From the Bowery Boys website:

"Henry Steinway, a German immigrant who came to New York in 1850, made his name in various showrooms and factories in downtown Manhattan, enticing the wealthy with his award-winning quality pianos. At their grand Steinway Hall on 14th Street, the family turned a popular concert venue into a clever marketing opportunity. But their ultimate fate would lie outside of Manhattan; the Steinways would graduate from an innovative factory on Park Avenue to their very own company village in Queens, the basis of a neighborhood which still bears their name today. You may not know much about pianos, but you've cross path with this family's influence in the city. Tune in for this short history of Henry Steinway and his sons."

University of Iowa professor Marshall Poe interviews Jennifer Burns about her book Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right, on the life and times of Russian-American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand.

Kansas Museum of History curators talk about the history of a worn metal desk in the museum's collection. The desk was used as a prop on the 1970s television show The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

From the Constitution Center website:

"2009 marks the 70th anniversary of one of the most dramatic concerts in American history: world famous African American contralto Marian Anderson's concert at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. In a conversation moderated by scholar Sheldon Hackney, award-winning historian Raymond Arsenault tells the story of Marian Anderson, one of the most enduring and iconic figures of the civil rights movement. Through immense raw talent and unrelenting determination, Anderson overcame racial prejudice to inspire all Americans and to become one of the greatest singers of her time."

To listen to this lecture, scroll to the August 12th, 2009, program.

From the Library of Congress website:

"Author Ralph Eubanks discusses his personal story that began with his grandparents: James Richardson, a white man from a middle-class family, who defiantly married Edna Howell, a light-skinned black woman in 1914 in Alabama."

From the Library of Congress website:

"The John W. Kluge Center held a panel discussion on 'Building the Bomb, Fearing Its Use: Nuclear Scientists, Social Responsibility and Arms Control, 1946-1996.' Speakers were Mary Palevsky, Black Mountain Institute fellow at the Kluge Center, along with Hugh Gusterson, William Lanouette and Martin J. Sherwin. After the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II, statesmen and scientists confronted the unprecedented destructive power of nuclear weapons, according to Palevsky. Early postwar efforts for international control of atomic energy failed, and by the mid-1950s both American and Soviet scientists had invented the hydrogen bomb, a weapon of greater destructive potential than the atomic bomb. Yet arms-control efforts were ongoing even during the Cold War's darkest days. Within a year of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty, prohibiting nuclear tests in the atmosphere, underwater and in outer space.

International treaty negotiations directly affected the daily lives of thousands of American scientists, engineers and support personnel who designed, built and conducted the tests of new weapon designs. Some of the questions that these scientists and statesmen encountered still exist today, and those questions are the basis for the panel discussion."

Susan Brewer, author of Why America Fights: Patriotism and War Propaganda from the Philippines to Iraq, in this interview conducted by professor Marshall Poe, discusses presidential efforts to secure support for wars and citizens' responses.

Professor Marshall Poe interviews Mark Bradley, author of Vietnam at War, a text that examines the Vietnam War from the Vietnamese point of view, particularly the North Vietnamese.

From the "Littoral," blog of the Key West Literary seminar website:

"This recording from the 2009 Key West Literary Seminar consists of an hourlong conversation between Vidal and Jay Parini, his literary executor, a poet, biographer, and critic. Vidal discusses the influences on his work as a historical novelist, his views on the American educational system, and his admiration for figures including Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. George W. Bush, then serving his final week in office, is the target of particular scorn, as Vidal levels a litany of complaints accusing his administration of 'shredding' the Bill of Rights and striving 'to make lying the national pastime.' In a question-and-answer session, Vidal discusses efforts to bring Tennessee Williams's final play to the public, as well as his feelings on disgraced financier Bernard Madoff and former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin."

Kansas Museum of History curators look at a story cloth, brought to Kansas by Hmong refugees from Laos. The cloth depicts the escape of Hmong from Laos across the Mekong River, fleeing attacks by the communist group Pathet Lao, after the U.S. military pulled out of Laos in 1974. The cloth, designed to appeal to a Western audience, represents a piece of Vietnam War history and a reminder of global contact and the impact of international relations on the lives of individuals.