Behind the Scenes Minis: Small Fruit Division and Dorseys

Summary

Summary of "Behind the Scenes Minis: Small Fruit Division and Dorseys"

Stuff You Missed in History Class, hosted by Holly Fry and Tracy V. Wilson, dives deep into fascinating and lesser-known historical topics. In the episode titled "Behind the Scenes Minis: Small Fruit Division and Dorseys," released on May 2, 2025, Holly and Tracy explore the intriguing world of eponymous fruits and the impactful legacy of the Dorsey family in the American catering industry. This detailed summary captures the episode's key discussions, insights, and conclusions.

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1. Eponymous Fruits: A Sweet Legacy

The episode begins with Holly and Tracy delving into the concept of eponymous fruits—fruits named after individuals. Tracy expresses surprise at discovering that many fruits bear the names of people, not just the well-known Bartlett pear.

Tracy V. Wilson (03:04): "They're so good."

The hosts discuss various examples, including boysenberries and scuppernongs, highlighting their unique flavors compared to common grocery store varieties. Tracy reminisces about her childhood, mentioning how boysenberry preserves were a breakfast staple for her family.

Tracy V. Wilson (03:12): "We ate them. I think they were my dad's favorite for a long time."

Holly shares fond memories of homemade preserves made by her grandmother, emphasizing the personal and cultural connections tied to these fruits.

2. Exploring the Small Fruit Division

Tracy introduces an intriguing segment on the USDA's Small Fruit Division, which manages the cultivation and research of various small fruits. She humorously confuses the division's name with the iconic "Unknown Pleasures" album by Joy Division.

Tracy V. Wilson (05:44): "It looks like that, but it's made of fruits. I don't know. Weird black and white."

Their conversation reveals Tracy's appreciation for the division's role in supporting diverse fruit varieties and sustaining agricultural innovation.

3. Travel Plans and Challenges

Shifting gears, Tracy and Holly discuss their upcoming trip to Morocco, organized by Defined Destinations. They touch upon the challenges of booking accommodations for solo travelers, with Tracy noting the current sell-out status for single room rates.

Tracy V. Wilson (06:26): "People traveling solo. Currently sold out are still rooms for two travelers together."

They offer practical advice for solo travelers, such as arranging roommate situations with friends, emphasizing the community spirit fostered by shared travel experiences.

4. The Allure of Pears

The conversation naturally transitions to pears, with Tracy admitting that her love for fresh pears developed in adulthood after being accustomed to canned varieties during childhood.

Tracy V. Wilson (08:05): "I love pears. I love them so much."

Holly echoes this sentiment, sharing her appreciation for pear tarts in French baking, which further deepens their exploration of eponymous fruits.

5. The Dorsey Legacy: Pioneers in Catering

The heart of the episode focuses on Thomas J. Dorsey and William Henry Dorsey, exploring their substantial contributions to the catering industry in Philadelphia. Tracy reveals that initial research intended to spotlight William Henry Dorsey expanded to include his father, Thomas, due to gaps in available information.

Tracy V. Wilson (13:12): "Without his father's leaving him a trust, William would not really have been able to just spend his time largely focused on developing these collections."

Their discussion highlights how the Dorseys played a pivotal role in establishing Philadelphia as the birthplace of the American catering industry. They also emphasize William Henry Dorsey's efforts in preserving the history of the Black community in Philadelphia through meticulous scrapbooking.

Tracy V. Wilson (16:43): "I really, really liked this idea of the way Dorsey very carefully assembled these so that you would have the white perspective of an event next to the black perspective of an event."

6. Scrapbooking as Historical Preservation

Tracy elaborates on Dorsey's innovative scrapbooking methods, which juxtaposed different racial perspectives on events. This approach not only preserved valuable historical information but also served as an early recognition of media bias.

Tracy V. Wilson (17:27): "How bias works in media. Like, that's a really cool way to do it at a time well before our digital age."

They discuss the practicality and significance of Dorsey's scrapbooks, which compactly preserved countless newspaper clippings without occupying extensive physical space.

7. Personal Reflections and Unanswered Questions

The hosts express intrigue over the limited information regarding William Henry Dorsey's personal life, particularly his marriage to Virginia Cashin. They speculate on Virginia's likely background, suggesting she may have escaped slavery in Georgia with her family to seek freedom in Philadelphia.

Tracy V. Wilson (18:56): "It seems most likely, based on just numbers, that Virginia's family had been enslaved in Georgia and that they escaped from slavery and went north."

Their curiosity underscores the complexities and gaps often present in historical records, leaving room for future exploration and research.

8. Conclusion: Celebrating Heritage and Innovation

As the episode wraps up, Holly and Tracy reflect on the enduring impact of the Dorseys and the importance of preserving history through innovative means like scrapbooking. They encourage listeners to appreciate both the sweet legacy of eponymous fruits and the profound contributions of pioneers in various industries.

