Alyssa Hirsch on Telling the Untold Stories of Fencing’s Past

<p><strong>Season 2, Episode 12</strong><br /><strong>Guest:</strong> <strong>Alyssa Hirsch</strong> — PhD Student, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Fencing Historian</p><p><strong>What we cover</strong></p><p>How a varsity fencer became a fencing historian</p><p>The first spark: a Soviet fencing essay in high school and an interview with coach Anatolie Senic</p><p>From Wayne State to Purdue to Illinois: tracing fencing’s place in American and world history</p><p>The 1956 Hungarian Revolution and how émigré fencers reshaped U.S. clubs</p><p>Alyssa’s dissertation: post-Soviet immigration, identity, and fencing as a path to belonging</p><p>Sources of history: magazines, oral interviews, advertisements, photographs, and archives</p><p>Surprises from research — Cold War cooperation and “game recognizes game” moments</p><p>How universities and college teams shape access and inclusion</p><p>Fencing’s class barriers and underrepresented groups, and how programs like the Peter Westbroo...