealthy black neighborhood in North Tulsa, Oklahoma. No one knows how many people died, no one was ever convicted, and no one really talked about it nearly a century later. This is the story of the Tulsa Race Massacre and why it's important that you know it.
Groucho and Freddy. Oryx and ostriches. Cats and dinosaurs. These things go together like… well, they really don’t go together at all.
We carry portraits around all the time: pocket-sized history lessons in the form of dollars and cents. The recent decision to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill has us thinking about who’s on our money, and how they got there.
In 1918, a flu pandemic killed more than 50 million people worldwide. Forty years later, it nearly happened again.
Henrietta the river herring is not a particularly glamorous fish. But she’s got grit.
Every spring, for as long as records have been kept, a crowd of hundreds of black crowned night herons descend on the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, mating, eating and generally causing a ruckus
When Lena Richard cooked her first chicken on television, she beat Julia Child to the screen by over a decade.
American newspaper publisher and all-around eccentric, Charles Francis Hall, was an unlikely candidate to become an Arctic explorer. Nevertheless, he made three trips to the frozen north, until he died there under suspicious circumstances.
As Americans approach a full year of pandemic life, there’s an overwhelming sense of anticipation: what will life look like in six months? Maybe because looking outward feels so daunting, a lot of people are looking inward, through mindfulness and meditation.
If you’ve heard the phrase, “full blooded,” you’re already familiar with the concept of blood quantum. But Native Americans are the only peoples in the United States whose identity is defined by it.
As an up-and-coming young blues singer in the 1950s, Barbara Dane faced a choice: fame and fortune, or her principles.
Wonder Woman is the best known female superhero of all time, but she’s been through a lot.
In 1890, Americans were delighted when they heard the news that Thomas Edison was using his phonograph technology to give voice to porcelain dolls. But their delight turned to horror when they got their hands on his dolls.
This week, we have an episode from the NHPR podcast “Outside/In” about passenger pigeons.
This week, we’re sharing an episode of ‘Detours,’ a new podcast from our friends at GBH and PRX.
When a highly-contagious mystery illness spread through the world’s mountain gorilla population, biologists feared the entire species could be lost.
Dress codes have been around a long time: from the old days of long skirts and bloomers, to today’s regulation-length shorts.
When Abigail Washburn and Wu Fei first jammed together, “it was magic."
To look at them, you might think, “Monarch butterflies aren’t going anywhere fast.” But each year, these beauties complete one of the most remarkable migrations in the animal kingdom.
To understand what the suffragists were up against, we have to look at why men -- and even some other women -- didn’t want women to vote.
Fred Tutman is the voice of the river. Specifically, Maryland’s Patuxent River. As the Riverkeeper, his job is to protect and preserve all 110 miles of that waterway – a role that takes him both to the courtroom and to the riverbank.
100 years ago this month, the 19th Amendment was ratified into the American Constitution. It’s widely remembered as the moment American women gained the right to vote, but history tells a more complex story.
On November 14, 1969, just four months after Apollo 11’s “giant leap for mankind,” the Apollo 12 Saturn V rocket took off for the moon.
Baseball fan or not, you know this song…or at least, you think you do.
When Mimi Knoop entered her first skateboarding competition at 24 years old, she never anticipated leaving her mark on the sport forever.
When Lena Richard cooked her first chicken on television, she beat Julia Child to the screen by over a decade.
In 2017, a photograph of Harriet Tubman surfaced that had been lost to history for more than a .
To look at them, you might think, “Monarch butterflies aren’t going anywhere fast.” But each year, these beauties complete one of the most remarkable migrations in the animal kingdom.
A perplexing tattoo. Ancient erotica. Killer bees on the loose. This episode is full of short stories we’ve been eager to tell, but couldn’t… until now.
Three billion birds have gone missing since 1970.
Virginia Hall dreamed of being America’s first female ambassador. Instead, she became a spy.
Alexander von Humboldt might not be a name you know, but you can bet you know his ideas.
In the Venn diagram of life, it’s hard to imagine what spacecraft and women’s underwear might have in common.
Get ready for season five!
Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III is no administrative assistant. He’s the head of the largest museum, education, and research complex in the world.
Nearly 100 years ago, Charles Ponzi stumbled across a loophole in the international postal system and turned it into one of the most infamous scams of all time.
The game so horrible that it’s blamed for the collapse of the American home video game industry in the early 1980s.
Edmonia Lewis was the first American woman of color to achieve international fame as a sculptor.
When professional athletes face the end of their career, many look ahead with uncertainty and wonder: “What’s next?” But when Adam Rippon stood on the Olympic podium in 2018, making history as the first openly gay American to medal at the winter Olympics, he was sure about his next steps.
On November 14, 1969, just four months after Apollo 11’s “giant leap for mankind,” the Apollo 12 Saturn V rocket took off for the moon.
In its heyday, dynamite was a transformative tool; it could blast rock quarries, excavate tunnels, and demolish buildings with power and reliability never before seen. But it also proved to be useful in some surprising ways.
Smell connects us to memories of the people and the places of our lives. But what if it could connect us to a past we’ve never experienced?
Behind the fossilized teeth, bones, and claws displayed in the National Museum of Natural History’s new Fossil Hall is the story of two men and a nasty feud.
According to journalist, writer, and commentator Cokie Roberts, many of America's First Ladies were dynamic, politically engaged trailblazers who are often overlooked.
Join us for the ultimate Smithsonian field trip we never took as kids.
One artist photographs popular American myths using toys to hint at the facts behind the fiction
While their showy relatives fly off the shelves, North America’s more understated native orchids are disappearing in the wild.
