The Alley Cast

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.

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.

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.

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

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.Find a full transcript and sources at elfrethsalley.org/podcast/2021/7/12/episode-205-boarding-houses

Find a full transcript and list of sources at elfrethsalley.org/podcast/workingchildren

Find a full transcript and sources at elfrethsalley.org/podcast/buildinghousespartii.

Find a full transcript and list of sources at elfrethsalley.org/podcast/2021/6/29/episode-202-building-houses-part-i

Find a transcript, sources, and links at the episode page: www.elfrethsalley.org/podcast/2021/6/23/episode-201-the-mechanics-lecture

Over the last few decades it seems lots of people have been concerned about how Christmas is changing. On one hand, there is the so-called “War on Christmas,” and people taking issue with Starbucks cups and the greeting “Happy Holidays.” On the other hand, there are those who complain about the way in which the Christmas season seems to creep earlier and earlier in the year. Both of these complaints bemoan changing traditions. But that “classic” tradition of Christmas--Christmas trees, cookies, and toys toys toys--where did that come from?