Everything is a Primary Source

S5E26: "Welcome to Sinclair Dinoland: Evaluating dinosaurs' evolution in pop culture media" My son has contributed to several episodes of the Everything is a Primary Source Podcast over the last five seasons, and this is his latest contribution.  Using a guidebook to the Sinclair Oil "Dinoland" experience at the 1964-65 World's Fair in New York as the basis of our discussion, we take a look at the...

S5E25: "First Day: An 1853 letter and how it depicts everyday life in the era" Jonathan Ahl of the Rokeby Museum in Vermont returns to the podcast to walk us through an 1853 letter from his museum’s archive that simultaneously tells us so little but shows us so much.   Rowland Robinson, who would go on to be a well-recognized writer and artist, wrote a letter to his mother Rachael, describing the...

S5E24: "War Games: a breakdown of a deck of cards from 2003 featuring Iraqi high command" I met with a group of pre-service social studies teachers from Plymouth State University at the NHCSS conference last fall and they selected a deck of cards that I had received from another exhibitor just that day to talk about.  Looking back on the conversation about a deck of cards that would've been issued...

S5E23: "I Just Called to Say: treating telephones through the ages as primary sources" Graham Gifford is theExecutive Director of the New Hampshire Telephone Museum in Warner.  She and I connected at the NHCSS conference in Concord last October.  I think we were really dialed in with our talk, and I hope you enjoy the tone of the conversation as we connect lines between all iterations of telephoni...

S5E22:"Stars of the Second City: The 1893 and 1933 World's Fairs in Chicago as documents of their time periods" Plymouth State University History Professor John Kruekeberg and I speak about two of the shining stars in Chicago's storied past, the Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the 1933 Century of Progress World's Fair, by way of a souvenir deck of cards I have from the former event. #worldsfair #...

S5E21:"Program 1: The Beatles on 8-Track as a primary source of the early 1970s" Morgan, who works with Creative Guts , a creativity-centered non-profit and podcast, stopped by my exhibit last year at the NH Makers Fest held at the Children's Museum of New Hampshire.  He chose my Beatles/ 1962-1966 compilation on 8-track to talk about, but we spent less time talking about the Fab Four themselves a...

S5E20" "Blinded Me With Science: Seeing versions Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People as a reflections of time and place" Shoshannah Boray is the Education Coordinator for Vermont Stage, a Burlington-based theater company, whose Public Square Play this season is Gracie vs. The People .   The performance is an adaptation and update for modern teen audiences of Swedish playwright Henrik Ibsen's An...

S5E19: "Strictly In It: Analyzing a 1907 postcard to determine what it tells us of time and place" Jonathon Ahl is the Education coordinator at the Rokeby Museum in Ferrisburgh, Vermont, and therefore is no stranger to dissecting a document on the spot, sight unseen.  We applied our analytical skills to a postcard from Oregon featuring a cartoon duck, printed and filled out in the first part of th...

S5E18: "This One's For Chuck: Chuck Mangione and his Album Feels So Good as a document of the late 1970s" The waning days of December is the time to reflect on the previous year and that includes notable people we have lost.  Jazz musician Chuck Mangione was one such purpose, and I had the pleasure of speaking to one of his biggest fans about Mangione's most recognized album, Feels So Good at a co...

S5E17:"Gee the Traffic is Terrific: Navigating with road maps and travel culture as documents of time and place" John King teaches in Florida, New York, and joined me at the Mid Hudson Council for the Social Studies conference this Fall to talk about some of the road maps in my collection that caught his eye.  This is not the first time that road maps have come up on the show, but as John demonstr...

S5E16: "Ready to Relaunch: The Atari 7800 Pro System as a document of the mid 1980s" In 1986 American video game pioneer Atari responded to the growing popularity of Nintendo by introducing their 7800 machine, a game system with graphics and (some) games that rivaled the NES, but never quite took.  On this episode my guest Jason and I trade stories of how we got our 7800s, the features and games w...

S5E15: "Everyday is Woman's Day: The magazine and the crafts it has inspired as primary sources of several eras" Since 1931 many women have turned to Woman's Day magazine to get inspiration on home economics, recipes, remedies and arts and crafts.  Monica is a social studies teacher in New Hampshire and my drop-in guest back in October at the NHCSS (of which she is the president) conference where...

