Narrated Archives

Today, we’re heading into Friendship Village to meet Miggy.  You’ll hear a chapter taken from the 1909 collection Friendship Village Love Stories. 

The woman behind this story, Zona Gale, was a force of early 20th-century American letters. 

In this chapter two women from different walks of life who discover they have much to offer and learn from one another. 

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All music courtesy of Ende.app.

Audiobooks narrated by Sally Barron can be found at:

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Today, we explore three stories that, with a sense of humor, delve into the complexities of reputation, political and journalistic and the mathematical quirks of time. These tales from the early 20th century showcase authors who found the extraordinary within the seemingly ordinary.

• "The Boulevard of Rogues" by Meredith Nicholson: A humorous and satisfying tale of one man's attempt to take on a corrupt local political machine. Nicholson, a prominent "Hoosier" author, often explored the intersection of American politics and society with a sharp, observational wit.
• “My First Literary Venture" (1871), Mark Twain offers a humorous, autobiographical (?) account of his earliest foray into the world of journalism. The story captures a pivotal moment from his teenage years in Hannibal, Missouri, when a thirteen-year-old Samuel Clemens was left in charge of his uncle’s newspaper, the Weekly Hannibal Journal.
• "Sixteen Years Without a Birthday" by Brander Matthews: A fascinating mathematical curiosity framed as a narrative. Matthews, a distinguished professor and literary critic, uses this tale to prove how a person could legitimately go nearly two decades without a birthday—an unlikely but entirely possible scenario involving the quirks of the leap year and the turn of the century.

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Thanks for listening!  Rate & Review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast provider. SUBSCRIBE for at least 2 Bonus Episodes each month.

Send requests for authors or short stories to: [email protected] or www.narratedarchives.com

All music courtesy of Ende.app.

Audiobooks narrated by Sally Barron can be found at:

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• Libro.fm
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• ...

We’re stepping into the experimental world of the 1920s with a haunting piece of short fiction titled “The Old Lady”, by Evelyn Scott. 

Originally published in the May 1925 issue of The Dial—the premier magazine of the American modernist movement—this story, “The Old Lady”, was so well-regarded it was selected for The Best Short Stories of 1925. In it, we see a master of psychological depth at work, peeling back the layers of aging, memory, and the stifling weight of tradition.

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All music courtesy of Ende.app.

Audiobooks narrated by Sally Barron can be found at:

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Today, we’re stepping out of the high-brow literary salons and into the world of Clarence Louis Cullen, a man who wrote about the hustle, the gamble, and the gritty humor of the American underdog.

In this episode, we have a double feature of Cullen’s sharp-witted prose

• First, is an introductory note from the author for his book Taking Chances. 
• Then we follow a man chasing the elusive dragon of a winning run in “'Red' Donnelly’s Streak of Luck”. It’s a classic look at the superstitions and adrenaline of the gambling life. 
• Finally, "Just Like Finding Money", a clever tale that reminds us that in the city, nothing—not even a windfall—is ever quite as simple as it seems.

Both "Red Donnelly’s Streak of Luck" and "Just Like Finding Money" were originally part of a series Clarence Louis Cullen wrote for the New York Sun around the turn of the century. 

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All music courtesy of Ende.app.

Audiobooks narrated by Sally Barron can be found at:

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Welcome to a special bonus episode of Narrated Archives. I’m your host, Sally Barron.In this bonus episode featuring the story “If I Were A Man”, published in 1914, the influential feminist author and sociologist Charlotte Perkins Gilman gives insight into a male-only social space and highlights the absurdity of gender stereotypes and the condescending ways men often spoke of women when they believed they weren't being heard.

The narrative centers on Mollie Mathewson, a "true woman" of her time who, after a frustrating disagreement with her husband Gerald over a household bill, wishes "heart and soul" that she were a man. In a sudden, magical shift, Mollie finds herself literally inhabiting her husband’s body, allowing her to spend a day experiencing the world through a male perspective.

Mollie reaches a radical conclusion for the era: that the rigid walls of gender roles are social constructs rather than natural laws.

In short, "If I Were a Man" is Gilman’s optimistic daydream about equality, while "The Yellow Wallpaper" is her nightmarish warning about what happens when that equality is denied.  

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All music courtesy of Ende.app.

Audiobooks narrated by Sally Barron can be found at:

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In this episode we’re unearthing the legacy of a woman whose mind was once called the 'most original and challenging' of the entire women’s movement. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a philosopher, a sociologist, and a writer who dared to imagine a world where women were defined not by their domesticity, but by their economic independence.

Her short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” is regarded as an important early work of American feminist literature for its illustration of the attitudes towards the mental and physical health of women, specifically postpartum depression in the 19th century. It is also lauded as an excellent work of horror fiction.

