234 episodes

Conversations at the Washington Library is the premier podcast about George Washington and his Early American world.

Conversations at the Washington Library George Washington's Mount Vernon

    • History
    • 4.6 • 84 Ratings

Conversations at the Washington Library is the premier podcast about George Washington and his Early American world.

    NOW AVAILABLE: Inventing the Presidency

    NOW AVAILABLE: 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 at the Constitutional Convention to Washington’s final warnings in his Farewell Address, we will break down how one man shaped the Presidency—and the many times that it could have all fallen apart.



    Learn more at ⁠www.georgewashingtonpodcast.com.

    • 1 min
    229. A Final Conversation with Dr. James Ambuske

    229. A Final Conversation with Dr. James Ambuske

    In this final episode of Conversations at the Washington Library, Drs. Anne Fertig and Alexandra Montgomery bid farewell to former Digital Historian and host, Dr. James Ambuske, through a retrospective of his time and work at the George Washington Podcast Network.

    • 53 min
    228. Editing the Adams Family Papers with Dr. Sara Georgini

    228. Editing the Adams Family Papers with Dr. Sara Georgini

    The Adams Family is one of the more prominent families in American history. They were at the center of the American Revolution, they helped create a new republic, shaped the young nation’s foreign policy, and later were central to the development of the history profession.

    Fortunately, we know much about their lives because of the countless letters and diaries they’ve left us. And it is up to a team of editors at the Massachusetts Historical Society to help us make sense of it all.

    On today’s show, Dr. Sara Georgini joins Jim Ambuske to talk about what it’s like to edit the Adams Family Papers and the questions they help us answer.

    Georgini is Series Editor for The Papers of John Adams, and she is also the author of Household Gods: The Religious Lives of the Adams Family, published by Oxford University Press in 2018.

    We’re joined today by co-host Dr. Anne Fertig, the Washington Library’s Digital Projects Editor.

    • 43 min
    227. Welcoming a Deserving Brother with Mark Tabbert

    227. Welcoming a Deserving Brother with Mark Tabbert

    In 1752, George Washington joined the Masonic Lodge in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He was just twenty years old.
    Despite his early interest in masonry, Washington was not as active in the organization as some might imagine, but Masonic Lodges became important sites of social gathering for men in early America. And while masons and masonic rituals played important roles in the American Revolution and in the early days of the Republic, you won’t find any conspiracy theories here.
    On today’s show, Mark Tabbert joins Jim Ambusketo discuss his new book, A Deserving Brother: George Washington and Freemasonry, published by the University of Virginia Press in 2022.
    Tabbert is Director of Archives and Exhibits at The George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia.

    • 25 min
    226. Cross-examining Washington's Heir with Prof. Gerard Magliocca

    226. Cross-examining Washington's Heir with Prof. Gerard Magliocca

    When George Washington wrote his final will in the months before he died in December 1799, he named Bushrod Washington as heir to his papers and to Mount Vernon. He took possession of his uncle’s Virginia plantation when Martha Washington passed away in 1802.
    But Bushrod was not as interested in agriculture as George had been. He was a lawyer who later became an Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court, where he became a staunch ally of Chief Justice John Marshall. Yet, like George, Bushrod owned numerous enslaved people and became one of the founding members of the American Colonization Society, an organization dedicated to resettling freed people in Africa.
    On today’s show, Professor Gerard Magliocca joins Jim Ambuske to discuss his new book, Washington’s Heir: The Life of Justice Bushrod Washington, published by Oxford University Press in 2022.
    Magliocca is the Samuel R. Rosen Professor at the Robert H. McKinney School of Law at Indiana University.

    • 42 min
    225. Doing Public History with Dr. Anne Fertig

    225. Doing Public History with Dr. Anne Fertig

    Why is the way that we remember the past oftentimes different than historical reality? And how can we use public history to inform conversations in the present about events that took place centuries earlier?

    On today’s episode, Jim Ambuske introduces you to Dr. Anne Fertig, our newest colleague here at the Washington Library, who will help us think through some of these questions.

    Dr. Fertig is a specialist in eighteenth century literature, historical memory, and women’s history. She’s the founder and co-director of Jane Austen & Co., a lecture series about Jane Austen and her broader world, and she is our new Digital Projects Editor at the Washington Library.

    • 27 min

Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5
84 Ratings

84 Ratings

Dvdbssn ,

One of my favorites

This is a great podcast! I look forward to every new episode.

Spinning Yarns ,

A lovely program

This is a wonderful podcast. I appreciate hearing about early America and a variety of histories that shaped George Washington’s world from outstanding guests.

Jpa1622 ,

Great show!

Great show!

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