What’s Old is News is a podcast hosted and produced by Sean Graham, exploring how current events are shaped by history. Each week, Sean will be joined by historians, journalists, and experts to discuss some of the biggest questions in history and how the connect to major policy and cultural decisions being made today. There’s also our ‘Historical Headline of the Week’ segment, where we look at how old news continues to resonate.
Read more and subscribe to What’s Old is News here.
- Workplace Sexual Harassment – What’s Old is News
- Declassified Soviet Archives – What’s Old is News
- Women’s Hockey – What’s Old is News
- Alaska, Indigenous Resilience, & the Second World War – What’s Old is News
- Death Masks – What’s Old is News
- Women in Television – What’s Old is News
- Misinformation – What’s Old is News
- Islam in Popular Culture – What’s Old is News
- Television & American Culture – What’s Old is News
- Airports & Local History – What’s Old is News
- Prince Rupert – What’s Old is News
- Letters of the First World War – What’s Old is News
- Smoking – What’s Old is News
- School of Racism – What’s Old is News
- Passports – What’s Old is News
- How Prime Ministers Influence Identity – What’s Old is News
- Wine & War – What’s Old is News
- The Curious Case of Canadian Television – What’s Old is News
- Women’s Sports & Identity – What’s Old is News
- The Canadian Mind – What’s Old is News
- Disability Activism – What’s Old is News
- Food Insecurity in the North – What’s Old is News
- Chaotic ’35 Campaign – What’s Old is News
- Residential Schools in Labrador & Newfoundland – What’s Old is News
- The Asianadian – What’s Old is News
- ActiveHistory.ca repost – The Northwest Territories and the Manhattan Project
- Fear of a Black Nation – What’s Old is News
- Restrictive Immigration – What’s Old is News
- Building LGBTQ2+ Communities in Restaurants – What’s Old is News
- Fighting Racism Through Sport
- Film in Canada – What’s Old is News
- Modern Curling History – What’s Old is News
- Black & Immigrant Communities in Vancouver’s Hogan’s Alley
- Family Immigration to Canada – What’s Old is News
- Changing Place Names – What’s Old is News
- Sports & (De)Colonization
- Co-operative Agriculture – What’s Old is News
- Nazi Prisoners of War in Canada – What’s Old is News
- National Film Board & Nature – What’s Old is News
- Body Image Activism: What’s Old is News
- Indian Boarding School Newspapers: What’s Old is News
- The Importance of the Past – What’s Old is News
- A Samurai Suit in Fort Smith & A Blanket of Butterflies – What’s Old is News
- Substance Use, Overdose Deaths, & Shared Humanity: What’s Old is News
- John Turner & Political Leadership – What’s Old is News
- Introducing What’s Old is News
The former ActiveHistory.ca podcast, History Slam (2012-2022) was also hosted and produced by Sean Graham. You can find all the History Slam podcasts below, or by visiting on the Activehistory.ca YouTube channel.
