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History Detectives
HISTORY DETECTIVES returns to explore the stories behind historic sites, artifacts and tall tales told in cities across the country, with the help of an inquisitive team of fact-finders with an uncanny talent for uncovering the truth.
Calf Creek Arrow/Doc Holliday Watch/Black Star Line Certificates Episode #408 CALF CREEK ARROW: An Oklahoma resident discovered an unusual bison skull while fossil hunting in a dry riverbed. Lodged in the bone was a handmade point, which the contributor believes dates back to the Calf Creek culture, around 3000 B.C. Could this be just another hoax or an incredible archeological discovery? HISTORY DETECTIVES learns more about this group of nomadic hunter-gatherers, while putting this handmade point through the extreme rigors of modern forensic testing.DOC HOLLIDAY WATCH: Four years ago, a pawn store clerk in Tulsa, Oklahoma, met a customer with a pawned antique watch, engraved with a potentially historic inscription. Could this watch have been a gift from the fearless frontier lawman Wyatt Earp to the dentist, gambler and gunman "Doc" Holliday, perhaps in gratitude for his help fighting the Clanton outlaw gang at the OK Corral? HISTORY DETECTIVES uncovers the surprising facts behind this legendary gunfight and the real relationship between Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday.BLACK STAR LINE CERTIFICATES: A North Carolina woman recently found two Black Star Line stock certificates that had been purchased by her great grandfather in 1919. She didn't know the significance of the documents, but what looked like a Marcus Garvey signature on the papers saved them from the trashcan. Garvey founded the steamship company through his United Negro Improvement Association in 1919. Could this document be a rare artifact from Garvey's heyday? HISTORY DETECTIVES takes a closer look at this controversial and enigmatic figure who fought for economic self-reliance and political self-determination for African Americans. Rebroadcast
Saturday , November, 07, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Episode #711 Civil War Bridge - Clearing some newly purchased property along the Broad River in Columbia, South Carolina, the owner discovered evidence of an old bridge abutment. He searched the river for clues and thinks he may have pinpointed the location where Confederates burned the bridge to thwart General Sherman's attempt to cross into Columbia to continue his scorch-and-burn campaign. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray goes to Columbia to examine the evidence and see if this discovery will redraw the maps of the Civil War.Scottsboro Boys Stamp - A contributor bought an inconspicuous black and white stamp at an outdoor market in Scottsboro, Alabama. "Save the Scottsboro Boys" is printed on the stamp above nine black faces behind prison bars and two arms prying the bars apart. One arm bears the tattoo "ILD." On the bottom of the stamp is printed "one cent." The Scottsboro Boys were falsely accused and convicted of raping two white girls in 1931 on a train near Scottsboro, Alabama. It took several appeals, two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and nearly two decades before all nine finally walked free. How is the stamp connected to this landmark civil rights case? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwendolyn Wright consults with a stamp expert to discover how a tiny penny stamp could make a difference in the young men's defense effort.Duke Ellington Plates - A New York man took a stroll through Harlem 20 years ago and stumbled across boxes of sheet music in a dumpster. Among the paper scores were metal sheets that look like printing plates for "Take the A Train," written by Billy Strayhorn and performed by jazz great Duke Ellington. Scratches and ink smudges mar the plates, signs that someone might have run these through a printing press, but there's no apparent copyright stamp. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi sets out to find the story behind these plates and to determine the role they played in this jazz classic. Rebroadcast
Saturday , November, 07, 2009 MPT2
Previous Episodes
05:00 PM
The Love Dish, Rebel Gun, Prison Plaque Episode #110 THE LOVE DISH - Hearts and arrows blaze across an unusual set of china at the Powel House in Philadelphia. Family legend claims the Marquis de Lafayette gave the set to Elizabeth Willing, the popular wife of the Patriot Mayor. The HISTORY DETECTIVES look into the facts and fiction behind this racy 18th century gift. REBEL GUN - Mercer County Historical Society has in its possession a late 18th century flint-lock rifle, which, according to local lore, once belonged to legendary Tory bandit Moses Doan, and was recovered after he was killed in a raid of his hideout in 1783. The Society would like to know: Was this the gun of one of the most infamous bandits operating to undermine the birth of our nation? The HISTORY DETECTIVES travel west of Philadelphia, our nation's first capital, to uncover the truth. PRISON PLAQUE - In the heart of Philadelphia, stands the abandoned Eastern State Penitentiary building. Founded by Quakers in 1829, this castle-like structure set new standards for prisons across the country with its progressive ideas for rehabilitation. Recently, a group in charge of preserving this historic structure found a strange plaque discarded in a pile of rubbish. Dusting it off, they found an intriguing inscription: "In the everlasting memory of the inmates of Eastern State Penitentiary who served in World War I". Even more intriguing is that fact that they are listed not by name, but by their prison numbers. From what they know, convicted felons were prohibited from enlisting or being drafted to fight in the war. Is this an example of the prison's progressive take on prisoner reform? Or is this a sign of desperate recruiting measures for the "War to end all wars", where even prisoners are being sent into battle? The HISTORY DETECTIVES are on the case to get to the bottom of this mystery. Rebroadcast
Thursday , November, 19, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Sheridan's House, Mark Twain Watch, Prisoner Poem Episode #109 SHERIDAN'S HOUSE - On a dusty back road in the town of Grand Ronde, Oregon sits what appears to be an abandoned, early 20th Century Dutch Colonial Style home. But is it? Research conducted on behalf of the Oregon State Department of Parks and Recreation recently revealed an astounding discovery. At the core of the house is a U.S. Army officer's quarters - one of four built in the 1850's at nearby Fort Yamhill on the border of a Native American reservation. The construction of these buildings was supervised by a young officer who was destined to become one of the Union Army's greatest generals and a ruthless foe for Native Americans in the Far West. Now local residents want the HISTORY DETECTIVES to find out -- was this the home of General Philip Sheridan? MARK TWAIN WATCH - An Oregon man, Jack Ainsworth Mills, has a watch that may have been a gift to his grandfather from noted American author, Samuel Clemens, otherwise known as Mark Twain. Mr. Mills has always wondered how his grandfather, Captain Ainsworth, a prominent Oregonian, could have met Clemens, and why he would have been given such a gift. The HISTORY DETECTIVES will follow the trail of these two adventurous men to discover if their paths could have ever crossed, to determine if the Mills family legend could be true. PRISONER POEM HISTORY DETECTIVES goes to Salem, Oregon to look into the story of a Revolutionary War poem found 25 years ago hidden in an antique trunk. The document appears to have been written by an American named Dan Goodhue while imprisoned in 1780 as a POW in England. Who was this man and how did his poem travel for over two centuries, across the sea and nation, to end up in Oregon? Rebroadcast
Wednesday , November, 18, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Ventriloquist Dummy/Home of Lincoln Assassination Plot/34 Star Flag Episode #108 Ventriloquist Dummy - An African American woman in Brooklyn, New York, has her father's black ventriloquist dummy, "Sam." Her father, John Cooper, was the first famous African-American ventriloquist. In a time of minstrel stereotypes, did "Sam" help transform how Americans viewed race in the early 20th century? How was this dummy created, and was it meant to be a protest against racial prejudice? Home of Lincoln Assassination Plot - A resident of Greenwich Village, New York, has a question about the home in which she's been living for the last few years. She's heard a rumor that John Wilkes Booth, the infamous assassin of Abraham Lincoln, spent some time in her house. Not only that, she's heard that her home is where the plot for the assassination was hatched. Is this really where Lincoln's murder was planned? 34 Star Flag - Twenty years ago, the Staten Island Historical Society received a beautiful 34-star flag and a fascinating mystery. Patched together with bits of fabric much like a quilt, the flag flew at a boarding house on Staten Island. According to local legend, an angry mob approached the owner of the boarding house. The mob claimed that one of his boarders had hung a Confederate flag outside the window. It was just before the outbreak of the Civil War, and with tensions running high the mob was threatening to burn down the boarding house. As several other buildings were already in flames, the owner knew to take them seriously. He ran back to tear down the flag, but that did not satisfy the crowd. To save his building from being burnt to the ground, he replaced the rebel flag with the 34-star U.S. flag. The Staten Island Historical Society wants to know, is there any truth to this story? Rebroadcast
Tuesday , November, 17, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
The Depot That Made Dallas, Mexican Peso, Pirate Spyglass Episode #107 The Depot That Made Dallas - A local historian in Dallas, Texas, has a question about an early railroad station in the middle of Dallas. He wants to know if this building was the first railroad station in Texas - and if so, was it responsible for creating the bustling metropolis that Dallas is today? HISTORY DETECTIVES hits town to investigate this railroad mystery. Mexican Peso - A man from San Antonio, Texas, found what looked like Mexican currency among his late great-grandfather's possessions. Are they linked to the Mexican bandits Zapata and Pancho Villa? Did they play a part in the Mexican revolution in the 1910s and if so, how did they get into the hands of his great-grandfather, a quiet family man from San Antonio? Pirate Spyglass - Jean Lafitte has been called a fearsome pirate, an ingenious privateer and a war hero. His exploits are still recounted today in Texas and Louisiana. A librarian in Texas City, Texas, has a spyglass she believes may once have belonged to Lafitte. Old, but still in working condition, the object was donated to the local library by a descendent of Jim Campbell - a founder of the town and one of Lafitte's captains. Did Jean Lafitte give his trusted captain a spyglass, and if he did - is this Jean Lafitte's spyglass? Rebroadcast
Monday , November, 16, 2009 MPT2
06:00 PM
Episode #605 Hindenburg Artifact - A Hoboken, New Jersey, man has a palm-sized, army-green metal box that looks like an instrument panel. Beneath a shattered plastic covering is a sliding, numbered scale; knobs on each end move a lever across the scale. German writing indicates the country of origin. Might this instrument have been recovered from the crash site of the Hindenburg in Lakehurst, New Jersey? Family lore says that a distant relative was among the many bystanders plucking souvenirs from the wreckage of the terrifying disaster. Chemicals from the fire or balloon envelope gas would have evaporated 10 minutes after the explosion, but the broken plastic can be tested for age and heat distress with forensic analysis of the instrument. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray travels to Atlanta and the New Jersey landing site of the ill-fated zeppelin to determine if the instrument panel is in fact from the horrifying crash.Bonus Army Stamp - A collector in Hawaii has a postage-sized stamp with an illustration of a World War I "doughboy" solider and the words "PAY THE BONUS." The contributor, whose grandfather was a World War I soldier, thinks the stamp is linked to the "Bonus Army" veterans. A bill was passed in 1924 promising WWI veterans a payment 21 years later - dubbed a "bonus" - in 1945. When the Great Depression hit, veterans organized to demand early payment of the bonus. They organized a protest march on Washington in 1932, demanding pay for their combat, and approximately 20,000 veterans camped out near the Capitol following the march. Weeks went by until Herbert Hoover ordered General Douglas McArthur to force the vets out. Two veterans were shot and killed; thousands were tear-gassed. What role did this political stamp play in the veterans' movement? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Wes Cowan heads to Hyde Park, New York, and Washington, DC, to reveal the stamp's connection to the veterans' struggle.Dempsey Fight Bell - July 4, 1919, marks the day America found its true calling in a national obsession. Icon Jack Dempsey became the world's first boxing superstar, and he did it with the clang of a bell. Now, a contributor in Reno, Nevada, wants to know: Is the bell he's toasted many a night on the wall of his favorite bar the one that was ringside at Dempsey's legendary world heavyweight championship match? The question goes beyond a single fight. Dempsey's bout ushered in the Roaring 20s, America's fascination with celebrity and the golden age of championship sports. Tukufu Zuberi leads the HISTORY DETECTIVES to weigh in on the case in Reno, Nevada, and New York City, sorting truth from myth to determine which clues ring true. Rebroadcast
Sunday , November, 15, 2009 MPT2
09:00 AM
Grace Kelly Automobile/Illicit P.O.W. Photos/Mystery Motorcycle Episode #409 Grace Kelly Automobile - In 1955, famed director Alfred Hitchcock was at the top of his game with the release of To Catch a Thief, a romantic thriller starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. But for some Hitchcock fans, the real star of the film is the Sunbeam Alpine, a sleek, sexy 1953 convertible. The car was already popular in elite automotive circles, but its Hitchcock film cameo would transform this car into a cult object. Now, a man in Los Angeles believes he has the original Sunbeam Alpine used in the film. HISTORY DETECTIVES heads to California to revisit the glamour of 1950s Hollywood and rub elbows with some of the key players who worked side by side with the Master of Suspense.Illicit P.O.W. Photos - A contributor from Daytona Beach, Florida, has an extraordinary set of photographs he believes come from his great-great-grandfather, who fought in the Civil War and was once a confederate prisoner of war at Johnson's Island on Lake Erie. The collection of portraits comes with a note that asserts the images were taken illicitly and depict fellow incarcerated confederate officers. The author claims the photos were taken with a camera he built from items he possessed when he was captured, as well as tools he collected while in the prison camp, and adds that the chemicals used to develop the photos were stolen from the camp hospital. Is the contributor's relative in fact the photographer, and if so, would it have been possible for him to make a camera with the materials he describes? HISTORY DETECTIVES heads to Ohio, Maryland and Pennsylvania to investigate the history of Civil War photography and discover how confederate and union prisoners, officers and enlisted men, were treated during wartime.Mystery Motorcycle - A man in Flemington, New Jersey, has recently purchased a beautiful old Harley-Davidson motorcycle and is eager to learn more about the machine's early history. The tank of his 1914 bike bears the "Cross of Lorraine," a historic symbol of French nationalism. The contributor is aware that Harley-Davidson sold motorcycles to the U.S. Military during WWI, and he wants to know whether his bike clocked mileage in war-torn Europe. As the detectives follow this lead in New Jersey and Wisconsin, their course takes an unanticipated swerve when they find that the cross also served as the emblem for the U.S. National Tuberculosis Association in the early 1900s. While uncovering clues about the early public health initiative to wipe out tuberculosis, the detectives dig deep in the Harley-Davidson archives to examine the company's possible involvement in the campaign to eradicate the deadly "White Plague." Rebroadcast
Sunday , November, 15, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
John Brown's Letters, Japanese House, Poems Episode #106 History Detectives are in California this week tracking down the past and solving your mysteries. Does a California woman own a treasure trove of John Brown's documents? Tukufu sets out to authenticate the letters and delve into her family tree to prove if she is related to the famous abolitionist. How did an authentic Japanese house become part of the famed San Francisco World Fair just before World War II? The history detectives attempt to reveal the origins of the house and how it got there. Kathleen Wong, a second-generation Chinese-American, calls in the history detectives to trace her ancestors' perilous journey to America. She wants to know whether any of the hundreds of poems left on the walls at a West Coast detention center relate to her family. Rebroadcast
Saturday , November, 14, 2009 MPT2
09:00 AM
