Working Historians is a podcast series that showcases the work and careers of historians in a wide variety of career fields. We hope to introduce history students and the general public to the career paths available to people who study history, introduce and promote historians to students and the public, and showcase the work that historians do on a regular basis. Hosts Rob Denning and Jimmy Fennessy can be reached at workinghistorians@gmail.com.
Episodes
Friday Sep 17, 2021
Constitution Day 2021: Elections, Protests, and Transfers of Power
Friday Sep 17, 2021
Friday Sep 17, 2021
It’s Constitution Day, and we are celebrating with a roundtable discussion of elections, protests, and the transfer of political power in the context of the Constitution of the United States by a panel of historians including Natalie Sweet, Ryan Tripp, and Joel Tscherne. Associate Dean Robert Denning hosts the presentation. Listeners can access this presentation, and Constitution Day podcasts from previous years, on the Working Historians Podbean page, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and any other podcast app. Constitution Day and Citizenship Day is an American federal observance recognizing the adoption of the U.S. Constitution and those who have become U.S. citizens by birth or naturalization. It is normally observed Sept. 17, the day the U.S. Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution in 1787 in Philadelphia.
Friday Aug 20, 2021
Friday Aug 20, 2021
Joe Flickinger teaches high school history outside Cincinnati, Ohio, and is the Vice President of the Green Township Historical Association. In this episode, Rob, Jimmy, and Joe discuss how to research and write local history, with examples from Joe’s writings on the Bridgetown Cemetery, suburbanization in Colerain Township, and the bicentennial of Green Township.
Recommendations:
Joe Flickinger, A History of Bridgetown Cemetery: Quietly Serving Cincinnati’s Western Hills for over 50 Years (Berwyn Heights, MD: Heritage Books, 2021) - recommended by Rob
Alexis Coe, You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington (New York: Penguin Random House, 2020) - recommended by Joe Flickinger
Rachel Wolgemuth, Cemetery Tours and Programming: A Guide (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016) - recommended by Joe Flickinger
Gideon Defoe, An Atlas of Extinct Countries: The Remarkable (and Occasionally Ridiculous) Stories of 48 Nations that Fell Off the Map (New York: Europa Editions, 2021) - recommended by Rob
All the Streets are Silent: The Convergence of Hip-Hop and Skateboarding, 1987-1997, Jeremy Elkins, dir. (2021) - recommended by Jimmy
Friday Aug 06, 2021
Friday Aug 06, 2021
Encore presentation (and therefore outdated in just about every way): Jennifer Bryant is an instructor at SNHU and a preservation compliance officer with the Colorado State Historical Preservation Office. In this conversation, we talk about some aspects of the history of the American West, blindspots in history regarding violence against minority groups, and her career as a volunteer and professional agent for historic preservation.
Friday Jul 30, 2021
Friday Jul 30, 2021
Jennifer Bryant appeared in our third episode back in 2017, and in this episode Jimmy and Rob catch up with Jen to discuss her new job and then wander down a variety of historical footpaths to discuss environmental history, the American West, historical memory, and the future history to be written about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Friday Jun 25, 2021
Friday Jun 25, 2021
Dr. Bob Irvine teaches history in the Master of Arts in History program at SNHU and is a consultant for Parc Resources in Oregon. In this episode, Dr. Irvine talks about his research and teaching interests, water reclamation projects in Kansas during the twentieth century, and the historical skills he uses in his job as a consultant.
Friday Jun 18, 2021
Friday Jun 18, 2021
Bob Irvine teaches history in the Master of Arts program at Southern New Hampshire and is a consultant for Parc Resources in Eastern Oregon. In this episode we discuss what Bob has been up to since his last interview in 2017, including new projects in collaboration with Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest.
Monday Jun 07, 2021
Monday Jun 07, 2021
Christopher Kline, an instructor and Learning Community Facilitator for Southern New Hampshire University, discusses his research and teaching interests, why the Whiskey Rebellion broke out in post-Revolutionary Pennsylvania, the evolution of his career, and advice for students looking to break into careers in history. Professor Kline has worked as a history tutor, a member of a museum board, and an adjunct instructor at community colleges and universities.
