Ben Franklin's World

American prisons are overcrowded. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and nearly 2.5 million Americans are serving prison sentences.

Nearly all politicians agree that we need to reform the American prison system, but they disagree on how to do it.

Can gaining historical perspective on this present-day problem help us solve it?

Today, we investigate early American prisons and prison life with Jen Manion, an Assistant Professor of History at Connecticut College and author of Liberty’s Prisoners: Carceral Culture in Early America.

Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/080

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Historians research the past through historical sources.

But what are the materials that tell historians about past peoples, places, and events?

Today, James Horn, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation, helps us investigate historical sources by taking us on an exploration of historic Jamestown and the types of sources that inform what we know about it.

Doing History Series

This episode is part of the "Doing History: How Historians Work" series. 

“Doing History” episodes will introduce you to historians who will tell you what they know about the past and reveal how they came to their knowledge.

Each episode will air on the last Tuesday of each month in 2016.

This series is part of a partnership between Ben Franklin’s World and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.

Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/079

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The United States is in midst of a political and cultural divide.

The last time the United States faced this deep of a division, the nation descended into Civil War.

Can history help us solve our present-day political and cultural crisis?

Today, we investigate whether the past might help us with the present with Rachel Shelden, author of Washington Brotherhood: Politics, Social Life, and the Coming of the Civil War.

Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/078

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Do you have what it takes to be a pioneer?

If offered the opportunity, would you undertake a journey across the Oregon Trail in a mule-pulled covered wagon?

Today, we explore the Oregon Trail past and present with Rinker Buck, author of The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey.

Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/077

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What did it mean to be a citizen during the late-18th and early-19th centuries?

Why and how did early American sailors seem intent on proving their citizenship to the United States?

In this episode, we explore citizenship and maritime life during the Age of Revolutions with Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, an Assistant Professor of History and Spatial Sciences at the University of Southern California and author of Citizen Sailors: Becoming American in the Age of Revolution.

Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/076

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Historians research history in archives.

But how do you gain access to one? And how do you use an archive once you find that it likely contains the information you seek?

In this third episode of our “Doing History: How Historians Work” series, we investigate how archives work with Peter Drummey, an archivist and the Stephen T. Riley Librarian at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Doing History Series

This episode is part of the "Doing History: How Historians Work" series. 

“Doing History” episodes will introduce you to historians who will tell you what they know about the past and reveal how they came to their knowledge.

Each episode will air on the last Tuesday of each month in 2016.

This series is part of a partnership between Ben Franklin’s World and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.

Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/075

Helpful Show Links

Help Support Ben Franklin's World Crowdfunding Campaign

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*Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.

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George Washington stands as one of the most famous Americans in history, but what do we know of his helpmeet and partner, Martha?

Who was the woman who stood beside and encouraged Washington?

How did she assist him as he led the Continental Army and governed a new nation?

Today, we investigate the life of Martha Washington with Mary Wigge, Research Editor at the Martha Washington Papers Project.

Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/074

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What role did the Bible play in the development of British North America and the early United States?

How did the settlement of numerous religious groups in the thirteen American colonies affect the politics and religion of both the colonies and early United States?

Today, we address these questions by exploring the place of the Bible in early America. Our guide for this exploration is Mark Noll, the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame and the author of In the Beginning Was the Word The Bible in American Public Life, 1492-1783.

Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/073

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The American Civil War took place over 150 years ago.

The war claimed over 600,000 American lives and its legacy affects the way present-day Americans view civil rights and race relations.

The Civil War stands as an important, watershed event in United States history, which is why, in today’s episode, we will discuss the event with Civil War historian Ari Kelman, Professor of History at the Pennsylvania State University.

Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/072

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Historians refer to the Battle of Saratoga as the “turning point” of the American Revolution.

They argue the Patriot Army’s defeat of British General John Burgoyne’s forces convinced the French to enter the War for Independence. Together, the Franco and American forces cornered Charles, Earl Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781 and ended the war.

This is the quick version of Saratoga, but as we know, history is more complicated.

Today, we explore the Saratoga Campaign of 1777 in more depth with Bruce M. Venter, author of The Battle of Hubbardton: The Rear Guard Action that Saved America.

Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/071

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