
Marathon Women (episode 127)
04/07/19 • 36 min
The Boston Marathon was first run in April of 1897, after Bostonians were inspired by the revival of the marathon for the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. It is the oldest continuously running marathon, arguably the most prestigious, and the second longest continuously running footrace in North America, having debuted five months after the Buffalo Turkey Trot. Women were not allowed to officially enter the Boston Marathon until 1972. In 1966, Bobbi Gibb became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon. In 1967, Kathrine Switzer, who had registered as “K. V. Switzer”, became the first woman to run and finish with a race number – despite the race director’s best efforts.
Please support us on Patreon and check out the full show notes at: http://HUBhistory.com/127/
Marathon Women
- Accounts of the first modern marathon from the Sport Journal and the Journal of Olympic History.
- Boston Globe coverage of Bobbi Gibb’s 1966 run and “KV” Switzer’s 1967 run.
- Interviews with Bobbi Gibb and Katherine Switzer.
- An excerpt form Katherine Switzer’s book detailing the fear she felt as Jock Semple attempted to take her race bib.
- A 1967 Boston Globe editorial in favor of letting women join the race officially.
Boston Book Club
(rodgers book carousel)
We have two recommendations for the Boston Book Club this week. One of which is a book that’s deeply tied to this week’s show, but we haven’t read, and the other of which is only tangentially connected to the show, but we’ve both read and enjoyed it.
Bill Rodgers, known for decades as Boston Billy, is synonymous with the Boston Marathon in many minds. Starting in 1973, he came out of nowhere and started racking up marathon victories, including four at Boston and four in New York. After retiring from competition, he ran a running store at Faneuil Hall called the Bill Rodgers Running Center, and at 72 he is still a fixture at races around the region, sometimes providing commentary or simply signing books, and sometimes running races for charity.
The book Marathon Man is the story of his rise to glory in the years leading up to his first win in Boston. He describes his early love of running and the good fortune that allowed him to train with some of the best runners in the world. Many of his tales are familiar for anyone who runs in Boston. He describes his first round of serious marathon training in 1973, when he lived in Jamaica Plain and tried to log at least 20 miles every day. Most of those miles were a steady grind on the short loop around Jamaica pond.
On the first day of this routine, he logged 13 miles of endless laps around the pond in the afternoon, another six miles after dinner, then describes getting out of bed just before midnight to run one more mile to be able to meet his goal before the day’s official end. For Rodgers, the challenge wasn’t running 20 miles, it was crossing the Jamaicaway. He describes his trepidation at crossing four lanes of the Jamaicaway while dodging Boston drivers hopped up on Dunkin Donuts coffee.
For Marathon fans, the highlight of the book will likely be his detailed memories of his first Boston victory in 1975, and the joy and exuberance in running that ooze out on every page.
(gibb book carousel)
Bobbi Gibb has a book that, although neither of us has read it yet, sounds similar in spirit to the Rodgers book. Called Wind in the Fire, it’s a volume of memoir focused on her training and inspiration in becoming the first woman to finish the Boston marathon. On the flyleaf, she says:
The Wind in the Fire is the recounting of the two years, from the time I first saw the Boston Marathon and fell in love with it in 1964 to the time I became the first woman to ever run the Boston Marathon in 1966. During that time I trained and followed my spiritual path. This is the story of that journey.
Upcoming Event
On the weekend of May 18th and 19th, Historic Newton is hosting their
The Boston Marathon was first run in April of 1897, after Bostonians were inspired by the revival of the marathon for the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. It is the oldest continuously running marathon, arguably the most prestigious, and the second longest continuously running footrace in North America, having debuted five months after the Buffalo Turkey Trot. Women were not allowed to officially enter the Boston Marathon until 1972. In 1966, Bobbi Gibb became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon. In 1967, Kathrine Switzer, who had registered as “K. V. Switzer”, became the first woman to run and finish with a race number – despite the race director’s best efforts.
