The Last Archive

Dive into the chaotic election night of 1952, where the UNIVAC computer aimed to predict results but ended up in a clash with human skepticism. Discover the game-changing role of television and targeted advertising that redefined political campaigns. Hear how the lessons from 1952 resonate today amidst our current political complexities, where data and messaging influence voter perceptions. Explore the evolving relationship between technology and election coverage, and why critical thinking is essential in navigating today's political narratives.

Election Year 2024 is upon us. And it promises to be a bit of a mess. But where did all this mess come from? In a 4-episode mini-series drawing from our own archive, Jill Lepore and Ben Naddaff-Hafrey investigate, situate, and contextualize our present moment in the history that brought us here. This series contains episodes from our original seasons alongside new material. Coming next week.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Discover the hidden history of New York City's largest public cemetery, Hart Island. Uncover the mystery of an unidentified man buried in plot 383 and explore stories from World War II in Hawaii. Learn about efforts to eradicate smallpox and the impact of Stephen's death on the community. Reflect on the story of Neil Harris, Jr. and the opening of Hart Island to the public.

In our season finale, we travel through time.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the 1940s, a freelance wiretapper named Big Jim Vaus got mixed up with the cops, the mob, and the most famous evangelist in America. This week on The Last Archive: The ballad of Big Jim and what the intersections of telephone history and American spirituality reveal about how we understand the phone. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the 1930s, at a women's reformatory in upstate New York, an upstart social scientist made a study that launched the field of social network analysis. It was revolutionary, but missed something happening at the same time at the same school, something we know now in part from the story of the school's most famous inmate: Ella Fitzgerald.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When invasive parakeets began to spread in New York City in the 1970s, the government decided it needed to kill them all. Today: The offbeat panic about wild parrots, and a history of anxieties about population growth.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1911, a Native American man, the only member of his community to survive a genocide, encountered the new Anthropology department at The University of California, Berkeley. What happened next helped to define the ethical quandaries of the field and, in a strange turn, the history of science fiction. This episode: That story and the moral stakes of imagining the past and the future.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on The Last Archive, the story of the composer Raymond Scott’s lifelong quest to build an automatic songwriting machine, and what it means for our own AI-addled, ChatGPT world.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This upcoming season on The Last Archive: early artificial intelligence, the forgotten origins of social network theory, invasive species panics, freelance wiretappers, time travelers, and science fiction family histories. How do we know what we know? Why does it feel like sometimes it’s impossible to know anything at all? Host emeritus Jill Lepore passes the torch to producer Ben Naddaff-Hafrey for six gripping stories about the history of truth. The Last Archive Season 4 launches on June 22nd with new episodes out weekly. Subscribe to Pushkin+ to hear the whole season at once, ad-free. Find Pushkin+ on the Last Archive showpage in Apple Podcasts, or at pushkin.fm/plus.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.