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.
http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/
Episode # 912
A one-of-a-kind photograph poses a jarring question: Is the African American wearing a Confederate uniform slave or free? And, did Hollywood treat the Native Americans listed in this payment ledger fairly? Then, an ornate stock certificate unlocks secrets to the earliest days of Harlem.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
Episode # 1001
In the 10th season premiere episode, Elyse Luray and Wes Cowan investigate whether they have found rock's Holy Grail, the long-lost electric Fender Stratocaster Bob Dylan plugged in at the '65 Newport Folk Festival, changing rock 'n' roll forever. Tukufu Zuberi tracks down some autographs allegedly signed for two brothers in Miami Beach during the Beatles' legendary 1964 "British Invasion" tour of the United States. Finally, Gwendolyn Wright investigates a $5 thrift store find and unearths a little-known artistic side of musical iconoclast Frank Zappa.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
Episode # 1002
Wes Cowan hunts for the identity of a man whose name is engraved on a rare matched set of Civil War-era pistols, still in the original case. Tukufu Zuberi tracks down the story behind an old 78rpm, distributed by K.K.K. Records, containing songs titled "The Bright Fiery Cross" and "The Jolly Old Klansman." And Eduardo Pagan tries to prove that James Jamerson, a bass player whose bass line drove the Motown sound, owned a battered Ampeg B-15 amp that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will display - but only if inductee Jamerson really owned it.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
Episode # 1003
Host Elyse Luray floors country music singer Clint Black with the information she uncovers about his turn-of-the-20th-century book of wanted posters. Then, can Eduardo Pagan link a chunk of molten metal to the B-25 Bomber that crashed into the Empire State Building in 1945? Did HISTORY DETECTIVES find a slide of Bettie Page, "Queen of Pinups," that somehow escaped the censorship of the 1950s? Finally, a six-foot metal bar tells the story behind the original iconic Hollywood sign.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
Episode # 1004
What does the evocative symbol of a bird dropping a bomb mean? Did two patches with the symbol belong to a World War II unit? Then, Gwen Wright connects a tiny swatch of tattered red fabric to a pivotal moment in U.S. Civil War history. Did a neckpiece and leggings once belong to Chief Black Kettle, known as a Cheyenne Peace Chief? Finally, did President Lincoln actually sign this note?
Monday, May 20, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
Episode # 1005
HISTORY DETECTIVES steps into a family dispute: Was this picture frame crafted from the staircase banister of the Titanic, the Lusitania or neither? Then Tukufu Zuberi wonders whether Woolworth signs were part of the scene at the 1960 Winston-Salem lunch-counter sit-ins. For 70 years, toy soldiers have haunted their owner with a question: Was the father of his childhood friend a Nazi spy? Then, a journal full of liquor recipes makes a man wonder if his uncle was a prohibition bootlegger.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
Episode # 1006
Can HISTORY DETECTIVES return the diary of a fallen North Vietnamese soldier to that veteran's family? U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta takes part in the exchange. A notebook with recipes for large volumes of liquor makes an Indiana man wonder if his rich uncle earned money bootlegging during Prohibition. What can a ledger tell us about Hollywood's treatment of Native-American actors? How did they earn their pay? Did producers treat them fairly?
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
Episode # 1007
What are the details behind the heroic acts pictured in a poster about two African-American soldiers in World War I? Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) helps find the answer. Then, is this a hand-drawn map of Valley Forge that George Washington used during the American Revolution? And does a Tucson man own one of the first transistor radios ever made? Finally, after 70 years, a Washington man wonders whether a business card ties his father to Prohibition-era underworld crime.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
Episode # 1008
The History Detectives investigate four stories from the American West. Did a biography of legendary frontiersman Kit Carson once belong to members of his family? Then, from the rodeo to Hollywood, a saddle tells the story of Yakima Canutt, who made life safer for movie stunt artists. What is the meaning behind the mysterious inscription on sheet music of the popular western song "Tumbling Tumbleweeds"? Finally, did a pivotal character in the Modoc Indian wars weave this basket?
Friday, May 24, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
Episode # 803
"Lauste Film Clip" Did a HISTORY DETECTIVES viewer find a clip of the first talking picture? "Baker's Gold" What's the story behind Gold Rush sketches of five and eight-pound gold nuggets? "Transatlantic Cable" Did a beachcomber find a section of the first transatlantic cable?
Monday, May 27, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
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?
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Length : 55 min
MPT2
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?
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Length : 55 min
MPT2
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?
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Length : 55 min
MPT2
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?
Friday, May 31, 2013
Length : 55 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 911
What can a Club Continental business card tell us about California's prohibition-era underground? Then, did gangs use this shotgun in the Chicago St. Valentine's Day massacre that shocked the nation? And why is FDR on the guest list for a High Society Circus during the depths of the Depression?