Grace Kelly Automobile/Illicit P.O.W. Photos/Mystery Motorcycle Episode #409 Grace Kelly Automobile - In 1955, famed director Alfred Hitchcock was at the top of his game with the release of To Catch a Thief, a romantic thriller starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. But for some Hitchcock fans, the real star of the film is the Sunbeam Alpine, a sleek, sexy 1953 convertible. The car was already popular in elite automotive circles, but its Hitchcock film cameo would transform this car into a cult object. Now, a man in Los Angeles believes he has the original Sunbeam Alpine used in the film. HISTORY DETECTIVES heads to California to revisit the glamour of 1950s Hollywood and rub elbows with some of the key players who worked side by side with the Master of Suspense.Illicit P.O.W. Photos - A contributor from Daytona Beach, Florida, has an extraordinary set of photographs he believes come from his great-great-grandfather, who fought in the Civil War and was once a confederate prisoner of war at Johnson's Island on Lake Erie. The collection of portraits comes with a note that asserts the images were taken illicitly and depict fellow incarcerated confederate officers. The author claims the photos were taken with a camera he built from items he possessed when he was captured, as well as tools he collected while in the prison camp, and adds that the chemicals used to develop the photos were stolen from the camp hospital. Is the contributor's relative in fact the photographer, and if so, would it have been possible for him to make a camera with the materials he describes? HISTORY DETECTIVES heads to Ohio, Maryland and Pennsylvania to investigate the history of Civil War photography and discover how confederate and union prisoners, officers and enlisted men, were treated during wartime.Mystery Motorcycle - A man in Flemington, New Jersey, has recently purchased a beautiful old Harley-Davidson motorcycle and is eager to learn more about the machine's early history. The tank of his 1914 bike bears the "Cross of Lorraine," a historic symbol of French nationalism. The contributor is aware that Harley-Davidson sold motorcycles to the U.S. Military during WWI, and he wants to know whether his bike clocked mileage in war-torn Europe. As the detectives follow this lead in New Jersey and Wisconsin, their course takes an unanticipated swerve when they find that the cross also served as the emblem for the U.S. National Tuberculosis Association in the early 1900s. While uncovering clues about the early public health initiative to wipe out tuberculosis, the detectives dig deep in the Harley-Davidson archives to examine the company's possible involvement in the campaign to eradicate the deadly "White Plague." Rebroadcast
Saturday , November, 14, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Lee's Last Orders, Natchez House, Napoleonic Sword Episode #105 LEE'S LAST ORDERS--Beech Island, South Carolina--In the archives of a gentleman's club in this rural town is what is believed to be a hand-written, signed copy of one of the most famous documents in the history of the Civil War--Confederate General Robert E. Lee's farewell address, "General Order #9," composed at Appomattox, Virginia upon the surrender of his troops in April 1865. The Beech Island Agricultural Club, a social organization formed by local plantation owners in the 1840's, has owned this copy for almost 120 years. Is this really the "original" copy of "General Order #9"?NATCHEZ HOUSE--Natchez, Mississippi--There is a magnificent home on the "Spanish Esplanade" overlooking the Mississippi River that for years was believed to be the original home of one of the Spanish dons that colonized the area. The original owner was actually a free man of color named Robert D. Smith who built it himself in 1851, 14 years before the Emancipation Proclamation. The new homeowners, Ruth and Jim Coy, have been actively pursuing the history of Robert Smith and they have a question. According to a recently discovered record, Smith arrived in New Orleans on a slave ship. How did Robert Smith go from traveling on a slave ship full of captive individuals destined for servitude to owning a luxurious home?NEPOLEONIC SWORD--St. Martinville, LA--A magnificent sword that has been handed down for generations in a St. Martinville family has a mystery around it. Family lore has it that Napoleon was injured and their great-great grandfather treated Napoleon's wound. He was rewarded with this sword. Is this really the sword of Napoleon? Rebroadcast
Friday , November, 13, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Portrait of George Washington, Patty Cannon, Trumpet Episode #104 PORTRAIT OF GEORGE WASHINGTON--Washington, D.C.--Could a portrait passed down a Washington D.C. family for generations actually be an authentic portrait of our nation's first president, George Washington? That is the charge for the HISTORY DETECTIVES in this fascinating episode. Our investigators attempt to prove whether or not the famed artist Gilbert Stuart, whose resume includes the portrait of Washington that appears on today's dollar bills, was the artist behind the painting in question. Might this painting prove to be a national treasure?PATTY CANNON--Frederick, Maryland--Could a Maryland family's home once have been the headquarters for the slave trade of Patty Cannon, coined 'the most wicked woman in America'? Legend has it the she was a villainous woman who stole slaves and kidnapped free African-Americans to then sell them back to plantation owners . Now the HISTORY DETECTIVES team investigates to see if they can prove once and for all that this is in fact the former home of Patty Cannon. Will they be able to draw long sought after conclusions or will the mystery remain?TRUMPET--Philadelphia, Pennsylvania--Is a Philadelphia man's trumpet that he bought at a local auction somehow tied to the Revolutionary War? That is the mystery bestowed upon the HISTORY DETECTIVES to solve this time around. Inscribed with the name "Captain Lewis," the trumpet appears to have been used by the aforementioned captain during the battles that won America's independence from England. Will the trumpet prove to be a valuable piece of American history or will the team turn up empty handed? Rebroadcast
Thursday , November, 12, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Charles W. Morgan Whaling Ship, Witch's House, Jigsaw Puzzle Episode #103 MORGAN WHALING SHIP--Mystic, Connecticut--Might a whaling ship docked in Mystic, Connecticut, hold secrets to the Underground Railroad? That is the basis for the HISTORY DETECTIVES investigation on this captivating episode. The team speaks with the grandson of the last captain of the ship, known as The Morgan, in an effort to shed some light on the role of these kinds of ships in that period. Does The Morgan prove to be an integral part of the Underground Railroad?WITCH'S HOUSE--Essex County, Massachusetts-- Could a house in Essex County, Massachusetts, have once belonged to an accused witch? The HISTORY DETECTIVES gang heads up to New England to research this likelihood with local historians and a descendant of the witch herself. The "witch", Martha Carrier, was executed by hanging in 1692 during the infamous Salem Witch Trials. Might this woman who was called the 'Queen of Hell' have owned this home?1909 JIGSAW PUZZLE--Worcester, Massachusetts--Were women playing contact sports in the late part of the nineteenth century? That is the question being asked by Bob and Hildegard Armstrong of Worcester, Massachusetts. A quirky jigsaw puzzle depicting women in the midst of a game of rugby or football has led to an investigation by the HISTORY DETECTIVES team. The investigation begins with a visit to a jigsaw puzzle expert and continues on to a sports historian, a magazine expert and finally to the Society for the Preservation of New England's Antiquities. Will the Armstrong's be able to put the pieces together once and for all? Rebroadcast
Wednesday , November, 11, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Bonnie & Clyde, Al Ringling Theater, Sears Home Episode #102 BONNIE & CLYDE--Brodhead, Wisconsin--Could bullets owned by a woman in a small Wisconsin town be responsible for the demise of the notorious Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow? The HISTORY DETECTIVES team travels to key cities throughout the country in an attempt to link the bullets to the murderous twosome. Along the way they chat with various experts and run extensive ballistics tests. Are these really the bullets that ended one of the most infamous crime-sprees in American history?AL RINGLING THEATER--Baraboo, Wisconsin--Is it possible that a theater in the small town of Baraboo, Wisconsin could have been the country's first great movie palace? The exquisite theater, which was designed in 1915 by Chicago architects C.W. and George Rapp, is a masterpiece designed in the style of the great French Opera Houses. The HISTORY DETECTIVES enlist the help of the Theatre Historical Society of America in order to solve the great mystery of this grand edifice. Why was such an ornate theater resurrected in such an obscure location and how has it stayed relevant throughout the years?SEARS HOME--Akron, Ohio--Might an Ohio couple's residence be a long forgotten Sears home? The HISTORY DETECTIVES head to Akron, Ohio to investigate whether or not Sears & Roebuck could have built the home in question at a time when communities were springing up almost overnight to aid in the industrial boom. Does this couple live in a relic from years gone by or will they find out otherwise? Rebroadcast
Tuesday , November, 10, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Fire Station, Face Artifact, Pop Lloyd's Baseball Episode #101 FIRE STATION--Morristown, New Jersey--Did President Ulysses S. Grant stop by a Morristown, New Jersey firehouse on the Centennial of America? The HISTORY DETECTIVES are on the case to determine if and why such a visit might have occurred. By scouring through old records and speaking to various experts they hope to uncover the truth. Is the signature in the logbook authentic and if so, why was the Commander-In-Chief in town on such a historic date?FACE ARTIFACT--Mantoloking, New Jersey--Is it possible that a rock found along the beaches of the Jersey Shore could be an artifact left behind by Native Americans? The HISTORY DETECTIVES head to the home of Mrs. Betsy Colie, the lucky woman who stumbled upon the treasure, in an attempt to unlock the secrets held inside this stone with an etched face. Is it really a link to an ancient civilization or does this turn out to be just another pebble in the sand?POP LLOYD'S BASEBALL FIELD--Atlantic City, New Jersey--Why was a baseball field in Atlantic City, New Jersey named after an African-American ball-player in a time of intense racial tension? Our HISTORY DETECTIVES go to the park itself to unearth the explanation. John Henry "Pop" Lloyd was one of the greatest athletes of his time. A famed shortstop in the Negro Leagues throughout the first three decades of the twentieth century, Pop was honored with a field in his name in 1949. What was the course of reason that led to this unlikely honor in a time of blatant prejudice and racial division? Rebroadcast
Monday , November, 09, 2009 MPT2
06:00 PM
Episode #604 China Marine Jacket - A man in Santa Monica, California, received an embroidered jacket as a gift from his son. The contributor, a former Marine, is intrigued by the jacket's stitched inscriptions, which read: "4th Marines," "Shanghai," "China," "1937-1939" and "MWD." He knows the 4th Marines were transferred from Shanghai to the Philippines in November 1941 amidst growing tensions with the Japanese. The unit was attacked by the Japanese on the same day as the Pearl Harbor bombings. Some of the men who fought in the Philippines never returned, having suffered Japanese imprisonment and the Bataan Death March. But to whom did this particular jacket belong, and what was his legacy as a Marine? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwen Wright travels to Washington, DC, and Los Angeles to investigate the story of the "China Marines," a regiment that worked under extreme circumstances to keep the peace and protect American interests during the perilous ramp up to World War II.Airstream Caravan - A couple in Southern California owns a classic Airstream trailer that may lay claim to an illustrious past. The trailer's fading numbers and logo indicate that it is an early member of the elite Wally Byam Caravan Club International. In the mid-20th century, members of this adventure club followed legendary leader and Airstream founder Wally Byam all over the world: Central America, Europe, Africa and the Yucatan Peninsula. Did this particular Airstream make the journey on the historic "Cape Town to Cairo Caravan" of 1959? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi heads to Denver and Southern California to explore one man's wanderlust at the birth of American leisure travel and, ultimately, to a spectacular 221-day, 14,307-mile trek from the tip of Southern Africa to the pyramids of Ancient Egypt.Lincoln Forgery - A woman in Portland, Oregon, owns a bound volume of 19th-century sheet music. The book contains several "Abraham Lincoln" signatures on random pages. At the end of one of the compositions, a handwritten notarized inscription claims the music is a gift from President Lincoln's widow, Mary Todd Lincoln, to Lincoln's former coachman, William P. Brown, in 1866. Could the sheet music really be from Lincoln's personal library? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Wes Cowan travels to Chicago and Springfield, Illinois, to explore the years after Lincoln's death and to illuminate the origins of these curious documents. Rebroadcast
Sunday , November, 08, 2009 MPT2
09:00 AM
Calf Creek Arrow/Doc Holliday Watch/Black Star Line Certificates Episode #408 CALF CREEK ARROW: An Oklahoma resident discovered an unusual bison skull while fossil hunting in a dry riverbed. Lodged in the bone was a handmade point, which the contributor believes dates back to the Calf Creek culture, around 3000 B.C. Could this be just another hoax or an incredible archeological discovery? HISTORY DETECTIVES learns more about this group of nomadic hunter-gatherers, while putting this handmade point through the extreme rigors of modern forensic testing.DOC HOLLIDAY WATCH: Four years ago, a pawn store clerk in Tulsa, Oklahoma, met a customer with a pawned antique watch, engraved with a potentially historic inscription. Could this watch have been a gift from the fearless frontier lawman Wyatt Earp to the dentist, gambler and gunman "Doc" Holliday, perhaps in gratitude for his help fighting the Clanton outlaw gang at the OK Corral? HISTORY DETECTIVES uncovers the surprising facts behind this legendary gunfight and the real relationship between Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday.BLACK STAR LINE CERTIFICATES: A North Carolina woman recently found two Black Star Line stock certificates that had been purchased by her great grandfather in 1919. She didn't know the significance of the documents, but what looked like a Marcus Garvey signature on the papers saved them from the trashcan. Garvey founded the steamship company through his United Negro Improvement Association in 1919. Could this document be a rare artifact from Garvey's heyday? HISTORY DETECTIVES takes a closer look at this controversial and enigmatic figure who fought for economic self-reliance and political self-determination for African Americans. Rebroadcast
Sunday , November, 08, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Episode #711 Civil War Bridge - Clearing some newly purchased property along the Broad River in Columbia, South Carolina, the owner discovered evidence of an old bridge abutment. He searched the river for clues and thinks he may have pinpointed the location where Confederates burned the bridge to thwart General Sherman's attempt to cross into Columbia to continue his scorch-and-burn campaign. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray goes to Columbia to examine the evidence and see if this discovery will redraw the maps of the Civil War.Scottsboro Boys Stamp - A contributor bought an inconspicuous black and white stamp at an outdoor market in Scottsboro, Alabama. "Save the Scottsboro Boys" is printed on the stamp above nine black faces behind prison bars and two arms prying the bars apart. One arm bears the tattoo "ILD." On the bottom of the stamp is printed "one cent." The Scottsboro Boys were falsely accused and convicted of raping two white girls in 1931 on a train near Scottsboro, Alabama. It took several appeals, two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and nearly two decades before all nine finally walked free. How is the stamp connected to this landmark civil rights case? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwendolyn Wright consults with a stamp expert to discover how a tiny penny stamp could make a difference in the young men's defense effort.Duke Ellington Plates - A New York man took a stroll through Harlem 20 years ago and stumbled across boxes of sheet music in a dumpster. Among the paper scores were metal sheets that look like printing plates for "Take the A Train," written by Billy Strayhorn and performed by jazz great Duke Ellington. Scratches and ink smudges mar the plates, signs that someone might have run these through a printing press, but there's no apparent copyright stamp. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi sets out to find the story behind these plates and to determine the role they played in this jazz classic. Rebroadcast
Saturday , November, 07, 2009 MPT2
09:00 AM
Calf Creek Arrow/Doc Holliday Watch/Black Star Line Certificates Episode #408 CALF CREEK ARROW: An Oklahoma resident discovered an unusual bison skull while fossil hunting in a dry riverbed. Lodged in the bone was a handmade point, which the contributor believes dates back to the Calf Creek culture, around 3000 B.C. Could this be just another hoax or an incredible archeological discovery? HISTORY DETECTIVES learns more about this group of nomadic hunter-gatherers, while putting this handmade point through the extreme rigors of modern forensic testing.DOC HOLLIDAY WATCH: Four years ago, a pawn store clerk in Tulsa, Oklahoma, met a customer with a pawned antique watch, engraved with a potentially historic inscription. Could this watch have been a gift from the fearless frontier lawman Wyatt Earp to the dentist, gambler and gunman "Doc" Holliday, perhaps in gratitude for his help fighting the Clanton outlaw gang at the OK Corral? HISTORY DETECTIVES uncovers the surprising facts behind this legendary gunfight and the real relationship between Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday.BLACK STAR LINE CERTIFICATES: A North Carolina woman recently found two Black Star Line stock certificates that had been purchased by her great grandfather in 1919. She didn't know the significance of the documents, but what looked like a Marcus Garvey signature on the papers saved them from the trashcan. Garvey founded the steamship company through his United Negro Improvement Association in 1919. Could this document be a rare artifact from Garvey's heyday? HISTORY DETECTIVES takes a closer look at this controversial and enigmatic figure who fought for economic self-reliance and political self-determination for African Americans. Rebroadcast
