#1 Irena Sendler (1910-2008) Helped Smuggle Jewish Children Out Of The Warsaw Ghetto During Ww2, Providing Them With False Identity Documents And Shelter With Willing Polish Families Or In Orphanages And Other Care Facilities, Saving Those Children From The Holocaust
#2 The Exact Moment When 5 Year Old Harold Whittles, Born Deaf, Hears For The First Time After Being Fitted With A Hearing Aid
#3 Marilyn Monroe Visiting Injured Troops In Japan In 1954. This Soldier Had Broken His Back And Had To Lie Face Down During The Initial Recovery Phase
Kristin and Christine, the creators of Footnoting History, are both professional historians, both with degrees in Medieval History. In the podcast, they cover the lesser-known history facts that excite them, in the hopes that they will be exciting to their audience as well.
The team at Footnoting History has covered such topics as the Jumping the Rope wedding tradition and how archaeologists reconstructed the face of 11-year-old Myrtis from Ancient Athens. Christine and Kristin told us how they find these unknown nuggets of history for their podcast. "If you keep your eyes open, hidden and overlooked historical moments are everywhere!," they told Bored Panda.
#4 The Top Photo Shows Heart Surgeon Dr. Zbigniew Religa Resting After Performing The First Successful Heart Transplant In Poland In 1987, Which Took 23 Hours
#5 Inuk Man Teaches A Boy How To Shoot A Bow And Arrow, Circa 1920
#6 Iranian University Students Before The Islamic Revolution, 1971
The pair believes we can find interesting but overlooked historical moments by simply being curious and asking questions like "Who lived in my city in the past?" "Who is responsible for building this castle or house?" "Why did an author in the past write this story?" "How did people in the past handle this sort of task?"
"Everything we do today has a history," the pair says. "So, as long as you approach your current life by asking who/what/when/where/why you will come across history that probably doesn't always get discussed."
#7 On 23rd August, 1989, 2 Million People In Lithuania, Estonia And Latvia Held Hands And Formed A Human Chain 675.5 Kilometers (420 Miles) Long
#8 A Blind Muslim Named Muhammad Carrying His Best Friend, A Paralyzed Christian With Dwarfism Named Samir, In Damascus, 1889
#9 The O’halloran Sisters Who Fended Off The Officers Evicting Their Family During The Irish Land War, 1887
Sometimes, historical dramas or novels can push people to know more about the characters they're watching/reading about. This happened to Christine, for example. As a fan of Sharon Kay Penman's novels, she decided to pursue her Master's degree in Medieval History.
#10 A Portrait Of 10 Chiefs Taken In 1891
1. Standing Bull
2. Bear who looks back running
3. Has the big white horse
4. White tail
5. Liver bear
6. Little thunder
7. Bull dog
8. High hawk
9. Lame
10. Eagle pipe
#11 George And Willie Muse, Two African American Brothers Who Were Kidnapped As Children In 1899 And Forced To Perform As Sideshow Attractions Because They Were Albinos
"If you've got an interest in historical dramas or historical novels, definitely look up the real events and people that inspire them," the creators say. "Often, things that are dramatized are even more dramatic in real life. And, if you are already reading history books – always check the footnotes and endnotes."
#14 A Heart Breaking Moment, Saved In An Ss Picture, Of Hungarian Jews At Auschwitz II-Birkenau
#15 Father And Son Crying As They Say Goodbye To Their Relatives Who Are Boarding A Boat To Buenos Aires In Search Of A Better Life During The Economic Hardship In Spain. The Photographer Manuel Ferrol Took This Picture In 1957 At The Port Of A Coruña
"Often, historians will find tons of fascinating stories that don't get discussed and that don't fit into the main narrative of their books, but they'll still include them," Kristin and Christine tell Bored Panda. "Those little nuggets can provide amazing insight into historical moments that don't always get discussed."
#16 Hand Belonging To An X-Ray Technician At The Royal London Hospital, Which Shows The Damage From Radiation Exposure, 1900
#17 A Geisha After Washing Her Hair, Before Styling It, In Japan In 1905
But learning obscure historical facts is not just for the sake of it. And not to throw it into someone's face to impress them. "The more we can learn about our world and how it got to be the way it is, the better," the creators of Footnoting History believe. "Life is full of nuance and history is the same way. It's a great thing to understand the basic narrative of main events, but those main events didn't happen in a vacuum."
#19 Severe Case Of Syphilis In The Early 1900s Before The Discovery Of Penicillin, Which Would Become The Main Treatment
#20 Soviet War Veteran Next To An Eternal Flame On The Anniversary Of Victory Day, 1966