- Prince Rupert – What’s Old is News
- History Slam 10th Anniversary Special: Life as Historians
- History Slam 220: Canada’s Abortion History
- History Slam 219: Canadiana & Historical Storytelling on the Web
- History Slam 218: Local Culture, Tourism, & PEI’s Summer Trade
- History Slam 217: Storytellers, Colonialism, and Community in the Chilcotin Plateau
- History Slam 216: Heroin & the History of Canada’s Drugs Laws & Use
- History Slam 215: Provincial Political Trends & Saskatchewan’s Transition from Left to Right
- History Slam 214: Indigenous Voices, Resources, & Learning in Canadian Classrooms
- History Slam 213: Colonial Violence, National Myths, & the Lynching of Louie Sam
- History Slam 212: Bernie Langille’s Death and the Long Journey Towards Truth, Healing, & Trust
- History Slam 211: Marcel Marceau, Movement, & the Art of Silence
- History Slam 210: Inter-Generational Healing & Love in Scratching River
- History Slam 209: The Impact of R. Buckminster Fuller’s Visit to London in From Remote Stars
- History Slam 208: The Story of Yonge St, a City’s Transformation, & The Heart of Toronto
- History Slam 207: Navigating Online (Mis)Information
- History Slam 206: Fighting Sexual Harassment in the Workplace & “It Should be Easy to Fix”
- History Slam 205: Asiniskaw Ithiniwak Storytelling & The Gift of the Little People
- History Slam 204: Cultivating Community
- History Slam 203: Flying to Extremes
- History Slam 202: The Racial Mosaic
- History Slam 201: A Canadian Canine War Hero
- History Slam 200: Disruption & Disorientation in Queer Community Sports
- History Slam 199: The Making of a Museum
- History Slam 198: Atacama
- History Slam Special: Best of 2021
- History Slam 197: History Podcaster Roundtable
- History Slam 196: Becoming Vancouver
- History Slam 195: Why Reconciliation Fails Indigenous People & How to Fix It
- History Slam 194: Mining Country
- History Slam 193: The Bad Detective
- History Slam 192: Challenging Sex Discrimination in the Indian Act
- History Slam 191: #BlackinSchool
- History Slam 190: Not for King or Country
- History Slam 189: Historians’ Road Trip Playlists
- History Slam 188: Wagon Road North
- History Slam 187: The Line Between Innovation & Cheating in Curling History
- History Slam 186: Canada’s LGBTQ2+ History at the ArQuives
- History Slam 185: Ottawa’s LGBTQ2+ History & the Village Legacy Project
- History Slam 184: The Past & Present of Strathcona Park
- History Slam 183: American Refugees
- History Slam 182: Shelter
- History Slam 181: Always Pack a Candle
- History Slam 180: Gold Fever & Disaster in the Klondike
- History Slam 179: Civilians at the Sharp End
- History Slam Episode 178: The People of Social Work
- History Slam Episode 177: Imagining a New We
- History Slam Episode 176: The Third Man
- History Slam Episode 175: The Burden of Gravity
- History Slam Episode 174: Captain Cook Rediscovered
- History Slam Episode 173: How We Helped
- History Slam Episode 172: Historians’ Favourite Musicals
- History Slam Episode 171: A Canadian Activist in Spain’s Civil War
- History Slam Episode 170: Being Fat
- History Slam Episode 169: Jeannie’s Demise
- History Slam Episode 168: Moonless Oasis
- History Slam 166: Radical Housewives
- History Slam Episode 165: Capital Punishment, Murder, & Sexual Violence in Canada
- History Slam Episode 164: Words Have a Past
- History Slam Episode 163: Pier 21
- History Slam Episode 162: Thinking Historically
- History Slam Repost: Decoding Monuments and Memorials
- History Slam Episode 161: Identity, Race, & Sports
- History Slam Episode 160: The Kissing Fence
- History Slam Episode 159: Ethical Hacking
- History Slam Episode 158: White Appropriations of Black Masculinities in the Civil Rights Era
- History Slam Episode 157: Crown Ditch and the Prairie Castle
- History Slam Episode 156: For Home and Empire
- History Slam Episode 155: Cataloguing Culture
- History Slam Episode 154: War Junk
- History Slam Episode 153: Canada Day in the Capital During Covid
- History Slam Episode 152: When Days Are Long
- History Slam Episode 151: The Trials of Albert Stroebel