Saturday , November, 07, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Episode #710 Stalag 17 Portrait - A Tempe, Arizona, woman has an intriguing memento of a sobering World War II experience: a portrait of her father sketched while he was held inside the German prisoner of war camp, Stalag 17B. On the back, her father has noted: "Done in May of 1944 by Gil Rhoden, using a #2 lead pencil. We were POWs in Stalag 17 at Krems, Austria. Gil agreed to do my portrait in exchange for two onions and a small potato." What happened to the artist? Did he survive the camp? HISTORY DETECTIVES guest host Eduardo Pagan uncovers a stoic act of defiance and dignity behind the Stalag's barbed wire.Seadrome - A Rochester, New York, man inherited three photos of a Seadrome model from his grandfather. More than a decade before Charles Lindberg made his solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic, an American engineer proposed the Seadrome, a floating airport anchored to the ocean floor where trans-Atlantic passenger flights could refuel. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi travels to New York, Delaware and Maryland to find out what happened to this fantastic engineering marvel and discover what role the contributor's grandfather played in the Seadrome's history.Black Tom Shell - A woman in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, has an explosive artifact in her possession: a large, intact artillery shell, along with a note in her mother's handwriting that reads "Black Tom Explosion of 1914." The contributor's mother's record-keeping is off: It was not 1914, but July 30, 1916, when a German spy ring carried out a well-planned set of synchronized explosions on Black Tom Island in New York's harbor, using the United States' own cache of munitions produced to aid Britain and France in World War I. Two million pounds of exploding ammunition rocked the country as far away as Philadelphia and blew the windows out of nearly every high rise in lower Manhattan, injuring hundreds. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwendolyn Wright travels to Maryland and New Jersey to determine whether this shell was involved in one of the earliest foreign terrorist attacks on American soil. Rebroadcast
Friday , November, 06, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Wpa Mural Studies; George Washington Miniature Episode #709 WPA Mural Studies - When a Bend, Oregon, woman inherited six large paintings created by her aunt, Thelma Johnson Streat, she believed she'd been given a special window into American history. She believes they were mural studies commissioned by the WPA in the 1930s or 1940s. The color illustrations depict contributions of African Americans in the fields of medicine, transportation and industry. The contributor thinks they could have been intended for school walls. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray travels to Oregon, San Francisco and Chicago to find out whether any of these studies became murals and if any of Streat's murals still exist.George Washington Miniature - A Greenville, Ohio, man was sorting through documents stored above one of Manhattan's first taverns when he stumbled across a miniature color painting of a man in profile labeled "G. Washington." On the back of the portrait, he found the inscription, "Property of White Matlack. New York, 1790." The historic tavern and museum sits just steps away from the old City Hall building on Wall Street where George Washington took his oath of office in 1789. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Wes Cowan sets out to discover whether the artist painted this portrait of Washington from life, and to uncover its surprising connection to the little-known abolitionists and patriot White Matlack.Japanese Balloon Bomb - The granddaughter of a World War II veteran from Austin, Texas, has a wartime memento with a note claiming it's a piece of Japanese balloon that floated across the Pacific Ocean in 1945. The alleged balloon scrap could be evidence of a unique weapon in modern warfare: the Japanese balloon bomb. More than 9,000 of these incendiary weapons were launched from Japan during the war via the jet stream with the intention of causing mass disruption and forest fires in the American West. The existence and purpose of the balloon bombs were kept secret from the American public for security reasons, until a tragic accident forced a change in policy. The balloon bombs caused the only fatalities on the U.S. mainland due to enemy action during World War II. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi travels to Austin, Texas and to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, to learn whether this souvenir is a missing piece of a secret weapon. Rebroadcast
Thursday , November, 05, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Episode #708 Mussolini Dagger - Many servicemen brought back souvenirs from World War II, but did the uncle of a Reno, Nevada, man score a dagger from Fascist Italian dictator Benito Mussolini? The dagger bears the symbols of Italian Fascism, and the initial "M" hangs from the belt clip. A family letter says the uncle had orders to pick up Mussolini, but when he arrived, Mussolini was already dead and hanging in the town square. The letter goes on to say that he went to Mussolini's apartment, where he grabbed the dictator's dagger. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Wes Cowan connects various records, pictures and expert opinions to come up with an answer.Liberia Letter - A Lynchburg, South Carolina, woman has a scrapbook of handwritten letters sent to her great-great-grandmother, a freed slave who lived in South Carolina. She thinks her ancestor's brother, Harvey McLeod, wrote the letters. What caught her attention were the repeated references to Liberia. In 1877, Harvey writes: "I hope you will change your mind and come to Liberia, Africa with us." Was this family part of the post-slavery exodus to Liberia? As HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi tracks the path of the letters, the story pieces together a tale of slaves adapting to freedom.N.E.A.R. Device - A Colorado ham radio enthusiast may have stumbled across some Cold War history. While sorting through a bucket of old power adapters, he came across a curious device, a hand-sized black box with the wording "National Emergency Alarm Repeater, Civilian Warning Device." The contributor believes it may have had something to do with nuclear attack preparedness, but he lived through the cold war and has never heard of a Civilian Warning Device. HISTORY DETECTIVES Gwendolyn Wright sifts through the secrets to find out whether anyone mass-produced this device and what happened to this Civilian Warning program. Rebroadcast
Wednesday , November, 04, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Episode #706 Amelia Earhart Plane - John Ott believes he may have a piece of Amelia Earhart's airplane, the missing Lockheed L-10E Electra in which she made her ill-fated around-the-world attempt. Ott says his grandfather served as a flight mechanic on the airfield in Honolulu where Earhart had a mishap on her first attempt at the flight. She crashed during takeoff, destroying the landing gear and damaging the right wing. Ott says his grandfather took a piece of the plane that came off during the accident and sent it to his mother as a souvenir. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray tests the shape and the metal of the fragment against another Lockheed Electra, and checks the story against historic records to see if Ott truly has a piece of Earhart's plane.Fillmore Pardon - A Portland, Oregon, man inherited what looked to be a U.S. presidential pardon signed by Millard Fillmore in 1851. In it, the president commutes the death sentence to life in prison for a solitary Native American named See-See-Sah-Mah, convicted of murdering a St. Louis trader along the Santa Fe Trail. Fillmore's pardon saved See-See-Sah-Mah's life, but why? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi travels to Kansas City and St. Louis to retrace the crime and trial. Was See-See-Sah-Mah a murderer or a scapegoat? And why did this obscure case about an unknown Native American matter to a U.S. President?Boxcar Home - When a Lakewood, Colorado, couple found a new home, they noticed odd supports in the basement ceiling. The husband loves the railroads, so he immediately recognized the supports as railroad car rods. Could their home have been made from a boxcar? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwendolyn Wright's search for answers takes viewers on an excursion from the scarcity of the Great Depression to the resourcefulness of World War II. Rebroadcast
Tuesday , November, 03, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Episode #705 Tokyo Rose Recording - A HISTORY DETECTIVES viewer has a recording he thinks holds evidence used in the World War II treason trial of Iva Tugori, aka Tokyo Rose. Toguri was an American citizen who hosted a Japanese propaganda radio show broadcast to U.S. troops serving in the Pacific. These broadcasts were at the center of what was then the costliest trial in U.S. history. The viewer has never been able to play his oversized record, but family lore says it reveals the role his uncle played in this infamous show trial. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwendolyn Wright consults with experts from Long Island to Los Angeles. Her answer flips assumptions of guilt and innocence, and gives viewers a fresh angle on what actually happened in and around that trial.Crazy Horse Photo - Twenty-five years ago, someone gave a leather purse to a Lakota businessman. Inside the purse he found a photograph and a note, dated 1904, written in the Lakota language. An elderly man from the Lakota community translated the note. In brief, it says, "This is a photograph of Crazy Horse." Does the contributor have the Holy Grail of the Wild West: a photo of the Lakota warrior who defeated General Custer? Historians are suspicious of most photos purported to be of Crazy Horse. The Lakota leader avoided cameras, believing they would rob his soul. To verify the photo, HISTORY DETECTIVE host Elyse Luray tracks down a Crazy Horse descendant and visits the Crazy Horse Memorial. Finally, she puts the photo in context with other works by the same photographer at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC.WWII DIARY (Encore presentation) - A man in Lexington, North Carolina, has a poignant diary written by a World War II pilot. He inherited the diary 20 years ago from his father, who said it once belonged to a close friend whom he fought alongside in WWII, until the war took his friend's life in 1944. Keeping the last thoughts of this fallen solider is now too great a burden for the contributor. Can HISTORY DETECTIVES return it to a living relative? The stakes are raised as the diary pages reveal the story of a young American pilot stationed in England, racing against time and all odds to return home before the birth of his first child. Host Wes Cowan heads to Florida on a quest to reunite the diary with the pilot's surviving family. Rebroadcast
Monday , November, 02, 2009 MPT2
06:00 PM
Japanese Balloon Bomb; Society Circus; Camp David Episode #603 Japanese Balloon Bomb - The granddaughter of a World War II veteran from Austin, Texas, has a wartime memento with a note claiming it's a piece of Japanese balloon that floated across the Pacific Ocean in 1945. The alleged balloon scrap could be evidence of a unique weapon in modern warfare: the Japanese balloon bomb. More than 9,000 of these incendiary weapons were launched from Japan during the war via the jet stream with the intention of causing mass disruption and forest fires in the American West. The existence and purpose of the balloon bombs were kept secret from the American public for security reasons, until a tragic accident forced a change in policy. The balloon bombs caused the only fatalities on the U.S. mainland due to enemy action during World War II. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi travels to Austin, Texas and to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, to learn whether this souvenir is a missing piece of a secret weapon.Society Circus Program - In her school's drama closet, a young girl from Oregon finds a curious, yellowed circus program that reads "Official Program of Cobina Wright's Society Circus for the benefit of the Boy Scout Foundation, Hon. Franklin D. Roosevelt, President, Season 1933." Who was Cobina Wright and what do the Boy Scouts, FDR and Cobina's Circus - with its lengthy "who's-who" celebrity list -have in common? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwen Wright explores New York City's 1930s high society and illuminates a connection between FDR and the Boy Scouts that inspired one of the most popular and effective pieces of the president's New Deal program.Camp David Letter - Maryland's Camp David has served as a presidential retreat for more than 60 years and is possibly best known for the Camp David Accords, the famous Egyptian-Israeli peace agreements signed there in 1978. A self-styled dumpster diver in San Francisco has recovered a windfall of memorabilia that reveals a story of Camp David's beginnings. The salvaged items appear to have once belonged to a three-generation Navy family headed by John H. Kevers. Among photos, dog tags and epaulets, one letter in particular caught the contributor's attention: It's from Ronald Reagan to Kevers' widow, stating "... Captain John H. Kevers gave many years of service to Presidents, starting with Franklin D. Roosevelt ... Because of Captain Kevers, we have the enjoyable facility of Camp David ..." In Los Angeles and San Francisco, HISTORY DETECTIVES host Wes Cowan searches presidential archives and Navy history to pinpoint Kevers' connection to the secret mountaintop hideaway that was FDR's "Shangri-La." Rebroadcast
Sunday , November, 01, 2009 MPT2
09:00 AM
Survivor Camera/Alcoholics Anonymous Letter/Tallahassee Mystery Cross Episode #407 SURVIVOR CAMERA: A woman in Boynton Beach, Florida has an antique camera she inherited from her uncle, a Polish Jew who survived the Holocaust. Adolf Fingrut stayed behind when his family members left Poland in the 1920's. His niece wants to know which of two conflicting family stories is true: did Uncle Adolf survive the Holocaust by going into hiding with the help of his gentile girlfriend, or did he take photographs for the Nazis with this camera? During World War II, some Jewish photographers faced the horrific dilemma of working with the Nazis in documenting their atrocities or going to the death camps. HISTORY DETECTIVES will be in New York to investigate how Adolf Fingrut kept one step ahead of death and shed light on the existential nightmare of survival during wartime.ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS LETTER: A man from Laurel, Maryland owns a mysterious letter that was written in 1942. It's a tribute addressed to his grandmother on the occasion of his grandfather Herbert Wallace's death, acknowledging Mr. Wallace's support for the organization Alcoholics Anonymous. "We of the A.A. Group have never had a better friend, nor a stauncher one, than Herb when the going was hard," the note states. It is signed by a man named Bill Wilson. The contributor does not believe that his grandfather was an alcoholic, so is curious to learn how the supposedly sober, well-heeled customs attorney was involved in the early days of one of the most miraculous social movements of the modern era. HISTORY DETECTIVES searches New York's Westchester County, Brooklyn and Manhattan for personal insight into a movement that has changed the lives of millions worldwide and helped shape society's attitudes about alcoholism.TALLAHASSEE MYSTERY CROSS: About 15 years ago, archeologists at the Mission San Luis in Tallahassee, Florida made an astonishing discovery. In the process of excavating several hundred bodies at the site of this 17th century Spanish mission, they unearthed a beautiful and undamaged glass-like cross. The current Chief of the Apalachee Tribe says his ancestors once lived near the mission, but fled when British forces raided in the early 1700s. He wants to confirm whether the cross was made centuries ago by his own ancestors. HISTORY DETECTIVES journeys to Florida to examine the Spanish efforts to proselytize among native tribes and explore the fusing of native and Christian ideologies and symbols into a unique version of New World Catholicism. Rebroadcast
