The Detroit History Podcast

08/08/2026

Several years ago, The Detroit History Podcast interviewed two experts on Arab immigration to Dearborn in Matthew Jaber Stiffler and Sally Howell. Given all the Islamophobia and misinformation coming out about Dearborn, Michigan, I thought I’d make a short video essay about the topic. Did you know the Arab immigration to the Detroit area goes back to the 1890s when Detroit was the stove capital of the world? When the Ford Rouge plant in Dearborn was completed in 1928, this is when more Arabs moved the region for jobs in the auto factory, and they created the Southend neighborhood in Dearborn. Watch the video essay below.
- Managing Editor Eric Kiska.

Several years ago, the podcast I produce and edit (The Detroit Hist...

07/29/2026

Thanks to lucyvanreg on TikTok and all of the other hospitality workers who have been speaking out about The Grand Hotel. I just wanted to point you all to the dark history of the Mission Point Resort and Mission House on the other side of the island. There was a cult and a Native American Boarding School there. I should note: the current owners of these properties have no ties to the Moral Re-Armament cult. Still, it may shed some light on the history of labor exploitation on Mackinac Island. You can watch the full video essay here: https://youtu.be/_yr0afMG5xU?is=8wcBIvt1_TJFSQJJ

06/16/2026

Did you know metro-Detroit has more fallout shelters than anywhere else in the United States? I found this map at trueprepper.com. The explanation is pretty simple.

06/06/2026

How the University of Michigan ended up with a large collection of writings from the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.

Watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/_TPWFyEkUk0?si=tPDf2v6iM1k_BUCl.

06/02/2026

Watch DHP Managing Editor’s latest short documentary “The Labadie Collection, Why University of Michigan Has the Largest Collection of Anarchist Ephemera” here: https://youtu.be/_TPWFyEkUk0?si=T1Ijs8fATOkzs1dy.

06/02/2026

Did you know that the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor has the largest collection of anarchist ephemera in the United States? It also has the oldest collection of radical literature in the United States. This assortment of literature and ephemera is called The Labadie Collection, and is on the sixth floor of the Harlan Hatcher Library. It is named after a Detroit anarchist named Jo Labadie who lived from 1850-1933. Ever the pack rat and collector of radical material, he donated twenty crates of goods from his attic to the University of Michigan in 1911.

This small collection eventually exploded into taking up a whole floor at the U-M Graduate library, including writings of the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski. How has it lasted all these years? I talk with the librarian and curator of The Labadie Collection, Julie Herrada, to paint a fuller picture of the story.
- DHP Managing Editor Eric Kiska

Did you know that the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor has the l...

05/05/2026

Managing Editor Eric Kiska here- I’ve been taking classes at Go Comedy! Improv Theater lately and recently read a book by Sam Wasson called “Improv Nation: How We Made a Great American Art,” and decided to write a video essay on the origins of improv comedy. I follow the history all the way back to Ancient Italy up to the opening of Second City Chicago in 1959. Check it out below for a little Chicago history.

Many people have heard of the name "Second City" from Chicago. The improv comedy theatre has brewed some of the most famous comedians of the last 65 years. C...