Everything is a Primary Source

S4E49: "Magic Moments: Walt Disney World Silhouette Portrait Souvenirs as Primary Sources"

I met with Lenore at the Ephemera Fair this past Winter and we talked about the Walt Disney World silhouette portrait souvenir I had on display, something she and her siblings had made when visiting the park in the 1970s.  Although Walt Disney had passed away by the time his company's second park opened that decade, these kind...

S4E48: "A Literal Deep-Dive: Scuba diving as a document of modern history"

I met Paul at the Ephemera Fair in Greenwich Conn. this past Winter as he was looking to learn about some financial documents that have been in his family since the mid 19th century.  A "Diver's Log" in my collection caught his eye and so we ended up doing a deep dive on the underwater archaeology activity that he is quite familiar with.  

S4E47: "Ciencia Publica: Analyzing Popular Science magazine as a primary source"

Sylvia is an archivist and a practitioner of material culture analysis.  I was delighted to speak with her a few months ago at the Ephemera Fair in Old Greenwich Connecticut regarding a 1931 issue of Popular Science (or cover thereof) that a student gifted me last year.  In the ultimate coincidence, we just happened to be having our dis...

S4E46: "In Memorial: ' A Young Man on the Front Line' as a Primary Source

I caught up with Elaine Makas last Fall at the NCSS conference in Boston where she was promoting her book,  A Young Man on the Front Line: Lessons of War.  It is a World War II story following the experiences in the conflict and afterwards by her father, Sgt. Chris Makas.  We discuss not only how his generation and how they handled the crisis ...

S4E45: "Highways and Byways: Gas station roadmaps of the 20th century as primary sources."

Chris has a fondness for the many road trips he and his family took when he was growing up in the second half of the 20th century.  Perhaps it was collecting and studying the maps they picked up at gas stations which propelled him to a career in graphic design.  Even if it didn't, we had a great conversation this past winter a...

S4E44: "Gilbert & Salmonsen Present 'Space Opera': The Star Wars Prequel Trilogy as documents of their time"

I met Gilbert, a social studies teacher in Louisiana, at the NCSS conference in Boston last year.  While Star Wars has been a consistent topic on this podcast, the prequel trilogy has yet to be covered, so Gilbert and I remedied that.  These movies certainly have their flaws, but just like everything else...

S4E43: "Profile of an Old Stone Face: The Old Man of the Mountain as a reflection of modern New Hampshire."

A series of rocky ledges on Cannon Mountain which formed the profile of a man's face in what is now called Franconia Notch, New Hampshire, has been held in importance by the people of the area for thousands of years.  In the modern era, the "Old Man of the Mountain" became the symbol of the state of New Hampsh...

S4E42: "Have You Read Your Atari Today?: looking at the companion comic book to the Atari as a primary source"

Dave is a collector of vintage items and ephemera, and a host of The Million Dollar Peddlers on YouTube.  He joined me in Old Greenwich, CT at the ESA Ephemera Fair, to discuss Atari Force, the print companion to the Atari video game systems in the 1980s.  

Join the conversation at everything-history...

S4E41: "Bat TV: Analyzing the 1960s  Batman TV series as a document of its times"

Batman returns...after all it's the second time this season we've covered the character, and third time overall (season 1 episode 1 is on the 1989 movie).  Matt, a social studies teacher from Haverhill, MA, by way of Kansas and Rochester, NY, joined me in Boston last Fall to talk about a number of pop culture topics before landing on o...

S4E40: "Gotta Catch 'em All--Pokemon Go as a document of the modern era"

You may remember the summer of 2016 as a time of large crowds gathered in parks, front lawns of public libraries and anywhere else where it looked like a festival--just minus vendor stalls and rides.  It was the summer of Pokemon Go, the first major augmented reality (AR) game to take the world by storm.  Adam, who cohosts the "Lured Up Podcast...

S4E39: "Goodwill Hunting -- Goodwill Outlets/Buy the Pound/ Clearance Centers as primary sources of the modern era"

After years of descending on one Goodwill Outlet (aka "the bins") or another every few weeks in search of pop culture primary sources, making videos about my experiences and finds, and showcasing the incredible treasures I uncover there, I finally address the most wonderful place on earth in the podcas...

S4E38: "April Mornings - Comparing Revolutionary and Civil War commemorations"

April is an important month concerning two formative events in American history; 250 years ago saw the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the start of the Revolutionary War, and four score and six years later the Civil War began with the bombardment of Fort Sumter.  President Lincoln was killed in April four years later, just after the ...

$4E37: "Rags to Riches--Las Vegas, Nevada as a primary source of 20th century America"

I spoke to Kathy at last month's ephemera fair in Greenwich, CT where she selected an out-of-the-ordinary postcard of Las Vegas, Nevada as the centerpiece of our conversation.  This, coming off the blue-suede heels of an episode about Elvis's residency there, adds to the story primary source documents can tell.

Add to the c...

S4E36: "Elvis Has Left the Dining Room: Analyzing a 1971 International Hotel Souvenir Menu" 

Kevin teaches social studies in Western New York and works with the Teaching with Primary Sources program, providing guidance for other teachers when using the vast collection that is the Library of Congress.  Our meeting and conversation in Boston was a longtime in the making as Kevin, a lifelong Elvis fan, had spied my sou...

Mitch stopped by to talk with me at this year's Ephemera Society of America ephemera fair a few weeks ago after he spotted an item in my collection from his wheelhouse, a copy of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comic.  Listen to what Mitch has to say about what this underground comic of the late 60s/ early 70s can tell us about several aspects of American life in that era.  Add your own ideas soon at everything-history.c...

S4E33: "Artificial Intellect: 1968's 2001: A Space Odyssey as a primary source."  (Part I)

Bryant Cruse is the founder of New Sapience, a synthetic intelligence company set to challenge what AI means, and what it is meant to do for the world.  He joined the EPS Podcast to discuss his work and dissect the 1968 Stanley Kubrick film, 2001: A Space Oddyssey, but as you'll hear, the two of us gladly took an in-depth conv...

S4E32: "California Here We Come: John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath as a document of its time and place"

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Granite State of Social Studies Episode 4

Angela teaches social studies in Utah but originally hales from Southern California.  We met at the NCSS conference in Boston and talked about how one of her favorite books, The Grapes of Wrath may have contributed to the mythology surrounding her ho...

S4E31: "On the T: Rock n Roll T-Shirts as cultural artifacts"
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Granite State of Education Episode 3

Dan is a teacher in Erie, PA and was welcomed onto the EPS Podcast when visiting Boston for the NCSS Conference in the Fall.  After discussing the state of social studies education, we took a close look at T-shirt culture as it rose alongside rock n roll music of the 70s, 80s and 90s.  And since we were in ...