Sunday , November, 01, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Sideshow Babies; Lubin Photos; Navajo Rug Episode #704 Sideshow Babies - A Colorado woman has a silver baby cup engraved "Patricia - 1933. A Century of Progress Chicago." She hopes this 1933 Chicago World's Fair souvenir can unlock the mystery of her mother's unusual start in life. Family lore holds that the Chicago Public Health Board took premature Patricia from her shoebox cradle at home and put her in an incubator at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. Why were babies exhibited at the fair? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray learns about the forgotten doctor who brought life-saving incubator technology to the United States at the turn of the 20th century.Lubin Photos - A contributor from Branford, Florida, inherited two bulging photo albums, dated 1914 to 1916, that contain hundreds of photos of old silent film stars and a behind-the-scenes look into an enormous film studio empire - not in Hollywood, but Philadelphia. She received the albums from a distant relative, Herbie Lubin. One of the books holds many Western scenes, including a cowboy character captioned "Herbert Lubin." Other captions refer to the Siegmund Lubin Studios. Who was Siegmund Lubin? And was Herbie a movie star? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi takes viewers on an excursion through an early movie mogul's dramatic rise and fall.Navajo Rug - At auction, a contributor bought a rug whose woven designs intrigued him. A Southwest American history buff, he's fascinated by the rug's central figure of a man with a feathered head holding lightning bolts. He believes the figure was never meant to be captured by a loom. Did the weaver violate a taboo? Who wove the rug? HISTORYDETECTIVES guest host Eduardo Pagan meets with a Navajo medicine man and a traditional Navajo weaver and travels to Crownpoint, New Mexico, long considered the center of Navajo weaving. Finally, HISTORY DETECTIVES visits a textile historian to find out who may have been behind this controversial design. Rebroadcast
Saturday , October, 31, 2009 MPT2
09:00 AM
Grace Kelly Automobile/Illicit P.O.W. Photos/Mystery Motorcycle Episode #409 Grace Kelly Automobile - In 1955, famed director Alfred Hitchcock was at the top of his game with the release of To Catch a Thief, a romantic thriller starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. But for some Hitchcock fans, the real star of the film is the Sunbeam Alpine, a sleek, sexy 1953 convertible. The car was already popular in elite automotive circles, but its Hitchcock film cameo would transform this car into a cult object. Now, a man in Los Angeles believes he has the original Sunbeam Alpine used in the film. HISTORY DETECTIVES heads to California to revisit the glamour of 1950s Hollywood and rub elbows with some of the key players who worked side by side with the Master of Suspense.Illicit P.O.W. Photos - A contributor from Daytona Beach, Florida, has an extraordinary set of photographs he believes come from his great-great-grandfather, who fought in the Civil War and was once a confederate prisoner of war at Johnson's Island on Lake Erie. The collection of portraits comes with a note that asserts the images were taken illicitly and depict fellow incarcerated confederate officers. The author claims the photos were taken with a camera he built from items he possessed when he was captured, as well as tools he collected while in the prison camp, and adds that the chemicals used to develop the photos were stolen from the camp hospital. Is the contributor's relative in fact the photographer, and if so, would it have been possible for him to make a camera with the materials he describes? HISTORY DETECTIVES heads to Ohio, Maryland and Pennsylvania to investigate the history of Civil War photography and discover how confederate and union prisoners, officers and enlisted men, were treated during wartime.Mystery Motorcycle - A man in Flemington, New Jersey, has recently purchased a beautiful old Harley-Davidson motorcycle and is eager to learn more about the machine's early history. The tank of his 1914 bike bears the "Cross of Lorraine," a historic symbol of French nationalism. The contributor is aware that Harley-Davidson sold motorcycles to the U.S. Military during WWI, and he wants to know whether his bike clocked mileage in war-torn Europe. As the detectives follow this lead in New Jersey and Wisconsin, their course takes an unanticipated swerve when they find that the cross also served as the emblem for the U.S. National Tuberculosis Association in the early 1900s. While uncovering clues about the early public health initiative to wipe out tuberculosis, the detectives dig deep in the Harley-Davidson archives to examine the company's possible involvement in the campaign to eradicate the deadly "White Plague." Rebroadcast
Saturday , October, 31, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Episode #703 St. Valentine's Day Massacre - HISTORY DETECTIVES stares down the barrel of a shotgun for clues that one of Al Capone's men fired it in a Chicago gang massacre that shocked the nation. The gun came to the contributor's family after it was handed down through two generations of prominent Chicago families. It's a Western Field single-barreled repeating action 12-guage shotgun. The barrel and the stock were once shortened just the way the Capone gang liked its guns: easy to conceal and with greater destructive force. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray tests the gun's firepower, consults with ballistics experts and combs through physical evidence to see if she can place this gun at the scene of the crime.Booth Letter - A contributor gave HISTORY DETECTIVES a letter indicating that, 30 years before John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln, Booth's father threatened to kill another sitting president, Andrew Jackson. Signed "Junius Brutus Booth," the letter to Jackson reads, "You damn'd old scoundrel ... I will cut your throat whilst you are sleeping." The writer insists that Jackson pardon two men who were sentenced to death. Why did the fate of these two men incite such fury? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi travels to Nashville to consult historians at The Hermitage, the ancestral home of President Andrew Jackson, and to Washington, DC, to talk with a Booth biographer. Was the letter a hoax? Or did assassination run in the Booth blood?Cemetery Alarm - A Midland, Michigan, man who collects war munitions snapped up an item at an estate auction that looked like a Civil War-era weapon. On closer inspection, after consulting with other collectors, he decided he had a grave alarm: an explosive device meant to guard against grave robbers. Is this truly a grave alarm? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Wes Cowan's investigation winds through tales of body snatching and cadaver dissecting, unusual crimes and the most unlikely suspects. Rebroadcast
Friday , October, 30, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Manhattan Project; Shipwreck; Creole Poems Episode #702 Manhattan Project ¬- A contributor is certain that his father worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II. His father refused to talk about his war assignment, except to say that he sold his patent to the U.S. government for a single dollar. Along with the patent, the contributor has a letter from the Atomic Energy Commission stating that his father's patent had been declassified. Was this invention used to build the atomic bomb? To find out, HISTORY DETECTIVES host Wes Cowan travels to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and discovers a plan to hide atomic secrets in plain sight.Galleon Shipwreck - A woman in Portland, Oregon, has a large chunk of what she believes is very old beeswax. This 23-pound block, dug up on the northern Oregon coast in the late 1930s, seems to have been deliberately carved with strange markings. For centuries, ships carried beeswax on trade routes from the Far East to the American Pacific Coast. Could this beeswax have been cargo on a legendary ship that foundered more then 300 years ago? And what do those odd markings mean? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray goes to the Bee Lab at Oregon State University to decipher where the beeswax came from and visits an archaeologist in Olympia, Washington, to track which ship may have brought it to the Oregon coast.Creole Poems - A HISTORY DETECTIVES fan from Chicago recently unearthed a French manuscript rolled in a cardboard tube. "Duplessis, " his great-grandmother's mother-in-laws surname, is jotted in a margin, and "Rouzan," his grandmother's maiden name, appears at the bottom of another page. No one in the family knows anything about it, but the contributor, who reads a little French, thinks he has a collection of love poems, possibly written to one of his relatives. What is this? And why has his family kept it for 160 years? The questions lead HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwendolyn Wright to New Orleans and to a piece of family history the contributor had never known. Rebroadcast
Thursday , October, 29, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Psycho Phone; War Dog Letter; Pancho Villa Fob Episode #701 PsychoPhone - A couple in Cincinnati acquired a peculiar phonograph at an antiques auction. The machine, labeled "PsychoPhone," included four grooved wax cylinders. The contributors think Thomas Edison invented the PsychoPhone to record messages from the afterlife. As early as the 1870s, Edison and other scientific minds explored psychic phenomena, believing every living being was made of atoms that could "remember" past lives. Did Edison make a machine to unlock the secrets of the dead? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwendolyn Wright travels to the Thomas A. Edison Menlo Park museum in New Jersey to find out.War Dog Letter - A World War II collector from Kansas City, Kansas, has a cryptic letter from a soldier to another military man. The soldier explains that military investigators have questioned him about a man named Prestre - specifically about his character and qualifications as a dog trainer. The contributor wants to know why the military was investigating Prestre and what the dogs were being trained to do. The search takes HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi to remote Cat Island near Gulfport, Mississippi, and Fort Lee in Virginia. The military put great effort into a new "War Dogs" program during WWII. What went wrong on Cat Island?Pancho Villa Watch Fob - Just before he died, a man gave his neighbors a most unusual gift: a watch fob commemorating Francisco "Pancho" Villa's murderous raid on the border town of Columbus, New Mexico. The man says he was a boy when the raid occurred in 1916, and he and his parents survived by hiding under a train car. The new owners want to know more about this watch fob. Who made it? Did their friend indeed witness this infamous raid? HISTORY DETECTIVES' new guest host, Eduardo Pagan, leads on an expedition that reveals an especially wild chapter of the American West. Rebroadcast
Wednesday , October, 28, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Episode #611 In a special presentation of the sixth season, America's top gumshoes prove once again that an object found in an attic or backyard might be anything but ordinary. Wes Cowan, independent appraiser and auctioneer; Gwendolyn Wright, professor of architecture, Columbia University; Elyse Luray, independent appraiser and expert in art history; and Tukufu Zuberi, professor of sociology and the director of the Center for Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, leave no stone unturned as they travel around the country to explore the stories behind local folklore, prominent figures and family legends.Slave Songbook - The president of the Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum in Culver City, California, recently discovered an unusual book in his late mother's extraordinary collection of African-American artifacts. The small, cloth-bound book, titled Slave Songs of the United States, has a publication date of 1867 and contains a collection of 136 plantation songs. Could this be the first book of African-American spirituals ever published? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Wes Cowan visits a music historian in Los Angeles to explore the coded messages and the melodies that laid the foundation of modern blues, gospel and protest songs of future generations. He also meets with Washington, DC's Howard University Choir for a special concert of selections from Slave Songs sung in the traditional style of mid-1800s spirituals.Josh White Guitar - A Michigan man owns a Guild brand acoustic guitar that he says once belonged to legendary African-American folksinger Josh White, who is credited with introducing black folk, gospel and blues music to a world audience in the 1940s. The contributor met White after a concert when he was a kid, and the guitar reminds him of a confidence White had shared with him: the Guild Company was talking to White about making a signature guitar built to his specifications and marketed under his name. If this is the guitar White had spoken of, it would be the first signature guitar ever created for an African-American musician in the United States. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray travels around New York City and New Jersey to explore the crossover appeal of Josh White's music and his ability to win over a racially polarized music industry.Birthplace of Hip Hop - A hip hop enthusiast from New York City has always heard that 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx is the birthplace of hip-hop. The story goes that on August 11, 1973, DJ Kool Herc, a building resident, was entertaining at his sister's back- to-school party and tried something new on the turntable: he extended an instrumental beat (breaking or scratching) to let people dance longer (breakdancing) and began MC'ing (rapping) during the extended breakdancing. This, the contributor believes, marked the birth of hip-hop. The music led to an entire cultural movement that's altered generational thinking - from politics and race to art and language. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi sets out to examine an inner-city environment that helped lay the foundation for a cultural revolution. Rebroadcast
Tuesday , October, 27, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Episode #610 Blueprint Special - A WWII veteran from Chico, California, owns a unique souvenir from his time as a young GI. While stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey, he picked up a 16-inch acetate recording of a promo for a soldier musical called "Hi Yank." The recording starts with a director's introduction, explaining that the musical is a "blueprint special" created by GIs for GIs to be performed anywhere in the world. The contributor has heard of USO shows, but never a "blueprint special" musical. Could this recording be a piece of forgotten history? In Washington, DC, and Virginia, HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray meets with U.S. Army archivists and historians to discuss the military's efforts to boost morale and instill a sense of patriotism as the U.S. entered WWII.Monroe Letter - A Florida woman recently inherited a family mystery. In her late mother's belongings, she stumbled on a framed letter allegedly penned by future President James Monroe in 1807. The contributor has recognized a family name "Manwaring" scrawled near the date, and believes the letter references a monetary debt the financially unstable U.S. government owed the Manwaring family. The document leads HISTORY DETECTIVES to a tale of terror on the high seas, when American merchant ships were stalked by Britain, their cargo pillaged and their crews forced into the British Navy. Young America was desperate to avoid war, and James Monroe, then Minister to Britain, attempted to mediate with his pen. In Newport, Rhode Island, and Charlottesville and Fredricksburg, Virginia, host Gwendolyn Wright tracks a conflict that nearly bankrupted America.Atocha Spanish Silver - In 1985, one of the greatest treasure discoveries was made off the Florida Keys when the wreck of the Spanish ship Atocha was found. On board were some 40 tons of silver and gold, which in 1622 had been heading from the New World to the Spanish treasury as the means to fund the Thirty Years' War. A man from Cedartown, Georgia, was a diver on that legendary find and received two silver bars as compensation for his efforts. He's long been mystified by a strange mark that appears on one of the bars but the mark is mysteriously absent from the other bar. In Key West, HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi translates 300-year-old documents from the archives of the Spanish treasury in Seville to crack a unique code of communication among ship captains of that era. Rebroadcast
Monday , October, 26, 2009 MPT2
06:00 PM
Red Hand Flag; Seth Eastman Painting; Isleton Tong Episode #602 Red Hand Flag - During her last active duty posting with the Army at Ft. Jackson, a Desert Storm veteran from South Carolina learned about a local, all-but-forgotten African-American infantry regiment in WWI. Years later, she purchased a worn red-white-red striped flag with a red felted hand sewn in the center and small U.S. flags sewn in the corner. The contributor would like to know if her flag was carried into battle by one of the few African-American infantry regiments that fought in WWI under the command of the French. These unsung heroes of the Great War exhibited extraordinary heroism in battle and were highly decorated by the French. If this particular flag has French origins, though, why is it red-white-red-striped and not blue-white-red like the tricolor French flag? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray heads to Columbia, South Carolina, to link this mysterious flag to the legacy of the Red Hand Division and its wartime triumphs.Seth Eastman Painting - A Decatur, Illinois, man purchased a painting that depicts a scene of traditional Native-American life. The contributor, a longtime student of the history of the American West, says the image appealed to him because it was strangely familiar, almost iconic in its imagery. The painting bears the initials "S.E." and the seller's Web page reads "Seth Eastman, American Painting, Oil on Canvas." Could this painting be an authentic work of artist and military officer Seth Eastman - and an accurate depiction of Native-American life in the mid-1800s? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi travels to historic Fort Snelling in Minnesota to examine how Eastman carried out government policies of Native-American removal while capturing on canvas what he believed was a doomed way of life.Isleton Tong - The president of the historical society in Isleton, California, has inherited a two-story wooden building with tin sides that she believes once housed a Chinese Tong. In the late 1800s, Chinese immigrants risked everything to start a new life in America. But Americans who feared losing jobs to the new, cheap labor turned the land of opportunity hostile. Chinatowns burned, ethnic slurs flew and Congress prohibited Chinese laborers from entering or working in the country. For outcast Chinese, Tongs were places of protection and solidarity during this time of chaos, where they could worship, study and settle legal disputes peacefully. In the newspapers, the Tongs were secretive centers of gangland warfare, opium deals and gambling. Was there a Tong operating inside Isleton's once-booming Chinatown? If so, what happened there? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwen Wright heads to the Sacramento Delta and to San Francisco to unravel the mystery of the Chinese Tong. Rebroadcast