The semi-autobiographical story is written as a collection of journal entries narrated in the first person. As the reader continues through the journal entries, they experience the writer's gradual descent into madness with nothing better to do than observe the peeling yellow wallpaper in her room.

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Thanks for listening!  Rate & Review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast provider. SUBSCRIBE for at least 2 Bonus Episodes each month.

Send requests for authors or short stories to: [email protected] or www.narratedarchives.com

All music courtesy of Ende.app.

Audiobooks narrated by Sally Barron can be found at:

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• Nook
• Kobo
• Libro.fm
• storytel
• ...

In this episode we’re stepping back into the Gilded Age with a writer who didn't just report on history—he lived it.

Richard Harding Davis was the ultimate 'journalist-adventurer,' a man who charged up San Juan Hill with Teddy Roosevelt and narrowly escaped execution as a spy during the Great War. But when he wasn't on the front lines, Davis was the undisputed chronicler of New York high society.

In this episode’s story, Love Me Love My Dog, the sophisticated atmosphere of a house-party is shattered when the hostess’s beloved dog goes missing. What follows is a chaotic search that spills out from the warm, candlelit parlors and into the biting cold of a snowy night.

At the center of it all is our recurring hero, Cortlandt Van Bibber.

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All music courtesy of Ende.app.

Audiobooks narrated by Sally Barron can be found at:

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In this episode of Narrated Archives, we explore the sophisticated yet surprisingly tender world of the Gilded Age through three of Richard Harding Davis's most evocative stories: "A Walk Up the Avenue," "Van Bibber and the Swan-Boats," and "Van Bibber as Best Man." These narratives offer more than just a glimpse into high-society New York; they capture the universal tension between public persona and private longing, proving that even the most polished "man-about-town" is humanized by moments of quiet empathy and romantic missed connections.

It is a must-listen for anyone who enjoys sharp social observation paired with the bittersweet nostalgia of a vanished era.

• A Walk Up the Avenue - follows a young man walking through New York City as he reflects on his break-up with his fiance. 
• Van Bibber and the Swan-Boats - Van Bibber finds himself on a bench in Boston’s Public Garden when he encounters 3 little girls from a different side of the city. The tale highlights his capacity for kindness and the experience of bridging class divides.
• Van Bibber as Best Man - centers on Van Bibber assisting a distraught couple with a secret marriage. He utilizes his social influence and resources to ensure the success of the plan.

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Thanks for listening!  Rate & Review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast provider. SUBSCRIBE for at least 2 Bonus Episodes each month.

Send requests for authors or short stories to: [email protected] or www.narratedarchives.com

All music courtesy of Ende.app.

Audiobooks narrated by Sally Barron can be found at:

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• Nook
• Kobo
• Libro.fm
• storytel
• ...

In the bonus episode of Narrated Archives we’re stepping further into a world that feels like a fantasy in Rootabaga Country.

In 1922, the legendary American poet Carl Sandburg decided that American children didn’t need any more stories about European knights or kings. He wanted a folklore that belonged to the prairies, the skyscrapers, and the railroads. The result was Rootabaga Stories—a collection so lyrical and nonsensical it feels like jazz put to paper.

Here is The Skyscraper to the Moon and How the Green Rat with the Rheumatism Ran a Thousand Miles Twice

And 

Shush Shush, the Big Buff Banty Hen Who Laid an Egg in the Postmaster’s Hat

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All music courtesy of Ende.app.

Audiobooks narrated by Sally Barron can be found at:

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In this episode we’re celebrating the pure, nonsensical joy of Carl Sanburg’s Rootabaga Stories and Rootabaga Pigeons.  Know for his monumental 6 volume biography of Abraham Lincoln, Sandburg also wrote poetry and children's fairy tales.  These stories are set in a world where the railroad tracks run off into the sky and the Village of Cream Puffs floats away in the wind! Join me to step into this whimsical past together letting our imaginations soar with the echoes of these delightful tales!

• How Gimme the Ax Found Out About the Zigzag Railroad and Who Made It Zigzag
• How to Tell Corn Fairies If You See ’Em
• Many, Many Weddings in One Corner House”
• How Six Pigeons Came Back to Hatrack the Horse After Many Accidents and Six Telegrams
• Never Kick a Slipper at the Moon

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Thanks for listening!  Rate & Review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast provider. SUBSCRIBE for at least 2 Bonus Episodes each month.

Send requests for authors or short stories to: [email protected] or www.narratedarchives.com

All music courtesy of Ende.app.

Audiobooks narrated by Sally Barron can be found at:

• audible
• Spotify
• Nook
• Kobo
• Libro.fm
• storytel
• ...