Stay ConnectedThis is a multiple award-winning podcast about early American history. It’s a show for people who love history and who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.
Each episode features conversations with professional historians who help shed light on important people and events in early American history.
Copyright: © Liz Covart 2024
What can maps tell us about the past?
How do maps affect the way we view events such as the American Revolution?
The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library has a new, traveling exhibition called We Are One: Mapping America’s Road from Revolution to Independence, which seeks to help us change the way we look at and explore the tumultuous events that led thirteen colonies to break away from Great Britain and forge a new nation.
Michelle LeBlanc, Director of Education and Public Programming at the Leventhal Map Center joins us to explore maps as historical documents and this amazing new exhibit.
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/maps
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A “little short of madness.” That is how Thomas Jefferson responded when two delegates from New York approached him with the idea to build the Erie Canal in January 1809.
Jefferson’s comment did not discourage New Yorkers. On January 4, 1817, New York State began building a 363-mile long canal to link the Hudson River and Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes and the Midwest.
Janice Fontanella, site manager of Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site in Fort Hunter, New York, joins us to discuss the Erie Canal, its construction, and the impact that this waterway made on New York and the United States.
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/028
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What do George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Abraham Lincoln have in common?
They all grew-up in blended or stepfamilies.
Lisa Wilson, the Charles J. MacCurdy Professor of American History at Connecticut College and author of A History of Stepfamilies in Early America, leads us on an exploration of blended and stepfamilies in early America.
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/027
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What drove George Washington to become a Patriot during the American Revolution?
How did he overcome the ill-trained and inexperienced troops, inadequate pay, and supply problems that plagued the Continental Army to win the War for American Independence?
Robert Middlekauff, professor emeritus of colonial and early United States history at the University of California, Berkeley, reveals the answers to these questions as we explore details from his book Washington’s Revolution: The Making of America’s First Leader.
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/026
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Do you know who George Whitefield was?
George Whitefield stood as one of the most visible figures in British North America between the 1740s and 1770. He was a central figure in the trans-Atlantic revivalist movement and a man whose legacy remains influential to evangelical Christians today.
Historian Jessica Parr, author of Inventing George Whitefield: Race, Revivalism, and the Making of a Religious Icon, introduces us to the Reverend George Whitefield.
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/025
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In this bonus episode, we explore a listener requested topic of colonial inns and taverns by investigating the history of the oldest inn still in operation: Longfellow’s Wayside Inn.
The Wayside Inn served as the inspiration for Henry Wadsworth Longfellows poetry collection "Tales of a Wayside Inn," in which you will find his poem "The Landlord's Tale," better known as "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere."
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/wayside
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What can John Hancock’s suit tell you about the man who wore it?
The clothing a person wears tells you a lot about them: Whether they are rich or poor, what kind of work they do, what colors they like, and what they value.
We know that John Hancock was a wealthy merchant and prominent politician, but did you know that his suit reveals even more about his life and personality than the documents and portraits he left behind?
Museum professional and textiles expert Kimberly Alexander joins us to explore the world of 18th-century fashion and material culture and what objects like John Hancock's suit communicate about the past.
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/024
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Have you ever wondered what happens when four historians get together to talk about early American history?
In this episode, we chat with three young and promising historians of early America: Michael Hattem, Roy Rogers, and Ken Owen. All three scholars discuss history at the Junto Blog, A Group Blog on Early American History and as regular panelists on the JuntoCast, a monthly podcast about Early American History.
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/023
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Have you heard the saying that behind every great man stands a great woman?
Vivian Bruce Conger, the Robert Ryan Professor in the Humanities at Ithaca College, joins us to explore the two great women that Benjamin Franklin had standing behind and beside him: his wife, Deborah Read Franklin, and his daughter, Sally Franklin Bache.
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/022
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Do you know that John Hancock was a smuggler?
Smuggling presented a large problem for the imperial governments of Great Britain and France during the colonial period.
Eugene Tesdahl, an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, joins us to discuss the early American business of smuggling and his involvement with living history as a French and Indian War-era re-enactor.
Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/021
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