Roundup: Audio/Video History
Click here to listen to HNN's own podcasts and to see our list of prominent podcasts about history and historians.
Climate Control: A History of Heating & Cooling [audio 54 minutes and 55 seconds]
How Smithsonian Selects, Rejects Donations [audio 4 minutes and 3 seconds]
Love Me Did: A History of Courtship [audio 54 minutes and 56 seconds]
Nelson Mandela's 1990 release marked in South Africa [video 1 min 18 secs]
Harlem vs. Columbia University [video 1 hour, 53 minutes, and 39 seconds]
Kwatsi Alibaruho, First Black NASA Flight Director [audio 5 minutes 5 seconds]
Martin Kramer on Radical Islam and Superfluous Young Men [video 6 minutes 3 seconds]
Zheng He Ranks Among the World's Greatest Seafarers [video 22 minutes 22 seconds]
Archeologist Zahi Hawass Unlocks the Secrets of Egypt [video 28 minutes 43 seconds]
The Steam-Powered, Coal-Fired Vibrator [video 6 minutes 59 seconds]
“Unaccommodated Man” in Vietnam [video 4 minutes 51 seconds]
Oral Histories: Wisconsin Holocaust Survivors [24 Audio clips]
A gold elixir of youth in the 16th century French court [video 12 minutes]
Holidays at War: Recollections from the Front (Canada) [audio 7 clips]
Against the Grain: Frida Kahlo [audio 48 minutes 19 seconds combined]
In Germany, 'National Guilt' Stirs Against Afghan War [video 7 minutes 48 seconds]
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Climate Control: A History of Heating & Cooling [audio 54 minutes and 55 seconds]
Source: BackStory with the American History Guys (3-5-10)
Well into the 19th century, Americans relied on fireplaces to warm their homes in winter. But that method wasn’t simply inefficient — it was ineffective, too. Travel a few feet from the fireplace, and you might start shivering again.
In this episode, the History Guys look at what happened when stoves became widely available in the mid-19th century, and how that technology altered Americans’ way of life. They also consider the advent of air conditioning a century later, and explore its far-reaching implications on everything from architecture and leisure to demography and politics.
How did America become the “land of comfort?” And what lessons does the history of climate control hold for us today?
How Smithsonian Selects, Rejects Donations [audio 4 minutes and 3 seconds]
Source: NPR - All Things Considered (3-4-10)
The Smithsonian Institution announced this week it won't accept a donation of the suit worn by O.J. Simpson on the day of his murder acquittal. Lonnie G. Bunch, director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, discusses how proposed donated objects are sorted though for acceptance and rejection at the institution.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Rare Tintin drawings to be auctioned [video 1 min 27 secs]
Source: BBC (3-2-10)
Rare drawings and sketches of the Belgian cartoon character Tintin are to be auctioned later this year in Paris.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
I Have Not Yet Begun to Rot [audio 7 minutes and 5 seconds]
Source: the memory place (1-31-10)
John Paul Jones' was the creator of the American navy and one of the greatest patriots of the American War of Independence; but 15 years afterward no one seemed to remember the man. He died, alone, in Paris and was buried without ceremony or fanfare. A hundred years later, US Ambassador Horace Porter, recovered and had Jones' remains interred back in America.
Love Me Did: A History of Courtship [audio 54 minutes and 56 seconds]
Source: BackStory with the American History Guys (2-8-10)
Considering the stereotypes about Puritan New England, you might be surprised to learn that sweethearts in the 18th century were not only allowed to sleep together before marriage – they were encouraged to! The catch? They had to do it within the parents’ home. It was known as “bundling,” and although sex was theoretically not involved, the practice coincided with a huge increase in premarital pregnancy. By the end of the century, 1/3 of all brides were pregnant by the time they reached the altar.
In this episode, the History Guys explore three centuries of pre-marital intimacy. Did economic considerations used to play a greater role in coupling? In what ways have dating practices challenged class & racial boundaries? Has the idea of “romance” itself morphed over time?
Monday, February 15, 2010
WWII bomb causes a scare in France [video 1 min 9 secs]
Source: BBC (2-14-10)
About 20,000 people were evacuated from their homes in Caen after an unexploded WWII bomb was discovered during building works.
Specialist teams in Normandy, northern France, later made safe the device.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Nelson Mandela's 1990 release marked in South Africa [video 1 min 18 secs]
Source: BBC (2-11-10)
In Cape Town, prominent figures took part in a commemorative walk at the prison where he spent the final months of his 27-year imprisonment.
Mr Mandela, 91, was cheered when he came to parliament to hear a speech by current President Jacob Zuma.
Mr Zuma said South Africa continued to follow its first black leader's vision.
Mr Mandela spent most of his sentence in Robben Island prison, off the coast of Cape Town, and later in Pollsmoor Prison on the mainland.
Before his release, he lived in a cottage in the grounds of Victor Verster prison in a rural area some 50km (31 miles) from Cape Town, with his own cook.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Harlem vs. Columbia University [video 1 hour, 53 minutes, and 39 seconds]
Source: C-Span (11-16-09)
Stefan Bradley, history and African American studies professor at Saint Louis University, recalls the efforts by African-American students and the residents of Harlem to stop Columbia University from building a private gymnasium and expanding the University's footprint in 1968-69. Mr. Bradley focuses on the residents of Harlem's protest and the radicalization of portions of Columbia's student body, including the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) led by Mark Rudd and the SAS (Students' Afro American Society). Stefan Bradley discusses his book at the Brecht Forum in New York City.
