Shelf Life

In this episode of "Shelf Life," we discuss a dastardly chapter from the annals of fake news: the Popish Plot, a conspiracy theory promoted by a man named Titus Oates. According to Oates's writings in the late 1670s, a cabal of Catholics were conspiring to kill King Charles II and replace him with a Catholic ruler. Even though Oates was a notorious liar and had little to no evidence to support his claim, the story lodged itself in the public's imagination and led to the execution of dozens of people. How did this happen? And what parallels can we draw between 17th-century print culture (the vehicle for spreading Oates's lies) and the media environment we live in today? (Intro music: "Two Types of Awakenings" by Nheap)

In this episode of “Shelf Life,” we talk with Newberry archivists Martha Briggs and Catherine Grandgeorge about how and why they’re crowdsourcing an archive of modern protest. Following the Women’s March held in Chicago and other cities on January 21, the Newberry began collecting protest signs and personal accounts from the people who took to the streets. While the Newberry’s collection contains plenty of materials documenting activism in history, this is the first time the library has collected such materials in the moment. (Intro music: "Two Types of Awakenings" by Nheap)

The Newberry's exhibit "Hamilton: The History Behind the Musical" is open through March 9. In this episode of "Shelf Life," we talk with the exhibit's curator, Will Hansen, about how he placed the exhibit in dialogue with the musical, the scourge that is "founder's chic," and his favorite piece of Hamiltonian wisdom: "half-confidence is always bad." (Intro music: "Two Types of Awakenings" by Nheap)