There are thousands of years of human experience and legacy here in North America, so much of which is left out of today’s history classes and hidden from today’s common knowledge, because if it wasn’t the actions of a white land-owning male, it probably didn’t make the cut. In this series centered around serendipitously found objects, Sam dives into the unwritten record of the land today we call the United States, panting a picture of the people and places that came before, and still shape it today, as best as we can be determine.
This series alternates between free installments and episodes available to patrons only for the first year after they’ve been recorded – Become a patron (at any amount you want to contribute) to unlock all the most recent series content.
The seven primary playlists of Historiansplaining:
Playlist Featured Episode:
The Maine Norse Coin
The only authentic Norse artifact ever found in the United States, this small silver coin dated to the 11th century may be an elaborate hoax of a staged discovery, or a crucial clue to trade and contact between Europe and America in the centuries between the fall of Vinland and the arrival of Columbus… More…
Playlist Episodes
History of the United States in 100 Objects #21: The Braddock/Washington Pistol
We consider the complex history and symbolism of an elaborately decorated sidearm weapon, originally made in Bristol, England, possibly intended as a dueling pistol, which came across the ocean to America with General Edward Braddock, witnessed the catastrophic events in the Ohio valley that sparked the Seven Years' War, and which then became a prized possession of George Washington, symbolizing his relationship with the ill-starred general as well as America's fraught relationship with Britain.
Special thanks to the Bristol Archives and to Eric Gabbitas, a direct descendant of the gunsmith William Gabbitas.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects #18: Jesuit Brass Medallion with Image of Ignatius Loyola
Unlocked after one year for Patrons only:
--Made of brass, most likely in France, ca. 1720-1750
--1 inch long, with depictions of St. Ignatius Loyola & Saint Mary with Latin inscriptions
--Found in ruins of Fort Michilimackinac; in collection of Mackinac State Historic Parks, Michigan
A small brass religious medallion found in the house of a French fur trader inside a fortress on the remote Straits of Mackinac shows the immense power of small numbers of merchants and missionaries to control sprawling networks of diplomacy and trade, stretching from Europe all the way into the deep interior of North America, and to sway the course of wars and imperial power struggles.
Special thanks to Mackinac State Historic Parks and Dr. Lynn Evans for their help in producing this lecture.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 20: Silver Beaker with Devil & Pope Figures, 1750
 | History of the United States in 100 Objects # 20: Silver Beaker with Devil & Pope Figures, 1750Currently available to Patrons only, on the Patreon App and website: What do I get as a supporter?I'm already a supporter |
A silver beaker engraved with figures of Satan, the Pope, and the "Young Pretender" (also known as "Bonnie Prince Charlie") shows how French, Dutch, German, and English colonists in colonial New York united around fear of Catholicism and the Jacobite menace.
Special thanks to the Collections Team at Museum of the City of New York.
Listen on Patreon Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 19: Three Silver Higa Amulets, mid-1700s
--Three pendant amulets, in form of a forearm with closed fists
--made of silver;
---about 1/2 inch to 2/3 inch long
--found in midden at site of Spanish outpost, Los Adaes, in present-day Louisiana
--dated to 18thcentury
These three silver amulets in the form of a fist, found among the remains of the Spanish colonial fortress of Los Adaes in modern-day Louisiana, were intended to protect women and infants against the evil eye during childbirth. The reflect the fear, conflict, and struggle over control of sex and reproduction, as well as good and evil magic, at a remote colonial outpost.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 16: The "PW" Hadley Chest, 1690-1710
Unlocked for the public, after one year for patrons only:
An elaborately carved oak chest of unknown origin, but marked with the initials of a young unmarried lady, exemplifies the first regional artistic style ever to arise in the American colonies -- the "Hadley Chests" of the Connecticut River valley.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Full Episode Details
Unlocked: History of the United States in 100 Objects # 14: The Winthrop Alchemical Physician's Chair
Unlocked for the public, after one year for patrons only:
--Wainscot great chair with turned and carved ornaments--Made of Oak, by unknown maker in New York or Connecticut, 1660-75--Owned by John Winthrop, Jr.; held by Connecticut Historical Society. How do the enigmatic designs on an oak chair belonging to the governor, doctor, and alchemist, John Winthrop, Jr., reflect the teeming underground world of mystical and esoteric thought in colonial southeastern New England?
