History, Natural History & the Arts
We publish several podcast announcements each week. You can find them all here.
If you produce a podcast about an aspect of New York State and want to have it noticed here, e-mail editor John Warren at nyalmanack@gmail.com
In this 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
Before New England was New England, it was the Dawnland. A region that remains the homeland of numerous Native American peoples, including the Wampanoag.
Over the next two episodes of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, we’ll explore the World of the Wampanoag before and after 1620, a year that saw approximately 100 English colonists enter the Wampanoags’ world. Those English colonists have been called the “Pilgrims” and this year, 2020, marks the 400th anniversary of their arrival in New England.
In the latest episode of Kaatscast, a podcast delivering interviews, arts, culture, and history from the Catskills , Delaware County Historian Bill Birns talks about the legacy of “Hobart’s greatest” (albeit largely forgotten) son, John Davenport Clarke.
Clarke was born in Hobart. He graduated Lafayette College in 1898 and Brooklyn Law School in 1911. He was assistant to the secretary of mines of the U. S. Steel from 1901 until 1907. In 1920, he was elected to Congress as a Republican. He was again elected to Congress in 1926 and served until his death in a car crash near Delhi, NY inn 1933. [Read more…] about John Davenport Clarke: Farmer, Forester, and Congressman
It’s never been easy to make your way as an independent, career-minded woman in New York City. Mary L. Booth did it in the 19th century, forging a career and establishing a reputation as a writer, translator, and the founding editor of Harper’s Bazzar.
Learn more about this Long Island native as we talk to Tricia Foley, author of Mary L. Booth: The Story of an Extraordinary 19th-Century Woman, on the lastest episode of the Long Island History Project. [Read more…] about Mary Booth: Writer, Translator, and Founding Editor of Harper’s Bazzar
This week on The Historians Podcast Jim Kaplan chronicles the achievements of the first woman member of a Presidential cabinet. Frances Perkins was FDR’s Secretary of Labor who helped design Social Security. [Read more…] about Frances Perkins: The First Woman Named To A Presidential Cabinet
The name “Great Dismal Swamp” doesn’t evoke an image of a pleasant or beautiful place, and yet, it was an important place that offered land speculators the chance to profit and enslaved men and women a chance for freedom in colonial British America and the early United States.
This week on The Historians Podcast, Christopher Philippo, a historian from Bethlehem, NY, joins us. He is editor of The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories. Stories include “The Green Huntsman” and “The Christmas Ghost.” [Read more…] about Christmas Ghost Stories (Podcast)
In the latest episode of “Crossroads of Rockland History,” Clare Sheridan welcomed Tess McCormack. McCormack discussed her new book Shopping List for Murder, the true story of a young girl’s horrific experiences long before the “Me Too” movement would usher in intolerance of abuse, and the courageous Rockland County lawyer who fought for her future. McCormack spoke about her connection to this true crime saga and what inspired her to write the book. [Read more…] about Shopping List for Murder On Crossroads of Rockland History
On this episode of The Historians Podcast, Ashley Hopkins-Benton recounts the life of sculptor and stone worker Henry DiSpirito, who became artist in residence at Utica College. Hopkins-Benton is author of Breathing Life Into Stone: The Sculpture of Henry DiSpirito. She is also a senior historian and curator of social history at the New York State Museum in Albany. [Read more…] about Utica Sculptor Henry DiSpirito
Empire, slavery, and constant warfare interacted with each other in the Atlantic World. Which brings us to our question: In what ways did the Atlantic World and its issues contribute to the American Revolution?
In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World: A Podcast about Early American History, Tyson Reeder, an editor of the Papers of James Madison and author of Smugglers, Pirates, and Patriots: Free Trade in the Age of Revolution (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019), helps us see how smuggling and trade in the Luso-Atlantic, or Portuguese-Atlantic World contributed to the development and spread of ideas about free trade and republicanism.
[Read more…] about Smugglers & Patriots in the 18th-Century Atlantic World