Please support us on Patreon and check out the full show notes at: http://HUBhistory.com/127/
Marathon Women
- Accounts of the first modern marathon from the Sport Journal and the Journal of Olympic History.
- Boston Globe coverage of Bobbi Gibb’s 1966 run and “KV” Switzer’s 1967 run.
- Interviews with Bobbi Gibb and Katherine Switzer.
- An excerpt form Katherine Switzer’s book detailing the fear she felt as Jock Semple attempted to take her race bib.
- A 1967 Boston Globe editorial in favor of letting women join the race officially.
Boston Book Club
(rodgers book carousel)
We have two recommendations for the Boston Book Club this week. One of which is a book that’s deeply tied to this week’s show, but we haven’t read, and the other of which is only tangentially connected to the show, but we’ve both read and enjoyed it.
Bill Rodgers, known for decades as Boston Billy, is synonymous with the Boston Marathon in many minds. Starting in 1973, he came out of nowhere and started racking up marathon victories, including four at Boston and four in New York. After retiring from competition, he ran a running store at Faneuil Hall called the Bill Rodgers Running Center, and at 72 he is still a fixture at races around the region, sometimes providing commentary or simply signing books, and sometimes running races for charity.
The book Marathon Man is the story of his rise to glory in the years leading up to his first win in Boston. He describes his early love of running and the good fortune that allowed him to train with some of the best runners in the world. Many of his tales are familiar for anyone who runs in Boston. He describes his first round of serious marathon training in 1973, when he lived in Jamaica Plain and tried to log at least 20 miles every day. Most of those miles were a steady grind on the short loop around Jamaica pond.
On the first day of this routine, he logged 13 miles of endless laps around the pond in the afternoon, another six miles after dinner, then describes getting out of bed just before midnight to run one more mile to be able to meet his goal before the day’s official end. For Rodgers, the challenge wasn’t running 20 miles, it was crossing the Jamaicaway. He describes his trepidation at crossing four lanes of the Jamaicaway while dodging Boston drivers hopped up on Dunkin Donuts coffee.
For Marathon fans, the highlight of the book will likely be his detailed memories of his first Boston victory in 1975, and the joy and exuberance in running that ooze out on every page.
(gibb book carousel)
Bobbi Gibb has a book that, although neither of us has read it yet, sounds similar in spirit to the Rodgers book. Called Wind in the Fire, it’s a volume of memoir focused on her training and inspiration in becoming the first woman to finish the Boston marathon. On the flyleaf, she says:
The Wind in the Fire is the recounting of the two years, from the time I first saw the Boston Marathon and fell in love with it in 1964 to the time I became the first woman to ever run the Boston Marathon in 1966. During that time I trained and followed my spiritual path. This is the story of that journey.
Upcoming Event
On the weekend of May 18th and 19th, Historic Newton is hosting their
Previous Episode

The Museum Heist (episode 126)
It’s probably a familiar tale... Late at night, after the museum is closed, a man talks the guard into unlocking the door. Once inside, he pulls out a gun, and within seconds, the guard is tied up and blindfolded, while a gang roams through the museum, picking out rare masterpieces. By the time the guard gets himself free and calls the police, the gang has made off with millions of dollars in stolen artworks, in a case considered the largest art heist in US history. Yes, the tale may sound familiar, but we’re not talking about the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum case, we’re talking about a different art heist, one that was carried out 17 years earlier and across the river in Cambridge. This is the story of the Fogg Museum coin heist.
Please support us on Patreon and check out the full show notes at: http://HUBhistory.com/126/
Fogg Museum Heist
- An article published in Harvard Magazine in 2000 that gives a detailed overview of the Fogg Museum Heist.
- Initial coverage of the robbery from the Globe and Crimson.
- Value of the stolen coins, robbery valued at $5 million, the “largest in history.”
- Hunting a suspect (the wrong suspect) and the first arrests.
- False alarm about a “stolen” plane that could be used to reach Canada.
