The Stories Your City Forgot

You ever wonder why the United States doesn't have nuclear power? Well, Daniel Pope joins me to help break down the tale of one town's resistance to the emerging power source.

Along the PNW, Barred Owls are becoming a dominant species, pushing out native owls in the region. Steven Beda from the University of Oregon joined me to speak about what it means when something is native and when something is invasive.

More and more students are learning about history from video games like Assassin's Creed. Alison Roy joins me to speak about the positives and negatives of history being used in this fashion.

In this episode, I sit down with historian Dr. Meghan Woolley to explore the women who showed up in medieval courtrooms anyway. Mothers who accused their sons’ killers. Sisters who tried to seek justice for their brothers.

The United States is fraught with disputes over labor pay. Dr. Bob Bussel's latest work explores the way our conversations have evolved to discuss how we all deserve to be paid.

The "no good" scoundrel Bill Dowdle met an untimely fate after getting out of a Boise prison. Now, Professor Justin Vipperman is here to explain whether the man deserved the reputation.

When did the concept of being an environmentalist become controversial? The working class at one point was leading the charge alongside unions across the United States. As Professor Steven Beda explains in this Story Your City Forgot, it can in part be traced back to the debate over what to do with the Spotted Owl. To read more from Beda, you can click the link listed below. https://books.google.c...

Much of the world is having a conversation about immigration. Which immigration is appropriate? Who is acceptable to have in your nation? While Americans struggle with this question at this moment, as Rishav Chatterjee explains in this Story Your City Forgot, the question is applicable to India as well.

There are many cultures across the world, each one could've been its own empire. Today, we learn why one of those cultures settled in the West, and why they struggled to adapt to the East.

As manifest destiny took hold colonist began to divy up the western united states, pushing native peoples from the lands they stewarded. The act blocked access to a navigational beacon used by seven different cultures and opened the area to modern development, threatening its fragile foundation The history of Eagle Rock is a story that Boise, Idaho, forgot.

We all have a different idea of what street art is. For some, it's a way to speak out against injustices, and for others, it's delinquent behavior. How did it get this way? I'm joined by Professor Dale Graden, who breaks down exactly how we got here.

What is a drowned town? Where do they come from? How do we track them and record their history? These are all questions that have answers in this episode of the Stories Your City Forgot.

What does it look like when miners band together? When the demands of the union are ignored? How does all of that unfold? We explore those questions and more with Dr. Russ Tremanye as we look at the Idaho Labor Riots.

In the summer of 1924, a diplomat in Tehran was brutally beaten by a mob for not understanding or respecting the culture of the people around him. I'm joined by Dr. Michael Zirinsky, who has studied and written about Imbrie before. Tune into this Story Your City Forgot to hear more about the United States' reactions to the murder of one of its Vice Consuls.

In divided postwar Germany, the Cold War wasn’t just fought with missiles and spies; it was fought over marriage, motherhood, and who had the right to name their child. Historian Dr. Alexandria Ruble joins host Justin Mattson to discuss her book Entangled Emancipation and the surprising ways women’s rights became a frontline issue in both East and West Germany. From family law to Cold War politics...

Long before Idaho became a political footnote, one man from the Gem State helped shape global foreign policy. In this episode, historian Russ Tremayne joins host Justin Mattson to trace Borah’s legacy, his contradictions, and the shadow he cast on the generation of Idaho leaders that followed. It’s a story about one senator’s global impact and how a small state helped steer the course of world his...

LeRoy Wilkins was convicted of a crime no one could prove. Years later, when the state of Idaho finally pardoned him, it added one condition: he could never set foot in Twin Falls County again. In this episode, Justin Mattson and historian Justin Vipperman trace the strange and painful saga of Wilkins’ legal exile, the only case of its kind in Idaho history, and ask what it says about race, justic...

What makes an old building worth saving? And what do we lose when it's gone? In this episode of The Stories Your City Forgot , host Justin Mattson sits down with historian Emily Fritchman Mahaney to explore the quiet power of local architecture, not just grand theaters and iconic facades, but the everyday homes and storefronts that hold a city’s memory. To learn more about the walking tour or to t...

It's not every day you get to see someone become an outlaw in real time. What does that process look like? How does one become notorious? How does one create a mythology of oneself? Our guest today brings us the story of one example out of Idaho, and it's a story you don't want to forget.

Across the American West, labor camps once teemed with workers brought in to harvest crops, build infrastructure, and support wartime industry. Most of these camps have been erased from public memory—none more so than El Milagro in southern Idaho. In this episode, historian Dr. Russ Tremayne guides us through the complex and often overlooked history of El Milagro, from its origins as a New Deal pr...

In this episode, we delve into the multifaceted power of Latin American film as both art and activism, from Brazil’s Cinema Novo movement to the archival voices of Black and Indigenous resistance throughout the hemisphere. Graden shares how protest shaped his early worldview, how teaching became his tool for connection, and how memory lives on through storytelling, both on screen and off. This is...

The number of different groups with history within the United States and around the world is staggering. Oftentimes, the history of many organizations and groups goes lost to the records of time. To help bring the history of one of those niche groups to the records table, Dr. Rebecca Scofield brings us the details of one such organization in this Story Your City Forgot. If you want to check out th...