The History Things Podcast

Send us Fan Mail That is a wrap for the second season of The History Things Podcast! What an incredible year we have had! Between our amazing guests, the stories they told, the experiences we had on and off mic, 2021/Season 2 was definitely one for the record books and we could not have accomplished it without both our listeners and guests alike! As we do every 6 months, we stop to reflect on the...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to another BONUS edition of The History Things Podcast! In this episode we sit down with Brandi Ahmer, video game collector, to discuss the long evolution of home console gaming and its place in our own personal histories! This was an incredibly fun and wildly nostalgic conversation, so grab your controllers and have some fun with us because: READY PLAYER ONE!  The Hi...

Send us Fan Mail In our Season 2 Quarter 4 follow-up installment of the History Things Podcast, Matt and Pat hang out once again with author and historian Johnathan Bracken, who takes us through the tumultuous and violent years of 1916, 1917, & 1918 as the 151st French Infantry Regiment endured them.  Want to experience the full magic of this episode? Join us over on YouTube beginning on Frida...

Send us Fan Mail In our Season 2 Quarter 4 installment of the History Things Podcast, Matt and Pat finally take the show to the Western Front: 1916, specifically to Verdun! In this episode we are joined by author and historian Johnathan Bracken who takes us through Part One of an amazingly detailed and at times horrific experience that the 151st Infantry Regiment of the French Army endured through...

Send us Fan Mail In this special presentation by The History Things Podcast, co-Hosts Pat McGuire & Matt Borders take us back to that awful Tuesday in September 2001 with a haunting timeline of the events of that day. Additionally Matt & Pat engage in a discussion with each other about their memories of the days, weeks, months, and years that have followed in the aftermath of the terrorist...

Send us Fan Mail It's time for the follow up episode for Quarter 3's "One Fort, Three Wars" with Maryland Park Ranger Rob Ambrose. Rob takes Pat and Matt into the 20th century history of Fort Frederick and how it developed into the state historic site it is today.  From the CCC and the Maryland Park System, as well as listener questions, this is a great conversation. Check it o...

Send us Fan Mail Keeping with our episode 3 theme of colonial and revolutionary history, The History Things Podcast has a bonus episode for you! Pat and Matt speak with author, historian and podcaster, Marie Williams about her book, The Revolutionary War in the Adirondacks: Raids in the Wilderness. This was a great conversation looking into one of the lesser known theaters of the Revolutionary War...

Send us Fan Mail The second half of Season 2 gets under way with a great conversation with our very good friend, Rob Ambrose. Rob is a Park Ranger who wears many different hats for Fort Frederick State Park, which is the site of the French and Indian War era stone fortification known as Fort Frederick. About 20 miles west of Hagerstown, Maryland and just a mile off of the Rt. 70 exit at Big Pool &...

Send us Fan Mail BOOM! And just like that we have made to the halfway point of our Season 2 adventure here on The History Things Podcast! Here at our second midyear look at the show, Pat and Matt take stock of subjects they have covered, updates and upgrades to the production of the show itself, as well as updates from some of their personal endeavors! The fellas also reflect on the guests they ha...

Send us Fan Mail In our Quarter 2 follow-up, Pat and Matt are joined once again by special guest Coby Treadway, the Education Coordinator at the Surratt House Tavern Museum in Clinton, Maryland! In Q2  we spent nearly 5 hours discussing the depths of the murder plots and assassination of President Abraham Lincoln at the conclusion of the American Civil War, and in this installment, we conclude our...

Send us Fan Mail In our first bonus episode of Season 2, we hang out with our very good friend Jana Friesen McCabe, who is currently the Chief of Interpretation and Guest Services at Monocacy National Battlefield. Previously in Jana's career in the Park Service, she spent time as an interpretive ranger at Ford's Theater, site of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln! We thought...

Send us Fan Mail In our Season 2, Quarter 2 installment, Pat and Matt have an epically huge episode in-store! We sat down in our newly renovated (still in progress lol) War Department Studio with special guest Coby Treadway to discuss at length about the plot(s) to kidnap and eventually the plot(s) to murder Abraham Lincoln, President Of The United States! Coby is the Acting-Director as well as th...

