Episodes
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Competition Paradox: Political Origins of Market Structures in US, EU, and China with Jingtian Chen
Twentieth-century history has taught us to imagine that competitive markets compliment democracies while closed markets serve authoritarian states. However, a glance at the global scene in the first quarter of the twenty-first century turns that assumption on its head, especially with regard to...
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Pentagon Capitalism: How the Cold War US Military Modeled Itself on Private Business with AJ Murphy
Pentagon Capitalism: How the Cold War US Military Modeled Itself on Private Business (Harvard University Press, 2026) is a pioneering study of the Cold War military-industrial complex shows how defense leaders reorganized the US armed forces in the image of commercial enterprise. In an interview...
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Machines for Living In: Auto Interiors in the Mid-20th Century with Ronn Daniel
Historians of interior design are only just beginning to study the design of rooms that are not in buildings, but rather in machines: trains cars, elevators, jet planes, and many others. In his latest book project, Ronn Daniel, associate professor at Kent State University, explores the interior...
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Renting an Empire: The United States in the Caribbean and the Arctic in the Twentieth Century with Henry Jacob
The United States empire is unlike any other in history. Among its unique attributes is the ability of Americans to project power, extract resources, and exercise hegemony without direct control and ownership of territory. In his dissertation research, Henry Jacob, PhD candidate at Yale…
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She’s the Boss: The Rise of Women’s Entrepreneurship Since World War II with Debra Michals
Women own over 40% of businesses in the United States and are responsible for a large majority of new business startups. How did this come to be? Dr. Debra Michals, associate professor and chair of the humanities department at Merrimack College, answers this question in her book She’s the Boss…
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Solar Challenger: Energy, Environment, and Solar Aviation, 1976-1981 with Karlyn Allenbrand
Solar Challenger: Energy, Environment, and the Spectacle of Solar Aviation, 1976-1981 Ben Spohn interviews Karlyn Allenbrand about her ongoing dissertation research on the Solar Challenger, the world's first solar-powered airplane built by Dr. Paul MacCready's company AeroVironment. Allenbrand...
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Divided Environment: The Splitting of Workplace and Environmental Regulation with Jasper Cattell
Let’s say that poison gas leaks from a manufacturing plant, sickening workers and local residents. Should OSHA investigate, or the EPA? Who is responsible when both agencies have a claim to jurisdiction? The American federal government regulates the workplace and the non-workplace environments...
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Supplying Extraction: DuPont and the Chemistry of Mining in Chile with Ángela Vergara
Twentieth-century Chile relied heavily on its copper mining industry, which was vulnerable to disruption due to its dependance on foreign supplies of blasting powder. It was to address this strategic weakness that Chilean leaders formulated a plan to lure a powder manufacturer from the Global…
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Susquehanna Steam: Three Centuries of Speculation in Northeastern Pennsylvania with Nancy Campbell
From the 1750s to the present day, Salem Township in northeastern Pennsylvania has been a site of financial speculation and the social changes it sets in motion. In her latest book project, Dr. Nancy Campbell, professor of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute…
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Credit to the Nation: Jewish Immigrant Bankers in American Finance 1873-1930 with Rebecca Kobrin
In this episode of the Hagley History Hangout, Roger Horowitz interviews Rebecca Kobrin about her new book, Credit to the Nation: Eastern European Jewish Immigrant Bankers and American Finance 1873-1930. From the publisher: "What are immigrants to do when business opportunities abound in their…
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Awash: Sensation, Infiltration, and the Bather in Queer and Trans Art with Jay Buchanan
Images of bathers have recurred in art through the ages, and their depictions tell us something about attitudes toward human bodies, sex, gender, cleanliness, and much more. In his dissertation research, art historian Jay Buchanan, PhD candidate at Washington University in St. Louis, analyses...
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Menace of Prosperity: NYC's Struggle for Economic Development 1865-1981 with Daniel Wortel-London
Does a strong economy serve the interests of the few or the many? The policy pendulum has swung in either direction over the long term. In his new book, The Menace of Prosperity: New York City and the Struggle for Economic Development, 1865-1981, Dr. Daniel Wortel-London, visiting assistant...