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 17: The Hiawatha Belt
--Made of leather, sinew thread, and wampum (quahog shell) beads, ca. 1400s--In possession of the Onondaga Nation, central New York. This most ancient and precious ceremonial wampum belt, created by the Ondondaga tribe to record the proclamation of the Great Law of Peace at the founding of the Iroquois Confederacy (or more properly, the Haudenosaunee), was the subject of more than a century of legal wrangling, confusion, and controversy, even appearing at one point at the Chicago World's Fair, before finally returning to its home in upstate New York.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Full Episode Details
Unlocked: History of the United States in 100 Objects # 12: The Naylor Bowling Ball, 1670-1700
Unlocked after 1 year for patrons only:
America's oldest bowling ball, found in the backlot of a colonial house in Boston, and what it reveals about the Puritans' futile struggles against vice -- drunkenness, fornication, gambling, and even witchcraft.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 15: The Newport Spirit Bundle, 1700s
A small cloth sack, containing nails, beads, glass, and a cowrie shell, found under the floorboards of the garret of the oldest house in Newport, Rhode Island, points toward the continuation and adaptation of African practices in New England and throughout the complex "African Atlantic." We discuss with Michael J. Simpson, Phd student at Brown University, who is researching slavery and the slave trade in Rhode Island. Also see:
Thank you to the Newport Historical Society for their help on this installment.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Full Episode Details
UNLOCKED: History of the United States in 100 Objects # 10: The Peregrine White Cradle, ca. 1620
Made of willow wicker on a wood frame, made ca. 1620, and most likely in the Netherlands - Allegedly brought on the Mayflower; held by the Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, Mass.This rocking cradle was reportedly stowed on the Mayflower in anticipation of the birth of Peregrine White, the first English child born in New England, who came into the world as the ship was temporarily anchored in Provincetown Harbor. Passed down for centuries in the wealthy, powerful, and embattled White and Winslow families, the cradle reflects both the Pilgrims' unprecedented ambition to create a self-perpatuating European society in exile, and their strict child-rearing practices that sought to shape the infant into a miniature adult.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 13: Dutch Iron Fireback with a Robed Figure
Made of cast iron, probably in the Netherlands, ca. 1650 - found at the Schuyler Flatts, Colonie, New York - held by the New York State Museum. A mysterious fragment of an iron fireback found near the hearth of an old manor house in what was New Netherlands shows how we have misunderstood the Dutch - a people who strove for stability, domesticity, and traditional social hierarchy to link their far-flung colonies with the homeland.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Full Episode Details
Unlocked: History of the United States in 100 Objects, 8 # Pueblo Communion Chalice
Unlocked for the public after 1 year:
-Ceramic chalice, decorated in Jemez black-on-white style, with crosses
-made in pueblo of Giusewa, between 1598 and the 1630s
-found in the ruins of the Spanish mission at Giusewa, 1937
A simple pottery chalice, probably made by a local indigenous woman, reveals the early stages of interaction between Spanish missionaries and the ancient Pueblo civilization -- an intermingling that would lead to conflict, and eventually, a massive revolt that some have called "the first American Revolution."
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 11: Human-Effigy War Club, ca. 1640s
Made of Hickory wood, shells, and copper on the Atlantic coast of North America, ca. 1640s, and held in the collection of Skokloster Castle, Sweden. This elaborately carved and ornamented wooden weapon was most likely ceremonial, created by a Lenape Indian artist to represent the authority of a chieftain or warrior. But how did this priceless Native American artifact end up in the collection of a castle in Sweden? This object and its journey tell a largely forgotten story of Sweden's moment of imperial glory and ambition in the mid-1600s, which left a mysterious imprint in North America. Suggested
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 6: Bronze Cannon with Fleur-de-Lis Emblem, 1540s
About 10 ft. long-made in France, ca. 1540s-lost in shipwreck, ca. 1562-5, Located on bottom of the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Canaveral. We examine the mysteries surrounding a French bronze cannon recently discovered on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean near Florida, amidst the wreckage of an unidentified sixteenth-century fleet. The cannon and other artifacts are rare, priceless remnants of French Protestants' ill-fated attempts to colonize North America before the Spanish, and their discovery sparked a heated international legal dispute. The mysterious shipwreck gives us a window into a rare moment when Europe's vicious religious wars spilled over into the Americas. Image courtesy of Bobby Pritchett., Pres., Global Marine Exploration Inc.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 9: Bartmann Jug with Guelph Coat-of-Arms, 1600-1610
Made of salt-glazed stoneware, in Frechen, Germany, ca. 1605--Found at James Fort, Jamestown, Virginia--Held in Collection of Historic JamestowneIn some ways, this Bartmann (or "Bearded Man") stoneware beer jug with an effigy of a jovial fat man and coats of arms is typical of the wares that poured our of Germany in the 1600s, several of which were found in the long-lost ruins of James Fort, the first English fortress at Jamestown. On the other hand, a peculiar feature of its decorative crest suggests possible hidden meanings, hinting at secret Catholic sympathies threatening England's first serious effort to colonize the New World.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 4: The Maine Norse Coin
After one year, my lecture on the only authentic pre-Columbian European artifact ever found in the United States becomes public.
