🔎 This Week In History - Anne Frank Goes Into Hiding

Welcome back History Nerds,

We’ve got another crazy week to cover, there was so much that happened this week in history. Anne Frank slipped her way into the history books, Louis Pasteur did it again, but this time with the rabies vaccination, and so much more. You’re not gonna want to miss out on this one! Read to the end and respond to this email if you learned anything. And as always, we thank you for sticking around and reading. Enjoy this week’s edition of the LOL History Newsletter!

Did You Know? On April 4, 1964, the Beatles held the top 5 spots on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart—a feat no other artist has ever repeated. The songs? Can’t Buy Me Love, Twist and Shout, She Loves You, I Want to Hold Your Hand, and Please Please Me. For one week, America wasn’t just listening to the Beatles… it was completely overrun by Beatlemania.

During Your History Lesson You’ll Learn About:

• Did the Liberty Bell Really Ring for Independence?

• The Secret Upstairs Life of Anne Frank Begins

• The First Rabies Vaccine: Pasteur’s Life-Saving Discovery

• Burr and Hamilton Settle It the Old-Fashioned Way

The Day The Liberty Bell Might’ve Rung For The First Time

On July 8, 1776, Philadelphia was electric with rebellion as the Declaration of Independence got its first public reading outside the State House, now Independence Hall. Word on the street is that the Liberty Bell—that hefty, soon-to-be-cracked icon—rang out to gather the crowd, like a colonial bat-signal for freedom. The bell’s supposed peal became a patriotic legend, but historians, ever the buzzkills, shrug and say there’s no hard proof it rang that day. Still, it’s hard not to love the image of it chiming for liberty’s big moment.

The truth? That bell was just a workaday clanger back then, not yet the “Liberty Bell” of bumper stickers and tourist traps. It only got its freedom-loving nickname in the 1830s, when abolitionists gave it a glow-up. No one in 1776 wrote, “Yo, that bell was epic today,” and the earliest stories about it ringing for the Declaration showed up decades later, like a tall tale that grew legs. Maybe it rang, maybe it didn’t—could’ve been some other bell or just the sound of Philly’s usual chaos. But the idea of that 2,000-pound beast tolling to hype up the revolution? That’s the kind of story that sticks.

The Secret Upstairs Life of Anne Frank Begins

On July 6, 1942, Anne Frank and her family slipped into hiding in Amsterdam to escape the growing danger of Nazi persecution. Their new home? A hidden annex behind her father’s office building—complete with a swinging bookcase for a secret entrance, like something out of a spy movie. Anne was just 13, but her world suddenly shrank to a few small rooms, shared with another family and constant fear of being discovered.

Life in the annex was claustrophobic, tense, and terrifying—but Anne made sense of it all by writing in her diary, which she nicknamed “Kitty.” Between whispers, canned food, and blackout curtains, she captured daily life, teenage thoughts, and the heartbreak of living in hiding. What she didn’t know was that her private reflections would someday become one of the most powerful records of World War II.

The Franks managed to stay hidden for over two years until they were betrayed and arrested in August 1944. Anne would not survive the war, but her words did. Her diary has been read by millions and stands as a reminder that behind every headline or history book entry, there are real people with hopes, dreams, and stories worth hearing.

The First Rabies Vaccine: Pasteur’s Life-Saving Leap

On July 6, 1885, a terrified 9-year-old boy named Joseph Meister became the first human to receive a rabies vaccine—and survive. The scene wasn’t a high-tech lab or hospital but Louis Pasteur’s private workspace in Paris, where science and desperation collided. The boy had been mauled by a rabid dog. Without intervention, he’d face one of the worst deaths imaginable—rabies wasn’t just deadly, it was brutal. Pasteur wasn’t a medical doctor, but he was a man obsessed with microbes and saving lives. So, with permission from Joseph’s mother (and probably a deep breath), he rolled the dice and injected the boy with his experimental vaccine.

It was a medical moonshot. Rabies was practically a death sentence in the 19th century. No cures, no real treatments—just prayer and suffering. Pasteur had only tested the vaccine on animals.. Twelve injections over ten days. No modern syringes, no clean protocols by today’s standards—just Pasteur, his team, and a hell of a lot of hope. Joseph never developed rabies. The gamble paid off.

The success sent shockwaves through medicine. Pasteur, already famous for figuring out germs and saving wine and milk from spoilage, now had another feather in his cap: he’d saved a human life with science. Within years, Pasteur's rabies vaccine would be used worldwide, kicking off a new era of immunization and experimental medicine.

Shots Fired: Burr and Hamilton Settle It the Old-Fashioned Way

On July 11, 1804, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr—two of the most important (and most dramatic) figures in early American politics—met on the bluffs of Weehawken, New Jersey, for a duel. Burr was furious over some very unflattering things Hamilton supposedly said at a dinner party. Instead of hashing it out over tea, they did what any pair of 18th-century frenemies would do: grabbed pistols and paced ten steps.

Hamilton fired first—but either missed on purpose or just had terrible aim. Burr didn’t miss. Hamilton was shot and died the next day, ending his career, his life, and any chance at a civil political debate. Burr, meanwhile, went from vice president to fugitive overnight. Let’s just say it wasn’t a great PR move.

The duel didn’t just take down a Founding Father—it shocked the nation. Dueling was already on its way out, and this very public tragedy sped things up. Hamilton became a martyr, Burr became infamous, and America got a story so dramatic it would one day become a Broadway musical.

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See You Next Time!

We hope that you enjoyed this edition of the LOL History newsletter! See you next week!

— Evan & Derek - LOL History Co-Founders