Sunday , October, 25, 2009 MPT2
09:00 AM
Orphan Film Reel/Chinese Opium Scale/Hermann Goering's Shotgun Episode #406 ORPHAN FILM REEL: A contributor from Elsmere, KY was searching his grandfather's Ohio attic when he stumbled upon a reel of 35mm nitrate film in a canister marked "Dangerous Hour - Eddie Polo." Eddie Polo was a legendary stuntman in the 1920's silent film world, but very few of his films remain. In its early days, silent film was seen as a transitory production, and movie companies such as Paramount and Universal dumped entire archives into the Pacific Ocean, melted nitrate prints to extract the silver, or used the flammable stock for special effects on their back-lot sets. HISTORY DETECTIVES ventures to Kentucky and Ohio to determine whether this reel could be one of thousands of silent films that have been lost forever to film history.CHINESE OPIUM SCALE: A woman in Missoula, Montana bought an old fiddle case in the Montana mining town of Butte in the 1960s. When she made the purchase, she was told the case didn't hold a fiddle, but rather a scale that Chinese immigrants in the area had used for weighing out opium. Trade in opium was legal in the US until 1909, and it was commonly used both as a medicine and as a drug. The Chinese were among the first immigrant groups to arrive in Montana in the 1800s, working building the railroads, as gold miners, and in restaurant and laundry businesses. HISTORY DETECTIVES heads to Montana to find out how Chinese immigrants survived for decades in Big Sky Country, particularly during a time when anti-Chinese sentiment was rampant in the U.S.HERMANN GOERING'S SHOTGUN: In the dying days of the Third Reich, Hermann Goering, the former head of the mighty German Luftwaffe, was holed up in his castle in the German countryside, addicted to opium and terrified of capture by the advancing Allies. A Lewiston, New York, man believes his shotgun may have belonged to Goering and was looted at the time of his arrest in 1945. A signed affidavit from an American soldier says that he removed the gun from Goering's castle "from the wall over the living room fireplace" during the arrest. HISTORY DETECTIVES investigates the possible link to Hitler's once-feared right-hand-man. Rebroadcast
Sunday , October, 25, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Episode #609 Shipwreck Cannons - Beachcombers on the Oregon Coast spotted what looked like large, rusty rocks sticking out of the sand. The state of Oregon, which has recovered the encrusted objects, believes they house priceless artifacts: cannons from the 1846 shipwreck of the USS Shark. The Shark and a few fast-sailing schooners like her were built in the 1820s to suppress slave traders and pirates. In 1846, the Shark was sent on what may have been her most challenging mission, to resolve the matter of the "Oregon question." In the Pacific Northwest, both the United States and Great Britain laid claim to large stretches of the Northwest Territories. The Shark's mission was to uncover intelligence on the British and their intentions, but the vessel met with disaster, sinking while attempting to cross the treacherous Columbia Bar. In Oregon and southwest Washington, HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwendolyn Wright tracks the 162-year-old naval tale with the help of lead investigative archaeologists from the U.S. Navy and the state of Oregon.Connecticut Farmhouse - A resident of rural East Haddam, Connecticut, owns an old house that he believes has a story to tell. Between 1891 and 1906, the farm changed hands six times, and the names of the residents appear to be mostly Eastern European. The late 1800s marked the beginning of a mass immigration of Eastern European Jews to the United States. The majority of refugees came from Russia, after the assassination of Alexander II in 1881 set off violent anti-Jewish riots across the country. By 1893, about a million immigrants had entered the U.S. through major East Coast ports, especially New York. But why did so many newcomers end up in this particular Connecticut home, and what accounted for the high turnover? In Connecticut and New York City, HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray explores the efforts of Jewish-American relief societies to support the Jewish agricultural community as it struggled to take root in a new land.Kahlil Gibran Painting - A contributor from Overland Park, Kansas, has an unsigned oil portrait of his grandfather, Najib Musa Diab, which he believes was painted by the Lebanese-American poet Kahlil Gibran, author of The Prophet. His grandfather was a contemporary of Gibran, whose poetry was published by the Arabic-language newspaper that Diab founded in Brooklyn, New York. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi's investigation reveals the perplexing challenges Gibran and other Arab immigrants faced as they balanced their new American identities with loyalties to their native lands when World War I changed the Middle East map and policy. From this turmoil, Gibran found the unique blend of Eastern and Western philosophy that permeated his writing and art. Did this period in Gibran's life also produce Diab's portrait? HISTORY DETECTIVES heads to Savannah, Georgia, and New York City to find out. Rebroadcast
Saturday , October, 24, 2009 MPT2
09:00 AM
Calf Creek Arrow/Doc Holliday Watch/Black Star Line Certificates Episode #408 CALF CREEK ARROW: An Oklahoma resident discovered an unusual bison skull while fossil hunting in a dry riverbed. Lodged in the bone was a handmade point, which the contributor believes dates back to the Calf Creek culture, around 3000 B.C. Could this be just another hoax or an incredible archeological discovery? HISTORY DETECTIVES learns more about this group of nomadic hunter-gatherers, while putting this handmade point through the extreme rigors of modern forensic testing.DOC HOLLIDAY WATCH: Four years ago, a pawn store clerk in Tulsa, Oklahoma, met a customer with a pawned antique watch, engraved with a potentially historic inscription. Could this watch have been a gift from the fearless frontier lawman Wyatt Earp to the dentist, gambler and gunman "Doc" Holliday, perhaps in gratitude for his help fighting the Clanton outlaw gang at the OK Corral? HISTORY DETECTIVES uncovers the surprising facts behind this legendary gunfight and the real relationship between Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday.BLACK STAR LINE CERTIFICATES: A North Carolina woman recently found two Black Star Line stock certificates that had been purchased by her great grandfather in 1919. She didn't know the significance of the documents, but what looked like a Marcus Garvey signature on the papers saved them from the trashcan. Garvey founded the steamship company through his United Negro Improvement Association in 1919. Could this document be a rare artifact from Garvey's heyday? HISTORY DETECTIVES takes a closer look at this controversial and enigmatic figure who fought for economic self-reliance and political self-determination for African Americans. Rebroadcast
Saturday , October, 24, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Episode #608 John Adams Book - A woman in Littleton, New Hampshire, inherited her husband's aunt's belongings, which include a curious late-18th-century book titled Trials of Patriots. It contains what appears to be President John Adams' signature in three places, and includes an inscription, "Charles Adams from His Father, 1794." The book is a collection of transcripts chronicling the sedition trials of Irish and Scottish radicals. If the book is indeed from Adams to his son, it could reveal pivotal clues about the inner-workings of this presidential family. In Boston and John Adams' hometown of Quincy, Massachusetts, HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwendolyn Wright examines the Adams family's correspondence and conflict as they balanced home life with public service.Mankato Spoon - A woman in Portland, Oregon, has a curious spoon that once belonged to her grandmother. It's known in her family as "the spoon of atrocities." An eerie scene is etched into its sterling silver bowl: wagons, buildings and a crowd of spectators gathered before a gallows with figures hanging from them. A disturbing message is inscribed: "Hanging 38 Sioux In 1862 Mankato, Minn." What is this tragic scene and why has it been etched into what looks like a commemorative spoon? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Wes Cowan travels to Mankato, New Ulm and Minneapolis, Minnesota, to explore the clash between white settlers and Sioux in the mid-19th century - and a struggle that led to the largest mass execution in American history.NC-4: First Across the Atlantic - Almost 10 years before Charles Lindbergh's famous solo flight across the Atlantic, the NC-4 was the first aircraft to make the transatlantic journey in May 1919. A woman in Saratoga, California, has a small square of canvas-like fabric that she believes comes from the NC-4, one of four U.S. Navy "flying boats" that had originally been commissioned to alert American destroyers to the locations of German U-boat submarines that were wreaking havoc on merchant ships along the U.S. coast during World War I. Due to early mechanical problems, the NC-4 was considered by many aviation insiders to be the least likely candidate to complete the trek across the Atlantic. In Pensacola, Florida, and Hammondsport, New York, HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray investigates the little-known story of the NC-4 and its historic voyage. Rebroadcast
Friday , October, 23, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Episode #607 Black Tom Shell - A woman in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, has an explosive artifact in her possession: a large, intact artillery shell, along with a note in her mother's handwriting that reads "Black Tom Explosion of 1914." The contributor's mother's record-keeping is off: It was not 1914, but July 30, 1916, when a German spy ring carried out a well-planned set of synchronized explosions on Black Tom Island in New York's harbor, using the United States' own cache of munitions produced to aid Britain and France in World War I. Two million pounds of exploding ammunition rocked the country as far away as Philadelphia and blew the windows out of nearly every high rise in lower Manhattan, injuring hundreds. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwendolyn Wright travels to Maryland and New Jersey to determine whether this shell was involved in one of the earliest foreign terrorist attacks on American soil.USS Olympia Glass - The door of a farmhouse in eastern Nebraska has an etched glass window with a depiction of a ship cruising through open waters, smoke pouring from its stacks. The home's owner believes the ship is the USS Olympia, the cruiser commanded by Commodore George Dewey when he defeated Admiral Montojo's Spanish aquadron at Manila Bay in 1898, beginning the Spanish-American War. The farm's been in the family for more than half a century, and a 1977 letter from the USS Olympia Association states that etched glass windows may have adorned Admiral Dewey's own stateroom. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Wes Cowan travels to Fremont, Nebraska, and Philadelphia to find our whether the unique window can serve as a portal into a turning point in American foreign policy.Front Street Blockhouse - When a young couple in Schenectady, New York, purchased their dream house in the town's historic district, they believed their home was built for a middle-class family in the late 19th century, like all other homes in their neighborhood. But four mysterious stone walls visible in the attic have led them to believe otherwise. Did this house once guard against enemy attacks during the tense years of the French and Indian Wars - nearly 300 years ago? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray travels to Upstate New York to determine whether this unassuming structure may have helped ensure the survival of the town of Schenectady, a 17th- and 18th-century vanguard Dutch outpost, as it fought France and her Indian allies for control of the lucrative fur trade. Rebroadcast
Thursday , October, 22, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Episode #606 GAR Photograph - A Civil War enthusiast in Etters, Pennsylvania, owns a striking vintage photograph that depicts about 20 older white men in full dress uniform, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with two black men. In Reconstruction-era America, association between blacks and whites was frequently taboo. What brought them together for this portrait? Their bond, it turns out, was the Grand Army of the Republic, a remarkable fraternal order organized for war veterans. In fact, integration was actually a GAR standard. The reason? The men's common struggle with post traumatic stress transcended race. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray heads to Cazenovia, New York, and Washington, DC, to investigate the first national social group to challenge the color barrier.Bill Pickett Saddle - A Staten Island woman owns a well-worn saddle with the name "Bill Pickett" burned into it. She believes it was once owned by legendary cowboy Bill Pickett, an African-American Wild West Show and film star. Pickett invented bulldogging, the rodeo event now known as steer wrestling. His back story is perhaps most intriguing: Born to slave parents, Pickett rose to entertain kings and dignitaries on an international tour of his Wild West show; he counted among his friends Will Rogers and Tom Mix. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi heads to Oklahoma to visit the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, meets a real-life steer wrestler and talks with a 101 Ranch historian about the legacy of the legendary "Bulldogger."Hitler Films - A contributor in Staten Island, New York, has several film cans, unseen since World War II, that he believes may contain German home movies of Nazi officials, possibly even Hitler. He received them from his wife's uncle, a GI in Germany, who found the cans in the bombed ruins of the Old Opera House in the northern Bavarian town of Bayreuth. The first glimpse of one of these fragile reels reveals footage of Hitler, Goebbels, Goering and Himmler arriving at the Richard Wagner opera festival, staged annually in Bayreuth. In New York City, HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwen Wright examines this film's depiction of the Nazis' manipulation of art and culture to bolster the party's following. Rebroadcast
Wednesday , October, 21, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Episode #605 Hindenburg Artifact - A Hoboken, New Jersey, man has a palm-sized, army-green metal box that looks like an instrument panel. Beneath a shattered plastic covering is a sliding, numbered scale; knobs on each end move a lever across the scale. German writing indicates the country of origin. Might this instrument have been recovered from the crash site of the Hindenburg in Lakehurst, New Jersey? Family lore says that a distant relative was among the many bystanders plucking souvenirs from the wreckage of the terrifying disaster. Chemicals from the fire or balloon envelope gas would have evaporated 10 minutes after the explosion, but the broken plastic can be tested for age and heat distress with forensic analysis of the instrument. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray travels to Atlanta and the New Jersey landing site of the ill-fated zeppelin to determine if the instrument panel is in fact from the horrifying crash.Bonus Army Stamp - A collector in Hawaii has a postage-sized stamp with an illustration of a World War I "doughboy" solider and the words "PAY THE BONUS." The contributor, whose grandfather was a World War I soldier, thinks the stamp is linked to the "Bonus Army" veterans. A bill was passed in 1924 promising WWI veterans a payment 21 years later - dubbed a "bonus" - in 1945. When the Great Depression hit, veterans organized to demand early payment of the bonus. They organized a protest march on Washington in 1932, demanding pay for their combat, and approximately 20,000 veterans camped out near the Capitol following the march. Weeks went by until Herbert Hoover ordered General Douglas McArthur to force the vets out. Two veterans were shot and killed; thousands were tear-gassed. What role did this political stamp play in the veterans' movement? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Wes Cowan heads to Hyde Park, New York, and Washington, DC, to reveal the stamp's connection to the veterans' struggle.Dempsey Fight Bell - July 4, 1919, marks the day America found its true calling in a national obsession. Icon Jack Dempsey became the world's first boxing superstar, and he did it with the clang of a bell. Now, a contributor in Reno, Nevada, wants to know: Is the bell he's toasted many a night on the wall of his favorite bar the one that was ringside at Dempsey's legendary world heavyweight championship match? The question goes beyond a single fight. Dempsey's bout ushered in the Roaring 20s, America's fascination with celebrity and the golden age of championship sports. Tukufu Zuberi leads the HISTORY DETECTIVES to weigh in on the case in Reno, Nevada, and New York City, sorting truth from myth to determine which clues ring true. Rebroadcast