Created in Norway, 1069-1080 AD, during reign of King Olaf Kyrre
--Made of silver alloy
--Found at Goddard Site, Naskeag Point, Maine, dated 1100s-1200s AD
The only authentic Norse artifact ever found in the United States, this small silver coin dated to the 11th century may be an elaborate hoax, or a crucial clue to trade and contact between Europe and America in the centuries between the fall of Vinland and the arrival of Columbus.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Full Episode Details
Also see The Vikings, pt. 1 - In the Norsemen's World
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 7: The Dorion Mission Seal, ca. 1680s
Seal stamp, made of Bronze, with image of St. Catherine of Alexandria, made in Spain, ca. 1680s, possibly earlier-used by Santa Catalina de Guale mission, in Georgia and Florida, and found on Amelia Island, Florida. The only surviving Spanish mission seal ever found in the United States, this small bronze stamp was once the critical link to Spain's northernmost mission in America. Small enough to sit in the palm of the hand, the Dorion mission seal encapsulates a history of religious zealotry, conversion, and inter-imperial struggle in what is now the American southeast. Image courtesy of the History Miami Museum.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 2: Statuette of a Farming Goddess, ca. 1100 AD
Found in Monroe County, Illinois, made of bauxite or "flint clay", dated to early 12th century AD. We consider the statuette of a woman tearing into the back of a serpent (known to archaeologists as the Birger Figurine), which was found broken in pieces and buried in a pit outside of a small village site in Illinois. The figurine, despite its small size and condition, is the most exquisite piece of art surviving from the Mississippian civilization, a massive and powerful urban society that dominated the interior of North America for more than three hundred years before falling into decline and obscurity. The statuette most likely represents a goddess of death and rebirth that presided over the Mississippians' prosperous golden age.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 5: Set of Chevron-Patterned Glass Beads, ca. 1500
A set of nine chevron-patterned glass beads, made in Venice, ca. 1500, and found in Telfair County, Georgia. A fistful of Venetian glass beads may be the crucial clue to tracing the route of the first European explorer to raid and rampage through the interior of North America -- Hernando de Soto.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 3: Scarlet Macaw Feather Sash, ca. 1150 AD
A sash made of yucca rope, leather, squirrel pelt, and scarlet macaw feathers - Found in Lavender Canyon, Utah, and dated to Ancestral Pueblo Civilization, ca. 1150 AD. Made with more than 2000 tiny macaw feathers, this sash is unique in the archeological record, probably the most complex and the most personal artifact ever found from the ancestral Pueblo civilization. Also informally called "Anasazi" and known for its cliff palaces, this civilization flourished for several centuries before collapsing in the 1100s, around the time when this complex and mysterious object was left behind in a cave.
Special thanks to the Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum for their help and support and making this lecture.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 1: Panther Effigy Pipe, 200-500 AD
Panther Effigy Pipe -Found in Posey County, Indiana-Carved from Steatite-dated to the Middle Woodland Period, 200-500 AD.In the first of the series on American objects and artifacts, we examine a tobacco pipe in the form of a wildcat -- specifically a puma, whose name comes from the Quechua word for "powerful." It was most likely used in rituals by shamans or priests of the Hopewell civilization, which built enormous, mysterious ceremonial complexes resembling Stonehenge -- only lacking a source of stone, did so out of wood and earth. The effigy pipe reflects the artistic range and sophistication of the Hopewell as well as their fascination with the mythic power of animals.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects #21: The Braddock/Washington Pistol
We consider the complex history and symbolism of an elaborately decorated sidearm weapon, originally made in Bristol, England, possibly intended as a dueling pistol, which came across the ocean to America with General Edward Braddock, witnessed the catastrophic events in the Ohio valley that sparked the Seven Years' War, and which then became a prized possession of George Washington, symbolizing his relationship with the ill-starred general as well as America's fraught relationship with Britain.
Special thanks to the Bristol Archives and to Eric Gabbitas, a direct descendant of the gunsmith William Gabbitas.
Listen on SoundCloud
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects #18: Jesuit Brass Medallion with Image of Ignatius Loyola
Unlocked after one year for Patrons only:
--Made of brass, most likely in France, ca. 1720-1750
--1 inch long, with depictions of St. Ignatius Loyola & Saint Mary with Latin inscriptions
--Found in ruins of Fort Michilimackinac; in collection of Mackinac State Historic Parks, Michigan
A small brass religious medallion found in the house of a French fur trader inside a fortress on the remote Straits of Mackinac shows the immense power of small numbers of merchants and missionaries to control sprawling networks of diplomacy and trade, stretching from Europe all the way into the deep interior of North America, and to sway the course of wars and imperial power struggles.
Special thanks to Mackinac State Historic Parks and Dr. Lynn Evans for their help in producing this lecture.
