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On each episode of American Rhapsody we interview those who have witnessed American history firsthand: politicians, reporters, photographers and activists—all of whom have since donated their personal or professional archives to the Briscoe Center. We also interview historians, filmmakers and other researchers who work in the center’s collections. These collections are the evidence of the past. Without them, there is no history, only myth. Each week we ask: what actually happened? The sum of all those answers in an American Rhapsody.

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Check latest episodes from American Rhapsody podcast

History and Fate: The Goodwins and the 1960s –Episode 3: Interview with Jill Morena

2026/02/26

The Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas has extended our main gallery exhibit and, in celebration, is taking a closer look at the items and documents that make up History and Fate: The Goodwins and the 1960s. The exhibit explores the intwining stories of political speech writer Dick Goodwin, presidential historian Doris Kearns […]

History and Fate: The Goodwins and the 1960s –Episode 2: Interview with Sarah Sonner

2026/02/26

History and Fate: The Goodwins and the 1960s –Episode 1: Interview with Doris Kearns Goodwin

2026/02/26

Freedom Papers: Evidence of Emancipation, Episode 2

2024/08/26

“Freedom Papers: Evidence of Emancipation” highlights examples of how enslaved people gained freedom before the Civil War in the American south. Through the purchase of bonds, travel to states where the right to freedom was inherent, and other methods, these people secured a fragile hold on their freedom and sometimes the freedom of their children […]

Freedom Papers: Evidence of Emancipation, Episode 1

2024/08/26

Documents used in this exhibit cover an era from Spanish rule to the end of the Civil War, including petitions signed by Spanish Governors, survey maps, and emancipation papers for entire families. These personal, often complex, stories show how the legacy of enslavement permeates American history. “Freedom Papers: Evidence of Emancipation” highlights examples of how […]

Episode 11: The Governor and the Colonel: A Dual Biography of William P. Hobby and Oveta Culp Hobby

2022/02/17

After establishing himself as a pioneer in the news media industry in Texas, Will Hobby served as Lt. Gov. of Texas from 1915 until September 1917, when he became Governor. He led Texas’ effort to support the American military during World War I, and he had to resolve significant political and social issues that swept […]

Episode 10: Voice Lessons: Finding Your Voice through Social Activism

2021/10/29

First drawn into the fight against racial segregation in the 1960s, Alice Embree became a leader of Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Texas at Austin and embarked on a lifelong journey of social activism involving a wide array of grassroots political, economic, social, and cultural causes. The Briscoe Center has recently […]

Episode 9: Astronomical Quilts!: Quilting among the Stars

2021/10/29

It might surprise you that the Briscoe Center’s collections are not only global in their reach—they are, literally, astronomical. In this episode, we will explore outer space through the art of quilts. While living on the International Space Station in 2013, astronaut (and UT alum) Karen Nyberg stitched a nine-inch, star-themed quilt block. She and […]

Episode 8: Photographing Conflict: The Carolyn Cole Archive

2021/04/08

Americans have been shocked by the stream of visual information that has flooded the news and social media over the past year. We have also witnessed the deplorable treatment of many journalists covering these events. In this episode, we’ll hear from Carolyn Cole, a photojournalist with the Los Angeles Times whose archive is part of the Briscoe […]

Episode 7: On with the Fight: Documenting Women’s Suffrage and Activism

2021/03/25

The passage of the 19th Amendment guaranteed the right to vote for women — a significant constitutional milestone. But women’s activism has not always united disparate groups into collective action, nor have its aims and achievements always resulted in equity. In this episode, the Briscoe Center’s Dr. Sarah Sonner and filmmakers Ellen Temple and Nancy […]

Episode 6: Steal This Podcast: The Abbie Hoffman Papers

2020/12/21

A pioneer of a street-theater approach to activism, Abbie Hoffman played a key role in the Chicago police riot of 1968 and the ensuing court case known as the trial of the Chicago 7. Johanna Hoffman Lawrenson discussed their shared life together, both in the spotlight and on the run. Robert Abzug and Thorne Dreyer […]

Episode 5: Teaching Texas Slavery: The Natchez Trace and other collections

2020/11/25

Don Carleton speaks with Daina Berry, chair of the Department of History at UT Austin. Her research and teaching—which focuses on the history of the enslaved—has utilized many of the Briscoe Center’s collections, in particular the Natchez Trace Collection, a which documents life in the Lower Mississippi River Valley from the 1760s to the 1920s. […]

Episode 4: Hell Raisin’ History: the Molly Ivins Papers

2020/11/16

Sometimes, politics is so nasty, so partisan, that you better laugh—or else you might cry. Molly Ivins was a legendary reporter and columnist — hilariously acerbic, staunchly feminist and uniquely Texan — who pilloried the powerful and defended democracy. She is the subject of “Raise Hell” a documentary biographic by filmmaker Janice Engel. This episode […]

Episode 3: Taking Trump Seriously: The Wayne Barrett Papers

2020/10/30

Investigative reporter Wayne Barrett began reporting on Donald Trump in 1979. He was perhaps the first journalist to take Trump seriously and became a renowned authority on the would-be president, as well as a mentor to a new generation of muckraking journalists. Barrett died the day before Trump took the oath of office. Fran Barrett […]

Episode 2: The Spanish Flu

2020/10/30

Don Carleton speaks with Ben Wright about the Briscoe Center’s Texas Oil Industry records, which help document the miseries of the Spanish Flu pandemic between 1918 and 1920. Austin American-Statesman columnist Michael Barnes and Christopher Rose Ph.D., a lecturer at St. Edwards University, join later in the episode to discuss the pandemic’s effects in the […]