January 27, 1925. Musher “Wild Bill” Shannon and his team of sled dogs race off into the frigid Alaskan night. He’s carrying a package of life-saving serum, wrapped in fur to keep it from freezing. There’s no time to waste: nearly 700 miles away, in the snowed-in town of Nome, children are dying of diphtheria. Twenty mushers and hundreds of dogs are about to ... Show More
Mar 16
HTW Live: Busting the Myths of Irish Immigration — Recorded at the Tenement Museum
March 18, 1879. A crowd gathers around an indoor track in Brooklyn, NY, as an Irish immigrant named Bartholomew O’Donnell attempts a strange feat: walking 80 miles in 26 hours. Newspapers claim he’s eighty years old. Lap after lap, he circles the track: smoking a pipe, sipping ho ... Show More
40m 56s
Mar 12
From Radio Diaries: Orson Welles and the Blind Soldier
Why did Orson Welles take on a murder mystery? Listen for yourself. This week, we're sharing a special preview of Orson Welles and the Blind Soldier from the podcast Radio Diaries. In this series, we learn how Welles used his platform to shed light on a crime in a small, southern ... Show More
11m 5s
Nov 2019
Balto and Togo Pt. 1: A Life-Saving Delivery
In 1925, a deadly diphtheria outbreak gripped the town of Nome, Alaska. Togo, a 12-year old Siberian Husky, was chosen to run a 674-mile relay to transport a vital case of medicine across the Alaskan interior. He’d find help in the form of an unremarkable 6-year old Husky named B ... Show More
44m 11s
Apr 2022
EP263: Life Beyond My Wildest Dreams: Professional Dog Walker and One Black Troop's Trip to Buchenwald
On this episode of Our American Stories, Ryan Stewart shares his story of how canines have helped him get through life's adversities. Rona Simmons, author of The Other Veterans Of World War II, Stories from Behind the Front Lines, tells the story of Bill Scott, an African America ... Show More
38m 13s