Film critic Michael Sragow discusses the work of director Victor Fleming (1889-1949), who directed films across genres, including Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz.

From the Lemelson Center website:

"Andy Bozanic talks about his research, supported by a fellowship from the Lemelson Center, on the history of the acoustic guitar. In this podcast, Bozanic explains how the unique qualities of the acoustic guitar—its portability, affordability, and adaptability to different styles of music—brought it into the mainstream of American music in the 20th century."

From the Library of Congress website:

"The origins and legacy of the Federal Writers' Project are the focus of an excerpted film screening and 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.

From the National Constitution Center website:

"Award-winning New York Times-bestselling author Mark Kurlansky takes us back to the food and eating habits of a younger America. In the 1930s, with the country gripped by the Great Depression and millions of Americans struggling to get by, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Federal Writers' Project under the New Deal as a make-work program for artists and authors. A number of writers, including Zora Neale Hurston and Eudora Welty were dispatched all across America to chronicle the eating habits, traditions, and struggles of local people. The project, called 'America Eats,' was abandoned in the early 1940s because of the World War and was never completed."

To listen to this lecture, scroll to "The Food of a Younger Land," which is the July 1, 2009 post.

From the Library of Congress website:

"In this interview from 1940, Mr. George Johnson of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, shares memories of slavery times, including his relationship with Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy."

Fred Israel of City College of New York, speaking at the Organization of American Historians 2009 meeting, discusses his work with Gallup public opinion data and the history of the Gallup Opinion Poll. He looks at changes in public opinion on the acceptability of diverse candidates for the presidency, as indicated by the polls.

University of Iowa professor of history Marshall T. Poe interviews historian and author Giles MacDonogh on his book After the Reich: The Brutal History of the Allied Occupation, which examines Allied atrocities in Germany following the end of World War II, including atrocities committed by Russians, Americans, British, and French.

From the Maine Humanities Council website:

"Donna Cassidy is Professor of American & New England Studies and Art History at the University of Southern Maine. Her most recent book, Marsden Hartley: Race, Region, and Nation, led to her current research on U.S. artists in Quebec and Atlantic Canada from 1890 to 1940. In this talk, co-sponsored by the Yarmouth and North Yarmouth historical societies, Cassidy describes the travels of those artists in the region, and discusses the influence of the landscape and people on their work."

Wendy Wick Reaves looks at two self-portraits by the artist Isabel Bishop (1902-1988), who focused on portraying women in the New York urban environment she worked in.