Tracy V. Wilson (21:34): "So whatever's coming up on your weekend, if you're gonna have a delicious catered meal or if you're gonna go do a little scrapbooking or something else entirely, I hope it's great."

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This episode of Stuff You Missed in History Class offers a rich tapestry of stories intertwining agriculture, personal heritage, and historical preservation. Holly and Tracy's engaging dialogue not only educates but also inspires listeners to explore and cherish the hidden facets of history that shape our present.

Transcript

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[Holly Fry]

Explore the winding halls of historical true crime with Holly Fry and Maria Tremarchi, hosts of Criminalia, as they uncover curious cases from the past. The legend of the Highwayman suggests men dominated the field, but to tell that to Lady Catherine Ferrers, known as the wicked lady who terrorized England in the mid-1600s, her legend persists nearly 400 years after her death. Highwaymen are in the hot seat this season. Find more crime and cocktails on Criminalia. Listen to criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Welcome to Stuff youf Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartrad. Hello and happy Friday. I'm Holly Fry.

And I'm Tracy V. Wilson.

We talked about eponymous fruit this week, which you tickled me by saying you did not realize those were eponymous.

No, the Bartlett was the only one. I mean, it makes total sense that Boysenberry But Clementine's doesn't really flag that.

Way to me either.

Yeah.

Well.

And, you know, when you sent this to me and I was like, eponymous fruits. I wonder what they are. Probably Bartlett Pearl. And then I got to the first person's last name being boys, and I was like, what? Just. That was not what I expected at all. I am sure. I have had boysenberry preserves. It's just never been, like, in the rotation of.

They're so good.

Regular things that I eat.

They're so good.

Yeah.

I love them.

Yeah.

We ate. Like I said, we ate them. I think they were my dad's favorite for a long time.

Right.

So they often went on, like, waffles or were served with pancakes or toast. That was kind of a breakfast staple for us as well.

Most of the jelly type stuff, preserve jams, all of that that we ate as children.

Yeah.

Was homemade.

Right.

Homemade by my grandmother. And these. It was a. I feel like either muscadines or scuppernongs, which I don't think are the same thing, but are both grapes. But they don't taste like the grapes at the grocery store that are just like, red and green table grapes. And any other jelly type thing that we ate at home was mostly like. We got biscuits.

Yeah.

That came with the little container, like the little jelly packets.

Yeah. We also did a lot of boysenberry syrup at our house.

Okay. Yeah.

Which now that I'm saying the phrase boysenberry syrup, I'm like, I gotta make a cocktail with some boysenberry syrup.

Gotta get on that. Yeah.

And it would be great for cocktails, especially because it was not as thick as, like, some other syrups you would have, like, on pancakes. So its viscosity is kind of better to mix with things without having to thin it. I have ideas. I have so many ideas.

I'm so excited about this.

I think that's we're gonna have boysenberry mojitos this summer. That's what I think is gonna happen at our house. There was one very s thing in this episode that tickled me in a way that maybe is just a me thing. The fact that there's a small fruit division of the USDA just tickled me, because in my brain, here's what happened. I'm sure you have seen the graphical image of Joy Division, the COVID of Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures album. It's actually a neutron stars graph is what it is, but it's very popular, and it gets spoofed by a lot of other things. And in my head, there's a T shirt out there called Small Fruit Division. And it looks like that, but it's made of fruits. I don't know. Weird black and white. Do you know the COVID I'm talking about?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I love it. Also love Joy Division, so, you know.

I have now clarified in my own mind that scupperongs are a type of muscadine.

There you go. Yeah, there you go. Anyway, Small Fruit Division, the other thing that I wanted to mention, because we got into its origination point but not its end. Algeria did not get out from under Francis thumb until 1962. Was a long time. Anyway, just deserves a mention because, you know, colonizing.

Speaking of places in northern Africa colonized by France. We're going to Morocco in November.

We sure are.

Seems like a good enough place to drop in. A mention of that. I just looked at the website this morning. The single room rate is currently sold out.

Yeah.

So people traveling solo. Currently sold out are still rooms for two travelers together. If you are a couple or traveling with a friend, I would imagine if you are traveling by yourself and you're like, oh, no, I wanted to go drop Defined destinations a note. And if anyone else is in that same boat, they may be able to, you know, work out a roommate situation.

Yeah, our friends have. One of my friends has done that on our trips before, and that worked out just fine.

So, yeah, I absolutely understand the impulse to. To want to have a room for yourself.

I have.

I have paid the solo room for yourself premium on trips that I've taken before. But, you know, this tends to be a really fun, kind group of people who, you know, tries to support and be respectful of one another on the trip. Defined destinations.com. if you want to learn more about that. That was my interjection about our Morocco trip.