- History Slam Episode 150: Dope is Death
- History Slam Episode 149: Indigenous Self-Determination in Canadian Sport
- History Slam Episode 148: Why Political Leaders Matter
- History Slam Episode 147: Influence
- History Slam Episode 146: Enemy Alien
- History Slam Episode 145: Hamilton as Public History
- History Slam Episode 144: Finding Sally
- History Slam Episode 143: Building the Greatest Hockey Team Ever
- History Slam Episode 142: Born in Evin
- History Slam Episode 141: Golda
- History Slam Episode 140: Brotherhood
- History Slam Episode 139: Canadians and the Chinese Labour Corps in the First World War
- History Slam Episode 138 – Cheating Hitler: Surviving the Holocaust
- History Slam Episode 137: Grad School, Stress, & Mental Health
- History Slam Episode 136: Why I Like History & Being a Historian
- History Slam Episode 135: The Nature of Canada
- History Slam Episode 134: Advocate
- History Slam Episode 133: Pride, Commemoration, & Bill C-150
- History Slam Episode 132: Conversation with a D-Day Veteran
- History Slam Episode 131: Newfoundland’s Rocky Road Towards Confederation
- History Slam Episode 130: No Surrender
- History Slam Episode 129: The Making of the October Crisis
- History Slam Episode 128: A Modern History of Curling
- History Slam Episode 127: Firewater
- History Slam Episode 126: Christmas Toy Fads
- History Slam Episode 125: The Trans Generation
- History Slam Episode 124: Live at the Cellar
- History Slam Episode 123: Reconsidering Confederation
- History Slam Episode 122: The Influence of American Conservative Media
- History Slam 121: Historically Inspired Baby Names, Canadian Mash-Up Edition
- History Slam Episode 120: Decoding Monuments and Memorials
- History Slam Episode 119: Pierre Trudeau, the Constant Liberal
- History Slam Episode 118: Preserving the Civil War’s Legacy
- History Slam Episode 117: Breaching the Peace
- History Slam Episode 116: History’s Future
- History Slam Episode 115: The Oslo Diaries
- History Slam Episode 114: The Silence of Others
- History Slam Episode 113: Studying and Interpreting the Bible
- History Slam Episode 112: Use and Abuse of Patriotism in Sports
- History Slam Episode 111: From Left to Right
- History Slam 110: Blood, Sweat, and Fear
- History Slam Episode 109: Lace Up: A History of Skates in Canada
- History Slam Episode 108: The Magnificent Nahanni
- History Slam Episode 107: Heritage & Human Remains
- History Slam Episode 106: Hunting Nazi Treasure
- History Slam Episode 105: Shadow Red
- History Slam Episode 104: Taxation and Democracy
- History Slam Episode 103: Reviewing the New Canada Hall at the Canadian Museum of History
- History Slam Episode 102: Andrea Eidinger of Unwritten Histories
- History Slam Episode 101: Science of the Seance
- History Slam Episode One Hundred: History Five Years Later
- History Slam Episode Ninety-Nine: Digital History Open House
- History Slam Episode Ninety-Eight: High School History Trips
- History Slam Episode Ninety-Seven: Using & Managing Water
- History Slam Episode Ninety-Six: Fake History
- History Slam Episode Ninety-Five: Project of Heart
- History Slam Episode Ninety-Four: Surprising Deaths of the 20th Century
- History Slam Episode Ninety-Three: Towards a Prairie Atonement
- History Slam Episode Ninety-Two: The Many Deaths of Tom Thomson
- History Slam Episode Ninety-One: Teaching in China
- History Slam Episode Ninety: American Journalism
- History Slam Episode Eighty-Nine: Amiable Scoundrel
- History Slam Episode Eighty-Eight: Translation and Canadian Theatre
- History Slam Episode Eighty-Seven: Enron
- History Slam Episode Eighty-Six: Remaking the Rust Belt
- History Slam Episode Eighty-Five: Slow Scholarship
- History Slam Episode Eighty-Four: Art History & General Idea
- History Slam Episode Eighty-Three: Disaster Citizenship
- History Slam Episode Eighty-Two: Historically Inspired Baby Names
- History Slam Episode Eighty-One: The Bank War
- History Slam Episode Eighty: Human Rights Frameworks for Health and Why They Matter
- History Slam Episode Seventy-Nine: Open Access
- History Slam Episode Seventy-Eight: Disaster Drawn