Listen on SoundCloud
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 20: Silver Beaker with Devil & Pope Figures, 1750
| | History of the United States in 100 Objects # 20: Silver Beaker with Devil & Pope Figures, 1750Currently available to Patrons only, on the Patreon App and website: What do I get as a supporter?I'm already a supporter |
A silver beaker engraved with figures of Satan, the Pope, and the "Young Pretender" (also known as "Bonnie Prince Charlie") shows how French, Dutch, German, and English colonists in colonial New York united around fear of Catholicism and the Jacobite menace.
Special thanks to the Collections Team at Museum of the City of New York.
Listen on Patreon Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 19: Three Silver Higa Amulets, mid-1700s
--Three pendant amulets, in form of a forearm with closed fists
--made of silver;
---about 1/2 inch to 2/3 inch long
--found in midden at site of Spanish outpost, Los Adaes, in present-day Louisiana
--dated to 18thcentury
These three silver amulets in the form of a fist, found among the remains of the Spanish colonial fortress of Los Adaes in modern-day Louisiana, were intended to protect women and infants against the evil eye during childbirth. The reflect the fear, conflict, and struggle over control of sex and reproduction, as well as good and evil magic, at a remote colonial outpost.
Listen on SoundCloud
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 16: The "PW" Hadley Chest, 1690-1710
Unlocked for the public, after one year for patrons only:
An elaborately carved oak chest of unknown origin, but marked with the initials of a young unmarried lady, exemplifies the first regional artistic style ever to arise in the American colonies -- the "Hadley Chests" of the Connecticut River valley.
Listen on SoundCloud
Full Episode Details
Unlocked: History of the United States in 100 Objects # 14: The Winthrop Alchemical Physician's Chair
Unlocked for the public, after one year for patrons only:
--Wainscot great chair with turned and carved ornaments--Made of Oak, by unknown maker in New York or Connecticut, 1660-75--Owned by John Winthrop, Jr.; held by Connecticut Historical Society. How do the enigmatic designs on an oak chair belonging to the governor, doctor, and alchemist, John Winthrop, Jr., reflect the teeming underground world of mystical and esoteric thought in colonial southeastern New England?
Listen on SoundCloud
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 17: The Hiawatha Belt
--Made of leather, sinew thread, and wampum (quahog shell) beads, ca. 1400s--In possession of the Onondaga Nation, central New York. This most ancient and precious ceremonial wampum belt, created by the Ondondaga tribe to record the proclamation of the Great Law of Peace at the founding of the Iroquois Confederacy (or more properly, the Haudenosaunee), was the subject of more than a century of legal wrangling, confusion, and controversy, even appearing at one point at the Chicago World's Fair, before finally returning to its home in upstate New York.
Listen on SoundCloud
Full Episode Details
Unlocked: History of the United States in 100 Objects # 12: The Naylor Bowling Ball, 1670-1700
Unlocked after 1 year for patrons only:
America's oldest bowling ball, found in the backlot of a colonial house in Boston, and what it reveals about the Puritans' futile struggles against vice -- drunkenness, fornication, gambling, and even witchcraft.
Listen on SoundCloud
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 15: The Newport Spirit Bundle, 1700s
A small cloth sack, containing nails, beads, glass, and a cowrie shell, found under the floorboards of the garret of the oldest house in Newport, Rhode Island, points toward the continuation and adaptation of African practices in New England and throughout the complex "African Atlantic." We discuss with Michael J. Simpson, Phd student at Brown University, who is researching slavery and the slave trade in Rhode Island. Also see:
Thank you to the Newport Historical Society for their help on this installment.
Listen on SoundCloud
Full Episode Details
UNLOCKED: History of the United States in 100 Objects # 10: The Peregrine White Cradle, ca. 1620
Made of willow wicker on a wood frame, made ca. 1620, and most likely in the Netherlands - Allegedly brought on the Mayflower; held by the Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, Mass.This rocking cradle was reportedly stowed on the Mayflower in anticipation of the birth of Peregrine White, the first English child born in New England, who came into the world as the ship was temporarily anchored in Provincetown Harbor. Passed down for centuries in the wealthy, powerful, and embattled White and Winslow families, the cradle reflects both the Pilgrims' unprecedented ambition to create a self-perpatuating European society in exile, and their strict child-rearing practices that sought to shape the infant into a miniature adult.
Listen on SoundCloud
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 13: Dutch Iron Fireback with a Robed Figure
Made of cast iron, probably in the Netherlands, ca. 1650 - found at the Schuyler Flatts, Colonie, New York - held by the New York State Museum. A mysterious fragment of an iron fireback found near the hearth of an old manor house in what was New Netherlands shows how we have misunderstood the Dutch - a people who strove for stability, domesticity, and traditional social hierarchy to link their far-flung colonies with the homeland.