Tuesday , October, 20, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Episode #604 China Marine Jacket - A man in Santa Monica, California, received an embroidered jacket as a gift from his son. The contributor, a former Marine, is intrigued by the jacket's stitched inscriptions, which read: "4th Marines," "Shanghai," "China," "1937-1939" and "MWD." He knows the 4th Marines were transferred from Shanghai to the Philippines in November 1941 amidst growing tensions with the Japanese. The unit was attacked by the Japanese on the same day as the Pearl Harbor bombings. Some of the men who fought in the Philippines never returned, having suffered Japanese imprisonment and the Bataan Death March. But to whom did this particular jacket belong, and what was his legacy as a Marine? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwen Wright travels to Washington, DC, and Los Angeles to investigate the story of the "China Marines," a regiment that worked under extreme circumstances to keep the peace and protect American interests during the perilous ramp up to World War II.Airstream Caravan - A couple in Southern California owns a classic Airstream trailer that may lay claim to an illustrious past. The trailer's fading numbers and logo indicate that it is an early member of the elite Wally Byam Caravan Club International. In the mid-20th century, members of this adventure club followed legendary leader and Airstream founder Wally Byam all over the world: Central America, Europe, Africa and the Yucatan Peninsula. Did this particular Airstream make the journey on the historic "Cape Town to Cairo Caravan" of 1959? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi heads to Denver and Southern California to explore one man's wanderlust at the birth of American leisure travel and, ultimately, to a spectacular 221-day, 14,307-mile trek from the tip of Southern Africa to the pyramids of Ancient Egypt.Lincoln Forgery - A woman in Portland, Oregon, owns a bound volume of 19th-century sheet music. The book contains several "Abraham Lincoln" signatures on random pages. At the end of one of the compositions, a handwritten notarized inscription claims the music is a gift from President Lincoln's widow, Mary Todd Lincoln, to Lincoln's former coachman, William P. Brown, in 1866. Could the sheet music really be from Lincoln's personal library? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Wes Cowan travels to Chicago and Springfield, Illinois, to explore the years after Lincoln's death and to illuminate the origins of these curious documents. Rebroadcast
Monday , October, 19, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Japanese Balloon Bomb; Society Circus; Camp David Episode #603 Japanese Balloon Bomb - The granddaughter of a World War II veteran from Austin, Texas, has a wartime memento with a note claiming it's a piece of Japanese balloon that floated across the Pacific Ocean in 1945. The alleged balloon scrap could be evidence of a unique weapon in modern warfare: the Japanese balloon bomb. More than 9,000 of these incendiary weapons were launched from Japan during the war via the jet stream with the intention of causing mass disruption and forest fires in the American West. The existence and purpose of the balloon bombs were kept secret from the American public for security reasons, until a tragic accident forced a change in policy. The balloon bombs caused the only fatalities on the U.S. mainland due to enemy action during World War II. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi travels to Austin, Texas and to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, to learn whether this souvenir is a missing piece of a secret weapon.Society Circus Program - In her school's drama closet, a young girl from Oregon finds a curious, yellowed circus program that reads "Official Program of Cobina Wright's Society Circus for the benefit of the Boy Scout Foundation, Hon. Franklin D. Roosevelt, President, Season 1933." Who was Cobina Wright and what do the Boy Scouts, FDR and Cobina's Circus - with its lengthy "who's-who" celebrity list -have in common? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwen Wright explores New York City's 1930s high society and illuminates a connection between FDR and the Boy Scouts that inspired one of the most popular and effective pieces of the president's New Deal program.Camp David Letter - Maryland's Camp David has served as a presidential retreat for more than 60 years and is possibly best known for the Camp David Accords, the famous Egyptian-Israeli peace agreements signed there in 1978. A self-styled dumpster diver in San Francisco has recovered a windfall of memorabilia that reveals a story of Camp David's beginnings. The salvaged items appear to have once belonged to a three-generation Navy family headed by John H. Kevers. Among photos, dog tags and epaulets, one letter in particular caught the contributor's attention: It's from Ronald Reagan to Kevers' widow, stating "... Captain John H. Kevers gave many years of service to Presidents, starting with Franklin D. Roosevelt ... Because of Captain Kevers, we have the enjoyable facility of Camp David ..." In Los Angeles and San Francisco, HISTORY DETECTIVES host Wes Cowan searches presidential archives and Navy history to pinpoint Kevers' connection to the secret mountaintop hideaway that was FDR's "Shangri-La." Rebroadcast
Friday , October, 16, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Red Hand Flag; Seth Eastman Painting; Isleton Tong Episode #602 Red Hand Flag - During her last active duty posting with the Army at Ft. Jackson, a Desert Storm veteran from South Carolina learned about a local, all-but-forgotten African-American infantry regiment in WWI. Years later, she purchased a worn red-white-red striped flag with a red felted hand sewn in the center and small U.S. flags sewn in the corner. The contributor would like to know if her flag was carried into battle by one of the few African-American infantry regiments that fought in WWI under the command of the French. These unsung heroes of the Great War exhibited extraordinary heroism in battle and were highly decorated by the French. If this particular flag has French origins, though, why is it red-white-red-striped and not blue-white-red like the tricolor French flag? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray heads to Columbia, South Carolina, to link this mysterious flag to the legacy of the Red Hand Division and its wartime triumphs.Seth Eastman Painting - A Decatur, Illinois, man purchased a painting that depicts a scene of traditional Native-American life. The contributor, a longtime student of the history of the American West, says the image appealed to him because it was strangely familiar, almost iconic in its imagery. The painting bears the initials "S.E." and the seller's Web page reads "Seth Eastman, American Painting, Oil on Canvas." Could this painting be an authentic work of artist and military officer Seth Eastman - and an accurate depiction of Native-American life in the mid-1800s? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi travels to historic Fort Snelling in Minnesota to examine how Eastman carried out government policies of Native-American removal while capturing on canvas what he believed was a doomed way of life.Isleton Tong - The president of the historical society in Isleton, California, has inherited a two-story wooden building with tin sides that she believes once housed a Chinese Tong. In the late 1800s, Chinese immigrants risked everything to start a new life in America. But Americans who feared losing jobs to the new, cheap labor turned the land of opportunity hostile. Chinatowns burned, ethnic slurs flew and Congress prohibited Chinese laborers from entering or working in the country. For outcast Chinese, Tongs were places of protection and solidarity during this time of chaos, where they could worship, study and settle legal disputes peacefully. In the newspapers, the Tongs were secretive centers of gangland warfare, opium deals and gambling. Was there a Tong operating inside Isleton's once-booming Chinatown? If so, what happened there? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwen Wright heads to the Sacramento Delta and to San Francisco to unravel the mystery of the Chinese Tong. Rebroadcast
Thursday , October, 15, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Wwii Diary; 1856 Mormon Tale; Annie Oakley Coin Episode #601 WWII Diary - A man in Lexington, North Carolina, has a poignant diary written by a World War II pilot. He inherited the diary 20 years ago from his father, who said it once belonged to a close friend whom he fought alongside in WWII, until the war took his friend's life in 1944. Keeping the last thoughts of this fallen solider is now too great a burden for the contributor. Can HISTORY DETECTIVES return it to a living relative? The stakes are raised as the diary pages reveal the story of a young American pilot stationed in England, racing against time and all odds to return home before the birth of his first child. Host Wes Cowan heads to Florida on a quest to reunite the diary with the pilot's surviving family.1856 Mormon Tale - The tattered pages of an anonymously authored 1856 book titled Female Life Among the Mormons claim to be the personal memoirs of a New York woman who married a Mormon elder at a time when polygamy was openly practiced but characterized by some abolitionists as the "enslavement of white women." In it, the author says she traveled with her husband as the Mormons were chased out of New York and Illinois, eventually settling in the Utah Territory. Throughout her journey, the author claims to have witnessed a shocking, immoral culture of violence, polygamy, sexual depravity and brainwashing. The contributor from Stanfordville, New York, wants to know who wrote the book and if, in fact, it is a true account Mormon life. The search to find the author takes HISTORY DETECTIVES into a mystery that has haunted bibliographers for nearly 150 years. Host Tukufu Zuberi sorts fact from fiction in this fascinating tale.Annie Oakley Coin - A contributor from Bath, Maine, has an 1853 French Napoleon coin with a bent, split edge and a great bit of family lore: that the coin was shot by Annie Oakley and that Oakley herself gave the coin to two of the contributor's great-granduncles. It doesn't look like any of the souvenir coins the Wild West Show icon typically handed out to her many fans. Can HISTORY DETECTIVES prove that the sharp-shooting star of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show shot the coin for the two brothers - and turn family lore into bona fide bragging rights? To find out, host Elyse Luray travels to Cody, Wyoming, to conduct ballistics tests, scour the Buffalo Bill Historical Center archives and even re-create one of Oakley's sure shots. In HD where available. Rebroadcast
Wednesday , October, 14, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Lincoln Letter/Quaker Map/U.S.S. Indianapolis Episode #508 Lincoln Letter - A Tampa man made a potentially extraordinary discovery in a stack of old photos he purchased for eight dollars. Buried in the images was a letter with what appears to be the signature of Abraham Lincoln. It's dated 1858 and contains a short and cryptic note to someone named Henry Clay Whitney. The contributor is skeptical, as he's seen references on the Internet to several forgeries of this document, but Host Elyse Luray thinks it's worth a closer look. HISTORY DETECTIVES heads to the Land of Lincoln -Illinois - to investigate the future president's political calculations, and correspondence, at a pivotal time in his career.Quaker Map - A hand-drawn map that a woman from New Jersey picked up at an estate sale is entitled "Meetings of Friends," and describes in crude strokes the state of Ohio in the early 19th century. She wants to know if this could be a map of the fabled Underground Railroad. Experts verify that the map dates to circa 1815 and plots the locations of key Quaker houses of worship in that day. Delving deeper into the history of the faith, HISTORY DETECTIVES makes some extraordinary discoveries about how Quakers roused anti-slavery sentiment. In New York City, Pennsylvania and Ohio, host Gwen Wright tracks cartographic clues to investigate the important role Quakers played in the Underground Railroad and launching the abolitionist movement.U.S.S. Indianapolis - A Cleveland, Ohio, man owns some intriguing artifacts that he believes may date back to a kamikaze attack on the U.S.S. Indianapolis in March 1945. The contributor's uncle served on this cruiser, and while home shared a story with his family about an attack on his boat. He returned to the ship and was killed when the Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese torpedo during the final weeks of World War II. Years later, the family uncovered fragments of aluminum, military patches and a Japanese placard that the uncle had placed inside a cedar chest during his time on leave. Could these items be from the kamikaze attack on the U.S.S. Indianapolis? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Wes Cowan ventures to Texas and Washington, DC, to examine the virulence and desperation of the Japanese suicide attacks that led up to one of the greatest sea disasters in U.S. naval history. Rebroadcast
Tuesday , October, 13, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Red Cloud Letter/'32 Ford Roadster/Cast Iron Eagle Episode #507 Red Cloud Letter - A Nebraska man obtained a curious letter from his grandfather, who spent time on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation during the early part of the 20th century. The letter is from the sculptor of Mount Rushmore, Gutzon Borglum, to a Lakota leader named James Red Cloud. It makes several ambiguous references to treaties between the U.S. government and the Lakota and, moreover, to Borglum's desire to help the tribe. The contributor asks: How was a leader of the Lakota people connected with the creator of a monument that was regarded by many as a desecration of sacred land? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwen Wright journeys to South Dakota's Black Hills for the answer.'32 Ford Roadster - A man in Benicia, California, owns a 1932 Ford roadster that, upon purchase, had an engine too powerful for normal driving. The contributor suspects his car was used for dry-lake racing, a sport that had its heyday in Southern California in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1932, although America was in the midst of the Depression, Henry Ford forged ahead, designing a new model '32 car with the first powerful V8 engine affordable to the masses. Was the contributor's car among the popular hot rods raced out at the dry lakes? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi high-tails it to California to examine one era's car-racing culture and to investigate one of the most iconic hot rods of all time.Cast Iron Eagle - One of the main attractions at a family-run zoo in Sussex, New Jersey, is a majestic, 12-foot-high cast iron eagle perched on an orb in the center of the park. The contributor's grandfather founded the park in 1927; family lore is that the eagle had once been perched atop an old post office in New York. However, a visitor recently told the contributor that the eagle resembles the giant cast iron eagles that graced the old Grand Central Station in Manhattan. The eagle dates to the post-Civil War period, when decorative style involved cast iron prefabrication. But was Grand Central Station - built for railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt -its original home? To find out, HISTORY DETECTIVES host Wes Cowan heads to New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York City, home of the arts and crafts movement at the turn of the 19th century. Rebroadcast
Monday , October, 12, 2009 MPT2
06:00 PM
Wwii Diary; 1856 Mormon Tale; Annie Oakley Coin Episode #601 WWII Diary - A man in Lexington, North Carolina, has a poignant diary written by a World War II pilot. He inherited the diary 20 years ago from his father, who said it once belonged to a close friend whom he fought alongside in WWII, until the war took his friend's life in 1944. Keeping the last thoughts of this fallen solider is now too great a burden for the contributor. Can HISTORY DETECTIVES return it to a living relative? The stakes are raised as the diary pages reveal the story of a young American pilot stationed in England, racing against time and all odds to return home before the birth of his first child. Host Wes Cowan heads to Florida on a quest to reunite the diary with the pilot's surviving family.1856 Mormon Tale - The tattered pages of an anonymously authored 1856 book titled Female Life Among the Mormons claim to be the personal memoirs of a New York woman who married a Mormon elder at a time when polygamy was openly practiced but characterized by some abolitionists as the "enslavement of white women." In it, the author says she traveled with her husband as the Mormons were chased out of New York and Illinois, eventually settling in the Utah Territory. Throughout her journey, the author claims to have witnessed a shocking, immoral culture of violence, polygamy, sexual depravity and brainwashing. The contributor from Stanfordville, New York, wants to know who wrote the book and if, in fact, it is a true account Mormon life. The search to find the author takes HISTORY DETECTIVES into a mystery that has haunted bibliographers for nearly 150 years. Host Tukufu Zuberi sorts fact from fiction in this fascinating tale.Annie Oakley Coin - A contributor from Bath, Maine, has an 1853 French Napoleon coin with a bent, split edge and a great bit of family lore: that the coin was shot by Annie Oakley and that Oakley herself gave the coin to two of the contributor's great-granduncles. It doesn't look like any of the souvenir coins the Wild West Show icon typically handed out to her many fans. Can HISTORY DETECTIVES prove that the sharp-shooting star of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show shot the coin for the two brothers - and turn family lore into bona fide bragging rights? To find out, host Elyse Luray travels to Cody, Wyoming, to conduct ballistics tests, scour the Buffalo Bill Historical Center archives and even re-create one of Oakley's sure shots. In HD where available. Rebroadcast