Kwatsi Alibaruho, First Black NASA Flight Director [audio 5 minutes 5 seconds]
Source: NPR (11-16-06)
Ed Gordon talks with Kwatsi Alibaruho, the first African American to lead NASA's Mission Control as a flight director for the International Space Station.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Martin Kramer on Radical Islam and Superfluous Young Men [video 6 minutes 3 seconds]
Source: Sandbox Blog (2-7-10)
You get six minutes at the Herzliya Conference to say something memorable (and there is a clock ticking away at your feet, facing the audience). So I made a memorable argument for the role of population growth in radicalization, a clip of which is embedded below. It's memorable—but not at all original. I first encountered the idea in the stimulating work of Gunnar Heinsohn (here is one example of many).
There is also one error in my popularized recycling of his thesis. Heinsohn's rule of thumb is that when 30 percent or more of the total male population is between 15-29 (fighting age), violence ensues. In my talk, I added that I would put it higher, at 40 percent. But that 40 percent should be of the total adult male population (15-64). I doubt that in any of the countries of the region, the 15-29 range accounts for 40 percent of total male population. Heinsohn is right....
Friday, February 5, 2010
Zheng He Ranks Among the World's Greatest Seafarers [video 22 minutes 22 seconds]
Source: BBC (2-5-10)
Nearly a century before European explorers started out, he was commanding great fleets of huge ships
The ships groaned with valuable cargo and travelled epic distances, from China to the coast of Africa.
China has been through periods of overlooking Zheng He. But since the 1980s, he has had a revival in the People's Republic.
Nick Baker finds out more about the man who was a eunuch, a Muslim, possibly a giant, and one of the world's most important historic naval figures.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Archeologist Zahi Hawass Unlocks the Secrets of Egypt [video 28 minutes 43 seconds]
Source: FORA.tv (12-12-08)
Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass discusses his work using "science to reconstruct history" in uncovering the mysteries of the pyramids, identifying mummies, and excavating the Valley of the Kings.
The Steam-Powered, Coal-Fired Vibrator [video 6 minutes 59 seconds]
Source: Big Think (1-4-10)
The “Technology of Orgasm” author recounts the outrageous history of female genital “manipulators,” from water-powered turbines to the contraption called the Chattanooga.
“Unaccommodated Man” in Vietnam [video 4 minutes 51 seconds]
Source: Big Think (12-29-09)
Robert Stone’s experience as a war correspondent is forever linked in his mind with a haunting passage from “King Lear.”
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Oral Histories: Wisconsin Holocaust Survivors [24 Audio clips]
Source: Wisconsin Historical Society (1-1-10)
Each oral history presents a vivid eyewitness account of an odyssey through the Holocaust of World War II. Roll your cursor over a photo or name to see a brief biography. Click on a photo or name to access the full biography, transcript, audio recordings and pictures.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
A gold elixir of youth in the 16th century French court [video 12 minutes]
Source: BMJ (12-31-09)
Miracle beauty products may be a staple Christmas present today, but they're not a recent invention. Diane de Poitiers, a French noble woman and mistress of Henry II of France, tried to use gold to preserve her looks - in alchemical law, gold was immutable, and alchemists and apothecaries created various potions to pass this gift onto their customers.
For Christmas, the BMJ has made a video about a French research team's investigations of Diane's remains, and its discovery that the gold she used to preserve her youth was actually slowly poisoning her.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Holidays at War: Recollections from the Front (Canada) [audio 7 clips]
Source: The Memory Project (12-31-69)
Between 1939 and 1945, more than 1 million Canadians and Newfoundlanders served either on the home front or overseas, fighting for king and country. During that time, most would spend the holidays on the frontlines of war rather than at home with their families. Today seven veterans share their recollections of the holidays during the Second World War.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
You Know You're Sick [audio 6 minutes 30 seconds]
Source: The Memory Palace (11-9-09)
The placebo effect can be effective even with crazy remedies like surgery to place goat testicles in male subjects to cure impotence. This is not a medieval remedy, but one from the history of the United States of America in the 20th Century. John Romulus Brinkley not only specialized in this operation, but reached every day Americans with his radio station giving medical "advice".
Against the Grain: Frida Kahlo [audio 48 minutes 19 seconds combined]
Source: Talking History (12-3-09)
From Against the Grain we bring you a discussion of the life and work of Frida Kahlo -- one that focuses on "what has become of the Mexican artist's radical politics? Art historian Margaret A. Lindauer argues that Kahlo's artistic legacy has been done a disservice by those who would read the painter's works off her personal life, instead of looking at the complex intellectual and political processes that created them." Margaret A. Lindauer is the author of Devouring Frida: The Art History and Popular Celebrity of Frida Kahlo (Wesleyan U. Press, 1999). For more information on Kahlo (and links to other sites as well) see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frida_Kahlo.
In Germany, 'National Guilt' Stirs Against Afghan War [video 7 minutes 48 seconds]
Source: PBS - NewsHour (12-11-09)
Germany has the third largest contingent of forces in Afghanistan, yet among a population still haunted by World War II a deep-rooted anti-war sentiment persists. Margaret Warner reports.
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