Listen on SoundCloud
Full Episode Details
Unlocked: History of the United States in 100 Objects, 8 # Pueblo Communion Chalice
Unlocked for the public after 1 year:
-Ceramic chalice, decorated in Jemez black-on-white style, with crosses
-made in pueblo of Giusewa, between 1598 and the 1630s
-found in the ruins of the Spanish mission at Giusewa, 1937
A simple pottery chalice, probably made by a local indigenous woman, reveals the early stages of interaction between Spanish missionaries and the ancient Pueblo civilization -- an intermingling that would lead to conflict, and eventually, a massive revolt that some have called "the first American Revolution."
Listen on SoundCloud
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 11: Human-Effigy War Club, ca. 1640s
Made of Hickory wood, shells, and copper on the Atlantic coast of North America, ca. 1640s, and held in the collection of Skokloster Castle, Sweden. This elaborately carved and ornamented wooden weapon was most likely ceremonial, created by a Lenape Indian artist to represent the authority of a chieftain or warrior. But how did this priceless Native American artifact end up in the collection of a castle in Sweden? This object and its journey tell a largely forgotten story of Sweden's moment of imperial glory and ambition in the mid-1600s, which left a mysterious imprint in North America. Suggested
Listen on SoundCloud
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 6: Bronze Cannon with Fleur-de-Lis Emblem, 1540s
About 10 ft. long-made in France, ca. 1540s-lost in shipwreck, ca. 1562-5, Located on bottom of the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Canaveral. We examine the mysteries surrounding a French bronze cannon recently discovered on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean near Florida, amidst the wreckage of an unidentified sixteenth-century fleet. The cannon and other artifacts are rare, priceless remnants of French Protestants' ill-fated attempts to colonize North America before the Spanish, and their discovery sparked a heated international legal dispute. The mysterious shipwreck gives us a window into a rare moment when Europe's vicious religious wars spilled over into the Americas. Image courtesy of Bobby Pritchett., Pres., Global Marine Exploration Inc.
Listen on SoundCloud
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 9: Bartmann Jug with Guelph Coat-of-Arms, 1600-1610
Made of salt-glazed stoneware, in Frechen, Germany, ca. 1605--Found at James Fort, Jamestown, Virginia--Held in Collection of Historic JamestowneIn some ways, this Bartmann (or "Bearded Man") stoneware beer jug with an effigy of a jovial fat man and coats of arms is typical of the wares that poured our of Germany in the 1600s, several of which were found in the long-lost ruins of James Fort, the first English fortress at Jamestown. On the other hand, a peculiar feature of its decorative crest suggests possible hidden meanings, hinting at secret Catholic sympathies threatening England's first serious effort to colonize the New World.
Listen on SoundCloud
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 4: The Maine Norse Coin
After one year, my lecture on the only authentic pre-Columbian European artifact ever found in the United States becomes public.
Created in Norway, 1069-1080 AD, during reign of King Olaf Kyrre
--Made of silver alloy
--Found at Goddard Site, Naskeag Point, Maine, dated 1100s-1200s AD
The only authentic Norse artifact ever found in the United States, this small silver coin dated to the 11th century may be an elaborate hoax, or a crucial clue to trade and contact between Europe and America in the centuries between the fall of Vinland and the arrival of Columbus.
Listen on SoundCloud
Full Episode Details
Also see The Vikings, pt. 1 - In the Norsemen's World
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 7: The Dorion Mission Seal, ca. 1680s
Seal stamp, made of Bronze, with image of St. Catherine of Alexandria, made in Spain, ca. 1680s, possibly earlier-used by Santa Catalina de Guale mission, in Georgia and Florida, and found on Amelia Island, Florida. The only surviving Spanish mission seal ever found in the United States, this small bronze stamp was once the critical link to Spain's northernmost mission in America. Small enough to sit in the palm of the hand, the Dorion mission seal encapsulates a history of religious zealotry, conversion, and inter-imperial struggle in what is now the American southeast. Image courtesy of the History Miami Museum.
Listen on SoundCloud
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 2: Statuette of a Farming Goddess, ca. 1100 AD
Found in Monroe County, Illinois, made of bauxite or "flint clay", dated to early 12th century AD. We consider the statuette of a woman tearing into the back of a serpent (known to archaeologists as the Birger Figurine), which was found broken in pieces and buried in a pit outside of a small village site in Illinois. The figurine, despite its small size and condition, is the most exquisite piece of art surviving from the Mississippian civilization, a massive and powerful urban society that dominated the interior of North America for more than three hundred years before falling into decline and obscurity. The statuette most likely represents a goddess of death and rebirth that presided over the Mississippians' prosperous golden age.
Listen on SoundCloud
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 5: Set of Chevron-Patterned Glass Beads, ca. 1500
A set of nine chevron-patterned glass beads, made in Venice, ca. 1500, and found in Telfair County, Georgia. A fistful of Venetian glass beads may be the crucial clue to tracing the route of the first European explorer to raid and rampage through the interior of North America -- Hernando de Soto.
