Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchMary S. Costanza: Finding a Glimmer of Light in the Darkness
Episode 461
BBB:LHWS #052 Mary Scarpone Costanza...
...was raised Roman Catholic and claimed she never met a Jew until she went to Temple University. She devel…
8 months, 4 weeks ago
Samuel Patch Frankenfield: Laying Out the Dead
Episode 458
ABC:LHS #082-5 Samuel Patch Frankenfield...
...apprenticed as a cabinetmaker and then used his skills as a coffin manufacturer to become an undertak…
9 months ago
Dr. Thomas Hewson Bache: Cofounder of Children's Hospital
Episode 460
ABC:LHS #082-4 Thomas Hewson Bache...
...co-founded CHOP, the first children’s hospital in the United States. But he also served as a Major in the M…
9 months, 1 week ago
Daniel Pabst: Philadelphia's Top Cabinet Maker
Episode 457
ABC:LHS #082-1 Daniel Pabst...
...was a prominent 19th-century Philadelphia cabinetmaker known for his exceptional craftsmanship and distinctive de…
9 months, 1 week ago
Henry Hagert: Prosecuting Catto's Accused Killer
Episode 456
ABC:LHS #082-2 Henry Hagert...
...was the Philadelphia lawyer who unsuccessfully prosecuted the accused killer of pioneering African American leade…
9 months, 1 week ago
Martha Coston: She Had a Certain Flare (encore episode from 2020)
Episode 455
ABC:LHS #082-1 Martha Coston...
...significantly advanced maritime communication when she developed pyrotechnic signal flares that could be seen da…
9 months, 1 week ago
Happy 200th Birthday to Five Laurel Hill Residents
Episode 459
ABC:LHS #082-0 Happy 2026 200th birthday to...
...Martha Coston, who used her husband's notes and reputation to invent airborne signal flares that …
9 months, 1 week ago
James "Jimmy" Bland: From Minstrelsy to Mummery
Episode 454
BBB:LHWS #051-4 James "Jimmy" Bland...
...is NOT buried at Laurel Hill, but he serves as a logical link between minstrelsy and mummery. Many people…
9 months, 3 weeks ago
Frank Dumont: "Gentlemen Be Seated" - Standardizing Minstrelsy
Episode 451
BBB:LHWS #051-3 Frank Dumont...
...was a seminal figure in minstrel culture. He began as a performer in a troupe that set the enduring standard fo…
9 months, 3 weeks ago
Carncross & Dixey: Two Fathers of Modern Minstrelsy
Episode 452
BBB:LHWS #051-2 E.F. Dixey & John Carncross...
...were the bedrock of Philadelphia minstrelsy for more than 20 years. Many people did not feel a tr…
9 months, 3 weeks ago