Sunday , October, 11, 2009 MPT2
09:00 AM
U.S.S. Indianapolis/Highlander Badge/Spirit of St. Louis Episode #405 U.S.S. INDIANAPOLIS: A Cleveland, Ohio man owns some intriguing artifacts that he believes may date back to a kamikaze attack on the U.S.S. Indianapolis in March 1945. Our contributor's uncle served on this battleship, and while home shared a story with his family about an attack on his boat. He returned to the ship and was killed when the Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese torpedo during the final weeks of World War II. Years later, the family uncovered fragments of aluminum, military patches and a Japanese placard that the uncle had placed inside a cedar chest during his time on leave. Could these items be from the kamikaze attack on the U.S.S. Indianapolis? HISTORY DETECTIVES ventures to Texas and Washington, D.C. to examine the virulence and desperation of the Japanese suicide attacks that led up to one of the greatest sea disasters in U.S. naval history.HIGHLANDER BADGE: While scuba diving in the Savannah River 13 years ago, a Georgia man uncovered a mysterious badge. Though it is slightly corroded, the HISTORY DETECTIVES are able to decipher Latin inscriptions, the imprint of a thistle, the British Crown and the number "71." Initial research reveals that a regiment within the British Army was in fact a group called the 71st Highlanders from Scotland. The HISTORY DETECTIVES discover the badge could have been lost by one of the Highlanders, who were among the fiercest troops of the War. Their deployment to Georgia and South Carolina signaled the importance of the British High Command's so-called Southern Strategy. But the puzzle remains: how did the badge end up in the river? Was it during a desperate maneuver by the British to turn the tide of the war and reclaim their U.S. colonies? HISTORY DETECTIVES travels to Georgia and South Carolina to find out.SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS: Two brothers from Parsippany, New Jersey, grew up listening to their uncle's claim that he built the engine for the Spirit of St. Louis - the plane made famous by Charles Lindbergh's historic nonstop flight across the Atlantic. A letter addressed to the uncle from the Wright Aeronautical Corporation in 1927 thanks him for his "enthusiasm and outstanding cooperation" following "Captain Lindbergh's recent achievement," but makes no direct mention of his role in the event. The family legend leads HISTORY DETECTIVES to uncover the forgotten history of Lucky Lindy's legendary flight. Rebroadcast
Sunday , October, 11, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Nc-4: First Across The Atlantic/Howard Hughes Crash/Professor Lowe's Hot Air Balloon Episode #506 NC-4: First Across The Atlantic - Almost 10 years before Charles Lindbergh's famous solo flight across the Atlantic, the NC-4 was the first aircraft to make the transatlantic journey in May 1919. Now, a woman in Saratoga, California, has a small square of canvas-like fabric that she believes comes from the NC-4, one of four U.S. Navy "flying boats" that had originally been commissioned to alert American destroyers to the locations of German U-boat submarines that were wreaking havoc on merchant ships along the U.S. coast during World War I. Due to early mechanical problems, the NC-4 was considered by many aviation insiders to be the least likely candidate to complete the trek across the Atlantic. In Pensacola, Florida, and Hammondsport, New York, HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray investigates the little-known story of the NC-4 and its historic voyage.Howard Hughes Crash - On July 7, 1946, Howard Hughes undertook the first flight of his XF-11 - designed to be the highest, fastest spy plane of its time. But the propeller failed, leaving Hughes without power. He crashed in Beverly Hills, California, destroying two homes and scarring himself for life. A man in Laramie, Wyoming, owns a 1940s altimeter he received from his father, who claimed it came from the fiery crash. He'd been a Hughes employee for more than 34 years and was there the day of the accident. Based on this altimeter's near-perfect condition, experts are skeptical of its connection to the crash, but footage from Martin Scorsese's The Aviator and a visit to Hughes' Spruce Goose at the Evergreen Aviation Museum could challenge this assertion. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi heads to Los Angeles, California, and McMinnville, Oregon, to determine if the altimeter can be traced back to Hughes, an aviation pioneer and America's first billionaire.Professor Lowe's Hot Air Balloon - A collector from Midland, Michigan, may have purchased a fragment of American aviation history. At first glance, it's a simple piece of frayed material in a frame. But on the back of the frame are the words, "A piece of Prof. Lowe's Aeronautical balloon 'Enterprise'... after it was destroyed upon landing ... in 1862." Could this be an artifact from the dawn of American military airpower? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Wes Cowan reveals more about the ambitious and fascinating professor who launched the country's first aeronautic division by inflating his hot air balloon, the Enterprise, on the lawn of President Lincoln's White House. Rebroadcast
Saturday , October, 10, 2009 MPT2
09:00 AM
Survivor Camera/Alcoholics Anonymous Letter/Tallahassee Mystery Cross Episode #407 SURVIVOR CAMERA: A woman in Boynton Beach, Florida has an antique camera she inherited from her uncle, a Polish Jew who survived the Holocaust. Adolf Fingrut stayed behind when his family members left Poland in the 1920's. His niece wants to know which of two conflicting family stories is true: did Uncle Adolf survive the Holocaust by going into hiding with the help of his gentile girlfriend, or did he take photographs for the Nazis with this camera? During World War II, some Jewish photographers faced the horrific dilemma of working with the Nazis in documenting their atrocities or going to the death camps. HISTORY DETECTIVES will be in New York to investigate how Adolf Fingrut kept one step ahead of death and shed light on the existential nightmare of survival during wartime.ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS LETTER: A man from Laurel, Maryland owns a mysterious letter that was written in 1942. It's a tribute addressed to his grandmother on the occasion of his grandfather Herbert Wallace's death, acknowledging Mr. Wallace's support for the organization Alcoholics Anonymous. "We of the A.A. Group have never had a better friend, nor a stauncher one, than Herb when the going was hard," the note states. It is signed by a man named Bill Wilson. The contributor does not believe that his grandfather was an alcoholic, so is curious to learn how the supposedly sober, well-heeled customs attorney was involved in the early days of one of the most miraculous social movements of the modern era. HISTORY DETECTIVES searches New York's Westchester County, Brooklyn and Manhattan for personal insight into a movement that has changed the lives of millions worldwide and helped shape society's attitudes about alcoholism.TALLAHASSEE MYSTERY CROSS: About 15 years ago, archeologists at the Mission San Luis in Tallahassee, Florida made an astonishing discovery. In the process of excavating several hundred bodies at the site of this 17th century Spanish mission, they unearthed a beautiful and undamaged glass-like cross. The current Chief of the Apalachee Tribe says his ancestors once lived near the mission, but fled when British forces raided in the early 1700s. He wants to confirm whether the cross was made centuries ago by his own ancestors. HISTORY DETECTIVES journeys to Florida to examine the Spanish efforts to proselytize among native tribes and explore the fusing of native and Christian ideologies and symbols into a unique version of New World Catholicism. Rebroadcast
Saturday , October, 10, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Great Mexican War Posters/Nora Holt Autograph Book/Muhlenberg Robe Episode #505 Great Mexican War Posters - While cleaning out the basement of an old home he'd recently purchased, a man from San Francisco, California, discovered a stash of strange and colorful posters announcing the "Great Mexican War." They appear to be early 20th-century advertising for news film of the Mexican Revolution. The posters indicate that a man named Charles Pryor made the films. If the posters prove to be authentic, does it mean that this mystery cinematographer was an eyewitness to the Mexican Revolution? In Washington, DC, and El Paso, Texas, HISTORY DETECTIVES host Wes Cowan examines a turning point in filmmaking history - when producers aimed to satisfy the American audience's appetite for films of overseas events, at times walking a fine line between real-life and on-screen dramatic events.Nora Holt Autograph Book - The mother of a man in Los Angeles, California, was an avid collector of African-American memorabilia. Upon his mother's passing, the contributor inherited a garage full of the material she had assembled, most of which is uncatalogued and has attracted a great deal of attention from scholars. Amid the collection is a curious small green leather autograph book that belonged to a woman named Nora Holt. Holt was a luminary of the Harlem Renaissance and associated with author Theodore Dreiser and photographer Carl Van Vechten, among others. Mysteriously, these artists' names appear in the book alongside the signatures of Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, neither of whom was involved in the Harlem Renaissance. The autographs take host Gwen Wright to Harlem and Westchester, New York, and to Westport, Connecticut, as HISTORY DETECTIVES follows the path of a liberated woman who participated in one of the most significant artistic flowerings of the 20th century.Muhlenberg Robe - George Washington's cherry tree, Betsy Ross' flag, Paul Revere's ride ... now Muhlenberg's Robe may be added to the list of debatable Revolutionary War legends. The story goes that in January 1776, Lutheran Reverend Peter Muhlenberg turned his pulpit into a recruiting station for revolutionary fighters. During a fiery sermon, he tore his robe from his shoulders to reveal a uniform and at once rallied 300 able-bodied congregants to the patriotic cause. A woman in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, wants to know: Is the robe that's on display at the nearby Lutheran Theological Seminary the cloak that bore witness to this event? In Philadelphia and Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray delves into rare, period accounts from Muhlenberg's family, friends and contemporaries to find the truth behind the story of the reverend's famous robe. Rebroadcast
Friday , October, 09, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Atocha Spanish Silver/Lucy Parsons Book/Ernie Pyle's Typewriter Episode #504 Atocha Spanish Silver - In 1985, one of the greatest treasure discoveries was made off the Florida Keys when the wreck of the Spanish ship Atocha was found. On board were some 40 tons of silver and gold, which in 1622 had been heading from the New World to the Spanish treasury as the means to fund the Thirty Years' War. A man from Cedartown, Georgia, was a diver on that legendary find and received two silver bars as compensation for his efforts. He's long been mystified by a strange mark that appears on one of the bars -but the mark is mysteriously absent from the other bar. In Key West, Florida, HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi translates 300-year-old documents from the archives of the Spanish treasury in Seville to crack a unique code of communication among ship captains of that era.Lucy Parsons Book - Amid the stacks at the Wesleyan University Library, a student has found a book emblazoned with the name and address of the legendary anarchist Lucy Parsons. The bi-racial black and Native-American activist fought in the late 1800s for the rights of the poor and disenfranchised in the face of an increasingly oppressive industrial economic system. Did this once-feared radical own the manifesto? If so, it would pose a mystery: After Parsons died, police supposedly raided her house and confiscated all of her subversive literature. So how did this book elude them? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray heads to Chicago, Illinois, and Middletown, Connecticut, to explore a major labor movement uprising and Parsons' abiding acts of defiance.Ernie Pyle's Typewriter - A man in Portland, Oregon, thinks he may have a typewriter that belonged to the famous WWII journalist Ernie Pyle, America's most beloved battlefront correspondent. The contributor's grandfather told him he received the vintage "Corona 3" from Major George Pratt, who served in the Pacific and said that the typewriter belonged to Pyle. A trail-blazing reporter, Ernie Pyle was celebrated for telling the stories of ordinary soldiers serving in Europe. But when he followed the siren song of the Pacific, he was killed by a Japanese sniper bullet on the island of Okinawa on April 18, 1945. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Wes Cowan travels to Albuquerque, New Mexico, Bloomington, Indiana, and Portland to investigate. Rebroadcast
Thursday , October, 08, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Gar Photograph/Jefferson Pledge/Dempsey Fight Bell Episode #503 Gar Photograph - A Civil War enthusiast in Etters, Pennsylvania, owns a striking vintage photograph that depicts about 20 older white men in full dress uniform, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with two black men. In Reconstruction-era America, association between blacks and whites was frequently taboo. So what brought them together for this portrait? Their bond, it turns out, was the Grand Army of the Republic, a remarkable fraternal order organized for war veterans. In fact, integration was actually a GAR standard. The reason? The men's common struggle with post traumatic stress transcended race. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray heads to Cazenovia, New York, and Washington, DC, to investigate the first national social group to challenge the color barrier.Jefferson Pledge - In a forgotten corner of a Washington, DC, public library, a photo archivist has discovered what may be a momentous piece of history. It's a list of signatures from public figures of the early 1800s, including President Thomas Jefferson, offering money for a seemingly humble proposal: to build a simple pair of elementary schools. But Jefferson's ultimate goal is far loftier. With this venture, he is quietly floating his plan to launch the nation's first public school system. Eventually he would go broke through such acts of charity, but Jefferson's ideals of public education would transform the nation. Could it all have begun with a modest $200 pledge? Host Wes Cowan leads HISTORY DETECTIVES to Charlottesville, Virginia, and Washington, DC, to find out.Dempsey Fight Bell - July 4, 1919, marks the day America found its true calling in a national obsession. Icon Jack Dempsey became the world's first boxing superstar and he did it with the clang of a bell. Now, a contributor in Reno, Nevada, wants to know: Is the bell he's toasted many a night on the wall of his favorite bar the one that was ringside at Dempsey's legendary world heavyweight championship match? The question goes beyond a single fight. Dempsey's bout ushered in the Roaring Twenties, America's fascination with celebrity and the golden age of championship sports. Host Tukufu Zuberi leads HISTORY DETECTIVES to weigh in on the case in Reno and New York City, sorting truth from myth to determine which clues ring true. Rebroadcast
Wednesday , October, 07, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Continental Currency/Short-Snorter/Liberty Bell Pin Episode #502 Continental Currency - A family in Omaha, Nebraska, has found a puzzling $6 bill dated February 17, 1776; they're eager to learn the story behind it. The bill's text and designs are replete with mysteries and clues. How can it claim to be federal currency when it's dated five months before the colonies actually declared their independence? Why does it say it's backed by "Spanish milled dollars? " What do the strange images on it mean? Britain rightfully considered these monies sheer provocation and reacted by flooding the market with counterfeit bills. Is the bill real - or perhaps real fakery? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwen Wright travels to New York City to investigate an artifact that could represent America's first declaration of its independence.Short-Snorter - A man in New York City has a British 10-shilling note dated July 25, 1942, that is an autograph hunter's dream: a single slip of paper, called a "short-snorter," signed by most every luminary on the Allied side of World War II, from Patton to Churchill to Roosevelt. He wants to learn the story behind this oddity. The date on the bill is the same as a major Allied meeting held in London - where a momentous decision was made. Nazi troops were advancing across Europe. The time had come for America to join the battle and for the Allies to open a second front - but where? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi heads to Maryland, Washington, DC, and New York City to determine whether the contributor's short-snorter was witness to the fateful agreement that forged the alliance between America and Britain.Liberty Bell Pin - A woman in Charlotte, North Carolina, owns an unassuming pin that, according to family lore, is actually made of metal drawn from the Liberty Bell. It seems unfathomable that a piece of this iconic symbols could have been melted down for a mere memento. But the contributor's great-grandfather claimed that he wore the pin to an event important enough to lend credibility to his unlikely story. Even a generation after the Civil War, America was still recovering from its traumas. Dramatic measures were called for to heal the nation's economy in those dark days. Elyse Luray leads HISTORY DETECTIVES to Philadelphia and Atlanta to recall the staunch efforts for reconciliation during this tenuous time in U.S. history. Rebroadcast