Rebroadcast
Monday, May 13, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 910
Gwen dissects the mystery behind an ornate Belgian war medal. Elyse traces a pennant to the early battle for the women's vote. And a cartoon cel leads Tukufu to unsung heroes of animation.
Rebroadcast
Friday, May 10, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 909
Loyalist or patriot? What can the notes in a 1775 Almanac tell us about how the revolution may have strained family ties? Do these phonograph records called "Get Thin to Music" reveal Jack Lalanne, the media exercise guru of the 1920s? Did NASA unwittingly transport Andy Warhol's art to the moon?
Rebroadcast
Thursday, May 09, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 908
Did the first woman photographer assigned to the White House use this camera to shoot President Truman? Then, did families of the Confederate South use a child's doll to smuggle medicine past the Northern blockade? And, what does this 15th century map, with a mix of French, English and Spanish labels, tell us about how Europe colonized Florida?
Rebroadcast
Wednesday, May 08, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 907
In this episode, the images and the words on this poster suggest a battle is brewing: a clenched fist, police described as "pigs." Who made this poster and why? Then, was this woodcarving of a mouth and chin once part of the Andrew Jackson figurehead affixed to the bow of the USS Constitution? And, how does this basket connect us to a woman congress honored as a heroine of the Modoc Indian Wars?
Rebroadcast
Tuesday, May 07, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 906
Can the Japanese characters carved into this cane unlock the mystery of a family's past in a World War II relocation camp? Can HISTORY DETECTIVES trace this unusual wooden telescope to its Revolution era ancestor? And is this drawing of huge, eight pound gold nuggets genuine or another example of Gold Rush hype?
Rebroadcast
Monday, May 06, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 905
HISTORY DETECTIVES investigate a propeller from a World War II drone, a wooden club that could be Teddy Roosevelt's and a letter that Clara Barton could have written concerning a soldier's life.
Rebroadcast
Friday, May 03, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 904
HISTORY DETECTIVES investigate a Civil War soldier's letter, fabric from an aircraft that could be linked to Charles Lindbergh and Igor Sikorsky, and a 1950s comic book Negro Romance.
Rebroadcast
Thursday, May 02, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 903
Wes Cowan investigates a raid on the federal armory in Harpers Ferry. Eduardo Pagan wonders why U.S. troops were in Siberia during World War I and Elyse Luray sizes up a Ronald McDonald costume.
Rebroadcast
Wednesday, May 01, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 902
What do the violent images on this pamphlet mean? Wes Cowan decodes the message and the strategy behind a U.S. World War II propaganda leaflet. Then, Gwen Wright traces a cherished family heirloom, a watercolor, to the world of Tiffany stained glass. How did Tiffany open a window of opportunity for early 20th century women? A touching eulogy stitches together the lives of two Americans fought in the Spanish Civil War. Almost a century later, Tukufu Zuberi unites a nephew and a son of those soldiers.
Rebroadcast
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 901
Mysterious airplane engine parts lead Eduardo Pagan to a forbidden Hawaiian island where he finds a heroic story often overshadowed by the raid on Pearl Harbor. Then Elyse Luray tries to match metal shavings to the right cannon. What role did these shavings play in the early hours of the civil war? An early 20th century saddle puts Wes Cowan on the trail of Yakima Cunutt. How did this rodeo champion change Hollywood movie-making?
Rebroadcast
Monday, April 29, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 811
A Michigan woman wonders if her family clock kept time for the entire Midwest during the 19th century. The search takes HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray back to the industrial age when the country first began regulating time. Then, a document seems connected to an early controversial religion -- the first religion founded by an American-born woman. History Detective Gwen Wright wants to know why her name is missing from this critical record, the 'Incorporation of the Universal Friends Church.' And, in an encore segment, detective Tukufu Zuberi heads to Cat Island, near Gulfport, to find out what went wrong with a WWII dog-training program there.
Rebroadcast
Friday, April 26, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 810
Tukufu Zuberi doesn't recognize many of the characters in this box of cartoon drawings and cels, but together they tell an unexpected story about the early days of animation and the people behind the art. Then, Elyse Luray unravels a love story when she explores why a regional governor cared enough about a slave to sign her emancipation papers. And (in a repeate segment), did this elaborate dagger once belong to Benito Mussolini? Wes Cowan retraces the last steps of Fascist Italian dictator to find the answer.
Rebroadcast
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 809
Tukufu Zuberi tallies the facts on a 1940s Jackie Robinson All-Stars scorecard. Black and white athletes played this game before Robinson became the first black major league baseball player. What role did this game play in the integration of major league baseball? Then, we see the name 'Toby' worked into the weave of this basket. Could that be Toby Riddle, the woman congress honored as a heroine of the Indian Wars of the American West? And, why would J. Edgar Hoover endorse a crime radio drama? Does the script portray actual events?
