Historians & Their Histories

Historians & Their Histories is a podcast by the Massachusetts Historical Society. In this series, we are introducing you to the historians who write the histories. In each episode, we sit down with a scholar who has received fellowship support from the Massachusetts Historical Society. We learn about their origin stories and ask them about why they became students of the past. And we get a sneak peek at their current projects, too.

Historians & Their Histories is a history podcast hosted by Massachusetts Historical Society, with 42 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Massachusetts Historical Society hosts Historians & Their Histories, a history show with 42 episodes published.

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  Episode #42

  The Home Front with Lauren Duval

  Sep 20, 202635 min

  On this special episode of Historians & Their Histories , guest host Megan Kate Nelson sits down with Lauren Duval, Associate Professor of History at the University of Oklahoma. They discuss Prof. Duval's new book The Home Front: Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, and the Making of American Independence , published in December 2025. They talk about what daily life was like inside American households under British military occupation and how the intimate experience of war shaped ordinary people's understanding of independence. Prof. Duval is a recipient of the long-term fellowship sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Massachusetts Historical Society. To learn more about MHS fellowships and how to apply, please visit this page . Learn more about this episode here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/hath-episode-42-Duval This episode uses materials from: Colocate by Podington Bear ( Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported )

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  Episode #41

  Salt, Sea, and Sustainability: The Hidden History of Cod with Morgan Hardy

  Sep 6, 202627 min

  In this episode of Historians & Their Histories , we speak with Morgan Hardy. He discusses his dissertation, "Changes in the Sea: Early American Innovations in Sustainability," which examines whether eighteenth-century cod fisheries were sustainable and what early conservation practices New Englanders developed to protect declining fish populations. At the MHS, he has been uncovering the everyday realities of fishermen navigating a devastated fishery. We also learn about the fascinating anatomy and biology of Atlantic cod. Morgan Hardy is a recipient of the Mary B. Wright Environmental History Fellowship from the MHS. To learn more about MHS fellowships and how to apply, please visit this page . Learn more about this episode here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/hath-episode-41-Hardy This episode uses materials from: Colocate by Podington Bear ( Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported )

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  Episode #40

  The Sword and the Tomahawk: Rethinking the Massachusetts Seal with Lydia Burleson

  Aug 16, 202648 min

  In this episode of Historians & Their Histories , we speak with Lydia Burleson. She discusses her research into the Massachusetts state seal, tracing how its Indigenous imagery has persisted and shifted since the colony's 1629 charter. Drawing upon variety of archival records, Lydia focuses on the seal's brief disappearance during the Revolutionary period, when it was replaced from 1775 to 1780 by an "English American" design bearing a sword, before an Indigenous design returned as the war continued. She also explores what that change, and its reversal, reveals about how colonists used Indigenous imagery to construct an American identity, even as Native nations were largely excluded from the decision-making. Lydia Burleson is a recipient of the Samuel Victor Constant Fellowship from the Society of Colonial Wars in Massachusetts, administered by the MHS. To learn more about MHS fellowships and how to apply, please visit this page . Learn more about this episode here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/hath-episode-40-Burleson This episode uses materials from: Colocate by Podington Bear ( Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported )

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  Episode #39

  Portraits in Pastel: Art and Empire in Early America with Megan Baker

  Aug 2, 202629 min

  In this episode of Historians & Their Histories , we speak with Megan Baker, a PhD candidate in Art History at the University of Delaware. Megan discusses her dissertation, "Crayon Rebellion: The Material Politics of North American Pastels, 1758-1814," which traces how the fragile and fashionable medium of pastel came to represent both people and ideas in the years surrounding the American Revolution. She explores how artists sourced their materials through Atlantic trade networks, how pastel portraiture materialized ideas about race, and how the medium was eventually used in early natural history illustration before giving way to more durable printed media. Megan Baker is a recipient of the Andrew Oliver Research Fellowship from the MHS. To learn more about MHS fellowships and how to apply, please visit this page . Learn more about this episode here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/hath-episode-39-Baker This episode uses materials from: Colocate by Podington Bear ( Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported )

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  Episode #38

  Unmarried Women in the Anglo-Atlantic World with Chloe Kauffman

  Jul 19, 202641 min

  In this episode of Historians & Their Histories , Chloe Kauffman discusses her dissertation research on how young, unmarried women in the Anglo-Atlantic world acquired and shared knowledge about sexuality between 1690 and 1820, with a particular focus on women-to-women relationships and mentorship. Chloe examines the everyday, often overlooked ways this knowledge circulated from family letters and diaries to the surprising presence of suggestive phrases tucked into a 12-year-old's penmanship exercises. At the MHS, she has been working extensively with family papers collections to trace how eroticized knowledge moved across generations of women. Chloe Kauffman is a recipient of the Alyson R. Miller Fellowship from the MHS. To learn more about MHS fellowships and how to apply, please visit this page . Learn more about this episode here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/hath-episode-38-Kauffman This episode uses materials from: Colocate by Podington Bear ( Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported )

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