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PODCAST

Her Half of History

Evergreen Podcasts

Women"s history doesn"t have be boring or depressing. I tell the stories of extraordinary women in history, including queens, slaves, spies, scientists, artists, wives, mothers, and more. But most women didn"t leave us enough material for a biography, so I also tell you what it was like to be an ordinary woman, including what they wore, how they did housework, how they worked, and how they played. In short, what were the women doing all that time while men were writing the standard history books

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All Episodes

21:35

Enheduanna, First Named Author (ep. 16.2)

Her Half of History ·

2026/02/05

The first named author in history was Enheduanna, daughter of Sargon, conqueror of Sumeria. Her poems have been called the world's first bestsellers. But she's also been accused of not really writing them. Visit the ⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. This show survives on the on the support of listeners like you. Support the show on my ⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon page⁠⁠ (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and polls. Or make a

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16:40

Neithhotep, First Named Woman in History (ep. 16.1)

Her Half of History ·

2026/01/29

Many religions and cultures have an answer to Who was the first woman?But the records of those answers were all written thousands of years after any such women lived. For historians, the more answerable question is Who was the first woman named in a record written during or close to her own lifetime? Neithhotep was a queen in Egypt's very first dynasty. Not much is known about her for certain, but what we do know is that she kicked off a very long list of women in the historical record. Visit

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31:49

Childbirth, Literacy, Sources, the State of the...

Her Half of History ·

2026/01/22

Her Half of History turns 5 years old this month! In celebration, I'm taking questions from listeners and they range from the oldest account of childbirth to the reason I started a podcast in the first place.In this episode you will can hear the voices of some of my fellow history podcasters. Please check out their shows for more great history: Civics and Coffee The History Fix Podcast It's a History Podcast Visit the ⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts,

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15:54

Woman the Gatherer (and Also the Hunter)

Her Half of History ·

2026/01/08

Early anthropologists and archaeologists told us that in foraging societies, women gathered and men hunted. More recent research suggests that women did hunt, but the debate will go on about how much.Visit the ⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. This show survives on the on the support of listeners like you. Support the show on my ⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon page⁠⁠ (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and polls. Or make a

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2:46

Got Questions? (and the voters' choice for Series 16)

Her Half of History ·

2025/12/25

Please send me your questions for the Q&A episode to celebrate my 5-year podcast anniversary! There's a spot to do it on the ⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com). If you include contact details, there's a drawing for some free swag for you. Also, the votes are in, and the topic of Series 15 is: The First Woman Who. That will start in January. Visit the ⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. This show survives on the on the support of listeners like

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26:25

The Mothers of Invention (ep. 15.18)

Her Half of History ·

2025/12/18

They say necessity is the mother of invention, but I'm not convinced. Throughout this series on inventions, I noticed that almost all of the inventions I covered clustered in the second half of the 19th century, in a time period known as the Second Industrial Revolution. This episode is a retrospective on some of the factors that made that time period see the invention of more society-changing inventions than any other.Visit the ⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and

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21:01

The Sewing Machine (ep. 15.17)

Her Half of History ·

2025/12/11

Sewing is at least 45,000 years ago, and it was known in nearly every culture on earth, but for millennia it was all done by hand. There are multiple claimants for the inventor of the first sewing machine, but the one who emerged with the US patent was Elias Howe. Unfortunately, his machine didn't really work. This episode tells the story of how that got fixed and how it impacted women.Visit the ⁠⁠website⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. This show survives on the

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24:22

100 Years of Santa's Letters

Her Half of History ·

2025/12/04

Santa gets more mail every year than any other person on earth, but the earliest letters that I know of were not to him. They were from him. Later on, it became more normal to write to him and ask for what you were hoping to get for Christmas. This episode covers a sampling of letters from the 1850s to the 1950s, and then finishes off with the story behind one of the most famous lines in American journalism: "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."It is time to vote in the poll to choose the topic

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25:29

Some Like It Cold: A History of Your Fridge (ep....

Her Half of History ·

2025/11/27

Most historical women lived and cooked in an era when cold storage meant something like the root cellar or down the well. The ability to keep food at a constant temperature radically changed our relationship with food, both before it arrives in our homes and afterwards.Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my ⁠Patreon page⁠ for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠Buy⁠

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21:29

Period Products (ep. 15.15)

Her Half of History ·

2025/11/20

Early details are scarce, but women have been managing periods for millennia, using everything from free bleeding to tampons to sanitary napkins. Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my ⁠Patreon page⁠ for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠Buy⁠ ⁠Me a Coffee⁠. Join ⁠Into History⁠ for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content. Visit ⁠Evergreen

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22:22

The Car and the Woman (ep. 15.14)

Her Half of History ·

2025/11/13

Women may not have invented the car, but a woman took the first road trip in one (Bertha Benz) and a woman was the first victim of one (Mary Ward). And when cars came in big time they changed life dramatically for women in particular.Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my ⁠Patreon page⁠ for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠Buy⁠ ⁠Me a Coffee⁠. Join ⁠Into

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3:34

November Giving Poll (plus send me your questions!)

