TV Guide: History Detectives

Listing: WPA Mural Studies; George Washington Miniature; Japanese Balloon Bomb

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:00:00 -0500

Sat Nov 21 04:00 PM PBS Six Thelma Johnson Streat paintings that may have been mural studies commissioned by the WPA in the 1930s or '40s; a 1790 miniature color portrait of a "G. Washington" found in documents stored above a Manhattan tavern; a possible scrap of a Japanese balloon bomb employed during World War II.

Listing: Red Cloud Letter; '32 Ford Roadster; Cast Iron Eagle

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:00:00 -0500

Tue Nov 17 05:00 AM PBS A 1932 Ford Roadster that may have been used in dry-lake races; a letter that may have been written by Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum to James Red Cloud of the Lakota tribe; a cast-iron eagle that might have been a decoration for a New York post office.

Listing: Mussolini Dagger; Liberia Letter; N.E.A.R. Device

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:00:00 -0500

Sat Nov 14 04:00 PM PBS A Nevada man believes that he may have a dagger that once belonged to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, which a family letter indicates was retrieved from Mussolini's apartment following his death. Also: post-Civil War letters from a freed slave emigrating from the U.S. to Liberia; a Cold War-era, hand-sized device that has "National Emergency Alarm Repeater, Civilian Warning Device" written on it.

Listing: Shipwreck Cannons; Connecticut Farmhouse; Kahlil Gibran Painting

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:00:00 -0500

Tue Nov 10 05:00 AM PBS Cannons that may have been from the 1846 shipwreck of the USS Shark; a Connecticut farmhouse that may have housed Jewish immigrants from Europe; and an oil portrait that might have been painted by artist Kahlil Gibran.