Podcast unburies the past
WESTPORT — There’s a new podcast coming to listeners from a partnership between the Westport Museum for History and Culture and Verso Studios at the Westport Library.
It’s called “Buried in Our Past,” and according to E.J. Crawford, the library’s marketing and communications director, it focuses “on the histories all around us that have been lost to time.”
Ramin Ganeshram, historian and exec
utive director of the Westport Museum for History and Culture, typically hosts the podcast alongside Greg Porretta, a member of the museum board who is a Julliard-trained actor, though there are opportunities for others to join.
The first episode came out on Nov. 21, called “The True Story of Thanksgiving,” and there are plans to release a new episode each month.
Ganeshram said staff members Nicole Carpenter and Catherine Graham talked to her last year about a podcast where they would tell a story from history to somebody who doesn’t know it.
“This is what we do every day at the museum,” Ganeshram said. “Our mission is to uncover hidden truths and to reintroduce people who have been omitted from the narrative over time.”
She said she contacted Bill Harmer, executive director of the library, about using the library’s studio to create the podcast. She said he loved the idea, and that’s how it came to be.
Originally, Ganeshram thought of having a rotating cast of hosts. After talking with members of the library, they said the podcast would need consistency, so they went with her and Porretta.
Ganeshram said there is an episode already recorded with Harmer, but it won’t debut until about February, as the unreleased topic has to do with an upcoming exhibit at the museum.
“Often, when you sit down and try to immediately formalize it, you just take the creative spirit out of it,” Ganeshram said about how they created the episodes.
Travis Bell, manager of the sound studios and producer of the podcast, said they recorded the first episode live, without edits, which made it authentic.
“That was, I think, what kept the spirit of this feeling very genuine,” Bell said. “(Ganeshram) had this idea, but it kind of morphed. It’s just having this conversation, and you’re, as the podcast listener, kind of just eavesdropping.”
Ganeshram said it is a goal for the museum and library to work together “to leverage our individual strengths and support each other.”
Many of the topics the podcast explores are already part of her daily work at the museum, she said.
“There’s so much untapped, unknown information in this town,” Ganeshram said. “This town is an exemplar not just for Connecticut, but for the East Coast, for the original 13 colonies, for the entire United States.”
She said museum staff will
often find surprising information, such as in the archives.
“This podcast and this ability to reveal this information this way is, I think, public history at its very best,” she said.
Ganeshram said not everything they find in archives would make it into an exhibit, but it is still the basis of a story.
“This is a great way to get this material out,” she said about the podcast.
The first episode focuses exactly on its title.
Bell said they decided to choose that as the pilot because of the timing and the educational aspect.
“There was an amazing story to be told,” he said.
Ganeshram also said it made sense to start in November because
the story of Thanksgiving is a foundational idea of the U.S.
“This foundational idea is a complete myth,” she said. “Since we are in the business of using history to get people to think critically about the present, I felt like, ‘Yeah, if we could do it in November to start, that’s a perfect time.’ ”
Crawford said the premise of the pilot sets listeners up for what’s to come with future episodes.
“It sets the tone,” Bell said. The podcast has the ability to challenge “siloed thinking,” Ganeshram said.
“Interrupting that siloed thinking is critical for the future of not just this town, but our nation,” she said. “We’re very divided.”
She added the podcasters felt if they could present facts in a nonthreatening way, then maybe people would start to think a little differently.
“It could open up avenues for conversation,” she said. “You need conversation to have civic discourse. You need civic discourse to have a viable democracy.”
She said other libraries may even hear the podcast and be inspired to create something similar with a museum partnership.
Bell said the podcast could also inspire other local experts to have a voice through their own podcast.
Ganeshram said she hopes people listen to this podcast and become inspired to research more about the topics. She also hopes educators become inspired to utilize it.
“There’s pressure on educators to not talk about actual facts of history that are very difficult,” she said.
She said they could even play it in class.
“If we could assist them in that way, that’s a mark of success,” Ganeshram said.
Ganeshram said the December episode is “really cool,” though the release date is undetermined. It is expected to come out before the holidays.
“Buried in Our Past” is out on multiple podcast platforms, YouTube and the library and museum websites.