Send us Fan Mail Matt and Pat hang out again with Ben Frail, the National Patriotic Instructor for the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. We ask Ben some questions from the listeners, fire off a couple of our own... get more into the works of both the G.A.R. and the S.U.V. and since this episode was recorded prior to kickoff on Super Bowl Sunday, Pat puts Ben on the spot about what he thinks...

Send us Fan Mail We kick off season 2 with special guest Ben Frail of the Sons Of Union Veterans to talk about civil war fraternities both past and present, the legacy of the G.A.R. and the modern day extension and charity work of the Sons Of Union Veterans!

Send us Fan Mail We made it to the conclusion of our inaugural season here at the show! What a year we picked to start the podcast in too lol! 2020 has been a monster in every way it can be, so we thought we would wind down the year as well as our first season with a look back on the journey we took to get to the dawn of season 2!

Send us Fan Mail Once again the show returns to the subject of connecting to history through music! This time were putting some twang on it and getting into the sensational history of Music City, Nashville, Tennessee! Joining us in this episode are singer-song writers and authors of the new book; "Hidden History of Music Row," Elizabeth Elkins and Vanessa Olivarez of the Country Music/Am...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features historian Raina Egan as she hangs out with us once again to answer questions from our listeners about the experience and tragedy of the young women who perished in the devastating explosion at the Allegheny Arsenal outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 17, 1862. 

Send us Fan Mail This episode highlights an up and comer in the historical interpretive community. Here at the HTP we are excited to do this regularly with our 4th quarter podcast! When we created this show, we thought it would be fitting and proper to elevate the voices of the relatively or completely unknown researchers, archivists, historians, and storytellers, who are working so very tirelessl...

Send us Fan Mail In our third follow-up episode, Pat and Matt hang out with guest Parker Russell again to answer some of the questions and comments from YOU the listener related to our absolutely TITANIC episode, HTP 03: White Star Line! This episode features some quick corrections, listener questions, and a larger focus on the tragic story of the RMS Titanic.

Send us Fan Mail In this bonus episode of The History Things Podcast, we hang out with Paul Hoza, host of the Untold Civil War Podcast, to tell some of our favorite untold (or not often told) stories of the American Civil War.  This episode was originally recorded with Matt and Pat as guests on Pauls show, but after the recording of that episode, we had had so much fun and we thought the stories w...

Send us Fan Mail In episode 03 we are joined by our good friend and amateur RMS Titanic historian Parker Russell, to help us tell the incredible, innovative, and tragic story about perhaps the most famous passenger ocean liner company ever to sail on the seas!  In our Quarter 3 epic, we follow the White Star Line from their humble beginnings as a pack trading company in the mid 1840s, all the way...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome everyone to our first mid-year assessment on the state of The History Things Podcast! Hosts Matt Borders and Pat McGuire bring you a short rundown on how the first half of season one has gone and how it has grown and reflected the historic times we have been living through. This episode takes a look at some of the material we have covered in the first half, what the experi...

Send us Fan Mail Hosts Matt Borders and Pat McGuire are joined by the Director of Civil War Pittsburgh, Rich Condon to discuss how music can connect us to history in unique ways. Rich like Pat has an additional perspective on this subject because both have spent time as professional session and touring musicians!  In this episode we picked a few of our favorite songs that either connected us to hi...

Send us Fan Mail In our second follow-up episode, Matt and Pat hang out with guest Avery Lentz again to answer some of the questions and comments from YOU the listener related to our second MONSTER episode, HTP Ep 02: Battle of Fredericksburg!  This episode was recorded via ZOOM due to travel and stay at home restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Send us Fan Mail In our first follow-up episode, Matt and Pat hang out with guest Kevin Pawlak again to answer some of the questions and comments from YOU the listener related to our first episode, HTP Ep 01: Maryland Campaign 1862!  This episode was recorded via Skype due to travel and stay at home restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.