Listen on SoundCloud
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 3: Scarlet Macaw Feather Sash, ca. 1150 AD
A sash made of yucca rope, leather, squirrel pelt, and scarlet macaw feathers - Found in Lavender Canyon, Utah, and dated to Ancestral Pueblo Civilization, ca. 1150 AD. Made with more than 2000 tiny macaw feathers, this sash is unique in the archeological record, probably the most complex and the most personal artifact ever found from the ancestral Pueblo civilization. Also informally called "Anasazi" and known for its cliff palaces, this civilization flourished for several centuries before collapsing in the 1100s, around the time when this complex and mysterious object was left behind in a cave.
Special thanks to the Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum for their help and support and making this lecture.
Listen on SoundCloud
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 1: Panther Effigy Pipe, 200-500 AD
Panther Effigy Pipe -Found in Posey County, Indiana-Carved from Steatite-dated to the Middle Woodland Period, 200-500 AD.In the first of the series on American objects and artifacts, we examine a tobacco pipe in the form of a wildcat -- specifically a puma, whose name comes from the Quechua word for "powerful." It was most likely used in rituals by shamans or priests of the Hopewell civilization, which built enormous, mysterious ceremonial complexes resembling Stonehenge -- only lacking a source of stone, did so out of wood and earth. The effigy pipe reflects the artistic range and sophistication of the Hopewell as well as their fascination with the mythic power of animals.
Listen on SoundCloud
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 20: Silver Beaker with Devil & Pope Figures, 1750
| | History of the United States in 100 Objects # 20: Silver Beaker with Devil & Pope Figures, 1750Currently available to Patrons only, on the Patreon App and website: What do I get as a supporter?I'm already a supporter |
A silver beaker engraved with figures of Satan, the Pope, and the "Young Pretender" (also known as "Bonnie Prince Charlie") shows how French, Dutch, German, and English colonists in colonial New York united around fear of Catholicism and the Jacobite menace.
Special thanks to the Collections Team at Museum of the City of New York.
Listen on Patreon Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects #21: The Braddock/Washington Pistol
We consider the complex history and symbolism of an elaborately decorated sidearm weapon, originally made in Bristol, England, possibly intended as a dueling pistol, which came across the ocean to America with General Edward Braddock, witnessed the catastrophic events in the Ohio valley that sparked the Seven Years' War, and which then became a prized possession of George Washington, symbolizing his relationship with the ill-starred general as well as America's fraught relationship with Britain.
Special thanks to the Bristol Archives and to Eric Gabbitas, a direct descendant of the gunsmith William Gabbitas.
Listen on YouTube
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects #18: Jesuit Brass Medallion with Image of Ignatius Loyola
Unlocked after one year for Patrons only:
--Made of brass, most likely in France, ca. 1720-1750
--1 inch long, with depictions of St. Ignatius Loyola & Saint Mary with Latin inscriptions
--Found in ruins of Fort Michilimackinac; in collection of Mackinac State Historic Parks, Michigan
A small brass religious medallion found in the house of a French fur trader inside a fortress on the remote Straits of Mackinac shows the immense power of small numbers of merchants and missionaries to control sprawling networks of diplomacy and trade, stretching from Europe all the way into the deep interior of North America, and to sway the course of wars and imperial power struggles.
Special thanks to Mackinac State Historic Parks and Dr. Lynn Evans for their help in producing this lecture.
Listen on YouTube
Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 20: Silver Beaker with Devil & Pope Figures, 1750
| | History of the United States in 100 Objects # 20: Silver Beaker with Devil & Pope Figures, 1750Currently available to Patrons only, on the Patreon App and website: What do I get as a supporter?I'm already a supporter |
A silver beaker engraved with figures of Satan, the Pope, and the "Young Pretender" (also known as "Bonnie Prince Charlie") shows how French, Dutch, German, and English colonists in colonial New York united around fear of Catholicism and the Jacobite menace.
Special thanks to the Collections Team at Museum of the City of New York.
Listen on Patreon Full Episode Details
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 19: Three Silver Higa Amulets, mid-1700s
--Three pendant amulets, in form of a forearm with closed fists
--made of silver;
---about 1/2 inch to 2/3 inch long
--found in midden at site of Spanish outpost, Los Adaes, in present-day Louisiana
--dated to 18thcentury
These three silver amulets in the form of a fist, found among the remains of the Spanish colonial fortress of Los Adaes in modern-day Louisiana, were intended to protect women and infants against the evil eye during childbirth. The reflect the fear, conflict, and struggle over control of sex and reproduction, as well as good and evil magic, at a remote colonial outpost.