Friday Jun 04, 2021
Friday Jun 04, 2021
Chris Kline is the Senior Manager for General Education at Western Governors University. In this episode, Rob, Jimmy, and Chris discuss Chris’s decision to start a doctoral program, the online student experience, the real estate market, the changing work habits that came with the COVID-19 pandemic, the January 6 Insurrection, the need for better education in source analysis and critical thinking, and the lessons we learned about the American government after the 2020 election and the insurrection
Friday May 21, 2021
Friday May 21, 2021
Kate Schaefer teaches history at Southern New Hampshire University. In this episode, Kate discusses her research into female spies during the Irish Rebellion of 1916 and World War II. And then there is some chatter about the Sisters of Mercy and the CIA’s suggestions for disrupting Zoom meetings, kinda.
This episode’s recommendations:
Sarah Rose, D-Day Girls: The Spies who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped win World War II (Penguin Random House, 2020).
Trevor Ristow, Waiting for Another War: A History of the Sisters of Mercy, Volume I: 1980-1985 (GWK, 2019).
Simple Sabotage Field Manual (Office of Strategic Services, 1944), available at Project Gutenberg.
Monday May 03, 2021
Season 2 Trailer
Monday May 03, 2021
Monday May 03, 2021
Season 1 lasted for four years, and then Rob put the podcast on hiatus because, I dunno, pandemic? Exhaustion? While searching for the meaning of life, he found his old chum Jimmy Fennessy on a remote mountaintop and the two decided to get the band back together and work on Season 2 of Working Historians, which will be bigger and better than ever before! There’s even a website now. In this episode you get a brief teaser of what you can expect from Season 2, however long that one may last.
Monday Feb 22, 2021
Update for Soundcloud Subscribers
Monday Feb 22, 2021
Monday Feb 22, 2021
The Working Historians podcast is switching its hosting site from Soundcloud to Podbean, so Soundcloud subscribers should consider re-subscribing through Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or any of the other dozens of podcast apps out there. In this episode, Rob provides a teaser for upcoming changes to the podcast (including a new website).
Thursday Jan 07, 2021
Peter Milich - Historian
Thursday Jan 07, 2021
Thursday Jan 07, 2021
Dr. Peter Milich is a historian who specializes in Russian, Soviet, and Eastern European history. As a witness to the collapse of modern nations like the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, Rob and Pete discuss the state of modern international affairs.
This episode’s recommendations:
Alfred McCoy, “The Rise and Decline of US Global Power” (October 25, 2017), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GygmGSwvcI
Dominic Lieven, “The Tsar Liberates Europe? Russia against Napoleon, 1807-1914” (October 8, 2009), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzElqomAATI
Daniel Junge and Steven Leckart, dirs., “Challenger: The Final Flight” (2020), https://www.netflix.com/title/81012137
Thursday Dec 24, 2020
Paul McKenzie-Jones - Historian
Thursday Dec 24, 2020
Thursday Dec 24, 2020
Dr. Paul McKenzie-Jones teaches history, focusing on political activism among Native Americans and other indigenous peoples around the world.
This episode’s recommendations:
Nick Estes, Our History is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Resistance of Indigenous Resistance (Verso, 2019), https://www.versobooks.com/books/2953-our-history-is-the-future
Susan Sleeper-Smith, Juliana Barr, Jean M. O’Brien, Nancy Shoemaker, and Scott Manning Stevens, eds., Why you Can’t Teach United States History without American Indians (University of North Carolina Press, 2015), https://uncpress.org/book/9781469621203/why-you-cant-teach-united-states-history-without-american-indians/
Patricia Nelson Limerick, The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West (W.W. Norton, 1987), https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393304978
Wednesday Dec 16, 2020
Cassandra Clark - Public Historian, State of Utah, and Adjunct Instructor
Wednesday Dec 16, 2020
Wednesday Dec 16, 2020
Dr. Cassandra Clark teaches history at Southern New Hampshire University and Salt Lake Community College and is a public historian with the State of Utah’s Department of Heritage and Arts. In this episode, we will discuss Dr. Clark’s academic and professional background, her work with the State of Utah, and her research on the history of insanity and the environment in the American West, with discussions of eugenics, phrenology, and the changing scientific understanding of how the human brain works.
