Podcasts

Did you know that bluegrass has origins outside of the United States? Pat Nordstrom from Mountainside Baroque, an early music collective based in Western Maryland and Maryland Humanities grantee, tells us more.

2016 National Medal of Arts honoree, Jack Whitten, is best known for his paintings. This may be because his sculptures have never been visible to the public until now. The sculptures — inspired by the materials and traditions of Africa and ancient Greece — are now on view at the Baltimore Museum of Art in the exhibition Odyssey: Jack Whitten Sculpture. Kevin Tervala, the museum’s Associate Curator of African Art, tells us more about the artist and the exhibition.

How can ordinary Marylanders bring about change in their region? “We The People: How Civic Engagement Has Shaped Laurel,” the current exhibit at the Laurel Museum, delves into this question. Ann Bennett, Executive Director of the Laurel Historical Society, tells us more about the exhibit.

In 1925, Harvard Graduate School of Design didn’t offer women graduate degrees in architecture, but Victorine du Pont Homsey completed a certificate program with the same curriculum and professors. The Early Women of Architecture in Maryland exhibit, now at Dorchester Center for the Arts, features du Pont Homsey and 11 other women. The exhibit was supported in part by a grant from Maryland Humanities in 2015. Jillian Storms, In 1925, Harvard Graduate School of Design didn’t offer women graduate degrees in architecture, but Victorine du Pont Homsey completed a certificate program with the same curriculum and professors. The Early Women of Architecture in Maryland exhibit, now at Dorchester Center for the Arts, features du Pont Homsey and 11 other women. Jillian Storms, recipient of The Baltimore Architecture Foundation's Roger Redden Award and Preservation Maryland's George T. Harrison Volunteer Award for her efforts curating the exhibit, tells us more about the work of Victorine du Pont Homsey and this summer’s related programming.

Did you know that the first American Saint lived in Maryland, where she opened the first free Catholic School for girls in the United States? Helen Jahn from The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton tells us more about the woman behind the sainthood.

Ever imagine that our own home movies could be collected and preserved for future generations to explore? Siobhan Hagan, president and CEO of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Moving Image Archive, tells us about the value of audiovisual preservation.

Did you know that the very first use of an ambulance corps and medical triage in the United States occurred in Frederick, Maryland? Major Jonathan Letterman — called "The Father of Modern Battlefield Medicine" — instituted these essential medical practices during the Civil War’s Battle of Antietam. Jake Wynn of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine talks about battle’s impact on Frederick and Letterman’s influence on medicine.

30 years ago, the Baltimore City Council passed The Gay Rights Bill of 1988, which provided legal protection against discrimination for gay and lesbian citizens. Dr. Jonathan Bailey talks about LGBTQAI social spaces, anti-racist civil rights movements, and their impact on the bill’s passing. Bailey is the author of a forthcoming book about race, gender, and sexuality in post-civil rights Baltimore, which covers 1965 through 1995.

What discoveries can be sparked by making a single observation about a community we were born into? Marvin T. Jones tells us more about Winton Triangle, a 437-year-old landowning community of people of color. Jones is the Executive Director and founder of the Chowan Discovery Group, whose mission is to research, document, preserve, and present the history of the Winton Triangle.

For hundreds of years, nature has served as inspiration for a multitude of writers. In a collaboration between Maryland Humanities and Delaware Humanities, nature and literature converge in a one day program at the Ben Cardin-Mike Castle National Trail next month. Ciera Fisher from Delaware Humanities tells us more about the trail and the event.