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The near constant gloom of a Birmingham winter can be a lot for anyone. On her first winter in Birmingham in 1918, Ruth recalled “I just felt I couldn’t live-maybe I’d just die, because the winter was so hard”. But she lived, and threw herself into civic projects to keep the blues at bay. The projects she undertook changed Birmingham forever and we are still reaping the rewards.

To access a full episode transcript as well as to access additional material, check out our website.

For questions, concerns, corrections or episode suggestions please reach out to us at museum@bhamgov.org.

Special thanks to the Birmingham Area Cable Board for PEG grant funding that made this podcast possible. Also thanks to past and present staff of the Birmingham Museum, and our amazing volunteers.

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Edward Crawford was 15 years old when he was shot and killed the evening of September 6, 1916 while walking home from a store in Birmingham after it closed with the store owner, a clerk and two of his friends. The shocking murder caused a stir in the village of Birmingham, which didn’t have a lot of violent crime. And it rippled out and caused a stir throughout both Oakland County and the whole metro Detroit area due to the store owner’s identity and possible connections to a violent extortion scheme targeting this ethnic community. Just who was Edward Crawford and did the infamous Black Hand kill him?

To access a full episode transcript as well as to access additional material, check out our website.

For questions, concerns, corrections or episode suggestions please reach out to us at museum@bhamgov.org.

Special thanks to the Birmingham Area Cable Board for PEG grant funding that made this podcast possible. Also thanks to past and present staff of the Birmingham Museum, and our amazing volunteers.

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Mental health care in the 1800s wasn't always a hellscape of overcrowded asylums filled with patients chained to floors and beds. In the 1840s and 1850s, a new treatment paradigm called "the moral treatment movement" offered patients dignity, respect, individualized treatment plans and creative outlets. One Birmingham man, Washington Willits, was described as coming home from the premier moral treatment facility, the Utica Insane Asylum in New York, when he tragically died. Who was Washington and what might have his life and treatment at Utica looked like?
To access a full episode transcript as well as to access additional material, check out our website.

For questions, concerns, corrections or episode suggestions please reach out to us at museum@bhamgov.org.

Special thanks to the Birmingham Area Cable Board for PEG grant funding that made this podcast possible. Also thanks to past and present staff of the Birmingham Museum, and our amazing volunteers.