John Fea & Rebecca Onion on being a historian in public

Rebecca Onion

Last night I couldn’t sleep, so I did what I usually do when I can’t sleep, and started listening to a podcast.  This turned out to be a mistake–I should have listened to the soothing sounds of the BBC news overnight, but instead I dialed up The Way of Improvement Leads Home podcast, and got to listen to the most recent episode featuring Slate‘s Rebecca Onion, Andrew Hermeling, and John Fea.  Many of you may know Rebecca as the doyenne of The Vault, Slate’s blog about historical documents and images.  That’s how she got her start there, but now she’s a staff writer.  (Her personal website can be found here.)

Episode 12/Season 2, “How to Be a Historian in Public,” is most definitely worth your while because John and Drew ask Rebecca to let us behind the curtain to hear about her…