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Literature of the modern period had a reverberating impact on the public imagination. While literacy was limited in the 16th and 17th centuries, stories were read aloud and shared orally, often reshaping the tale. The spread of sensational stories, pared with shifting religious emphasis, had the ability to cross boundaries between the rational and the metaphysical. In this episode, we'll use the lens of the fantastical werewolf trials in continental Europe to see just how much impact myth and legend had on the post-medieval world.

Foraging is a practice that dates back into prehistory. Living off the land should be an essential human right, but in 18th and 19th century America, that right was often revoked for enslaved persons. In this episode, our guest, Misti Furr, details just why foraging was important in enslaved communities, how it was used as resistance against enslavers, and why the practice is seeing a resurgence in descendent communities today.

Following on from our earlier episode this season, this episode, with our guest, Ray Wright, focuses on the development of the railroad in America. The Shenandoah Valley in particular owes a lot to the iron horse, and all the men and boys who worked to lay tracks and cut through the mountains.

Have you ever wondered why we have the word railways and the word railroad? In this episode, we look at the development of the railway in England and just how that fantastic mode of transportation of goods and people changed the world. We'll have a second episode about the development of the railroad (catch that?) in America later this month.

Ever wanted to know the history of your favorite carols? This episode delves into the background of some of the best beloved carols. Some are more modern than you'd think, while others have a much older melody. So sit back with your favorite warm beverage and enjoy the history of Christmas carols.

On this second episode on abolition, we focus on British abolitionists. Britian abolished slavery long before the United States and enforced the ban on the international slave trade, but just how did that come about? Who was involved? We answer those questions.   Note: This episode contains contemporary quotes that use language which today is considered offensive.  Opening Music: Zac Bell End Music: Jean Claude Hatungimana Cover Art: Emily Noble Day

In this final episode of season three, we review Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas by noted geneticist, Jennifer Raff. While the book is about the first peopling of the Americas, something that the study of DNA and mtDNA has drastically changed, a large portion of the book is also devoted to the development of physical anthropology and the archaeological evidence for the earliest peopling of both Americas. This book gives a graduate course in interdisciplinary studies of who the first people were, where they came from, and how they got here in a readily accessible and sympathetic style. We highly recommend it! Intro Music: Zac Bell Exit Music: Jean Claude Hatungimana Cover Art: Emily Noble Day

Have you ever looked at something on your plate and wondered how it got there? In this episode, our guest, Misti Furr, talks about the movement of goods between the Americas, Africa, and Europe that had a significant impact on the world, both positively and negatively. The Columbian Exchange goes far beyond the humble potato or peanut! Intro Music: Zac Bell Exit Music: Jean Claude Hatungimana Cover Art: Emily Noble Day

N.B.- This episode contains quotes from primary sources and may contain language considered offensive today. Continuing on the topic of revolution and freedom, in this episode, we ask if the revolutionary rhetoric, the language used to discuss freedom from Britain, had any impact on slavery. Many founding fathers tended to compare British treatment of white male citizens of the colonies to slavery, yet slavery as an institution continued well into the 19th century in the newborn United States. Was there any sort of understanding of the hypocrisy involved? Did the prevailing themes of freedom and emancipation from Britain begin to echo in regards to race-based chattel slavery? Also, please bear with us as the audio quality in this episode reflects our upcoming relocation of recording space. Intro Music: Zac Bell Exit Music: Jean Claude Hatungimana Cover Art: Emily Noble Day

Have you ever wondered about how some events in history could have turned out differently? In this episode, we introduce a counterfactual, or according to the Cambridge Dictionary, "a mental simulation where you think about something that happened, and then imagine an alternate ending." Just in time for the Fourth of July, our guests, Sam McGinty and Davis Tierney, discuss how the British could have won and what could have been the result. Intro Music: Zac Bell Exit Music: Jean Claude Hatungimana Cover Art: Emily Noble Day

Continuing our abolition series, Mark Mazzochi joins us to discuss the Haitian Revolution. While the revolt over slavery drastically impacted Haiti and it's economic conditions today, it had a surprising effect on the rest of the world as well. Intro Music: Zac Bell Exit Music: Jean Claude Hatungimana Cover Art: Emily Noble Day

It's finally summer and that means it's time to indulge in some vacation reading. But have you ever picked up that guilty pleasure book or the classic you swear you'll make it through this year and wondered just how novels and fictional stories came to be? In this episode, we talk about how the art of fiction has changed forms over the centuries and just how the novel developed and proliferated. We'll also talk about the chronology of each genre, and some of those will surprise you with how far back they go! Intro Music: Zac Bell Exit Music: Jean Claude Hatungimana Cover Art: Emily Noble Day

Have you ever wondered just how the interpreters at the Frontier Culture Museum are able to talk about the why and how people left their homes for America? In this podcast, we talk about, and read from, primary sources about immigration. Letters, diaries, memoirs and more provide a detailed look into not only the push/pull factors behind the decision to leave Europe, or indeed return home, but also the fierce propaganda wars that were being waged. Accounts from enslaved persons provide a counterpoint to the relative luxury of choice the Europeans had in deciding whether or not to relocate to the colonies. Intro Music: Zac Bell Transition Music: Johann Sebastian Bach, Italian Concerto BWV. 971. 2 Andante Exit Music: Jean Claude Hatungimana

Smallpox is no joke. Having just experienced a world-wide pandemic of a virulent virus, we have a little more inkling about what people in the past faced with smallpox, but nowhere near on the same scale. Smallpox, while eradicated as an infectious agent at large, remains one of the deadliest diseases yet known. In this episode our guest, Lucy Abell, discusses just how dreadful smallpox was to historic populations, but also how smallpox was the inspiration behind our modern understanding of infections and vaccines. Intro Music: Zac Bell Transition Music: Saint-Saens, Danse Macabre Op. 20, The University of Chicago Orchestra Exit Music: Jean Claude Hatungimana

Today's episode takes you behind the scenes to our Costume Shop where our Costume Coordinator, Sam McGinty, researches, organizes, and produces the historically accurate clothing interpreters wear on site. Helping him are typically a quartet of interpreters who are familiar with or learning about hand sewing in a historic manner. Today, they discuss their current projects, how they produce garments for the interpreters, and their worst sewing mistake ever. Intro Music: Zac Bell Exit Music: Jean Claude Hatungimana Cover Art: Emily Noble Day