New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Nick Thony

New Captial District Civil War Round Table Podcasts

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capital district civil war round table podcastThree new episodes of the Capital District Civil War Round Table Podcast are now available.

Author Joseph Collea talked about his book New York and the Lincoln Specials. In the winter of 1861, President-elect Lincoln traveled across New York State on his way to Washington, D.C., as the secession crisis unfolded. In 1865, Lincoln’s body retraced that route before burial in Springfield. Collea covers both journeys including Lincoln’s reception in Buffalo, Albany, and New York City in 1861 and the outpouring of support for the deceased president in 1865. [Read more…] about New Captial District Civil War Round Table Podcasts

The Influence of Alcohol on the Civil War (Podcast)

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capital district civil war round table podcastThe latest episode of the Capital District Civil War Round Table Podcast features Mark Will-Weber who talked about the influence of alcohol on the Civil War and the history of presidential drinking.

Was secession fueled by alcohol, did Lincoln drink, did Grant drink too much, was FDR really a beer drinker? Weber talks about this and much more in this podcast recorded at Albany Distilling Company. [Read more…] about The Influence of Alcohol on the Civil War (Podcast)

Civil War Round Table: Coming War, Refugee Slaves

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capital district civil war round table podcastThe latest episode of the Capital District Civil War Round Table Podcast features Dr. Rachel Shelden and Dr. Amy Murrell Taylor.

Rachel Sheldon talked about her book Washington Brotherhood: Politics, Social Life, and the Coming of the Civil War. Shelden’s book focuses on the personal relationships forged by Washington politicians during the tumultuous 1850s. While much of the country remained divided over slavery, elected officials, insulated by the fraternity-like atmosphere of Congress, failed to recognize the gravity of the secession crisis. [Read more…] about Civil War Round Table: Coming War, Refugee Slaves

Podcast: Brutus de Villeroi and the U. S. Navy’s First Submarine

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capital district civil war round table podcastA recent edition of the Capital District Civil War Round Table Podcast features Naval historian Chuck Veit who talked about his book Natural Genius: Brutus de Villeroi and the U. S. Navy’s First Submarine. Veit discussed the history of submarines and the remarkable life of French inventor Brutus de Villeroi, the man responsible for building the U. S. Navy’s first submarine. [Read more…] about Podcast: Brutus de Villeroi and the U. S. Navy’s First Submarine

Civil War Podcast: The Confederate South and Southern Italy

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capital district civil war round table podcastThe May episode of the Capital District Civil War Round Table Podcast was recorded in Galway, Ireland, with National University of Ireland Galway professor Enrico Dal Lago.

Dal Lago talked about his new book Civil War and Agrarian Unrest: The Confederate South and Southern Italy. The book places the American Civil War in the global context by comparing and connecting it to the Great Brigandage in Southern Italy in the 1860s. While historians have spent years looking at nation-building and social revolution in nineteenth-century Europe, Dal Lago offers a fresh perspective of the American Civil War by comparing it to the agrarian uprising that occurred in Southern Italy during Italian unification. [Read more…] about Civil War Podcast: The Confederate South and Southern Italy

Nineteenth-Century Baseball Myths, History (Podcast)

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capital district civil war round table podcastThe Opening Day of Baseball edition of the Capital District Civil War Round Table Podcast features Tim Wiles, the former director of research at the Baseball Hall of Fame Library in Cooperstown and current director of the Guilderland Public Library.

Tim talked about his time in Cooperstown, the Doubleday Myth, Troy-native Johnny Evers, the story behind ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game,’ the services offered by the Guilderland Public Library, and much more. [Read more…] about Nineteenth-Century Baseball Myths, History (Podcast)

David Hochfelder on the Telegraph in America

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capital district civil war round table podcastThe latest episode of the Capital District Civil War Round Table Podcast features SUNY Albany professor David Hochfelder discussing his book The Telegraph in America, 1832-1920.

The telegraph was a revolutionary technology that had far-reaching effects on American life. Hochfelder talked about Samuel Morse, the use of the telegraph in the Civil War, the rise of Western Union, and the mode of communitcaion’s decline.  [Read more…] about David Hochfelder on the Telegraph in America

Latest Capital District Civil War Round Table Podcast

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capital district civil war round table podcastThe latest episode of the Capital District Civil War Round Table Podcast features Appomattox National Historical Park historian Patrick Schroeder. Patrick talked about the 5th New York, the Appomattox campaign, and Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House. [Read more…] about Latest Capital District Civil War Round Table Podcast

Albany’s Sheridan Statue Sculptor Daniel Chester French

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capital district civil war round table podcastThe latest episode of the Capital District Civil War Round Table Podcast features Harold Holzer discussing his book Monument Man: The Life & Art of Daniel Chester French.

French was “one of America’s most prolific sculptors of public monuments,” who created The Minute Man in Concord, Harvard University’s John Harvard, and the statue of Abraham Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial. [Read more…] about Albany’s Sheridan Statue Sculptor Daniel Chester French

Civil War Podcasts Feature Gerrit Smith, Wartime Romance

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capital district civil war round table podcastTwo new episodes of the Capital District Civil War Round Table Podcast are now available.

In the October episode, Gerrit Smith biographer Norman K. Dann discussed his book Practical Dreamer: Gerrit Smith and the Crusade for Social Reform. Recorded from Smith’s Land Office in Peterboro, New York, Dann talked about Smith’s activism, philanthropy, involvement in politics, and his relationship with John Brown. [Read more…] about Civil War Podcasts Feature Gerrit Smith, Wartime Romance