- History Slam Episode Seventy-Seven: Prime Minister’s Row
- History Slam Episode Seventy-Six: Continental Cup of Curling
- History Slam Episode Seventy-Five: Paper Cadavers
- History Slam Episode Seventy-Four: SHARIAsource
- History Slam Episode Seventy-Three: The League of Nations
- History Slam Episode Seventy-Two: Religion and Belief in British Columbia and Ontario
- History Slam Episode Seventy-One: Race, Gender, and Rap
- History Slam Episode Seventy: First Nations, Calgary Stampede, and the 1923 Raid on City Hall
- History Slam Episode Sixty-Nine: Historica Canada and Heritage Minutes Contest
- History Slam Episode Sixty-Eight: Grindstone Island and Non-Violence Resistance in Canada
- History Slam Episode Sixty-Seven: The Canadian Museum for Human Rights
- History Slam Episode Sixty-Six: Worth Fighting For
- History Slam Episode Sixty-Five: Canadian Mysteries
- History Slam Episode Sixty-Four: Canada Day & National Symbols
- History Slam Episode Sixty-Three: Metis and the Medicine Line
- History Slam Episode Sixty-Two: Congress Recap 2015
- History Slam Episode Sixty-One: The Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas and the JFK Assassination
- History Slam Episode Sixty: Studying Professional Wrestling
- History Slam Episode Fifty-Nine: Curling in Canada
- History Slam Episode Fifty-Eight: African Canadians in the U.S. Civil War
- History Slam Episode Fifty-Seven: Unlikely Diplomats: The Canadian Brigade in Germany 1951-1964
- History Slam Episode Fifty-Six: Franca Iacovetta and the 2014 Berkshire Conference
- History Slam Episode Fifty-Five: Celebrating Canada Part 2
- History Slam Episode Fifty-Four: Celebrating Canada, Part 1
- History Slam Episode Fifty-Three: What to Wear to the Birth of a Nation
- History Slam Episode Fifty-Two: Seriously! Crashes and Crises as if Women Mattered
- History Slam Episode Fifty-One: The History of Women in Science and Engineering
- History Slam Episode Fifty: Growing Up Consumers
- History Slam Episode Forty-Nine: Coming Out in the Classroom
- History Slam Episode Forty-Eight: Ian Mosby and History in the Media
- History Slam Episode Forty-Seven: Sensationalism, the Donnelly Massacre, and Small-Town Canada
- History Slam Episode Forty-Six: Ontario’s Spring Bear Hunt
- History Slam Episode Forty-Five: Verene Shepherd and Women’s History in the Caribbean
- History Slam Episode Forty-Four: Pierre Savard Conference Keynote Speaker Robert Englebert
- History Slam Episode Forty-Three: Congress 2014 Recap
- History Slam Episode Forty-Two: The Politics of Memory with Yves Frenette
- History Slam Episode Forty-One: Race, Identity, and Newfoundland Culture in Robert Chafe’s Oil and Water
- History Slam Episode Forty: The First World War at the Pierre Savard Conference
- History Slam Episode Thirty-Nine: Corpus, a play about the Holocaust, Memory, and History
- History Slam Episode Thirty-Eight: Senate Reform with James McHugh
- History Slam Episode Thirty-Seven: Historical Figure Reality Shows
- History Slam Episode Thirty-Six: Historical Thinking and Teaching History
- History Slam Episode Thirty-Five: Preserving Canadian Logos
- History Slam Episode Thirty-Four: Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch and Underground Soldier
- History Slam Episode Thirty-Three: The Wind is Not a River by Brian Payton
- History Slam Episode Thirty-Two: Historical Anecdotes
- History Slam Podcast Episode Thirty-One: Don Cummer, Brothers At War, and Historical Fiction
- History Slam Episode Thirty: The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
- History Slam Episode Twenty-Nine: Canada’s Cross-Country Train
- History Slam Episode Twenty-Eight: Sabine Wieber and Death Masks
- History Slam Episode Twenty-Seven: Heather Murray and LGBT History
- History Slam Episode Twenty-Six: The Black Panthers in Saskatchewan
- History Slam Episode Twenty-Five: Budget Cuts and the Study of History
- History Slam Episode Twenty-Four: Mary-Ellen Kelm and Rodeo in Western Canada
- History Slam Episode Twenty-Three: Congress Recap
- History Slam Episode Twenty-Two: Madeleine Kloske
- History Slam Episode Twenty-One: Marketplace at Northern Scene
