Lions and tigers and bears and archaeology and elections and pandemics and quarantines and many more historic adventures await you when you take a trip in the Charleston Time Machine. If your idea of a good time is digging through old newspaper articles, advertisements, maps, death notices, genealogies, probate documents, court transcripts, city directories, photos and oral histories, the Charleston Time Machine can take you there. Or, if you don’t care for the digging but love the stories, Charleston County Public Library’s Historian Dr. Nic Butler is an intrepid guide through the archives of our varied and often troubling past. Here is a small sampling of recent adventures:
Episode 176: South Carolina’s War Against Beasts of Prey, 1693-1790
Episode 175: Recall Their Names: The Personal Identities of Enslaved South Carolinians
Episode 172: The Advent of Black Suffrage
Episode 166: Tracing the Roots of the “Charleston” Dance
Episode 158: Huckster’s Paradise: Mobile Food in Urban Charleston
The Charleston Time Machine podcast began transporting us to times past in January 2017 to help Dr. Butler’s loyal following keep up with him, even if they couldn’t come his in-person programs. Today, more than 175 episodes show us that history can shock and surprise, often repeats, and has much to teach us.
Episodes are typically 30 minutes to an hour – just right for a car ride across town, a walk around a neighborhood or park, or a diversion while performing daily chores. Downloading several episodes will make the hours fly by for your next extended car trip, and the Charleston Time Machine website features transcripts with source citations and images, so you can learn more. So pack your bags, and start time traveling today!
What is a podcast?
Think of a podcast as a radio show that you can get on the internet and listen to, pause, restart, and skip through anytime you want. You have a couple options: You can listen to a podcast through a website like CCPL’s which is called streaming; or you can download the podcast, which means it is saved to your phone, tablet, or computer so you can listen to it anytime — even without an internet connection.
To stream the Charleston Time Machine: Visit the Time Machine page (www.ccpl.org/charleston-time-machine) and choose which story you want to know more about. In each story we embed a player of that episode so you can listen as you read.
To download: Use an app and it will be delivered each week to your phone, tablet, or computer. You’ll get a fresh Time Machine podcast every Friday afternoon. We offer downloads through services you may have heard of before: Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and Tune In. Just click on the icon above of the service you want to use and click the subscribe button. It’s that easy.
Delores Schweitzer is the Branch Manager of the Wando Mount Pleasant Branch Library located at 1400 Carolina Park Blvd., 843-805-6888. www.ccpl.org
Read More: Between the Stacks: Binge Listening Charleston History | Opinion