Regie Cabico has been called the "Lady Gaga of Spoken Word poetry"—he's outspoken, provocative and iconoclastic.
When NASA’s Apollo 11 mission sent the first astronauts to the moon 50 years ago, there were many things we didn’t know.
The game so horrible that it’s blamed for the collapse of the American home video game industry in the early 1980s.
Come for the dinos, stay for the grudges.
Let us introduce you to someone!
How a Hawaiian guitar changed music.
Glittering treasures, gleaming coins, and eye-catching jewelry…gold can be all of these things, but in some parts of the world it's also an enduring link to the past.
We all know Abraham Lincoln, right? Well, we know one side of him but behind the face on the penny lies an unlikely jokester.
In 1960, investigators found dark bits of feather stuck inside a crashed airplane's engines. They needed someone to figure out what bird they belonged to—and how that bird took down a 110,000-pound plane.
Gladys Bentley loved women, wore men's clothing, and sang bawdy songs that would make sailors blush...and did it openly in the 1920s and 1930s.
In the mid-1990s, investigators identified a mysterious and seemingly unstoppable killer. Its name? Chytrid. Its prey? Frogs.
Cheech Marin is our guide to the wildly creative and ingenious world of rasquachismo—the Chicano art of working with what you've got.
From 6,000-year-old cave paintings to silver screen stars in movies like Free Willy, whales have long captured the human imagination.
You know Amelia Earhart, but did you know she was just one of a daring group of women aviators who defied both expectations and gravity in the 1920s?
This inventor, artist, and showman also made a name for himself for something much less savory: murder.
Artist Frank Holliday's odyssey through the art world placed him at the center of an epidemic that would shake the entire country.
In 1621, a group of Pilgrims and Native Americans came together for a meal that many Americans call "The First Thanksgiving." But get this—it wasn't the first, and the meal itself wasn't so special either.
As the first serious scientist to study Bigfoot, Grover Krantz risked his career and reputation on a subject that many consider a joke...
What if you found out that your grandmother’s house was going on display at a museum?
From 6,000-year-old cave paintings to silver screen stars in movies like Free Willy, whales have long captured the human imagination.
We want to take a minute to introduce you to someone.
It’s called gentrification, and the process has become a flashpoint from Houston to Harlem and beyond.
The world’s deadliest animal isn’t the tiger, the snake, or even the alligator—it’s the mosquito.
Smithsonian archaeologists make a remarkable discovery from a dig in Western Panama.
The Hope Diamond is one of the most iconic items in the Smithsonian's collections, but this glittering gem is rumored to have a dark side.
Tony sneaks away from the mosquitoes and frogs of Panama to make a special announcement.
Hop into America’s brewing pot, past and present.
What can an ancient Armenian winery tell us about the earliest days of civilization?
To close out Season 2, we’re serving up a few of our favorite Smithsonian “shorties,”plus we’ll check in with our most talked about characters from this past year.
Extinct species don’t usually get a do-over…but don’t tell that to the scimitar-horned oryx.
Explore the art of storytelling and the transformative power of a good tale with acclaimed Cherokee storyteller Robert Lewis.
Journey to artist Amy Sherald's studio to hear exactly how she captured the spirit of Michelle Obama in paint on canvas.
Heiress, divorcée … mother of forensic science? Frances Glessner Lee was not your average 19th century woman.
Chris Crowe, an animal keeper for the Smithsonian, has an unlikely bond with Walnut, a female white-naped crane.
What can an ancient Armenian winery tell us about the earliest days of civilization?
An adventure with America's first food spy, David Fairchild.
At a time when viruses were winning, Dr. Maurice Hilleman's vaccines helped turn the tide in the war against infectious diseases.
Today, the US is about 1% Muslim, but in the late 1700s, that number was likely closer to 5%. Who were these early American Muslims and where did they go?
Tony chats with the hosts of new Smithsonian podcast, Airspace
A forensic mystery, 135 years in the making.
All aboard Owney's USPS Express
J Dilla: the man behind the beats
Two famous chefs explain how food does more than keep us alive
A hippo, an orangutan, and a scientist walk into a milk bar...
Heiress, divorcée … mother of forensic science? Frances Glessner Lee was not your average 19th century woman.
This is the story of the Tulsa Race Massacre and why it's important that you know it.
Anelise Chen tells her story of how she became a ghost
Meet one of the most famous entertainers you've never heard of.
An insight into the life of artist Ai Weiwei
Moments with one intention become another.
One man's journey to fight pollution with his algal solution.
A lens into the human side of war.
Tony catches up with former White House chef and brewer, Sam Kass.
Hop into America’s brewing pot, past and present.
A forensic mystery, 135 years in the making.
Sidedoor is back!
Leave a Message at the Beep
Mid Season Update
Confronting the Past
Season 1 Tease
The Hungerford Deed
August 17, 202329min 8sec
When a 200-year-old legal document anonymously arrived at his office, Smithsonian Libraries and Archives conservator William Bennett assumed it would be full of boring legal jargon. Instead, he found a juicy tale of family betrayal that would forever change what we thought we knew about the founding of the Smithsonian. In honor of the Smithsonian’s 177th birthday, we’re sharing one of our favorite stories from the Sidedoor collection.
Guests:
William Bennett, conservator at the Smithsonian Institution Libraries and Archives
Social: @rwilliab (Instagram), @SirWilliamB (Twitter)
Heather Ewing, author of The Lost World of James Smithson, and Associate Dean at New York Studio School
Social: @HPealeEwing
Richard Kurin, Smithsonian Distinguished Scholar and Ambassador-at-Large