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International Geophysics in the Interwar Period, 1919-1939 with Erik Isberg
Geophysics, or the study of Earth using the tools and methods of physics, is often understood to have begun in the post-WWII period. However, the period between the world wars saw ferment and innovation in the field, and the emergence of the term geophysics itself. In his latest research, Dr.…
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Postindustrial Heritagization: Serra do Navio, Brazil and Bethlehem, PA with Julia Silva de Medeiros
What happens when industrial towns lose their defining industries? How do the remaining communities and infrastructures find meaning and a future among the postindustrial remains. The key often lies in heritagization, the process by which certain aspects of the past are identified, preserved, and...
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Gilded Age Entrepreneur: The Curious Life of American Financier Albert Benton Pullman with Simon Cordery
Iowa State University historian Simon Cordery talks about his recently published biography of Albert Pullman with Hagley’s Ben Spohn. From the publisher: “Simon Cordery's Gilded Age Entrepreneur illuminates the fascinating and chaotic business world of Albert Pullman. The influential but...
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IBM and Third World Modernities with André Dao
The overtly intimate relationship between tech industry leaders and politicians is on frequent display in newspapers and on screens today. In an international context, this builds on a long history of corporate involvement in shaping favorable policy. In his latest research, André Dao…
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Black Women’s Health and Diet Culture in America, 1965-1990 with Melina Haberl
The mid-twentieth century emergence of the black middle class in the United States reshaped American society, consumer markets, and even the bodies of African Americans. In her dissertation project, Melina Haberl, PhD candidate at Florida International University, is researching the health and…
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Black Power Inc.: Corporate America and Multinational Empowerment Politics with Jessica Ann Levy
In her new book, Black Power Inc.: Corporate America and the Rise of Multinational Empowerment Politics Jessica Ann Levy traces Black empowerment’s rise in 20th century American politics and its contradictions as a form of African American political activity. By closely following minister Leon...
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Americans Under the Chinese Communist Triumph: DuPont China, 1947-1950 with Sanjiao Tang
Americans had established schools, hospitals, and businesses in China prior to the 1949 triumph of the Communists under Mao. What would be the fate of these institutions and their staff under the new dispensation? In his latest research, Dr. Sanjiao Tang, fellow at the National Library of...
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TV Town II: New York City and Television Industries with Richard Popp
New York City was the focus of the early American television industry. In TV’s early years NYC had the highest concentration of television sets, viewers, broadcasters, and infrastructure. In NYC many Americans had their first encounter with TV. In his latest book project, Dr. Richard Popp,...
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Film and American World's Fairs 1893-1964 with Dominique Bregent-Heald
Film has played a role in America’s world’s fairs since the 1893 Chicago exhibition where a horse galloping was the big cinematic draw. In her latest book project, Dr. Dominique Bregent-Heald, professor at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, explores the history of film at American world’s...
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Rage! At the Train Station: Long Island Railroad Controversies with Elizabeth Moore
Infrastructure projects have frequently generated controversies in American history, and railroads in particular have been the cause of many a political fracas. In her latest project, journalist and independent scholar Elizabeth Moore is uncovering the history of controversies over the Long…
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Industrious Skies: Nitrogen Capture and the Atmosphere of Italian Fascism with Rebecca Falkoff
Nitrogen feeds both war and peace, represents both fecundity and strength, and accordingly, nitrogen capture technology gained a symbolic potency in the ideologically charged atmosphere of fascist Italy. In her latest research, Dr. Rebecca Falkoff, assistant professor at the University of Texas…
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The Rise and Fall of King Coal: American Energy Transitions, 1800-1940 with Mark Aldrich
In this episode we interview Mark Aldrich about his new book, The Rise and Fall of King Coal: American Energy Transitions in an Age of Markets, 1800-1940. From the publisher: “A history of the dynamic role of coal in the energy landscape of the United States during the nineteenth and twentieth...
