I get a lot of my current history knowledge from podcasts, so I decided to start a new series here and on the Genealogy Technology YouTube channel on podcast reviews for genealogists. And I saved the best for first – my favorite podcast, Ben Franklin’s World!
Watch my video review here:
I hope I came across just as excited about Ben Franklin’s world as the wonderful host, Liz Covart, is excited about learning early American history every week. What can I say? If I have to geek out over something, I will choose history ever single time.
Ben Franklin’s World Episode Recommendations
As promised in the video, here are the Ben Franklin’s World podcast episodes I recommend for genealogists.
The Reintegration of American Loyalists – How Loyalists were punished and ultimately reintegrated after the American Revolution. This is especially interesting for those of us with South Carolina heritage. The guest is Rebecca Brannon, author of From Revolution to Reunion: The Reintegration of South Carolina Loyalists.
Information and Communication in the Early American South – Very early American communication and trade networks, including how Native Americans and Spanish explorers communicated with and about each other. The guest is Alejandra Dubcovsky, author of the book Informed Power: Communication in the Early South.
The History of Mail Order Brides in Early America – If you have French Canadian ancestry, you could very well be descended from an important group of mail order brides! Even if not, there’s lots of good information in there about the early mail order bride experience. The guest is Marcia Zug, author of Buying a Bride: An Engaging History of Mail Order Matches.
The Revolution’s African American Soldiers – What motivated African American soldiers to serve on both sides of the American Revolution? Find out – it’s a fascinating story. The guest is Judith Van Buskirk, author of Standing in their Own Light: African American Patriots in the American Revolution.
Pirates & Pirate Nests in the British Atlantic World – I realized from this episode that my view of “pirates” was sadly lacking. It also allowed me to hold on to hope that I might have a pirate ancestor (despite the fact that the pirate life sounds pretty grim.) The guest is Mark Hanna, author of Pirate Nests and the Rise of the British Empire, 1570-1740.
Genealogy Episodes
Ben Franklin’s World also did a series on genealogy, and I recommend all of those episodes, especially:
How Genealogist’s Research – This is rather meta, but gets into things like the differences and similarities in genealogy and history research, and why we do what we do. The guest is professional genealogist Joshua Taylor of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.
The History of Genealogy – Like a lot of hobbies, genealogy has an interesting and even somewhat checkered history. This episode gave me lots to think about when it came to evaluating and trusting older genealogical research. The guest is Karin Wulf of the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.
Keep in mind that your mileage may vary. Like I said in the video, look over all the episode titles to see if anything jibes with your research or particular historical interest.
Happy detecting!
Disclaimer: By the way, the links to books here are affiliate links. What’s that? That just means that if you click the link on my website and go to Amazon and buy any of the books linked here, you’ll pay the same price, but I’ll get a few cents. It’s like a referral fee from Amazon. And if that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, you can also buy these books straight from the Ben Franklin’s World website, or elsewhere. Maybe they’re even at your local library!
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