A panel of historians discusses the significance of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, in which more than 140 people died, many of them young immigrant women.

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."

Donald L. Miller, with Waldo E. Martin, Jr., and Virginia Scharff, looks at the Progressive era (from 1890 to 1926) as it was experienced by minority groups, including women, African Americans, Native Americans, and Asian and Mexican immigrants.

Donald L. Miller examines the rise of capitalism and the impulse to reform in American history from 1882 to 1901. Topics include New York as the financial capital of the U.S., Jacob Riis's photographic documentation of the Lower East Side slums, John Pierpont Morgan and his push for merging companies into corporations, the mining industry in Pennsylvania and worker abuse within it, and labor organization in response to this abuse.

Donald L. Miller looks at the growth of the city as an American entity from 1882 to 1894. In this presentation, Miller looks particularly at Chicago as a representative of the "new city." Topics include the World's Columbian Exposition, the development of the department store and the skyscraper, the city's transportation system, movement from cities out to suburbs, and reform efforts (including the establishment of Hull House) to address the new problems presented by slums and sweatshops.

Donald L. Miller and Louis P. Masur follow the growth of American capitalism and industry from 1776 to 1861. They look at Samuel Slater's introduction of factories to the U.S.; the textile factory community of Lowell; transportation development and the creation of the Erie Canal; and the growth of Chicago, including quality of life and pollution issues it faced and its integration into the country's rail system.

Richard Miller reads two 1922 San Francisco Chronicle articles on the public reaction to and perception of flappers.

Dr. Peter Black, the Chief Historian of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, explores the response in the United States to the events of the Holocaust era, focusing on the issues of immigration, pre-war refugee policy, and wartime rescue policy.

According to the Library of Congress website, "As "colonists" in 19th-century Russia, Mennonites sang German diasporic choral music and borrowed Russian choral music; when war drove many to North America, Mennonites drew on this repertoire and borrowed new repertoires to forge links to a new elite: North American classical choral singing circles. In this webcast, Jonathan Duek, an ethnomusicologist and visiting assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Music, traces this story not as a linear narrative, but as genealogical fragments, beginning with the resonances of particular songs for present-day Mennonite writers, historians, and singers; and then exploring past moments of the production and reception of these songs in Russia and North America."