Stuff You Missed in History Class

Tracy discusses horse- and tennis-related deaths in history. Holly talks about cash being supplanted by credit and debit cards as a preferred method of transaction.
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Credit cards are integral to the way we bank and shop today, but many of the technologies involved in their daily use were invented in the last 65 years. How did we get from written notes to track money owed for purchases to tap-and-go spending?
Research:
“15 U.S.C. United States Code, 2011 Edition. Title 15 - COMMERCE AND TRADE. CHAPTER 41 - CONSUMER CREDIT PROTECTION. SUBCHAPTER IV - EQUAL CREDIT OPPORTUNITY.” https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2011-title15/html/USCODE-2011-title15-chap41-subchapIV.htm
Bellamy, Edward. “Looking Backward, 2000-1887.” Boston. Ticknor and Company. 1888. https://archive.org/details/lookingbackward200bell/page/116/mode/2up?q=credit+card
“Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009.” Federal Trade Commission. https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/statutes/credit-card-accountability-responsibility-disclosure-act-2009-credit-card-act
“Diner Club members Don’t Carry Money.” Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Feb. 24, 1955. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1350764752/?match=1&terms=diners%20club&search-id=d6ce7cc5-a22d-460f-b073-94cca88ba0f5&search-rank=2
“Diners’ Club Enjoying Rapid Rate of Growth.” The Philadelphia Inquirer. Sept. 3, 1956. https://www.newspapers.com/image/176273766/?match=2&terms=diners%20club&search-id=d6ce7cc5-a22d-460f-b073-94cca88ba0f5&search-rank=1
“The EMV Chip Card Transition: Background, Status, and Issues for Congress.” Congress.gov. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R43925
“Equal Credit Opportunity Act.” Federal Trade Commission. https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/statutes/equal-credit-opportunity-act
Evans, David S. “Paying with plastic : the digital revolution in buying and borrowing.” MIT Press. Cambridge, Mass. 2005.
Fabry, Merrill. “Now You Know: What Was the First Credit Card?” Time. Oct 19, 2016. https://time.com/4512375/first-credit-card/
Farkas, Jami. “Whatever Happened to the Diners Club Card?” Yahoo! Finance. Sept. 9, 2021. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/whatever-happened-diners-club-card-230117151.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAA3P5_xS_5nMkc0EsXkTroiEv2nG8H_LXFv8VTiRzqovilUtf0DDwHcz8hGGINvlsy1G4vVrH_jpZtaIErBhfH_WsEmo1wRo71aimnfF3Xcqyv5o4CXiWVKMizRSZ2_mWyymC1rgEdiiYC-nSk4ga2rv7zI5eVwxPjMIB-RCY-5N
Frankel, Robin Saks. “History Of Credit Cards: When Were Credit Cards Invented?” Forbes. Aug. 28, 2026. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/credit-cards/history-of-credit-cards/
Hyman, Louis. “Debtor Nation: The History of America in Red Ink.” Princeton University Press. 2011.
“In 1850, three business rivals came together to form American Express.” American Express. March 18, 2025. https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/newsroom/articles/colleagues-and-culture/in-1850--three-business-rivals-came-together-to-form-american-ex.html
Karp, Gregory. “What is a Diners Club card?” Nerdwallet. Nov. 6, 2025. https://www.nerdwallet.com/credit-cards/learn/what-is-a-diners-club-card
“The magnetic stripe.” IBM. https://www.ibm.com/history/magnetic-stripe
Mandell, Lewis and Sarah Holmes. “Diners Club Begins a New Industry.” Ebsco. 2021. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/diners-club-begins-new-industry/
“Milestones.” Diners Club International. https://www.dinersclub.com/about-us/history/
Musinski, Bob and Adriana Ocañas. “When Were Credit Cards Invented? A Timeline of Credit Cards From the 1930s to Now.” U.S. News and World Report. Sept. 4, 2026. https://money.usnews.com/credit-cards/articles/when-were-credit-cards-invented-a-timeline-of-credit-cards
“New Jersey Bank’s ‘Charg-It’ Gains National Prominence.” The Herald-News. Nov. 25, 1958. https://www.newspapers.com/image/525122428/?match=5&terms=Charg-It%20&search-id=e29e3416-81cd-4ce0-9912-aa77b0102cd1&search-rank=1
Nocera, Joe. “A Piece of the Action: How the Middle Class Joined the Money Class.” Simon & Schuster. 2013.
O’Brien, Pam. “When Were Women Allowed to Open a Bank Account?” SoFi Learn. Aug, 4, 2026. https://www.sofi.com/learn/content/when-were-women-allowed-to-open-bank-account/
“Plastic Payments.” National Museum of American History. Smithsonian. https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/value-money/online/innovations-money/plastic-payments
Rummel, David, et al. “Secret History of the Credit Card.” Frontline. PBS. November 23, 2004. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/showscredit/
“S.381 - 10 Percent Credit Card Interest Rate Cap Act.” https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/381
“Was the Credit Card Really Invented in Flatbush?” Flatbush History. https://www.flatbushhistory.com/articles/first-credit-card
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Anne of Brittany experienced a lot of loss from the time she was very young. As she aged and became more and more central to political events of her day, she remained dedicated to protecting the autonomy of the duchy of Brittany.
Research:
Britannica Editors. "Anne of Brittany". Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 Jan. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anne-of-Brittany
Abernethy, Susan. “Anne of Brittany.” Medievalists.net. https://www.medievalists.net/2016/05/anne-of-brittany-queen-of-france/
The History Blog. “Anne of Brittany’s heart reliquary returns to Blois.” 3/24/2014. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/29750
Colleter R, Bataille CP, Dabernat H, Pichot D, Hamon P, Duchesne S, et al. (2021) The last battle of Anne of Brittany: Solving mass grave through an interdisciplinary approach (paleopathology, biological anthropology, history, multiple isotopes and radiocarbon dating). PLoS ONE 16(5): e0248086. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248086
Francis II, duke of Brittany." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia™, The Columbia UP, 2026. Gale OneFile: High School Edition, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A68575485/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=eb8754eb. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.
Rorimer, James J. “The Unicorn Tapestries Were Made for Anne of Brittany.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin , Summer, 1942, New Series, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Summer, 1942). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3257087
"Queen's 'heart' stolen from museum; Nantes thieves trigger alarm but get away with the 15th-century Anne of Brittany reliquary." Daily Telegraph [London, England], 16 Apr. 2018, p. 14. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A534833092/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=2ca9a21e. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.
"Anne of Brittany." Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, vol. 29, Gale, 2009. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1631009161/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=eed786f7. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.
Cochrane-Wishart-Baillie, Constance Mary Elizabeth, Countess de la Warr. “A Twice Crowned Queen: Anne of Brittany.” London. Eveleigh Nash. 1906. https://archive.org/details/twicecrownedquee0000dela/
Sanborn, Helen J. “Anne of Brittany: The Story of a Duchess and Twice-crowned Queen.” Boston, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. 1917. https://archive.org/details/anneofbrittanyst00sanb/
Kergourlay, Yann. “Anne of Brittany.” The Boleyn Files. 1/9/2014. https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/anne-brittany/
Nassiet, Michel. “Anne of Brittany.” Bécédia. 3/07/2023. https://bcd.bzh/becedia/en/anne-of-brittany
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This 2013 episode covers Princess Alexandra Amelie of Bavaria who was frail and she exhibited unusual behavior. She told her parents that she had swallowed a glass piano as a child, and was afraid that she would shatter.
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Tracy talks about how she came to love onions after disliking them as a child. Holly discusses her fear of heights, and questions evidence in Ludwig II's death.
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