S5E14: "Giving Thanks: The Mayflower II project as a symbol of post-War trans-Atlantic relations" Richard Stone literally wrote the book on the 1950s Mayflower II project, which saw two groups--one British and one American--simultaneously work to create a replica of the ship which ferried the Pilgrim Separatists from England to America in 1620.   We discuss the context of this project both through...

S5E13: "I Am Sam, Sam I Am: Uncle Sam as a measurement of Americans' view of the the US Government" 2026 NH Teacher of the Year Megan Philbrook joined me in dissecting Uncle Sam--the character more than the real person--and deciding how the bearded, star-spangled figure acts as a regular indicator of how Americans view their government as well as America's identity and place in the world. #history...

S5E12: "E Pluribus Unum: Looking at The American Revolution as a Document of Here and Now" Documentaries shape the way we remember the past and they also reveal the time in which they’re made. In this episode, I’m joined by Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt, co-directors with Ken Burns of the new film The American Revolution, for a conversation about the craft behind historical storytelling. Togeth...

Food is major part of any society's popular culture, even in a time of war.  World War I expert and fellow social studies teacher Kristin Stelfox joined me in analyzing a collection of three papers from the Great War, detailing the food rations and cooking needs of an American unit in France.  It is remarkable what one can learn about time and place just by reading into their menus of food and dri...

S5E10: "Life Goes On: Life magazine as a reporter of historic eras" Life magazine has been in print since the 1880s, but the monthly photographic document publication that usually springs to mind began its run in 1936.  My drop-in guest at NH Makers Fair (apologies for background noise) and I spoke to all iterations of Life to decide how the publication has reflected the excitement of the 20th cen...

S5E9: "From Stack to Streaming: Unsolved Mysteries as a continuous reflection of America." Author Ally Russell joins the show to discuss and compare the original run of "Unsolved Mysteries" with the Netflix update from 2019.  How have these shows informed, and been informed by, the society and culture of their respective times? Ally's latest book is Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave, which can be f...

S5E8: "A Good Ol' Worker and A Good Ol' Pal: The Erie Canal as a Primary Source" This October is particularly Erie as it marks 200 years since the opening of New York's "Grand Canal."  Kevin Leisten, who teaches social studies within a few miles of the canal, joined me to discuss the Erie Canal as both a reflection of the time in which it was conceived, as well as a force for development and chang...

S5E7: "A Walk on the Wilde Side: The Picture of Dorian Gray as a reflection of 1890s society and values " Daniel stopped by at the Makers Fair this Spring and selected to discuss Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray as a document of its era, 1891.  Is it possible that the famed Irish writer was forecasting our 21st century relationship with fame and celebrity, or is it something that people ha...

S5E6: "Representatives of Discontented Youth: Repo Man as a document of the early 80s" Richard Erdmann, owner of Mare Booksellers , joined me to talk about 1984's Sci-Fi/Punk Rock/Chase Comedy Repo Man as a reflection of the society and culture of the era. See how you can interact with the conversation, and learn more about EPS To Go! at everything-history.com #history #popculture #punk #repoman #...

S5E5: "What Would Coach Bombay Do?: The Mighty Ducks (1992) as a indicator of youth sports in the modern era" This episode was actually recorded over two years ago when I set up my exhibit at just outside McCue's Comedy Club in the Roundabout Diner in Portsmouth, NH.  Comedian Liam Hales sat with me before the show he was hosting and we used The Mighty Ducks as a jumping off point to discuss the e...

S5E4: "Mama Duck: Robert McCloskey's 'Make Way for Ducklings' as a document of 1941" Children's book author Ashlee Ridlon and I talk about 1941's Make Way for Ducklings and how it acts as a report from 1940s Boston. #history #popculture #makewayforducklings #boston #childrensbooks #picturebooks #caldecottaward 

S5E3: "Survivors: The things we hold onto and collect in storage units" I met with Tony, cohost of the podcast "Storage Unit 217," at the AES Ephemera Fair earlier this year, and we got to talking about our shared interest in helping otherwise forgotten pieces of the past survive as long as possible. Learn more about EPS To Go! and join the conversation at everything-history.com

S5E2: "Age of Enlightenment: Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson as a document of history" Gibby sat down with me at this year's Makers Fest at the Children's Museum of New Hampshire to talk about Calvin and Hobbes and the comic strip's role as a document of the era in which it ran. Learn more about EPS To Go! at everything-history.com/epstogo Join the discussion at everything-history.com . #histo...