Beginning in 2018, Richard Frishman embarked on a 35,000-mile journey, crossing the United States several times, traveling from his home state of Washington to Maine, from Mississippi to Michigan, and everywhere in between. Frishman was driven by a deep concern for capturing traces of the nation’s history of segregation, slavery, and institutional racism embedded in everyday American architecture. [Read more…] about The Ghosts of Segregation: Racism Hidden in Plain Sight
How Fiorello La Guardia Became America’s Mayor, and Why He Still Matters
Fiorello La Guardia was one of the twentieth century’s most colorful politicians ― on the New York and national stage. He was also quintessentially American: the son of Italian immigrants (his mother was also Jewish), who rose in society through sheer will and chutzpah.
Almost one hundred years later, America is once again grappling with issues that would have been familiar to the Little Flower, as he was affectionately known. [Read more…] about How Fiorello La Guardia Became America’s Mayor, and Why He Still Matters
The 77th New York Infantry Volunteers in the Civil War
This week on the Historians Podcast, Chris Carola, a former Albany-based Associated Press reporter who lives in Saratoga Springs, discusses the Civil War’s 77th New York State Volunteer Infantry Regiment. [Read more…] about The 77th New York Infantry Volunteers in the Civil War
Slavery, Christmas and Southern Memory
In this archive episode of The Historians Podcast, Purdue University Professor Emeritus Robert May weighs in on whether enslaved people were better treated during the Christmas season in the Old South.
May is author of Yuletide in Dixie: Slavery, Christmas and Southern Memory (2019). He earned his undergraduate degree at Union College in Schenectady. [Read more…] about Slavery, Christmas and Southern Memory
In Levittown’s Shadow: Poverty in America’s Wealthiest Postwar Suburb
There is a familiar narrative about American suburbs: after 1945, white residents left cities for leafy, affluent subdivisions and the prosperity they seemed to embody. In Levittown’s Shadow: Poverty in America’s Wealthiest Postwar Suburb (University of Chicago Press, 2023) tells us there’s more to this story, offering an eye-opening account of diverse, poor residents living and working in those same neighborhoods.
This week on the Historians Podcast, Tim Keogh talks about his book. [Read more…] about In Levittown’s Shadow: Poverty in America’s Wealthiest Postwar Suburb
Farming With Dynamite: The Stone Boom in Schoharie County
Thirty-one quarries dotted the limestone belt that stretches from end-to-end along the northern third of Schoharie County, NY.
Before the introduction of concrete in the early 1900s, these quarries supplied millions of tons of cut and finished stone to projects like the Brooklyn Bridge, the expanding NYS Barge Canal System, and hundreds of homes and prominent buildings meant to last for centuries. [Read more…] about Farming With Dynamite: The Stone Boom in Schoharie County
The Historians Podcast Features World Holiday Songs & Stories
This week on the Historians Podcast, Mohawk Valley singer-songwriters Cosby Gibson and Tom Staudle join Bob Cudmore to talk about and perform historical holiday songs and stories from Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and other year-end holidays. [Read more…] about The Historians Podcast Features World Holiday Songs & Stories
General Horatio Gates after the Revolution
This week on the Historians Podcast, New York City correspondent Jim Kaplan on Revolutionary War General Horatio Gates. American commander in the key victory over the British in the Battles of Saratoga, Gates’s reputation suffered at the end of the war.
He later moved to the city of New York and helped elect Thomas Jefferson as President in 1800. He is buried in Lower Manhattan. [Read more…] about General Horatio Gates after the Revolution
Gangsterland: Organized Crime in 1920s New York City
This week on the Historians Podcast Historan David Pietrusza talks about his new book Gangsterland: A Tour Through the Dark Heart of Jazz-Age New York City (Diversion Books, 2023).