Yeah. I love those trips. Everybody kind of feels like family by the end of it, which is really nice.

Yeah. We were able to add some slots to our trip to Iceland. I don't think that is possible with this one because some of the places we are staying, like, the number of rooms is very fixed, Limited.

Yeah. Yeah. I would like to talk about pears for just a moment.

Let's do it. They're delicious.

I love pears. I love them so much.

I'm gonna confess that I did not come to love pears until I was an adult, because being in the sort of family that would be buying the regular oranges and not the clementines in my childhood, we just. We did not really have Fresh pears ever. The only pears I really experienced as a child were canned pears, which are not the same.

They're fine. I don't mind them. I'll eat them. But they're not as good as the fresh pear.

And the texture weirded me out of canned pears when I was like, oh, that graininess. Yeah, I didn't like that. And I can't. I could not tell you where was the first time or when was the first time that I had a pear as a grownup. But I was like, wow, I have been missing out.

I think, because, you know, there's a lot of Frenchiness in my. In my youth. I ate a lot of pear tarts very early on. And that business is delicious. It's a very popular tart in French baking. Yeah. I'm literally thinking about it and Drew, like, my brain just went to that, like, eye roll, buttery, sweet dessert, pear tart dessert. Harper Folly. I love them. I love them. I wonder every time we do an eponymous foods, have I exhausted them? And I would have said I had last time. And then I just randomly was like, oh, what about fruit the other day?

Well, a lot. But not all of the eponymous foods that we have talked about are dishes.

Right.

And not a plant. Not all of them, but yeah, the.

First one was the Granny Smith apple. So not all of them, but yeah. I always wonder, are we done? The answer's no. So we'll see. There could be more. I don't know, there may be more spite houses. I don't know. Maybe those are also fun. Listen, I love a grudge. We need the fun.

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[Holly Fry]

Explore the winding halls of historical true crime with Holly Fry and Maria Tremarki, hosts of Criminalia, as they uncover curious cases from the past. The legend of the Highwayman suggests men dominated the field, but tell that to Lady Catherine Ferrers, known as the wicked lady who terrorized England in the mid-1600s. Her legend persists nearly 400 years after her death. Hear the story of the Gentleman Robber, the romantic darling of the ladies, and a tale about a wager over a sack of potatoes. But you'll have to tune in to learn who won that one. Some highwaymen were well mannered or faked it. People were concerned about the romanticism of robbers, but most were just thugs. Highwaymen are in the hot seat this season. Call them robbers or bandits. Some are legendary figures. Listen to stories about historical crimes on Criminalia now, plus the cocktails and mocktails inspired by each. Listen to criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

One of our episodes this week was an unexpected episode to focus on two people instead of one person, which was not what I was expecting when I was going into it. So Thomas J. Dorsey, William Henry Dorsey. I was intending initially to focus just on William Henry Dorsey, and I thought just from a quick glance that there would be enough information to do that. And then I I found that that was not exactly the case because there just are some gaps on, you know, what we know about him as a person, right? His life before his adulthood, stuff like that. And then I, you know, as I was looking at this, I was like, oh and his. His father really part of establishing the catering industry as in Philadelphia. That's a whole additional story. And without his father's leaving him a trust, William would not really have been able to just spend his time largely focused on developing these collections. Right.

Doing what he wanted.

Doing what he wanted to do. Yeah. And really doing important work preserving the history of the black community of Philadelphia and elsewhere. I did not have any idea before I got into this that Philadelphia is seen as the birthplace of the catering industry in the United States.

Yeah, me either. That's fascinating to me. I guess I had not ever thought of it in terms of there being a moment that it became an industry per se. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

In my head, I hadn't really put a lot of thought into it, but I think I just presumed it kind of grew out of restaurants slowly just doing large scale delivery.

Yeah.

Instead of specifically being like, no, no, we're a caterer, not a restaurant.

Yeah. A lot of the people that developed this industry in Philadelphia did start with having a restaurant, and their restaurant was a place that was sort of the focal point of where all the food came from. But it makes a lot of sense that, you know, if we go farther back into history, you might have. And I guess we still have royalty who have a whole staff of kitchen workers who are preparing all the food for big banquets and things. And having people, whether they are paid kitchen help or paid kitchen help directed by a member of the family or an enslaved staff, like a lot of people doing this kind of work. And in this transition period after the abolition of slavery, or the abolition of slavery specifically in Philadelphia, and before the development of, like, enormous luxury hotels with paid staff, in a slightly different context, there was this kind of window of catering as it's its own newly developing industry. Of course, there are obviously still great caterers.

This is yet another time when my brain automatically thinks of a Bob's Burgers thing and starts giggling. Oh, yeah, we talked about restaurateurs. I think of Linda Belcher saying restorasaur, and I love it so much.