This week's recommendations
Utah Department of Heritage & Arts, Salt Lake West Side Stories: https://newnationproject.utah.gov/salt-lake-west-side-stories/
Denver Public Library, “When the KKK Ruled Colorado: Not So Long Ago,” https://history.denverlibrary.org/news/when-kkk-ruled-colorado-not-so-long-ago
Janet Miron, Prisons, Asylums, and the Public: Institutional Visiting in the Nineteenth Century (University of Toronto Press, 2011), https://utorontopress.com/us/prisons-asylums-and-the-public-4
Carla Yanni, The Architecture of Madness (University of Minnesota Press, 2007), https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-architecture-of-madness
Timothy Tyson, Blood Done Sign My Name (Penguin Random House, 2004), https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/181459/blood-done-sign-my-name-by-timothy-b-tyson/
Thursday Nov 26, 2020
Guy Ruoff - History Instructor and Town Supervisor, Scott NY
Thursday Nov 26, 2020
Thursday Nov 26, 2020
Dr. Guy Ruoff teaches history at Southern New Hampshire University and is Town Supervisor for Scott, New York. In this episode, Guy talks to Rob about his academic and professional background, his present and future political career, and the importance of historical knowledge in the political sphere.
This episode’s recommendations:
The Memory Palace podcast: https://www.prx.org/memory-palace/?gclid=CjwKCAiA7939BRBMEiwA-hX5J-QrMyhtslsmIXC6xsvyk-9w1DAfKaYkcdra6-w-7losaludcCtFDBoC-e8QAvD_BwE
Thursday Nov 19, 2020
Thursday Nov 19, 2020
Deirdre Lannon teaches history at Texas State University. In this episode, Deirdre discusses her academic and professional background (including her time fronting a rockabilly band!) and her dissertation research topic, Ruth Reynolds and her role in the fight for Puerto Rican independence.
Friday Oct 30, 2020
Scott Black - Historian, Southern New Hampshire University
Friday Oct 30, 2020
Friday Oct 30, 2020
Scott Black teaches history at numerous colleges and universities, including Southern New Hampshire University. In this episode, Scott talks about his academic and professional background, his career teaching history, and the challenges and rewards of writing historical fiction.
This episode’s recommendations:
Sabaton: https://www.sabaton.net/
Various Authors, The American Yawp: https://www.americanyawp.com/
Thursday Oct 15, 2020
Thursday Oct 15, 2020
Karen Sieber is a Humanities Specialist for the Clement and Laura McGillicuddy Humanities Center at the University of Maine. In this episode we discuss her academic and professional background, the major public history research projects with which she has been affiliated, her work at the Humanities Center, and our history-related recommendations
This week's recommendations:
Visualizing the Red Summer http://visualizingtheredsummer.com/
Goin’ North: https://goinnorth.org/
Chicago Defender: https://www.chicagodefenderarchives.org/
African-American Civil War Soldiers Project: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/usct/african-american-civil-war-soldiers
Monroe Work Today: https://plaintalkhistory.com/monroeandflorencework/
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee: https://snccdigital.org/
Charleston Syllabus: https://www.aaihs.org/resources/charlestonsyllabus/
Christopher Tomlins, In the Matter of Nat Turner: A Speculative History (Princeton University Press, 2020), https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691198668/in-the-matter-of-nat-turner
Rob’s interview with Christopher Tomlins for the New Books Network: https://newbooksnetwork.com/christopher-tomlins-in-the-matter-of-nat-turner-a-speculative-history-princeton-up-2020/
Thursday Oct 01, 2020
Adam Lehman - Assistant Professor, Guilford Technical Community College
Thursday Oct 01, 2020
Thursday Oct 01, 2020
Adam Lehman is Assistant Professor of History at Guilford Technical Community College. In this episode we discuss his academic and professional background and his research into the missed privateering opportunities of the War of 1812.
