The recording played Thursday predates Thomas Edison’s invention of the phonograph (previously thought to have recorded the first sound) by 17 years. It captured about 10 seconds of the French folksong “Au Clair De La Lune” on April 9, 1860.

Read the whole story at Informationweek…

In the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, Abraham Lincoln, a member of the Republican Party debated against Stephen Douglas, a Democrat, for the title of Senator of Illinois. Seven debates took place throughout Illinois with one main topic: slavery.

A very interesting article from History by Hilary…

More information on the Lincoln-Douglas Debates:

A map of the debates, their location and dates – http://www.nps.gov/archive/liho/debates.htm

Wikipedia article

This information was included in a pamphlet that was published by Robert Horne in London in 1666, and it is one of the earliest descriptions of Carolina, The purpose of the pamphlet was to entice English men and women to migrate to the colony, and thereby increase the value of the Proprietors’ estate.

There is even a link to the primary source.

Read the whole article at: History of American Women

Kolomoki Mounds State Park in Early County, Georgia (near Blakely), preserves one of the most impressive archaeological sites in North America. Mound A is one of the tallest and largest Native American earthworks in North America.

Read the whole story at Explore Southern History

Zelda Sayre was born in Alabama in 1900, 6th child of a prominent Southern family. She was an active child who studied ballet, was a bright but indifferent student, and in high school developed a reputation as a “speed”, the antithesis of the demure belle she was expected to be.

Read the whole story at You’re History !

This is another edition of what you the listeners want. This results are from a survey that many of you listeners took a while back.

We have a great newsletter available at: http://historyonair.mypublicsquare.com. You can even participate in this online newsletter. Email me to find out how.

• Other (write in answers) included an archive, which we now have “Episode List” on the top navigation.
• iTunes Search, this one is really a function of iTunes and they do have one now.
• More podcast, I’m always working on this one.
• Interviews, I don’t do these much (I think I have one), because I don’t have the right equipment.
• Blog with the producers and historians, not sure what this means, but there is an about page on this blog that talks about me and the podcast.
• Video Podcast, this is something that I would really like to do but I just don’t have the right equipment.
• Listener Interactive Features, I have an idea for this one, but it will take some time to implement.
• Poll on what to research next, this ties in with the previous bullet.
• Test or quiz for prizes, this is a good one that I have done in the past and want to do more of.
• Time line or index of episodes, Never really thought of doing this. If a listeners wants to volunteer to do this, that would be great.
• RSS feed, we do have one of these, otherwise its not a podcast!

The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Crude oil spread across Alaska’s coast covering 10,000 square miles. Within a week, currents and winds pushed the slick 90 miles from the site of the tanker, out of Prince William Sound into the Gulf of Alaska. It eventually reached nearly 600 miles away from the wreck, contaminating 1,500 miles of shoreline — about the length of California’s coast.

Learn more at Wikipedia.org

Very cool Flash animation of the history of the middle east and how the various empires spread through Europe. Worth a watch if you have 90 seconds. Found via Powell History Recommends.

YouTube has a pretty good reenactment of the Boston Massacre. Since it is March still, I’ll share it with you all here:

When you have some free time surf on over to The History Blog.  There is something new just about everyday.  That is something I will be trying to do in the future on this site.  Not a podcast a day mind you, but something history related that you can check out.  So, enjoy todays history site and let me know what you think in the comments.