The History Podcast
Where Things Happen
and Stuff Matters
We all live in a material world.
It’s a world of things that feels like it shapes our here and now.
But here’s the thing (pun intended):
that same world is powerfully shaped by the past.
Whether it’s the stuff locked in museum cases and preserved in archives, or the stuff your grandma collected in her house, all objects have a history hidden within them and a story to tell. And those are the stories we are here to tell you.
Things help us learn about the ordinary women and men who
don’t make it into the history books.
They tell us new things about famous people, too. And sometimes, they tell us new things about ourselves.
Each season will dive into a new theme, so please join us, as we explore our shared thing for things.
In Season One:
The Stuff of Revolution,
we talk about revolutionary things in the Age of Atlantic Revolutions.
We’ll take you from the United States and France to Haiti and beyond, starting with the American Revolution in 1775 and moving into the nineteenth century. And along the way, we'll connect this past to our present.
Season One is made possible through the Scholars & Society Program of the Mellon Foundation and
the American Council of Learned Societies