T. Thomas Fortune (played by Sullivan Jones), the newspaper editor Peggy first meets in this episode, was a real historical figure. Between the 1880s and about 1907, he ran one of the premiere Black newspapers in America, publishing condemnations of racial violence, discrimination, and segregation. He helped to found an organization called the Afro-American League (later the National Afro-American League), which worked for voting rights, desegregation, equal opportunities in education, and a stop to lynchings. His Encyclopedia Britannica listing calls him "the leading black American journalist of the late 19th century."
Paintings prominently displayed in Mrs Chamberlain's collection are: "The Dancing Class," an oil painting by Edgar Degas, circa 1870; "View of the Forest of Fontainebleau," an oil painting by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, circa 1830; "Woman with a Parasol -- Madame Monet and Her Son" (French: La Femme à l'ombrelle -- Madame Monet et son fils) sometimes known as "The Stroll" (French: La Promenade) an oil-on-canvas painting by Claude Monet, circa 1875; Skiffs on the Yerres (French: Périssoires sur l'Yerres) an oil-on-canvas painting by Gustave Caillebotte, circa 1877.
Clara Barton as seen in an earlier episode and mentioned again in this one, was a real person. She established the American Red Cross in Dansville, New York on May 21, 1881 and was its first president. She organized a meeting on May 12 of that year at the house of Senator Omar D. Conger to gather funding and support.
The music heard at the end of the episode is from American composer John Knowles Paine's Second Symphony. Paine lived from 1839-1906, and wrote his Second Symphony in 1879 (it was published and first performed in 1880), so it is realistic that the characters in the episode are shown attending a performance in New York in 1882. Two movements are heard at the end of the episode: the second movement (Scherzo) is heard as Mrs Russell is preparing to leave her home for the concert, and is then seamlessly shown ending at the concert; the third movement (which bears the title, appropriately for the on-screen action, "A Romance") is then shown at the concert as the episode ends, and it continues to play over the episode's credits.