Historian Emily Bingham had heard vague stories about her great-aunt Henrietta when she was growing up. She liked the idea of this mysterious, radiant woman who took full advantage of the cultural offerings of the 1920s in England and America. So, when Emily gave birth to a daughter, she named her Henrietta. That choice greatly upset her father, who feared the name would bring tragedy to his new granddaughter, mirroring what her namesake had experienced.

This was a new side to the story that Emily hadn’t heard, and it set off a years-long investigation into the life of her great-aunt Henrietta. On today’s episode of Modern Notion Daily, Emily Bingham joins us to talk about the culmination of that research, Irrepressible: The Jazz Age Life of Henrietta Bingham (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2015).

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Henrietta Bingham attended Smith College and then set off for London with one of her female Smith professors—who was also her lover. Henrietta stayed in England for decades, hobnobbing with Bloomsbury writers and striking up an affair with tennis champion Helen Jacobs. But after Henrietta’s father died, her life took a drastic turn for the worse.

Emily Bingham’s book examines queerness in early 20th-century America and England, in addition to looking at relations between her wealthy, white great-aunt and black musicians and performers. She uses family folklore, oral history, and extensive archival research to dig into a story that her family had kept swept under the rug for so long.

At the top of the hour, we also hear from contributing editor Emma Bryce about the Hellboy-ish dinosaur species discovered a decade ago.

Music this hour:

• “Elle va au Japon” by Nic Bommarito, from the album A Quiet Age
• “Kelli’s Number” by U.S. Army Blues, from the album Live at Blues Alley
• “Soldiertype (militarised)” by Ketsa, from the album What’s Without’s Within