The Detroit History Podcast

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...

01/22/2026

In the latest Tales of the Great Lakes, I delve into a historic fishing village on Jones Island in Milwaukee. At first, it was where a community of Potawatomi fished and hunted. By the 1870s, the Kashube’s of Poland found the place, and realized it was similar to the Hel Peninsula on the Baltic Sea. So they started migrating to Milwaukee in droves, fishing on Lake Michigan, and selling their catch at markets in Milwaukee. They even had a bar called Cannibal’s Rendezvous. How did it turn from a bustling fishing community, to a sewage peninsula? I tell the tale. - Managing Editor Eric Kiska

Milwaukee's modern day Jones Island is filled with industry, such as a sewage treatment plant, freight cars, and piles of salt. Many are unaware of its histo...

12/30/2025

Was scrolling through the National Archives on my day off this morning and found this wonderful short documentary about the Great Lakes that was produced by Ford Motor Company in 1925. Decided to upgrade it to 4K and add some music to match the tone. It is fair use now since 100 years have passed. Some pretty cool shots here of the Great Lakes in their natural beauty, but also some shots of a time long gone on the lakes, when copper and iron mining were King. Check it out below. - Managing Editor Eric Kiska.

The Great Lakes I was a Ford Motor Company short documentary filmed in 1925 that is now fair use under copyright law since 100 years have passed. I have upgr...

12/19/2025

12/11/2025

On this Firelake Chat, Managing Editor Eric Kiska interviews Cookie and Tig from the Detroit Roller Derby to find out how the punk rock crew of roller derby-ists began in 2005. Several of the skaters were also featured in the 2009 Drew Barrymore film "Whip It" starring Elliot Page. They started at a small rink and eventually graduated to selling out events at Detroit's Masonic Temple, but the sport of roller derby goes way beyond 2005, and originally began in a fellow Midwest city.

On this Firelake Chat, Eric interviews Cookie and Tig from the Detroit Roller Derby to find out how the punk rock crew of roller derby-ists began in 2005. Se...

11/10/2025

50 years ago today the Edmund Fitzgerald sunk with all hands. Managing Editor Eric Kiska made a YouTube documentary last year on the subject, and he also explores what life was like on the Fitz, and the Great Lakes shipping industry. Check it out below.

In the second episode of Tales of the Great Lakes, Eric tells the story of the wreck of the Great Lakes freighter the "Edmund Fitzgerald." The wreck is still...