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History of the United States in 100 Objects # 16: The "PW" Hadley Chest, 1690-1710
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An elaborately carved oak chest of unknown origin, but marked with the initials of a young unmarried lady, exemplifies the first regional artistic style ever to arise in the American colonies -- the "Hadley Chests" of the Connecticut River valley.
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Unlocked: History of the United States in 100 Objects # 14: The Winthrop Alchemical Physician's Chair
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--Wainscot great chair with turned and carved ornaments--Made of Oak, by unknown maker in New York or Connecticut, 1660-75--Owned by John Winthrop, Jr.; held by Connecticut Historical Society. How do the enigmatic designs on an oak chair belonging to the governor, doctor, and alchemist, John Winthrop, Jr., reflect the teeming underground world of mystical and esoteric thought in colonial southeastern New England?
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History of the United States in 100 Objects # 17: The Hiawatha Belt
--Made of leather, sinew thread, and wampum (quahog shell) beads, ca. 1400s--In possession of the Onondaga Nation, central New York. This most ancient and precious ceremonial wampum belt, created by the Ondondaga tribe to record the proclamation of the Great Law of Peace at the founding of the Iroquois Confederacy (or more properly, the Haudenosaunee), was the subject of more than a century of legal wrangling, confusion, and controversy, even appearing at one point at the Chicago World's Fair, before finally returning to its home in upstate New York.
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Unlocked: History of the United States in 100 Objects # 12: The Naylor Bowling Ball, 1670-1700
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America's oldest bowling ball, found in the backlot of a colonial house in Boston, and what it reveals about the Puritans' futile struggles against vice -- drunkenness, fornication, gambling, and even witchcraft.
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History of the United States in 100 Objects # 15: The Newport Spirit Bundle, 1700s
A small cloth sack, containing nails, beads, glass, and a cowrie shell, found under the floorboards of the garret of the oldest house in Newport, Rhode Island, points toward the continuation and adaptation of African practices in New England and throughout the complex "African Atlantic." We discuss with Michael J. Simpson, Phd student at Brown University, who is researching slavery and the slave trade in Rhode Island. Also see:
Thank you to the Newport Historical Society for their help on this installment.
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UNLOCKED: History of the United States in 100 Objects # 10: The Peregrine White Cradle, ca. 1620
Made of willow wicker on a wood frame, made ca. 1620, and most likely in the Netherlands - Allegedly brought on the Mayflower; held by the Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, Mass.This rocking cradle was reportedly stowed on the Mayflower in anticipation of the birth of Peregrine White, the first English child born in New England, who came into the world as the ship was temporarily anchored in Provincetown Harbor. Passed down for centuries in the wealthy, powerful, and embattled White and Winslow families, the cradle reflects both the Pilgrims' unprecedented ambition to create a self-perpatuating European society in exile, and their strict child-rearing practices that sought to shape the infant into a miniature adult.
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History of the United States in 100 Objects # 13: Dutch Iron Fireback with a Robed Figure
Made of cast iron, probably in the Netherlands, ca. 1650 - found at the Schuyler Flatts, Colonie, New York - held by the New York State Museum. A mysterious fragment of an iron fireback found near the hearth of an old manor house in what was New Netherlands shows how we have misunderstood the Dutch - a people who strove for stability, domesticity, and traditional social hierarchy to link their far-flung colonies with the homeland.
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Unlocked: History of the United States in 100 Objects, 8 # Pueblo Communion Chalice
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-Ceramic chalice, decorated in Jemez black-on-white style, with crosses
-made in pueblo of Giusewa, between 1598 and the 1630s
-found in the ruins of the Spanish mission at Giusewa, 1937
A simple pottery chalice, probably made by a local indigenous woman, reveals the early stages of interaction between Spanish missionaries and the ancient Pueblo civilization -- an intermingling that would lead to conflict, and eventually, a massive revolt that some have called "the first American Revolution."
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History of the United States in 100 Objects # 11: Human-Effigy War Club, ca. 1640s
Made of Hickory wood, shells, and copper on the Atlantic coast of North America, ca. 1640s, and held in the collection of Skokloster Castle, Sweden. This elaborately carved and ornamented wooden weapon was most likely ceremonial, created by a Lenape Indian artist to represent the authority of a chieftain or warrior. But how did this priceless Native American artifact end up in the collection of a castle in Sweden? This object and its journey tell a largely forgotten story of Sweden's moment of imperial glory and ambition in the mid-1600s, which left a mysterious imprint in North America. Suggested
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History of the United States in 100 Objects # 6: Bronze Cannon with Fleur-de-Lis Emblem, 1540s
About 10 ft. long-made in France, ca. 1540s-lost in shipwreck, ca. 1562-5, Located on bottom of the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Canaveral. We examine the mysteries surrounding a French bronze cannon recently discovered on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean near Florida, amidst the wreckage of an unidentified sixteenth-century fleet. The cannon and other artifacts are rare, priceless remnants of French Protestants' ill-fated attempts to colonize North America before the Spanish, and their discovery sparked a heated international legal dispute. The mysterious shipwreck gives us a window into a rare moment when Europe's vicious religious wars spilled over into the Americas. Image courtesy of Bobby Pritchett., Pres., Global Marine Exploration Inc.