This episode’s recommendations:
Jeff Kinard, “Lectures in History: Civil War Weaponry,” C-Span, https://www.c-span.org/video/?465611-1/civil-war-weaponry
Footnoting History Teaching Guide: https://www.footnotinghistory.com/teach.html
Wednesday Sep 16, 2020
Constitution Day 2020
Wednesday Sep 16, 2020
Wednesday Sep 16, 2020
It’s Constitution Day! This presentation will include a roundtable discussion of the origins of the Constitution, some of its provisions, and its influence on modern life in the United States by a panel of historians and political scientists, including Michael Gattis, Harley Hall, Robbin Mellen, Jeremy Pedigo, and Brigitte Powell. Associate Dean Robert Denning hosts the presentation. Listeners can access the podcast on the Working Historians Podbean page, workinghistorians.com, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and any other podcast app. Constitution Day and Citizenship Day is an American federal observance recognizing the adoption of the U.S. Constitution and those who have become U.S. citizens by birth of naturalization. It is normally observed Sept. 17, the day the U.S. Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution in 1787 in Philadelphia.
Tuesday Sep 08, 2020
Shenetha Solomon - Consultant, Researcher, and Teacher
Tuesday Sep 08, 2020
Tuesday Sep 08, 2020
Shenetha Solomon is a historical consultant, a doctoral student, and an instructor at Southern New Hampshire University. In this episode we discuss her academic and professional background, and we focus on her research into the history of the town of Taft, Oklahoma, and her family’s connections to the town. This episode’s recommendations: Daina Ramey Berry, The Price for their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, From Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation (Penguin Random House, 2017): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/538529/the-price-for-their-pound-of-flesh-by-daina-ramey-berry/ Jamie Goodall, Pirates of the Chesapeake Bay: From the Colonial Era to the Oyster Wars (History Press, 2020): https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Products/9781467141161 Rob’s New Books Network interview with Jamie Goodall about Pirates of the Chesapeake Bay: https://newbooksnetwork.com/jamie-l-h-goodall-pirates-of-the-chesapeake-bay-from-the-colonial-era-to-the-oyster-wars-the-history-press-2020/
Tuesday Sep 01, 2020
ICOFOM 2020 Annual Assembly
Tuesday Sep 01, 2020
Tuesday Sep 01, 2020
Working Historians is excited to broadcast the proceedings of "Theoretical Museology in US and Tribal Contexts," a symposium organized and hosted by the International Committee for Museology (ICOFOM), International Council of Museums - US (ICOM-US), the Association of African American Museums (AAAM), and Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). The symposium was held online on August 27 and 28, 2020.
In this final recording, Bruno Brulon Soares, Chair of ICOFOM, hosts the 2020 annual assembly, discussing the organization’s activities and finances.
Tuesday Sep 01, 2020
Tuesday Sep 01, 2020
Working Historians is excited to broadcast the proceedings of "Theoretical Museology in US and Tribal Contexts," a symposium organized and hosted by the International Committee for Museology (ICOFOM), International Council of Museums - US (ICOM-US), the Association of African American Museums (AAAM), and Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). The symposium was held online on August 27 and 28, 2020.
In our third and final panel presentation, Deborah Ziska presents “Museums of the Americas Facing Crises in the 21st Century: The Rise of Relevance and Community Empowerment” and Minnie Coonishish presents “Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute, Agents and Actants in a Regional Cultural Institute.” Luciana Menezes de Carvalho moderates.
Tuesday Sep 01, 2020
Tuesday Sep 01, 2020
Working Historians is excited to broadcast the proceedings of "Theoretical Museology in US and Tribal Contexts," a symposium organized and hosted by the International Committee for Museology (ICOFOM), International Council of Museums - US (ICOM-US), the Association of African American Museums (AAAM), and Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). The symposium was held online on August 27 and 28, 2020.
In our second panel presentation, Alyce Sadongei presents “Connectedness and Relationship: Foundations of Indigenous Ethics within the Tribal Museum Context” and Marion Bertin presents “Challenging Museums and Collections: Toward an Indigenous Ethics in the Pacific Islands. Michele Rivet moderates.
Tuesday Sep 01, 2020
Tuesday Sep 01, 2020
Working Historians is excited to broadcast the proceedings of "Theoretical Museology in US and Tribal Contexts," a symposium organized and hosted by the International Committee for Museology (ICOFOM), International Council of Museums - US (ICOM-US), the Association of African American Museums (AAAM), and Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). The symposium was held online on August 27 and 28, 2020.
To kick off the second day of the symposium, Susie Chung provides opening remarks, Vedet Coleman-Robinson presents “The Importance of Museums in Community Through a Virtual Lens,” and Patricia A. Banks presents “Cultural Philanthropy and Diversity in the 21st Century.”