- History Slam Episode Twenty: The Nantuck Brothers and Justice
- History Slam Episode Nineteen: The Dorset Seen Exhibit
- History Slam Episode Eighteeen: Tom McSorley on Nanook of the North and Grub-Stake
- History Slam Episode Seventeen: The Rise of American Restaurants, and Northern History Week
- History Slam Episode Sixteen: Inclusive Histories and Katrina Srigley
- History Slam Episode Fifteen: Placing Memory
- History Slam Episode Fourteen: Tim Stanley
- History Slam Episode Thirteen: Musician Del Barber
- History Slam Episode Twelve: Media Review Roundup
- History Slam Episode Eleven: “A Struggle to Remember: Fighting for Our Families”
- History Slam Episode Ten: The Foundation for Building Sustainable Communities
- History Slam Episode Nine: Prime Minister Fantasy Draft
- History Slam Episode Eight with Aaron Boyes: Anti-Americanism in Canada
- History Slam Episode Seven with Jim Dean: Ottawa’s Haunted Walk
- History Slam Episode Six with John Resch: The American Perspective on the War of 1812
- History Slam Episode Five with Laurie Bertram
- History Slam Episode Four with Emily Harrington, “Publishing Guru”
- History Slam Episode 3 with Guest Craig Heron, Author of Booze
- History Slam Episode 2 with Guest Victoria Lamb Drover
- Introducing the History Slam Podcast: First Episode
Below are some more audio files from past events:
To download the file, please right-click on the link and select ‘Save Link As’ and save the .mp3 file to your computer. Then you can listen to it however you please.
Franca Iacovetta, “Public Spectacles of Multiculturalism: Toronto Before Trudeau,” February 28 2013
William Jenkins, “Beyond Orange and Green: Toronto’s Irish, 1870-1914,” January 31 2013
Far from Over: The Music and Life of Drake, an evening with Dalton Higgins (hosted by Francesca D’Amico), December 8 2012
Ian McKay, “What’s Wrong With Flanders Fields,” November 11 2012
Grace Delgado, Patricia Burke Wood, Russell Kazal, Randy Widdis, David Atkinson with Roberto Perin, “The Mosaic vs. the Melting Pot? Myths and Realities of Cultural Pluralism in Canada and the United States” Roundtable, October 19 2012
Erica Lee, “Local, National, and Transnational Histories of Immigration to the Americas,” October 19 2012
“The War of 1812: Whose War Was It, Anyway?” Roundtable, May 30 2012
Jessica Van Horssen, “Quebec’s Asbestos Industry and McGill University: The Historic Relationship,” March 2012
Christine McLaughlin, “Producing History in an Auto Town: Oshawa After World War II,” November 16 2011
Craig Heron, “Labour on the March: 150 Years of Labour Parades in Toronto,” October 27 2011
Richard Harris, “The Making of Dufferin-St. Clair: 1900-1929,” October 20 2011
Lisa Rumiel, “Three Mile Island to Bhopal: the Life and Work of Environmental Activist Rosalie Bertell,” September 29 2011
Ruth Frager, “Spadina Sweatshops: Jews and Gender in Toronto’s Labour Movement 1900 to 1939”, September 14 2011
Jim Clifford, “An Environmental History of the Lower Lea River Valley, Site of the 2012 London Olympics,” April 14 2011
Ian McKay, “The Empire Strikes Back: Militarism, Imperial Nostalgia, and the Right-Wing Reconceptualization of Canada” , February 25 2011
Megan Davies and David Reville, “Locating Parkdale’s Mad History: Back Wards to Back Streets, 1980-2010”, November 4 2010
Susana Miranda, “Keeping the City Clean: Portuguese Women in Toronto’s Cleaning Industry, 1970-1990”, October 21 2010
Jennifer Bonnell, “Isolating Undesirables: Prisons, Pollution and Homelessness in Toronto’s Don River Valley, 1860-1932”, October 14 2010
Jay Young, “A Public Technology: Building Toronto’s Yonge Street Subway”, October 14 2010
Craig Heron, “I’ll Drink to That: Booze in Hogtown”, September 28 2010
Stuart Henderson, “Making the Scene in 1960s Yorkville”, September 14 2010
Geoffrey Reaume, Victoria Freeman, Craig Heron and the members of Active History.ca, “Hands On History: Keeping History Relevant”, October 1 2009 – Part One Part Two
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Blog posts published before October 28, 2018 are licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada License.