S5E30: "Greetings from the Jersey Shore: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band as a document of time and place."

Melissa Ziobro is the Director of Curatorial Affairs for the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music, which is set to open to the public in its brand new building later this Spring. Melissa is also a native to the Jersey Shore, and therefore the best person to speak with to discuss Springsteen and his E Street band as reflections of that area's heritage and character.

Learn more about the Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music on their website, springsteencenter.org and throughout social media.

Get details about the Everything is a Primary Source summer oral history road trip at everything-history.com/america250 .

#musichistory #brucespringsteen #estreetband #placebasedhistory

S5E29: "Back to L.A.: SCA and Historic Preservation in Los Angeles"

This episode is a callback to three years ago when I spoke with members of the Society for Commercial Archeology during their conference. One of the top priorities of SCA is historic preservation, particularly of signage and structures along America’s roadways and throughout our developed towns and cities. My summer roadtrip project is in the same vein as I look to capture the stories connected to these landmarks in the same way as this episode depicts.

S5E28: "There's No Place Like Home: The Wizard of Oz as a Primary Source"

This episode of the Everything is a Primary Source features a discussion about The Wizard of Oz. It was recorded a few summers ago at Prescott Park in Portsmouth, NH, just before a performance of Little Shop of Horrors. This portion was originally included in with a longer dialogue in Season 3, but is now taking its own path down the yellow brick road.

#podcast #wizardofoz #popculture #history

S5E27: "The Bad Boys of Boston: Aerosmith's origins as a document of the early 1970s"

We learn about the early days of Aerosmith from one of their original roadies, who just happened to be in the right place and the right time to get the gig. His story is very telling about this era of rock n roll, and perhaps the status of things in general as the 60s transitioned to the 70s. This was recorded a few years ago and originally was included as a small part of a larger episode, but I thought it deserves to walk this way into the spotlight.

S5E26: "Welcome to Sinclair Dinoland: Evaluating dinosaurs' evolution in pop culture media"

My son has contributed to several episodes of the Everything is a Primary Source Podcast over the last five seasons, and this is his latest contribution. Using a guidebook to the Sinclair Oil "Dinoland" experience at the 1964-65 World's Fair in New York as the basis of our discussion, we take a look at the correlation between what the science world discovers about dinosaurs and how they are represented in pop culture media.

#podcast #dinosaurs #paleontology #popculture #modernhistory

S5E25: "First Day: An 1853 letter and how it depicts everyday life in the era"

Jonathan Ahl of the Rokeby Museum in Vermont returns to the podcast to walk us through an 1853 letter from his museum’s archive that simultaneously tells us so little but shows us so much.

Rowland Robinson, who would go on to be a well-recognized writer and artist, wrote a letter to his mother Rachael, describing the goings-on around their home on a Sunday ("First Day," in Quaker terminology) afternoon in September, as she was away recuperating from an illness. Unlike so many other similar pieces from the same time period, Rowland's letter doesn't report of major events, but instead gives us an incredible first-hand view of everyday life in the mid 19th century.

#history #quakers #abolitionists #19thcentury #vermont

S5E24: "War Games: a breakdown of a deck of cards from 2003 featuring Iraqi high command"

I met with a group of pre-service social studies teachers from Plymouth State University at the NHCSS conference last fall and they selected a deck of cards that I had received from another exhibitor just that day to talk about. Looking back on the conversation about a deck of cards that would've been issued to US troops during the 2003 invasion of Iraq I didn't realize how full-circle it all was as I was carrying out my student teaching the year these cards were utilized, and clearly recall seeing the news of the Ace of Spades, Saddam Hussein, being captured just before my graduation day.

#popculture #waronterror #modernhistory #iraqwar

S5E23: "I Just Called to Say: treating telephones through the ages as primary sources"

Graham Gifford is theExecutive Director of the New Hampshire Telephone Museum in Warner. She and I connected at the NHCSS conference in Concord last October. I think we were really dialed in with our talk, and I hope you enjoy the tone of the conversation as we connect lines between all iterations of telephonic communication.

#livefreeanddial #nhtelephonemuseum #popculture #telephones #history