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Pennsylvania Merchants and American Ginseng in China, 1784-1840 with Audrey Ke Zhao
Ginseng is the “emperor of plants,” celebrated in traditional Chinese medicine as a sovereign remedy for diverse ailments and promoter of longevity. The introduction of American ginseng to the Chinese market in the late-eighteenth century found a vast market of eager consumers. In her…
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Steel Rhythms: The Many Phases of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania with Kimberly Andrews
From the eighteenth-century Moravians singing hymns on communal farms, to twentieth-century steelworkers laboring in blazing furnaces, to twenty-first century healthcare and warehouse workers cutting loose at Musikfest, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania has moved to many beats. In her latest project, Dr....
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Care in Question: Childcare Policy and the Limits of 20thC Liberalism with Julia Fournier
Working parents rely on childcare infrastructure, and as working parent became an ever-larger proportion of the American workforce from the 1960s onward, the lack of accessible, affordable, quality childcare became a major political and cultural issue. In her dissertation research, Julia…
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Crusading for Globalization: US Multinationals and Their Opponents with Janick Marina Schaufelbuehl
In this episode we interview Janick Marina Schaufelbuehl about her new book Crusading for Globalization: US Multinationals and Their Opponents Since 1945. From the publisher: “The first book to shed light on what caused corporate executives to pursue a pro-globalization agenda over the last eight...
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Chemical Citizenship: A History of Drug Testing in the United States with Laura Browder
The United States drug tests its citizens more than any other country and ties the rights one enjoys, rights to keep one’s baby, to do one’s job, or to vote or move freely, to the results of a given drug test. While Americans lead the world in drug consumption, they also lead the world in drug...
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Innovation and Markets in the Beauty and Fashion Industry with Denise Sutton
Innovation plays a role in the beauty and fashion industry as it does in any line of business. New products, new techniques, and new markets animate the industry, and punctuate its history. In her latest book project, Dr. Denise Sutton, associate professor at the City University of New York,...
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An Official History of Official Corporate Histories with Lee McGuigan
Businesses tell stories about themselves, in their advertising, in their marketing, and in their corporate biographies. Official or authorized histories of corporations form a distinctive thread in the literature in business history. In his latest book project, Dr. Lee McGuigan, assistant…
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For an 'Orderly' Globalization: Managed Liberalization in US Labor, 1945-1990 with Melanie Sheehan
American labor unions struggled to adjust to the changing dynamics of the world economy during the mid-to-late twentieth century. Charting this complex process is Dr. Melanie Sheehan, assistant professor of history at Hartwick College and recent Hagley-NEH postdoctoral fellow. Sheehan has...
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The Power of Patents: Global Intellectual Property, 1880-1950 with Joël Praz
Building international cooperation is a slow, painstaking process, one made more difficult when some people don’t see the need for it. To businesses, however, international cooperation is positively necessary as a means to secure intellectual property rights, market share, and profit…
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Instrument of War: Music and the Making of America’s Soldiers with David Suisman
Our previously scheduled episode featuring Alessandra La Rocca Link has been postponed. In lieu of which, we present this recording made during the Hagley Author Talk featuring David Suisman hosted on February 27th, 2025 by the Hagley Museum and Library. Suisman discusses his latest book,...
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Afro-Andean Sailors and Shipbuilders in Spanish America and the Black Pacific with Leo Garofalo
While popular memory may have forgotten them, about half of the sailors, soldiers, missionaries, tradesmen, and colonists that made up the Spanish Empire were black, people who were part of the African diaspora. Studying their history allows scholars new ways to research and interpret Spanish...
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A Stretch of the Imagination: Synthetic Fabrics and the Cold War with Monica Geraffo
During the Cold War, rival superpowers the USA and the USSR vied with one another for world dominion in many arenas: military, diplomatic, and even haute coture. In the latter connection, French designers played arbiter, judging the synthetic textiles developed under capitalist and communist...
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Plebian Consumers: Foreign Goods in Nineteenth-Century Colombia with Ana Maria Otero-Cleves
In this interview with Roger Horowitz, Ana Maria Otero-Cleves discusses the place of important objects in her book Plebian Consumers, especially textiles, machetes, and patent medicine. Otero-Cleves also elaborates on the crucial importance of Hagley’s Lanman and Kemp collection due to its...
