Ever wondering what a historian would have to say about that movie, video game, or museum? Well, look no further! On each episode of Off-Campus History, I (Louis Reed-Wood, a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto) have a conversation with a fellow historian about a public representation of the area of history that they study. This representation might be a movie or TV show, a game, a museum or historic site, the school curriculum, a claim made by a politician, or something else—basically anything where the audience is the general public rather than academic historians. While part of these conversations will get into how historically accurate the item is, my plan is to get into much greater depth than just this one question.

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Episode 1: The Fernald Preserve with Steven Langlois

On our very first episode of Off-Campus History, we have a conversation about a place with a toxic history–literally. The Fernald Preserve is a nature park built on the site of a former Cold War-era uranium processing facility for nuclear weapons. From the 1950s to the 1980s, this facility outside Cincinnati, Ohio churned out materials for the American armaments program—and radioactive pollution for the surrounding residents. To help me make sense of this place’s history, and the effort to cover things up (in the most literal sense possible), I’m joined by Steven Langlois. Steven is a PhD student at the University of Alberta who is an expert in the environmental history of the nuclear weapons program in Cold War America.

Off-Campus History is available via the link above, as well as on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music/Audible, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, and Listen Notes. 

Feature Image: “White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)” by acryptozoo is licensed under CC BY 2.0. Fernald Preserve, Harrison, Ohio, 2013.