Her Half of History ·

2025/11/06

It's a bye-week for the podcast, but I have two big announcements!First, November is a month for gratitude, and Her Half of History is donating half of all revenue this month to the nonprofit of your choice. Please visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) to vote. For double the voting power. Visit my Patreon page (https://bit.ly/4nEb6Zu) and vote there too. You don't have to be a supporter to vote, but there has never been a better time to become a supporter... Second, in January I am coming up

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23:20

The Disposable Diaper (ep. 15.13)

Her Half of History ·

2025/10/30

Diaper duty isn't the funnest part of parenting. But imagine what it was like when there was no such thing as a disposable, and you were also on laundry duty...The disposable diaper was a miracle to many women. Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my ⁠Patreon page⁠ for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠Buy⁠ ⁠Me a Coffee⁠. Join ⁠Into History⁠ for a community of

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21:57

Let There Be Light: A History of Flipping the Switch...

Her Half of History ·

2025/10/23

Artificial lighting is an invention that has become so ubiquitous in the developed world that many of us barely notice when we use it. But itwasn’t always this way. Many a historical woman noticed big time every day. This episode tells the story from prehistorical oil lamps, to candles, to flipping a switch. Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my ⁠Patreon page⁠ for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction

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26:01

Aqua Tofana (or how to poison your husband) (ep. 15.11)

Her Half of History ·

2025/10/16

It's spooky season and this is my third annual Halloween episode! It's the story of Aqua Tofana, a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and utterly deadly poison invented by a network of female poisoners in 17th century Italy. The music is from The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi, recorded by The Wichita State University Chamber Players with John Harrison on Violin and Robert Turizziani and as Conductor. The recording is licensed under the Creative Commons and available under the classicals.de

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25:10

The Pill (ep. 15.10)

Her Half of History ·

2025/10/02

Quite possibly no invention in modern history has done more to change women's lives than the pill so important it can just be called: The Pill. Safe, reliable, relatively easy birth control was a game changer for many (but not all) women.Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my ⁠Patreon page⁠ for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠Buy⁠ ⁠Me a Coffee⁠. Join ⁠Into

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26:49

Birth Control Before the Pill (ep. 15.9)

Her Half of History ·

2025/09/25

The ancient world recorded many means of contraception, some of them reasonable, and some of them bizarre. Many records only say that prostitutes do this well, and do not give the means at all. Records start to get better in the 19th century, but access was limited depending on what part of the world you lived in. In the early 20th century, many activists campaigned for better alternatives and information, but at mid-century the available methods still weren't good enough for Margaret

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24:57

Canned: A History of Bottling Food (ep. 15.8)

Her Half of History ·

2025/09/18

The problem of what to cook for dinner has been with women for millennia, but for most women in history, the options were limited by modern standards. They ate fresh, local ,and minimally processed. Not because they were healthy and environmentally conscious, but because they had no other ingredients available.Canned goods were invented for the military, not for housewives. But after a great deal of invention, regulation, and advertising, they became a standard part of cooking dinner. Visit the

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24:47

To Fetch a Pail of Water (a history of women carrying...

Her Half of History ·

2025/09/11

Historically, women carred an awful lot of water. It was so commonplace that it rarely gets mentioned in the historical record, so the details are scarce. But the search for water sparked invention 10500 years ago when the oldest wells were dug and has continued to inspire countless inventions ever since.Visit the ⁠⁠website⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. This show survives on the support of listeners like you. Support the show on my ⁠⁠⁠Patreon page⁠⁠⁠

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23:22

Vaccines and Surviving Childhood (ep. 15.6)

Her Half of History ·

2025/08/28

Until the very recent past, your chances of surviving childhood were iffy. Your chances of losing one or more of your own children were high. The invention of vaccines dramatically improved children's health, but getting there was a challenge for both scientists and policy makers. Vaccine hesitancy is nothing new. The fact that so many of us have never experienced any of the major diseases ranks among the top human achievements of all time.Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources,

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