Podcast
Trades & Technology – Past & Present Podcasts
Hosted by Unknown Author · EN
Colonial Williamsburg: Past and Present brings you new perspectives from the Revolutionary War era. American history is explored in interviews with historic interpreters, tradesmen, musicians, historians, curators, authors, archaeologists, and more.
12episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Reinventing the Wheel
Jul 20, 2015Tap to summarizeThe wheel may be one of geometry’s simplest shapes, but the technology behind its creation is surprisingly complex. Add to that the variations among English wheels, French wheels, carriage wheels and cannon wheels, and the story gets even deeper. Colonial Williamsburg wheelwrights apply their expertise to the challenge of recreating the wheel for a French cannon carriage.
Transcribe →Futuristic Lab Reveals Historic Secrets
Jan 5, 2015Tap to summarizeTechnologies that used to be beyond reach for museum professionals now can lend new insights into the hidden compositions of materials, metals, and paints. Conservator Kirsten Moffitt explains how a spike on a screen can spot a fake or reveal a discovery.
Transcribe →Pumpkin’s Progress
Nov 17, 2014Tap to summarizeGain a new respect for the good old pumpkin. Author Mary Miley Theobald traces the history of the venerable gourd.
Transcribe →Brick by Brick
Oct 13, 2014Tap to summarizeIt takes a lot of bricks to build a Market House and our brickmakers are busy. So it seems like a good time to revisit this October 2011 podcast about the process for the building blocks of the Historic Area. Brickmaker Jason Whitehead tells the story.
Transcribe →The Farm Eternal
Sep 29, 2014Tap to summarizeNo matter where the Earth glides on its axis, the days both long and short shine on a years-worth of work on the colonial farm. At Great Hopes plantation, the turning of the seasons brings with it a task suited to the temperatures: plowing, sowing, planting and harvest. Learn the rhythm of the year with Historic Farmer Wayne Randolph.
Transcribe →Skill and Science in Historic Trades
Sep 1, 2014Tap to summarizeIntelligence born of practice combines with the study of science to complete the historic tradesman’s store of knowledge. There was no better spokesman for the Historic Trades program than Director Jay Gaynor. Jay recently passed away and we miss him. This encore podcast is dedicated to him.
Transcribe →A Brief History of Gunpowder
Jul 7, 2014Tap to summarizeFrom its origins in Chinese potions for immortality to the agent of death on the battlefield, the history of gunpowder is one of chemistry, ingenuity, and violence. Armorer Ron Potts fascinates with the tale.
Transcribe →George Washington Sneezed Here
Jun 9, 2014Tap to summarizeThe common cold was a nuisance our forbears suffered in much the same way we do today. But what remedies were uniquely colonial? Eighteenth-century apothecarist Robin Kipps shares the causes and eases for the cold.
Transcribe →An Apprentice at the Millinery Shop
Jun 2, 2014Tap to summarizeDraping, cutting, sewing, and trim: these are the hallmarks of the milliner and mantua-maker’s craft. Apprentice Sarah Woodyard is near completion of her apprenticeship, and at the threshold of attaining journeywoman status.
Transcribe →Celebrating Sixty Years at the Margaret Hunter Shop
May 12, 2014Tap to summarizeMilliners stood at the hub of a global trade in everything from handkerchiefs to pocket pistols, purveyors of a thousand fashionable items. The Margaret Hunter shop marks 60 years of interpreting the milliner’s trade. Apprentice milliner and mantua maker Abby Cox shares the history of the little shop on Duke of Gloucester Street.
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