- Five arrests. Federal judge releases two for lack of evidence.
- Arrests in Canada, convictions in Canada.
- Boston perps convicted, sentenced.
- Coins recovered in Montreal and Rhode Island.
- Identifying recovered coins.
- More coins found in an undisclosed location on the South Shore.
- Coins recovered somewhere in Middlesex County are deemed the “final” missing pieces.
- Private detectives charged with assault and other felonies for beating, macing, and pistol whipping a witness in the case, leaving him permanently disabled.
- Victim sues the detectives and Harvard.
- Additional thefts of artifacts from the Fogg Museum earlier in 1973, in 1974, 1979, and 2004. (There are MORE out there, too!)
Boston Book Club
Our pick for the Boston Book Club this week is... a puzzle! It’s called “The City of Boston History Over Time 4D Cityscape Time Puzzle.”
There are three elements to this puzzle. The first layer is a traditional jigsaw puzzle. The picture is an 1842 map of Boston, which focuses mostly on the Shawmut Peninsula and Boston Neck, with narrow strips of Charlestown and Cambridge across the Charles River. It’s reasonably challenging. There are...
Next Episode

Lincoln and Booth and Boston (episode 128)
This episode is being released on April 14, 2019, which means that Abraham Lincoln was shot 154 years ago today. That’s why we’re talking about the links between the Lincoln assassination and the city of Boston. President Lincoln, his assassin John Wilkes Booth, and Boston Corbett, the man who killed Booth, all had transformative experiences in Boston.
Please support us on Patreon and check out the full show notes at: http://HUBhistory.com/128/
Lincoln and Booth and Boston
- The Boston City Council mourns President Lincoln.
- How Boston Changed Lincoln, via the Globe.
- A cool map/infographic of Lincoln’s 1848 visit to Massachusetts.
- An overview of the 1848 trip from a 1941 issue of the New England Quarterly.
- Contemporary press coverage of a Boston speech on the 1848 tour.
- Lincoln’s appearance in Dorchester.
- A biography of Edwin Booth relates how he got the news of Lincoln’s assassination.
- More on John Wilkes Booth’s Back Bay lot.
- John Wilkes Booth practices trick pistol shooting in Boston, just days before the assassination.
- After the shooting, the Booths are investigated and/or arrested.
- An overview of the Booth brothers in Boston.
- An overview of the Parker House Hotel’s experience of the Booth brothers.
- John Wilkes Booth meets with spies at the Parker House.
- John Wilkes Booth gets engaged to Lucy Hale, didn’t fake stage fights.
- An overview of Boston Corbett’s life.
- Boston Corbett’s firsthand account of the pursuit and killing of John Wilkes Booth.
- Lt Edward Doherty’s account of the pursuit and killing of John Wilkes Booth.
- The mid-90s chain email forward drawing links between the Kennedy and Lincoln assassinations.
Boston Book Club
Given the connection to the theater in this week’s episode, our pick for the Boston Book Club is Banned in Boston: The Watch and Ward Society’s Crusade against Books, Burlesque, and the Social Evil.
In 1878, the New England Society for the Suppression of Vice was founded by a meeting of Boston residents following a speech given by Anthony Comstock. Comstock was the founder of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. He made it his mission to fight the social ills of society. The meeting was attended by more than 400 white, upper class men who elected a committee of eight of their peers to run the organization. Women, who were excluded from the organization, would be forced to combat social ills through endeavors such as founding settlement houses, running orphanages, and pioneering the concept of social justice.
The society’s membership required a minimum contribution of $5 or more, equivalent to about $150 today. It held its first annual meeting in Park Street Church in 1879. In 1891, it was renamed the Watch and Ward Society because its members were watching for and warding off evil. At that time there were four social evils that they were watchin’ for– gambling, liquor, fancy ladies, and obscenity. Over the decades, the Society policed the theater so aggressively that many productions were forced to stage watered down Boston versions.
Here’s how Amazo...
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