Sidedoor
More than 154 million treasures fill the Smithsonian’s vaults. But where the public’s view ends, Sidedoor begins. With the help of biologists, artists, historians, archaeologists, zookeepers and astrophysicists, host Lizzie Peabody sneaks listeners through the Smithsonian’s side door, telling stories that can’t be heard anywhere else. Check out si.edu/sidedoor and follow @SidedoorPod for more info.
- Update frequency
- every 13 days
- Average duration
- 26 minutes
- Episodes
- 230
- Years Active
- 2016 - 2025
Holding out for a Herring
Henrietta the river herring is not a particularly glamorous fish. But she’s got grit. Every summer, she swims out to the Atlantic ocean, and every spring, she makes the 500 mile journey back to Maryl…
00:30:44 |
Wed 21 Apr 2021
Hot Bird Summer
Every spring, for as long as records have been kept, a crowd of hundreds of black crowned night herons descend on the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, mating, eating and generally causing a ruckus. Many o…
00:27:23 |
Wed 07 Apr 2021
America's Unknown Celebrity Chef
When Lena Richard cooked her first chicken on television, she beat Julia Child to the screen by over a decade. At a time when most African American women cooks worked behind swinging kitchen doors, R…
00:32:34 |
Wed 24 Mar 2021
A Very Cold Case
American newspaper publisher and all-around eccentric, Charles Francis Hall, was an unlikely candidate to become an Arctic explorer. Nevertheless, he made three trips to the frozen north, until he di…
00:32:41 |
Wed 10 Mar 2021
Life is Hard, Let's Meditate!
As Americans approach a full year of pandemic life, there’s an overwhelming sense of anticipation: when can we get vaccinated? What will life look like in six months? When will life return to normal?…
00:27:22 |
Wed 24 Feb 2021
Reservation Math: Navigating Love in Native America
If you’ve heard the phrase, “full blooded,” you’re already familiar with the concept of blood quantum. But Native Americans are the only peoples in the United States whose identity is defined by it. …
00:33:20 |
Wed 10 Feb 2021
Sing a Song of Protest
As an up-and-coming young blues singer in the 1950s, Barbara Dane faced a choice: fame and fortune, or her principles. She left the mainstream music industry and became a revolutionary music producer…
00:30:09 |
Wed 27 Jan 2021
How Wonder Woman Got Her Groove Back
Wonder Woman is the best known female superhero of all time, but she’s been through a lot. The brainchild of a psychologist, Wonder Woman hit the comic pages in the 1940s as an antidote to the “blood…
00:31:50 |
Wed 13 Jan 2021
Edison’s Demon Dolls
In 1890, Americans were delighted when they heard the news that Thomas Edison was using his phonograph technology to give voice to porcelain dolls. But their delight turned to horror when they got th…
00:25:58 |
Wed 16 Dec 2020
Bonus Episode: Tempest in a Teacup
This week, we have an episode from the NHPR podcast “Outside/In” about passenger pigeons. The passenger pigeon is one of the world’s most symbolic extinction stories. It’s a cautionary tale of how in…
00:34:20 |
Wed 02 Dec 2020
Bonus Episode: That Time the FBI Called
This week, we’re sharing an episode of ‘Detours,’ a new podcast from our friends at GBH and PRX. The podcast shares surprising stories that unfold behind the scenes at the PBS classic TV show “Antiqu…
00:24:25 |
Wed 18 Nov 2020
The Gorilla Epidemic
When a highly-contagious mystery illness spread through the world’s mountain gorilla population, biologists feared the entire species could be lost. Gorillas don’t wear masks or social distance, so t…
00:31:10 |
Wed 14 Oct 2020
Dress Coded
Dress codes have been around a long time—from the old days of long skirts and bloomers to today’s regulation-length shorts. But while the specifics of what girls can wear to school have changed, the …
00:28:52 |
Wed 30 Sep 2020
Appalachia Goes Beijing
When Abigail Washburn and Wu Fei first jammed together, “it was magic.” Fei was shocked to meet an American banjo player so curious about China’s culture; and Abigail Washburn met a classically train…
00:24:16 |
Wed 16 Sep 2020
The People's Insect
To look at them, you might think, “Monarch butterflies aren’t going anywhere fast.” But each year, these beauties complete one of the most remarkable migrations in the animal kingdom, soaring more th…
00:27:51 |
Wed 02 Sep 2020
Bonus Ep: Cult of True Womanhood
Bonus Episode | This week, we wanted to share “And Nothing Less,” the new short series from our colleagues at the National Park Service and PRX. It gives a much-needed closer look at the twisty histo…
00:36:51 |
Wed 26 Aug 2020
The Riverkeeper
Fred Tutman is the voice of the river. Specifically, Maryland’s Patuxent River. As the Riverkeeper, his job is to protect and preserve all 110 miles of that waterway – a role that takes him both to …
00:24:55 |
Wed 19 Aug 2020
Votes for Hawaiians
100 years ago this month, the 19th Amendment was ratified into the American Constitution. It’s widely remembered as the moment American women gained the right to vote, but history tells a more comple…
00:31:50 |
Wed 05 Aug 2020
Apollo 12's Really Close Call
On November 14, 1969, just four months after Apollo 11’s “giant leap for mankind,” the Apollo 12 Saturn V rocket took off for the moon. Seconds later, a burst of static plunged the three-man crew int…
00:28:26 |
Wed 22 Jul 2020
Take Who Out to the Ball Game?
Baseball fan or not, you know this song…or at least, you think you do. “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” is one of the top three most recognizable songs in the country, next to the “The Star Spangled Ba…
00:29:04 |
Wed 08 Jul 2020
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