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The Toxic Ship: The Voyage of the Khian Sea and the Global Waste Trade with Simone M. Müller
In this episode of the Hagley History Hangout we interview Simone M. Muller, professor of global environmental history at the University of Augsburg and author of the Hagley Award-winning book The Toxic Ship: The Khian Sea and the Global Waste Trade. From the publisher: “An infamous voyage…
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The Long Shadow of Kodak: Markets and Science in Twentieth Century Photography with Joris Mercelis
Kodak enjoyed dominance over the international photography market for much of the twentieth century. Part and parcel of that success was dominance over the science of photography, achieved and maintained by a worldwide network of research laboratories. In his latest research Joris Mercelis,...
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Smoking Gun: How Consumerism & Community Made an American Gun Culture 1870-1920 with Courtney Slavin
Americans, understandably, have an emotionally fraught relationship with firearms, and American gun culture bears the marks of this emotional complexity. When, and perhaps more important, why did the firearm, a tool for killing, come to bear this unique cultural baggage in America? Between 1870…
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The Pennsylvania Railroad: The Long Decline, 1933-1968 with Albert Churella
Hagley’s Ben Spohn interviews Albert Churella about the final volume in his landmark trilogy on the history of the Pennsylvania Railroad. From the publisher: “The final volume of Albert J. Churella's landmark series, The Pennsylvania Railroad, concludes the story of the iconic transportation...
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Sound & Music in the du Pont Women's World in the Age of Revolution with Rebecca Geoffroy-Schwinden
Where can you find music in the archive? Everywhere, if you know how to look. So argues our guest musicologist Rebecca Geoffroy-Schwinden, associate professor at the University of North Texas and former NEH-Hagley postdoctoral fellow. In this episode, Dr. Geoffroy-Schwinden discusses her latest...
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International Business Associations & Regulations on Multinational Corporations with Maia Müller
The mid-twentieth century emergence of multinational corporations wealthier and more powerful than many nations presented a problem for organizations tasked with overseeing international cooperation and development. How to create a regulatory framework around multinationals that would protect the...
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On Ice: America's Nineteenth-Century Ice Age and the Making of Modern Life with Andrew Robichaud
Ice, ice, baby. In nineteenth-century America ice was everywhere. Extracted from northern ponds and shipped around the world, ice became a valuable commodity and a vital input in numerous industries. In his latest research Dr. Andrew Robichaud, Associate Professor of History at Boston University,...
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Analog Superpowers: Technology Theft and the National Security State with Kate Epstein
Roger Horowitz talks with Katherine Epstein about her new book Analog Superpowers: How Twentieth-Century Technology Theft Built the National Security State (University of Chicago Press, 2024). From the publisher: “A gripping history that spans law, international affairs, and top-secret technology...
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The Nature of War: Environment and Industry in the U.S. During WWI with Gerard Fitzgerald
Far from the battlefield the First World War spurred a massive increase in industrial output in the United States. Arms and armaments, ships and steel, a vast stream of materiel poured from American factories, mines, and mills to feed the insatiable maw of war. The consequent strain placed on...
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“Keep Within Compass”: Geographies of Girlhood in the American South, 1783-1865 with Emily Wells
The experience of girlhood in early national and antebellum America was both circumscribed and liberated by geography. Spaces defined who American girls were expected to be. Spaces, too, allowed girls to redefine themselves and to defend themselves against irksome expectations. Looking backward,...
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Plasticizing China: A Cultural History of Everyday Things, 1960-1990 with Yaxi Liu
Chinese plastic is cheap and abundant. It wasn’t always. The ubiquity of plastic in twenty-first century consumer culture belies its past rarity and the many cultural meanings it has borne over time. How did plastic come to play such a central role in the economy of China? In her dissertation...
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Securing the System: Phone Phreaks, Hackers, and Political Order, 1963-2013 with Jacob Bruggeman
Large technological systems can be vulnerable to manipulation, perhaps especially when they are centralized, monopolistic, and complacent. That was the situation in American telecommunications in the early 1960s when a generation of hackers developed techniques to manipulate the Bell telephone...
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Racial Economies of Early Jazz with Stephanie Doktor
What is jazz and when did it begin? Music scholars do not agree. Taking an archival perspective, however, clarifies the dilemma and allows us to see jazz where people at the time performed, recorded, consumed, and discussed what they thought of as jazz music. The emergence of jazz as an economic...
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