The Alley Cast

Elfreth's Alley Museum
The Alley Cast

The Alley Cast tells the stories of the everyday people who have lived on Elfreth’s Alley and the historical forces that shaped their lives.

  1. 08/18/2021

    2.08 Laboring Philadelphians

    In our Season 2 finale, we look at the people who have been there throughout all of the other episodes—the laborers! We also try to consider what types of labor today share the physical toll and the meager wages with laborers of the past.

  2. 08/11/2021

    Episode 2.07: The Servers

    The ongoing pandemic has wreaked chaos on the restaurant industry, closing popular spots and leaving huge numbers of restaurant workers out of work. In this episode of The Alley Cast, we explore the long history of the transience of restaurant work in order to try to gain some perspective on the challenges of today.

  3. 08/04/2021

    Bonus Episode: Behind-the-Scenes Roundtable

    Taking a week off from our regular schedule and having a conversation with some of the folks who make this podcast about how this season came about.

  4. 07/28/2021

    2.06: Cabinetmakers

    Find a full transcript and sources at elfrethsalley.org/podcast/2021/7/14/episode-206-cabinetmakers

  5. 07/21/2021

    2.05: Boarding Houses

    This week we are talking about boarding houses, and we got to interview Dr. Wendy Gamber, who is one of the leading scholars on the history of the American boarding house. We trace Elfreth’s Alley’s history of boarding houses through the 18th and 19th centuries to the era when, nationally, the institution came under fire. Yet even when the boarding house seemed to fade into the sands of time, we see emerging echoes of it in the 21st century.

  6. 07/14/2021

    Episode 2.04: Working Children

    This week on The Alley Cast we turn our attention to the topic of child labor and look at the lives of some children on Elfreth’s Alley as well as the story of how understandings of childhood were changed by the national movement to reform child labor.

  7. 07/07/2021

    2.03: Building Houses, Part II

    In this episode, we continue talking about building houses in Philadelphia, from the archaeological evidence on Elfreth's Alley to lingering racial inequity in home ownership rates and in the building trades.

  8. 06/30/2021

    2.02: Building Houses, Part I

    This week, on the Alley Cast, we start our exploration of the story of building houses in Philadelphia over the past three centuries. In Part I, we talk with Alex Palma of Carpenters’ Hall and Rachel Schade, architect and professor at Drexel University, about early construction in Philadelphia. How did master builders learn their trade? Who else was involved in construction? How did the threat of fire and financial concerns such as insurance influence the design and building of houses?

See All (22)

4.6
out of 5
21 Ratings

About

The Alley Cast tells the stories of the everyday people who have lived on Elfreth’s Alley and the historical forces that shaped their lives.

Information

  • Creator
    Elfreth's Alley Museum
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2021
  • Episodes
    22
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Show Website
    The Alley Cast

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