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History of the United States in 100 Objects # 9: Bartmann Jug with Guelph Coat-of-Arms, 1600-1610
Made of salt-glazed stoneware, in Frechen, Germany, ca. 1605--Found at James Fort, Jamestown, Virginia--Held in Collection of Historic JamestowneIn some ways, this Bartmann (or "Bearded Man") stoneware beer jug with an effigy of a jovial fat man and coats of arms is typical of the wares that poured our of Germany in the 1600s, several of which were found in the long-lost ruins of James Fort, the first English fortress at Jamestown. On the other hand, a peculiar feature of its decorative crest suggests possible hidden meanings, hinting at secret Catholic sympathies threatening England's first serious effort to colonize the New World.
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History of the United States in 100 Objects # 4: The Maine Norse Coin
After one year, my lecture on the only authentic pre-Columbian European artifact ever found in the United States becomes public.
Created in Norway, 1069-1080 AD, during reign of King Olaf Kyrre
--Made of silver alloy
--Found at Goddard Site, Naskeag Point, Maine, dated 1100s-1200s AD
The only authentic Norse artifact ever found in the United States, this small silver coin dated to the 11th century may be an elaborate hoax, or a crucial clue to trade and contact between Europe and America in the centuries between the fall of Vinland and the arrival of Columbus.
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Also see The Vikings, pt. 1 - In the Norsemen's World
History of the United States in 100 Objects # 7: The Dorion Mission Seal, ca. 1680s
Seal stamp, made of Bronze, with image of St. Catherine of Alexandria, made in Spain, ca. 1680s, possibly earlier-used by Santa Catalina de Guale mission, in Georgia and Florida, and found on Amelia Island, Florida. The only surviving Spanish mission seal ever found in the United States, this small bronze stamp was once the critical link to Spain's northernmost mission in America. Small enough to sit in the palm of the hand, the Dorion mission seal encapsulates a history of religious zealotry, conversion, and inter-imperial struggle in what is now the American southeast. Image courtesy of the History Miami Museum.
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History of the United States in 100 Objects # 2: Statuette of a Farming Goddess, ca. 1100 AD
Found in Monroe County, Illinois, made of bauxite or "flint clay", dated to early 12th century AD. We consider the statuette of a woman tearing into the back of a serpent (known to archaeologists as the Birger Figurine), which was found broken in pieces and buried in a pit outside of a small village site in Illinois. The figurine, despite its small size and condition, is the most exquisite piece of art surviving from the Mississippian civilization, a massive and powerful urban society that dominated the interior of North America for more than three hundred years before falling into decline and obscurity. The statuette most likely represents a goddess of death and rebirth that presided over the Mississippians' prosperous golden age.
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History of the United States in 100 Objects # 5: Set of Chevron-Patterned Glass Beads, ca. 1500
A set of nine chevron-patterned glass beads, made in Venice, ca. 1500, and found in Telfair County, Georgia. A fistful of Venetian glass beads may be the crucial clue to tracing the route of the first European explorer to raid and rampage through the interior of North America -- Hernando de Soto.
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History of the United States in 100 Objects # 3: Scarlet Macaw Feather Sash, ca. 1150 AD
A sash made of yucca rope, leather, squirrel pelt, and scarlet macaw feathers - Found in Lavender Canyon, Utah, and dated to Ancestral Pueblo Civilization, ca. 1150 AD. Made with more than 2000 tiny macaw feathers, this sash is unique in the archeological record, probably the most complex and the most personal artifact ever found from the ancestral Pueblo civilization. Also informally called "Anasazi" and known for its cliff palaces, this civilization flourished for several centuries before collapsing in the 1100s, around the time when this complex and mysterious object was left behind in a cave.
Special thanks to the Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum for their help and support and making this lecture.
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History of the United States in 100 Objects # 1: Panther Effigy Pipe, 200-500 AD
Panther Effigy Pipe -Found in Posey County, Indiana-Carved from Steatite-dated to the Middle Woodland Period, 200-500 AD.In the first of the series on American objects and artifacts, we examine a tobacco pipe in the form of a wildcat -- specifically a puma, whose name comes from the Quechua word for "powerful." It was most likely used in rituals by shamans or priests of the Hopewell civilization, which built enormous, mysterious ceremonial complexes resembling Stonehenge -- only lacking a source of stone, did so out of wood and earth. The effigy pipe reflects the artistic range and sophistication of the Hopewell as well as their fascination with the mythic power of animals.
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