Hello. Today I have a podcast with content from our local "Spring on the Square" festival here in Liberty, Missouri. Liberty is the county seat for Clay County and we have a historic town square with the old courthouse in the middle and many historic buildings downtown. Each May the community has a celebration on the square that includes games for kids, craft tents, games, food, etc. On one corner of the square sits a historic bank. On February 13, 1866 a group of local men (thought to be the Jesse James Gang but it is still debated today whether or not Jesse James was present since he might have been at home nursing an injury) robbed the bank and took off with $60,000 in the first daylight bank robbery in the United States. A local teenager was shot and killed as the men escaped. Each year during Spring on the Square a local group of re-enacters and their horses play out the events of the robbery at the site of the bank which is now a musuem. 
I recorded the audio narration of event and have included some photographs from the re-enactment. I do hope to devote an entire podcast later this summer on the Jesse James Bank Museum here in Liberty.If you have any questions or comments please e-mail me at speakingofhistory@gmail.com It is always great to hear from listeners. Since November of 2005 we have had visitors from 83 different countries at this site. I welcome any feedback you may have about the show.Direct link to Podcast #26 - Jesse James Gang Bank Robbery Re-enactment at Liberty, Missouri - MP3 format (10:17 minutes)
Podcast #26 Shownotes:
Hello. School is almost done for the year and tonight I want to post an awesome example of what students can do in terms of content for a podcast. Two of my 8th grade American History students - Jonathan and Alex - came to me a couple of weeks ago while we were studying the Underground Railroad and told me they had performed a dramatic reading of the Robert Hayden poem "Runagate" - a poem which portrays an escape by a runaway slave - for a speech contest. I asked if we could record it for the podcast and they allowed to me tape their reading of the poem. The rhythm and pace of the reading attempt to capture the frantic pace of a runaway slave. Thanks so much to Jonathan and Alex for allowing me to record and post their work. Podcasting student produced content is a powerful tool and I hope to include more student created work such as this next year.If you have any questions or comments please contact me at speakingofhistory@gmail.comDirect link to Podcast #25 - Students Dramatic Reading of "Runagate" - A Poem on The Underground Railroad - MP3 format (7:30 minutes)Show Notes for Podcast #25
Hello. It has been a while since my last podcast - always gets a little hectic as the school year winds down. I have been working on several episodes now it is just a matter of editing the interviews and content to create the final podcast. A couple of weeks ago I paid a visit to the Liberty Memorial World War I Museum in Kansas City. The Liberty Memorial is currently in the final stages of a huge renovation. The Liberty Memorial has been recognized by Congress as the official World War I museum in the United States. In the fall of 2006 the museum will open with a dramatic addition to the already impressive display on World War I. I sat down and interviewed Mr. James Barkly, the Education Program Coordinator of the Liberty Memorial (e-mail: jbarkley@lmakc.org) . If you teach American History in the Kansas City area you should really try to organize a field trip to the museum. If you teach World War in any other part of the world please contact James Barkley for a CD collection of lesson plans that you can incorporate into your curriculum. In addition to the interview, I also took photographs of the existing museum and created a short 3 minute slideshow using PhotoStory 3. To gain a perspective of the museum view the slideshow for images from inside and outside. I always welcome any new ideas or comments about the show at speakingofhistory@gmail.com Let me know what you think of the new intro theme I recently put together or give me an idea for a future show topic. If you have a couple of extra seconds please click on the ad links at the top of the page - I get a couple of cents each time someone clicks to view an ad. Over the last 5 months I have earned a total of $23 but don't get paid until I reach $100. I'm hoping to earn the $100 by the end of the summer so that I can buy a new professional microphone for the podcast studio I have in my basement - actually a corner of the laundry room where I record my show. You don't have to buy anything, just click on the ad.
Direct link to Speaking of History Podcast Show #24 - The National World War I Museum - Liberty Memorial in Kansas City - An Interview with James Barkley
Show Notes:
Hello. I continue with my recent interest in using graphic history as part of the curriculum. I recently saw a listing in the Library School Journal magazine about graphic novels and one caught my I so I found a copy of The Murder of Abraham Lincoln by Rick Geary. It is a great book done in the graphic format. Geary has done an amazing job with pen and pencil in telling the story of the one of the most tragic days in American history. The book includes maps, a great bibliography and some great thought provoking questions at the end. I conducted a phone interview with Mr. Geary and asked him about his unique look at the assassination of Lincoln. Geary is an accomplished illustrator who has been working in comics since 1977. His work has been appeared in The National Lampoon, DC Comics, Mad, Spy, Rolling Stone and the Los Angeles Times. It was also great to discover that he was born in Kansas City. He also has done a graphic history book named "The Fatal Bullet: The Assassination of President James A Garfield". Check out the links below to learn more about Mr. Geary and his work.
Please let me know what you think of today's show by leaving me an e-mail or comment at speakingofhistory@gmail.com I am also very interested if any history teachers out there have used graphic novels or graphic books in their classroom.
Direct link to Speaking of History Podcast #23: Graphic History, The Murder of Abraham Lincoln by Rick Geary
Show Notes for Podcast #23:
Hello. Just a quick post about an upcoming presentation at a conference. I will be presenting a break out session at the NETA (Nebraska Educational Technology Association) Spring Conference on Thursday - April 27th. It will be a general session on podcasting with some material on the required materials, software, ideas for the classroom and information on the Speaking of History podcast. I am a native Nebraskan and have attended this conference for each of the 8 years. It is an amazing conference and I really look forward to it each year - great people, great sessions and I always leave with some great new ideas. I hope to also do some interviews at the conference and I will share ideas on the conference when I return.I am including links to the PDF files of the handouts I will be handing out at my session. One is the handout sheet and the other is a copy of the presentation notes.
Hello. Today's episode is an interview with the State Archivist for the state of Missouri - Kenneth Winn. I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Winn at the Missouri State Social Studies conference in Jefferson City back in March. He was the keynote speaker at the dinner and he happened to be sitting next to me during the meal. His speech was very interesting and I was glad he agreed to conduct a short interview with me. I was very interested in two aspects of the archives: 1) the number of diversity of items housed in the archives and 2) the variety of online resources available to both teachers and the general public. I hope that you find this interview interesting and it encourages you to investigate your state archives.
If you have any questions or comments about the show please feel free to e-mail me at speakingofhistory@gmail.com This episode also includes a new intro using background music from James Underberg of PodSafe Audio. I edited it using Audacity and including clips from famous speeches.Direct Link to Speaking of History Podcast #22 - Interview with Missouri State Archivist Kenneth Winn - MP3 Format (16 minutes)
Show Notes for Podcast #22:
I recorded the audio narration of event and have included some photographs from the re-enactment. I do hope to devote an entire podcast later this summer on the Jesse James Bank Museum here in Liberty.
