Episodes

Oct. 22, 2024

NOW AVAILABLE: Leadership and Legacy: Conversations at the George Washington Library

New from the Washington Presidential Library, Leadership and Legacy invites prominent leaders and historians to reflect on their growth, challenges, and innovative approaches that made them the leaders that they are today, as...

March 12, 2024

LISTEN NOW: Inventing the Presidency

Now Available on all platforms! In this new podcast from the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon, we'll explore George Washington as both President and precedent. From the very origins of the US presidency ...

Oct. 23, 2023

A Presidential Primer

The State of the Union address may be an annual tradition now, but when Washington prepared to give his address in 1790, the expectations weighed heavily upon him. To prepare for this momentous occasion, Washington turned, pen in hand, back to the Constitution itself. In this episode of The Secrets…

Guests: Curt Dahl , Anne Fertig, PhD , Douglas Bradburn, PhD

Oct. 9, 2023

A Gift from Spain

Washington bought a copy of Don Quixote on the last day of the Constitutional Convention. But what is so significant about this Spanish story? And what did Benjamin Franklin and the Spanish ambassador have to do with it? In this episode, Dr. Douglas Bradburn, President & CEO of George Washington's …

Guests: Curt Dahl , Anne Fertig, PhD , Douglas Bradburn, PhD

Sept. 25, 2023

A Syllabus for War

George Washington’s commitment to professionalism went hand-in-hand with his leadership as both a general and a president. He believed strongly in creating an American army that adhered to new models of professional military duty. In this episode, Dr. Joseph Stoltz explores Washington’s military ed…

Guests: Curt Dahl , Joseph Stoltz , Anne Fertig, PhD , Alexandra Montgomery

Sept. 11, 2023

An American Way of Farming

Farming was Washington’s greatest passion, and he devoted himself to the study of new and emerging agricultural practices. Associate Curator Jessie Macleod discusses how enslaved men and women at Mount Vernon put some of these innovative ideas into practice.

Guests: Curt Dahl , Jessie MacLeod , Anne Fertig, PhD

Aug. 28, 2023

"Murder Heaped Upon Murder"

A message scrawled in the leaves of an antique book may seem like a trope for a gothic novel, but it is also a hidden clue into the life of Martha Washington. Like George, Martha Washington enjoyed reading and collecting books, particularly the sensational gothic novels of the era. And these novels…

Guests: Samantha Snyder , Curt Dahl , Anne Fertig, PhD

Aug. 14, 2023

Touring Revolutionary America

Come take a journey through Revolutionary America through the eyes of a French aristocrat and natural historian. While many remember George Washington’s famous friendship with the Marquis de Lafayette, fewer are aware of his close relationship with the Marquis de Chastellux, a French soldier and po…

Guests: Iris de Rode , Curt Dahl , Anne Fertig, PhD

July 31, 2023

Mapping George Washington's America

In the early American Republic, nationhood represented more than just an ideal. It also required a novel approach to visualizing the space and geography of the new country. Washington wanted to literally put the United States of America on the map. And where better to do it than in one of the most …

Guests: Curt Dahl , Anne Fertig, PhD , Alexandra Montgomery

July 17, 2023

Faith and Freedom

In the aftermath of independence, the American branch of the Church of England faced an identity crisis. The head of the Anglican Church, after all, was the King of England. So what were the faithful Anglicans to do? Make their own American prayer book, of course. In this full-length podcast episod…

Guests: Jennifer Seiter , Curt Dahl , Anne Fertig, PhD

July 3, 2023

The Case of the Missing Magazine

When this magazine disappeared from George Washington's library, it wouldn't reappear until a hundred years later--and in the unlikeliest of places. In this episode of Secrets of Washington's Archives, research librarian Samantha Snyder uncovers the history of The Bee and its connections with Eliza…

Guests: Samantha Snyder , Curt Dahl , Anne Fertig, PhD

June 19, 2023

Learning to be George Washington

Published in 1679, The Compleat Surveyor was a textbook for those training in the field of surveying, including a young George Washington. But don’t be fooled by its simple description: its early influence on Washington would last throughout his life. In this first episode, we will explore Washingt…

Guests: Curt Dahl , Dana Stefanelli , Anne Fertig, PhD

May 18, 2023

Trailer-The Secrets of Washington's Archives

What did George Washington write in his personal copy of the Constitution? Who left behind messages inside some of Washington’s books? How did Washington learn to become a professional soldier? Mount Vernon introduces its lat...