Tuesday , October, 06, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
3-D Cuban Missile Crisis/Amos 'n' Andy Record/Women's Suffrage Painting Episode #501 A woman in Portland, Oregon, has a portable projection screen that may have helped save the Free World. It came her way with a letter stating that in 1962, it was borrowed from a club of 3-D photography enthusiasts in Dayton, Ohio, to show President John F. Kennedy the aerial spy photos that helped him resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis. Is it possible that, as the world faced nuclear Armageddon, the U.S. Air Force turned to an amateur club to help identify Russian missiles? HISTORY DETECTIVES visits Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and learns how the world's first supersonic photo-recon aircraft was rigged with 3-D cameras to improve its view of Cuba's camouflaged missiles. Wes Cowan leads HISTORY DETECTIVES to Dayton, Washington, DC, and Portland to pursue the case of this unassuming screen that may have played a role in preventing World War III.Amos 'n' Andy Record - A man in Lakeland, Florida, purchased at a flea market an aluminum record with the words "Amos 'n' Andy" hand-written on its label. He is eager to learn whether this is a rare early recording of the old-time radio series. At the peak of its success, 40 million listeners - a third of America - tuned in to "Amos 'n' Andy" six nights a week, making it the longest-running and most popular radio program in broadcast history. Its creators, Correll and Gosden, were white men who made a career of impersonating blacks for comic effect. In New York City, HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi uncovers a complex portrait of 1930s race relations and the emerging power of the mass media in American popular culture.Women's Suffrage Painting - Twenty years ago, a woman from League City, Texas, bought at a garage sale what appears to be a watercolor painting. Pictured is a trumpeting herald on a horse, and printed are the words "Official Program Woman Suffrage Procession Washington D.C. March 3, 1913." The contributor wants to learn if this image is the original for that program and what role it played in securing women the right to vote. The investigation sheds light on the day before Woodrow Wilson's presidential inauguration, when as many as 8,000 women descended on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, marching for suffrage. National media accounts testify to the galvanizing effect the spectacle had on the public. Remarkably, though, the event was organized in just nine weeks. In the suffragettes' rush to define their image, who was the illustrator they turned to? In Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Washington, DC, HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwen Wright searches for the mystery artist whose work helped culminate the 72-year battle for women's suffrage. Rebroadcast
Monday , October, 05, 2009 MPT2
06:00 PM
Episode #711 Civil War Bridge - Clearing some newly purchased property along the Broad River in Columbia, South Carolina, the owner discovered evidence of an old bridge abutment. He searched the river for clues and thinks he may have pinpointed the location where Confederates burned the bridge to thwart General Sherman's attempt to cross into Columbia to continue his scorch-and-burn campaign. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray goes to Columbia to examine the evidence and see if this discovery will redraw the maps of the Civil War.Scottsboro Boys Stamp - A contributor bought an inconspicuous black and white stamp at an outdoor market in Scottsboro, Alabama. "Save the Scottsboro Boys" is printed on the stamp above nine black faces behind prison bars and two arms prying the bars apart. One arm bears the tattoo "ILD." On the bottom of the stamp is printed "one cent." The Scottsboro Boys were falsely accused and convicted of raping two white girls in 1931 on a train near Scottsboro, Alabama. It took several appeals, two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and nearly two decades before all nine finally walked free. How is the stamp connected to this landmark civil rights case? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwendolyn Wright consults with a stamp expert to discover how a tiny penny stamp could make a difference in the young men's defense effort.Duke Ellington Plates - A New York man took a stroll through Harlem 20 years ago and stumbled across boxes of sheet music in a dumpster. Among the paper scores were metal sheets that look like printing plates for "Take the A Train," written by Billy Strayhorn and performed by jazz great Duke Ellington. Scratches and ink smudges mar the plates, signs that someone might have run these through a printing press, but there's no apparent copyright stamp. HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi sets out to find the story behind these plates and to determine the role they played in this jazz classic. Rebroadcast
Sunday , October, 04, 2009 MPT2
09:00 AM
Alternative Service Certificates/Carolina Mystery Books/Mickey Mouse's Origin Episode #404 ALTERNATIVE SERVICE CERTIFICATES: A contributor in Aiken, South Carolina owns a remarkable collection of wartime home front memorabilia, including a pair of mysterious $5 certificates titled "Brethren Service Committee." The certificates are dated 1943 and state that the contribution is intended as an "alternate service to war." Certain churches and religious groups granted "conscientious objector" status during wars in the 20th century -- are these certificates evidence of one person's attempt to buy their way out of serving in World War II? HISTORY DETECTIVES heads to Pennsylvania and Maryland to gain a deeper understanding of religious and moral objection to military service.CAROLINA MYSTERY BOOKS: A South Carolina man has a beautiful eight-volume set of Edward Gibbon's "History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" that he acquired at a local library sale in Edgefield, South Carolina. The volumes are dated 1789 and are inscribed with the signature John Calhoun. The contributor suspects the books belonged to John C. Calhoun, the 19th-Century American political giant and intellectual architect of the Confederacy. Along with Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Henry Clay of Kentucky, Calhoun was part of The Great Triumvirate of statesmen who set the terms of debate on the most challenging issues of their time, including banking, state's rights, westward expansion, and slavery. HISTORY DETECTIVES heads to South Carolina to uncover whether the books in question shaped the thinking of a politician who was nicknamed the "cast-iron man" for his staunch determination to defend the causes in which he believed.MICKEY MOUSE'S ORIGIN: Popular history has it that Mickey Mouse was born from a drawing sketched on a napkin by Walt Disney during a train ride from New York to Los Angeles in 1928. Mickey Mouse became the biggest fictional character moneymaker in the world, bringing in over $5.8 billion annually. A San Francisco toy collector, however, believes his small mouse figurine may turn the legend of Mickey on its ears. With a red label on its chest that reads "Micky" and a patent label on the bottom of one foot that says "Pat. Aug. 17, 1926, " the figure appears to have been produced two years before Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse. HISTORY DETECTIVES traces the ancestry of America's most famous mouse and sheds light on some of the earliest bare-knuckle business fights in the toy industry. Rebroadcast
Sunday , October, 04, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Superman Sketch/Lost Musical Treasure/Rebel Whiskey Flask Episode #411 Superman Sketch - An Ohio woman has a drawing that she discovered in the attic of her home. It is an undated sketch of the cartoon hero Superman with a note that reads, "With Best Wishes to Randall, from Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster." Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were the creators of Superman, but the contributor has no idea how her late father, Randall, obtained this apparently original piece of artwork. A plausible connection is Randall's army service during World War II - a time when the man of steel, along with other popular American cartoon characters, was featured as a hero in action against German and Japanese forces. HISTORY DETECTIVES journeys to Ohio, New York and New Jersey to investigate the early days of Superman and how this comic icon was used to inspire American GIs during wartime.Lost Musical Treasure - A man in Port Washington, Wisconsin, who owns a pair of metal "masters" that were used to press shellac records in the 1920s and 30s, has a hunch they could represent surviving fragments of a lost moment in American musical history. The contributor's great uncle was the master sound engineer for one of the more peculiar recording enterprises in the United States, Paramount Records. He worked for the Wisconsin Chair Company, which, among other things, manufactured phonograph cabinets. The company's salesmen were savvy about the broad spectrum of musical talent at the time and established a tandem recording label, ultimately bringing some of the best blues artists from the Mississippi Delta to Wisconsin to record in the factory. HISTORY DETECTIVES travels to Wisconsin and New York to determine the significance of these metal masters and to explore how one company captured the regionally and culturally diverse music played around the nation in the 20s and 30s.Rebel Whiskey Flask - It's the fall of 1794 and trouble is brewing in western Pennsylvania. Thousands of protestors are daring to fight back against the newly established U.S. government, protesting a tax on whiskey. President George Washington responds, marching 13,000 soldiers into Pennsylvania to quash the rebellion - the first time the federal government has turned its troops on its own people. Fast-forward to the present day: a woman in New Jersey has uncovered a glass whiskey flask that she believes may be a relic from this historic uprising. HISTORY DETECTIVES ventures to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Corning, New York, to determine the flask's relevance and to dig deeper for clues surrounding the so-called "Whiskey Rebellion." Rebroadcast
Saturday , October, 03, 2009 MPT2
09:00 AM
Orphan Film Reel/Chinese Opium Scale/Hermann Goering's Shotgun Episode #406 ORPHAN FILM REEL: A contributor from Elsmere, KY was searching his grandfather's Ohio attic when he stumbled upon a reel of 35mm nitrate film in a canister marked "Dangerous Hour - Eddie Polo." Eddie Polo was a legendary stuntman in the 1920's silent film world, but very few of his films remain. In its early days, silent film was seen as a transitory production, and movie companies such as Paramount and Universal dumped entire archives into the Pacific Ocean, melted nitrate prints to extract the silver, or used the flammable stock for special effects on their back-lot sets. HISTORY DETECTIVES ventures to Kentucky and Ohio to determine whether this reel could be one of thousands of silent films that have been lost forever to film history.CHINESE OPIUM SCALE: A woman in Missoula, Montana bought an old fiddle case in the Montana mining town of Butte in the 1960s. When she made the purchase, she was told the case didn't hold a fiddle, but rather a scale that Chinese immigrants in the area had used for weighing out opium. Trade in opium was legal in the US until 1909, and it was commonly used both as a medicine and as a drug. The Chinese were among the first immigrant groups to arrive in Montana in the 1800s, working building the railroads, as gold miners, and in restaurant and laundry businesses. HISTORY DETECTIVES heads to Montana to find out how Chinese immigrants survived for decades in Big Sky Country, particularly during a time when anti-Chinese sentiment was rampant in the U.S.HERMANN GOERING'S SHOTGUN: In the dying days of the Third Reich, Hermann Goering, the former head of the mighty German Luftwaffe, was holed up in his castle in the German countryside, addicted to opium and terrified of capture by the advancing Allies. A Lewiston, New York, man believes his shotgun may have belonged to Goering and was looted at the time of his arrest in 1945. A signed affidavit from an American soldier says that he removed the gun from Goering's castle "from the wall over the living room fireplace" during the arrest. HISTORY DETECTIVES investigates the possible link to Hitler's once-feared right-hand-man. Rebroadcast
Saturday , October, 03, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Lou Gehrig Autograph/Cleveland Electric Car/Philadelphia Freedom Paper Episode #410 Lou Gehrig Autograph - An Oregon man has a baseball ticket that bears a "Lou Gehrig" autograph and a scribbled date: July 4, 1939. The contributor's mother was an avid Yankees fan who regularly paid homage to the team at their home stadium in the Bronx. The date is one of the most famous in baseball, when Gehrig announced his retirement, stating to a Yankee Stadium crowd of 62,000 that he was "the luckiest man on the face of the earth." For months, unbeknownst to Gehrig and his fans, he had been suffering the progressive effects of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a degenerative disease. HISTORY DETECTIVES heads to Yankee Stadium and Cooperstown's Baseball Hall of Fame to learn whether this ticket was in fact signed by Lou Gehrig and to explore how the athlete once known as the "Iron Horse" was memorialized by fans and by his own family.Cleveland Electric Car - A Cleveland man with a passion for trains has long wondered about an electric street car in his city's transit museum. He is curious to learn what happened to the city's once extensive and highly praised electric trolley car network. Streetcars were once the most popular form of urban transportation in the country - by World War I, most cities of more than 10,000 people had an electric railway system. But by the 1950s, this form of transportation had all but disappeared. HISTORY DETECTIVES hits the road to Washington, DC, and Cleveland, Ohio, to track the evolution of urban mass transit systems, and investigate the fate of downtown areas and the rise of suburban sprawl.Philadelphia Freedom Paper - A Bronx, New York, man with a longtime interest in African-American history recently purchased an intriguing document at a flea market; he believes it is a "freedom paper" for an African-American man named John Jubilee Jackson. The paper was issued in Philadelphia in 1821, and indicates that Jackson was from Virginia, a state where, by 1780, nearly half of all slaves resided. HISTORY DETECTIVES heads to Philadelphia, Mystic, Connecticut, and New York City to investigate the document and the life of John Jubilee Jackson, uncovering the remarkable and contradictory reality of free blacks struggling to get by in a racist society. Rebroadcast
Friday , October, 02, 2009 MPT2
05:00 PM
Grace Kelly Automobile/Illicit P.O.W. Photos/Mystery Motorcycle Episode #409 Grace Kelly Automobile - In 1955, famed director Alfred Hitchcock was at the top of his game with the release of To Catch a Thief, a romantic thriller starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. But for some Hitchcock fans, the real star of the film is the Sunbeam Alpine, a sleek, sexy 1953 convertible. The car was already popular in elite automotive circles, but its Hitchcock film cameo would transform this car into a cult object. Now, a man in Los Angeles believes he has the original Sunbeam Alpine used in the film. HISTORY DETECTIVES heads to California to revisit the glamour of 1950s Hollywood and rub elbows with some of the key players who worked side by side with the Master of Suspense.Illicit P.O.W. Photos - A contributor from Daytona Beach, Florida, has an extraordinary set of photographs he believes come from his great-great-grandfather, who fought in the Civil War and was once a confederate prisoner of war at Johnson's Island on Lake Erie. The collection of portraits comes with a note that asserts the images were taken illicitly and depict fellow incarcerated confederate officers. The author claims the photos were taken with a camera he built from items he possessed when he was captured, as well as tools he collected while in the prison camp, and adds that the chemicals used to develop the photos were stolen from the camp hospital. Is the contributor's relative in fact the photographer, and if so, would it have been possible for him to make a camera with the materials he describes? HISTORY DETECTIVES heads to Ohio, Maryland and Pennsylvania to investigate the history of Civil War photography and discover how confederate and union prisoners, officers and enlisted men, were treated during wartime.Mystery Motorcycle - A man in Flemington, New Jersey, has recently purchased a beautiful old Harley-Davidson motorcycle and is eager to learn more about the machine's early history. The tank of his 1914 bike bears the "Cross of Lorraine," a historic symbol of French nationalism. The contributor is aware that Harley-Davidson sold motorcycles to the U.S. Military during WWI, and he wants to know whether his bike clocked mileage in war-torn Europe. As the detectives follow this lead in New Jersey and Wisconsin, their course takes an unanticipated swerve when they find that the cross also served as the emblem for the U.S. National Tuberculosis Association in the early 1900s. While uncovering clues about the early public health initiative to wipe out tuberculosis, the detectives dig deep in the Harley-Davidson archives to examine the company's possible involvement in the campaign to eradicate the deadly "White Plague." Rebroadcast
