Before Your Time

James Wilson is an almost mythical figure in Vermont History, reputedly a lone genius who created the first globe in America. For several years, the Vermont Historical Society researched more about W…

Vermont's water quality has long been a top concern for scientists and residents, and in the 1980s it reached national attention as acid rain came to the forefront of public understanding. What is ac…

The “Library Map of Vermont” was created in 1914 to track all 225 brick and mortar libraries as well as 267 traveling library stations around the state. In this episode we’ll ask; Can a map truly sho…

Vermont's extensive old-growth forests drew representatives from the King's Navy looking for mast trees. What can their map of timber resources tell us about our relationship to the land, how Vermont…

In the summer of 1829, three Army surveyors created a map exploring a potential canal route that would have connected Lake Champlain and the Connecticut River. "Canal Fever" was gripping the region, …

Technological improvements, from butter churns to electricity, transformed life on Vermont farms from the 1890s through the mid-20th century. Many of these changes eased the workload of Vermont's fa…

People speaking Spanish as they milk cows may not fit our traditional image of a Vermont farm. But workers from Mexico and Central America are crucial to the state’s economy. And such migrant labor h…

Though said to be extinct, catamounts live on in the minds of many Vermonters. In this episode we retrace a Barnard panther hunt from 1881 and consider the hold that these big cats continue to have o…

We examine some of the products that people have mailed from and to Vermont, from maple syrup to complete houses and almost everything in between. Includes segments about a sugarmaker in East Barnard…

Vermont’s Green Up Day celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. In 1970, the day featured closed interstate highways, coerced schoolchildren, and shouted encouragement from a buzzing Cessna. 

Many different groups of people, from many different continents, have helped build our state. But from the 19th century through 2019, the stories of immigrants have largely been excluded from the pop…

It’s a shame that some of the things we record get edited out of our stories. So here’s an episode of lost clips: bike whistles, pewter purists, halfway houses on the border, needlework, and the grav…

Queer lives and queer histories in Vermont were often kept private for good reason: the fear of losing one’s job, home, or family. The fear of violence. But it’s important to know that LGBTQ people a…

It can seem like every town in Vermont once had a pharmacist brewing their own special blend of medicine. Some of these cures were derived from herbal folk remedies. Others were created from a lot of…