Gangsterland is a site by site, crime by crime, outlaw by outlaw walking tour through Roaring Twenties Manhattan, where gamblers and gangsters, crooks and cops, showgirls and speakeasies ruled the day and, always, the night. [Read more…] about Gangsterland: Organized Crime in 1920s New York City
The New York 115th Volunteers in the Civil War
This week on the Historians Podcast, David Brooks provides an insightful look at the 115th New York Volunteer Regiment in the Civil War. [Read more…] about The New York 115th Volunteers in the Civil War
Historians Podcast Highlights Show
This week on the Historians Podcast, highlights from recent podcasts, including Christopher Gorham with the story of FDR and Truman aide Anna Rosenberg; Gregg Ficery tracing the origin of the National Football League; Scott Shane chronicling the life of Thomas Smallwood, an African American who named the Underground Railroad and interviews from the 2015 Fort Plan Museum conference on the American Revolution. [Read more…] about Historians Podcast Highlights Show
Flee North! Thomas Smallwood & The Early Underground Railroad
Born enslaved, by the 1840s Thomas Smallwood (1801–1883) had purchased his freedom, was self-educated, and working as a shoemaker a short walk from the U.S. Capitol.
Working alongside prominent abolitionist Charles Turner Torrey, the two men encouraged those enslaved to flee north and helped create what is believed to be the first organized line of the Underground Railroad. [Read more…] about Flee North! Thomas Smallwood & The Early Underground Railroad
The Origins of the National Football League
This week on the Historians Podcast, Gridiron Legacy: Pro Football’s Missing Origin Story (The Story Plant, 2023) author Gregg Ficery traces what became the National Football League back to teams which played in Ohio and Pennsylvania starting in 1892. [Read more…] about The Origins of the National Football League
Anna Rosenberg: A Key Aide to FDR and Truman
This week on the Historians Podcast, author Christopher C. Gorham discusses his biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman aide Anna Rosenberg, The Confidante: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Helped Win WW II and Shape Modern America (Citadel Press, 2023).
Anna Rosenberg was dubbed by Life magazine as “far and away the most important woman in the American government.” From New York City, Rosenberg devised a plan that helped diversify the ranks of factory workers during the Second World War. She also served as deputy defense secretary during the Korean War. [Read more…] about Anna Rosenberg: A Key Aide to FDR and Truman
A Historians Podcast Highlights Show
This week on The Historians podcast, a highlights episode with excerpts from podcasts stories about 1876, the year that defined the American West; pre-Hollywood filmmaking in New York State; female war correspondent Dickey Chapelle; the story of Adirondack serial killer Robert Garrow; a 1939 submarine rescue; Christina Baker Kline on the Orphan Train movement; and a new historical novel, Witness to the Revolution. [Read more…] about A Historians Podcast Highlights Show
Witness to the Revolution: A New Historical Novel Set in New York
Hundreds of men from Orange County, NY, the setting for the novel, served in the rebel militia. However, many residents remained loyal to King George III. Both sides had spy networks. Many in the county were divided within families. [Read more…] about Witness to the Revolution: A New Historical Novel Set in New York
Terror in the Adirondacks: Robert Garrow’s 1973 Rampage
In July, 1973 Robert Francis Garrow Sr. went on an 18-day killing spree in the Adirondacks, stabbing four people to death before being apprehended. This week on the Historians Podcast, author and New York Almanack contributor Lawrence Gooley talks about the Garrow murders and his book Terror in the Adirondacks (Bloated Toe Press, 2009). [Read more…] about Terror in the Adirondacks: Robert Garrow’s 1973 Rampage
First to the Front: The Life of Dickey Chapelle
This week on the Historians Podcast Lorissa Rinehart talks about her biography of female photojournalist and war correspondent Dickey Chapelle, First to the Front: The Untold Story of Dickey Chapelle, Trailblazing Female War Correspondent (St. Martin’s Press, 2023). [Read more…] about First to the Front: The Life of Dickey Chapelle
Before Hollywood: Early Filmmaking in New York State
This week on the Historians Podcast, film historian Audrey Kupferberg discusses filmmaking in New York State before the Hollywood era.
Audrey Kupferberg is a film commentator for WAMC public radio in Albany. She is an emeritus lecturer in film history at the University at Albany and previously was director of the film study center at Yale. [Read more…] about Before Hollywood: Early Filmmaking in New York State
American Revolution Stories on the Historians Podcasts
This week on the Historians Podcast, stories from the American Revolution. Eric Schnitzer and Nina Sankovitch, spoke at last month’s Revolutionary War conference sponsored by Fort Plain Museum. [Read more…] about American Revolution Stories on the Historians Podcasts