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
Shredding Skateboarding’s Glass Ceiling
When Mimi Knoop entered her first skateboarding competition at 24 years old, she never anticipated leaving her mark on the sport forever. But in the early 2000s, she formed an alliance with pioneerin…
00:30:23 |
Wed 24 Jun 2020
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…
00:32:27 |
Wed 10 Jun 2020
Young Harriet
In 2017, a photograph of Harriet Tubman surfaced that had been lost to history for more than a century. In a feature of the National Portrait Gallery’s Portraits podcast, we hear the story behind thi…
00:26:39 |
Wed 27 May 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…
00:27:21 |
Wed 13 May 2020
Best of the Rest II
A perplexing tattoo. Ancient erotica. Killer bees on the loose. This episode is full of short stories we’ve been eager to tell, but couldn’t… until now. It’s Sidedoor’s second-ever “Best of the Rest!…
00:32:03 |
Wed 29 Apr 2020
Birds, Birds, Birds!
Three billion birds have gone missing since 1970. And conservation biologist Pete Marra considers it his life’s work to make sure more don’t slip away without a fight. In this episode, we go bird-spo…
00:25:53 |
Wed 15 Apr 2020
The Milkmaid Spy
Virginia Hall dreamed of being America’s first female ambassador. Instead, she became a spy. Joining the ranks of the U.S.’s first civilian spy network, she operated alone in occupied France, where s…
00:28:36 |
Wed 01 Apr 2020
The Last Man To Know It All
Alexander von Humboldt might not be a name you know, but you can bet you know his ideas. Back when the United States were a wee collection of colonies huddled on the eastern seaboard, colonists found…
00:27:49 |
Wed 18 Mar 2020
Outer Space & Underwear
In the Venn diagram of life, it’s hard to imagine what spacecraft and women’s underwear might have in common. And that’s probably what NASA engineers thought back in 1962 when they asked a handful of…
00:28:36 |
Wed 04 Mar 2020
We're Back!
Get ready for season five! Our new season begins on Wednesday, March 4th. Journey with Lizzie through our many side doors for a behind-the scenes view of the Smithsonian.
00:02:25 |
Wed 26 Feb 2020
Cars, Stars, and Rock 'n' Roll
Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III is no administrative assistant. He’s the head of the largest museum, education, and research complex in the world. He’s also the first historian to lead the …
00:29:18 |
Wed 22 Jan 2020
Ponzi's Scheme
Nearly 100 years ago, Charles Ponzi stumbled across a loophole in the international postal system and turned it into one of the most infamous scams of all time. This time on Sidedoor, we follow Ponzi…
00:28:57 |
Wed 08 Jan 2020
The Worst Video Game Ever?
Deep within the National Museum of American History’s vaults is a battered Atari case containing what’s known as “the worst video game of all time.” The game is E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and it was…
00:26:35 |
Wed 25 Dec 2019
Finding Cleopatra
Edmonia Lewis was the first American woman of color to achieve international fame as a sculptor. Her 3,000-pound masterwork, “The Death of Cleopatra,” commemorated another powerful woman who broke wi…
00:26:51 |
Wed 11 Dec 2019
Adam Rippon's Olympic Mesh-capades
When professional athletes face the end of their career, many look ahead with uncertainty and wonder:
“What’s next?” But when Adam Rippon stood on the Olympic podium in 2018, making history as the f…
00:21:44 |
Wed 27 Nov 2019
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…
00:27:55 |
Wed 13 Nov 2019
Dynamite!
In its heyday, dynamite was a transformative tool; it could blast rock quarries, excavate tunnels, and demolish buildings with power and reliability never before seen. But it also proved to be useful…
00:33:40 |
Wed 30 Oct 2019
This Episode Smells
Smell connects us to memories of the people and the places of our lives. But what if it could connect us to a past we’ve never experienced? That's the goal for one team of artists and scientists who …
00:26:33 |
Wed 16 Oct 2019
The Dinosaur War
Behind the fossilized teeth, bones, and claws displayed in the National Museum of Natural History’s new Fossil Hall is the story of two men and a nasty feud. During the paleontology boom of the late …
00:30:01 |
Wed 02 Oct 2019
The Woman in the Frame
Did you know that Martha Washington was essential to America’s Revolutionary War effort? Or that Eleanor Roosevelt was the driving force behind the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Righ…
00:29:01 |
Wed 18 Sep 2019
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