Podcast Categories: History

American History Podcasts from Colonial Williamsburg

Bletchley Park is the home of British codebreaking and a birthplace of modern information technology. It played a major role in World War Two, producing secret intelligence which had a direct and profound influence on the outcome of the conflict. The site is now a museum and heritage attraction, open daily.

The Bletchley Park Podcast brings you fascinating stories from Veterans, staff and volunteers on the significance and continued relevance of this site today.

KCC history and philosophy professors discuss the Federalist Papers with some of their students in 8 sessions during the Spring 2012 semester

This series is a compilation of Zora Neale Hurston sound recordings created while she worked for the WPA in the 1930s. Today, the original recordings are housed at the Library of Congress. Hurston made recordings for the WPA in 1935 and again in 1939.

Today, Hurston is better known as a major literary figure, but she was also a trained anthropologist who studied under Franz Boas. A native of Eatonville, Florida, Hurston fell upon hard times during the Great Depression and eventually sought out relief work with the Federal Writer’s Project (FWP). Having already conducted fieldwork for her own studies, Hurston worked with Herbert Halpert and Stetson Kennedy in the FWP. Her work on Florida’s turpentine camps is still considered authoritative. The Florida Memory Project online classroom has more information on Hurston and her fieldwork.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) – after 1939, the Works Projects Administration – was a work-relief program created in 1935 by President Franklin Roosevelt’s administration that employed over 8.5 million people before its end in 1943. One of its programs was the Federal Writers Project (FWP), which included a Folklore Section. This section conducted fieldwork, recording songs, traditions, and stories across the nation. Originally created to gather material for the American Guide Series, later emphasis was placed upon fieldwork for the preservation of folk traditions for future generations.

In Florida, the FWP was based out of Jacksonville, and directed by historian Carita Doggett Corse. Folklorist Stetson Kennedy directed the Florida Folklore section. Seven fieldwork recording expeditions were conducted in Florida. Two were conducted between 1935 and 1937, before the creation of the Florida Folklore section: one by Alan Lomax and Zora Neale Hurston, and the other by John and Ruby Lomax. After 1939, five more were conducted by Florida’s FWP staff: Kennedy, Hurston, Robert Cook, Alton Morris, Corse, Robert Cornwell, John Filareton, and Herbert Halpert (of the Joint Committee on Folk Art’s Southern Recording Expedition.)

Recording equipment was loaned to Florida’s WPA program by the Library of Congress’ Archive of the American Folk Song (later the American Folklife Center). The field recordings were made on acetate disks, usually recorded at 78 rpm (although occasionally at 33 rpm). Because these disks were shipped from Washington, D.C. to Florida, then to the recording site, and then back to Washington, they often were not of the highest sonic quality. Several had surface scratches and many had various recording speeds. In 1986, the Florida Folklife Program staff made copies of many of these recordings onto reel to reels for inclusion in the Florida Folklife Archive.

This work is a part of the Lit2Go collection, a collaboration between the Florida Department of Education and the University of South Florida College of Education. Lit2Go is dedicated to supporting literacy teaching and learning by providing access to historically and culturally significant literature in K-12 schools.

Decades ago, WRVO Public Media began broadcasting old-time radio with a small collection comprising 20 reel-to-reel tapes. Today the collection includes nearly 7,000 reels and over 20,000 broadcasts.”Tuned to Yesterday” is public radio’s premier old-time radio show, hosted by Mark Lavonier. The highest quality broadcasts are restored and played as they were heard years and years ago. You’ll hear programs like “The Whistler,” “The Jack Benny Show,” “Fibber McGee and Molly,” “Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy,” and “Gunsmoke” – spanning all genres. Check out our monthly schedule to see when your favorite classic programs are airing.

I came, I saw, I podcasted

Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, explores 600 years of Germany’s complex and often challenging history using objects, art, landmarks and literature.

Summer 2006 – The Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies hosted several scholars to speak on the life and leadership of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. This five-part lecture series was held at the Spring Lake District Library in Grand Haven, Michigan. For more information on this lecture series, visit www.allpresidents.org.