Rebroadcast
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 808
This poster tells the story of a battle brewing. We see a clenched fist, what looks like a stern police officer, and the words: Hot Town - Pigs in the street. Who made this poster and why? Then, did the artist mean to scare someone with the grimace on this face jug? What's the story behind this peculiar pottery? And, if this inscription on a rock in Phoenix is authentic, Spanish explorers arrived in America much earlier than records show.
Rebroadcast
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 807
Two generations of prominent Chicago families say this 12-gauge shotgun played a role in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Can HISTORY DETECTIVES confirm their story? Then, combing through documents in one of Manhattan's first taverns, a man finds a miniature painting of George Washington's profile. Why is this find much more than a piece of art? And, 65-years ago a fellow prisoner sketched George Silva's portrait from inside a World War II German prisoner camp. George wants to find out what happened to the artist. His search leads to a moving meeting. These three encore segments first aired as part of three different episodes in HISTORY DETECTIVES' seventh season in 2009.
Rebroadcast
Monday, April 22, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 806
Rhonda McAullife never met her father. He's still listed Missing in Action from the Korean War. In a letter dated 1953, her father mentioned a man he said saved his life. Eduardo Pagan researches the "Korean War Letter" to find the man Rhonda believes is a hero. Then Tukufu Zuberi searches for the author of Diana: A Strange Biography. Could "Diana" be groundbreaking literature as the first widely published and true lesbian autobiography? Then, Wes Cowan digs into the mystery of the "Lookout Mt. Painting," depicting a Civil War battle. How did the artist of this painting end up in prison at the Rock Island Arsenal?
Rebroadcast
Friday, April 19, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 805
HISTORY DETECTIVES host Elyse Luray pilots an airplane to relive the memory of one of America's first, and youngest, barnstormers. Pilot "Cromwell Dixon" lost his life at 19 when his airplane crashed. Then, details in "Bartlett's Sketchbook" suggest the scenes illustrate the first ever US-Mexican border survey. Host Eduardo Pagan wonders whether the sketchbook made that journey, and if it belonged to Bartlett? Finally, a dumpster find may be a jazz history treasure. In the encore segment, Tukufu Zuberi sets out to find whether these metal "Duke Ellington Plates" printed the first copy of the Ellington hit, Take the A Train.
Rebroadcast
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 804
"Andrew Jackson's Mouth" The reunification of two halves of a vandalized sculpture of President Andrew Jackson? "Barton Letter" Why did Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, write a letter about a Civil War soldier? "Spybook" Does a Pennsylvania man have a notebook that once belonged to a World War I spy?
Rebroadcast
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 803
"Lauste Film Clip" Did a HISTORY DETECTIVES viewer find a clip of the first talking picture? "Baker's Gold" What's the story behind Gold Rush sketches of five and eight-pound gold nuggets? "Transatlantic Cable" Did a beachcomber find a section of the first transatlantic cable?
Rebroadcast
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 802
First, detective Eduardo Pagan investigates the history of a hand-drawn map, taken from the body of a Japanese soldier during the World War II battle of Iwo Jima, in the segment "Iwo Jima Map." Then, in "Copperhead Cane," Wes Cowan follows the story of a cane topped with a coiled snake that has ties to the anti-Abraham Lincoln group, the "Peace Democrats." Finally, in the segment "Theremin," Elyse Luray traces the origins of the Theremin - one of the first electronic musical instruments - and finds out if a New Mexico man owns one of the fewer than a dozen Theremins in the U.S. built by Leon Theremin himself.
Rebroadcast
Monday, April 15, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 801
The HISTORY DETECTIVES season premiere launches into space for an exhilarating hour exploring the excitement, promise and ingenuity that fueled America's foray into space exploration. First, detective Tukufu Zuberi tracks a scrap of metallic Mylar that could be one of America's early satellites - balloons - in the segment "Satelloon." Then, in the segment "Moon Museum," Gwendolyn Wright investigates the audacious notion that Andy Warhol's art may be on the moon. Finally, in the "Space Boot" segment, Elyse Luray tries on a jury-rigged ski boot with a magnetic metal brick bolted to the bottom that may be one of the first prototypes for a NASA space boot.
Rebroadcast
Friday, April 12, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
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
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
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
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
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
Tuesday, April 09, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
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
Monday, April 08, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
Episode # 707
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. 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 trial 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. 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
Friday, April 05, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
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
Thursday, April 04, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
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
Wednesday, April 03, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
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? HISTORY DETECTIVES 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
Tuesday, April 02, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
10:00 AM
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
Monday, April 01, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