Oh, funny.

I'm a restorasaur.

Funny.

Linda Belcher is the best thing maybe on TV ever that isn't. Andor so, you know.

Yeah.

I love this idea of scrapbooking being actually important because we think about it as a thing that people do as a cute hobby that isn't given a lot of weight in terms of what it can be. And I really, really liked this idea of the way Dorsey very carefully assembled these so that you would have the white perspective of an event next to the black perspective of an event. Like, I don't think there's a better way to teach.

Right, right.

How bias works in media. Like, that's a really cool way to do it at a time well before our digital age, where people do those kinds of things now all the time, but there wasn't a lot of that going on at this point. Yeah.

Yeah. He also preserved a lot of clippings of things that we might not have any actual copies of the publication at this point.

Right.

Because, yeah, these 388 scrapbooks took up a whole lot of room, but they took up a whole lot less room than every copy of every paper and every magazine that he was clipping out of.

Right.

So it was simultaneously a lot of space and. And a way to preserve things that did not take as much space as if he had tried to, you know, have shelves and shelves and shelves of every single copy of every black newspaper in Pennsylvania or something like that.

Yeah. Listen, I watch a lot of Bravo. I want to know what happened between him and his wife.

I did, too. And I didn't find any information about that. There's a lot of stuff that I've. In episodes that I've worked on lately where it seems like information about something might exist, but I just don't have it, and I don't. I have no idea what happens between him and his wife. I'm really curious about what the story is regarding William's marriage to Virginia Cashin.

Yeah.

It seems most likely, based on just numbers, that Virginia's family had been enslaved in Georgia and that they escaped from slavery and went north. It is possible that that's not the case. It just is more likely that they had been enslaved in Georgia, and we know for sure that some of Virginia's family had had gone to Philadelphia. It's not specifically documented that Virginia had gone with them, but it does seem like the most likely scenario to me.

Right.

It does not seem as likely that he went all the way to Georgia and got married there and brought his wife back with him again. That's possible, but as soon as I read that, I was like, that seems. What's the story there? Like.

Right.

Because the book that made that reference doesn't even really say how the two of them would have even known each other. She just sort of comes out of nowhere.

Yeah. Yeah. That whole two completely different stories of where they got married. My initial thought was like, oh, were they doing it the way people often do it today? Where you have like us, the legal ceremony in one place and then maybe a reception somewhere else to accommodate all of the people that could. But this, this scenario where they would have been in the Deep south when it was a slave state doesn't seem like it would have really been option to work that way.

So it's.

I, I don't. Who knows, I have a lot of.

A lot of questions about that. It also, I mean, people did escape from enslavement in the Deep south. That did happen for sure. But it was a lot of the people who were liberating themselves were more in border states and were able to get to free territory more easily. So anyway, I just, I have a bunch of question.

Yeah. Yes.

That I did not know the answer to and had I had the answers to all of these questions, probably we would have wound up with one episode on Thomas and one episode on William. Right. Rather than one episode combining the both of them. But anyway, I do find them both very interesting. I find the whole catering industry part very interesting and also all of the scrapbooking part, which is really what had caught my eye when I said that I was going to do an episode on him.

Marvelous.

Yeah. So whatever's coming up on your weekend, if you're gonna have a delicious catered meal or if you're gonna go do a little scrapbooking or something else entirely, I hope it's great. We will be back with a Saturday classic tomorrow. We'll have something brand new on Monday. Stuff you missed in history class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Refresh Advertiser]

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[Dutch Advertiser]

Time is precious and so are our pets. So time with our pets is extra precious. That's why we started Dutch. Dutch provides 24. 7 access to licensed vets with unlimited virtual visits and follow ups for up to five pets. You can message a vet at any time and schedule a video visit the same day. Our vets can even prescribe medication for many ailments and shipping is always free. With Dutch, you'll get more time with your pets and year round peace of mind when it comes to their vet care.

[Holly Fry]

Explore the winding halls of historical true crime with Holly Fry and Maria Tremarki, hosts of Criminalia, as they uncover curious cases from the past. The legend of the Highwayman suggests men dominated the field, but tell that to Lady Catherine Ferrers, known as the Wicked lady who terrorized England in the mid-1600s. Her legend persists nearly 400 years after her death. Highwaymen are in the hot seat this season. Find more crime and cocktails on Criminalia. Listen to criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

A crime makes headlines. People talk about it for a few days. Then it disappears. But for the people left behind, their story is just beginning.

But at night, we hear the garage opening and my son hears it.

We freak out. Honestly, I didn't tell my son this.

But I thought that was it.

From the exactly right network. This is the Knife. Real stories of crime's ripple effects told by those who lived them. New episodes every Thursday. Listen to the knife on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.