25 at 250: An antique gunboat and America's first mail-order record club

Here & Now Anytime

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4.1 • 953 Ratings

🗓️ 6 February 2026

⏱️ 18 minutes

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Summary

The Smithsonian Institution is restoring a gunboat that sank in a 1776 Revolutionary War battle. As part of a series with the Smithsonian Institution presenting 25 objects that tell the story of America, Jennifer Jones, a curator at the National Museum of American History, talks about the story of the vessel, its recovery and its restoration. Then, Young People's Records was a popular mail-order subscription club in the 1940s, '50s and '60s. Smithsonian Folkways director and curator Maureen Loughran talks about why the music became such a hit, how the record club works and why it's important for telling the story of America.

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0:00.0	Support for here and now anytime comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software for technical computing and model-based design.
0:09.2	MathWorks accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at MathWorks.com.
0:17.5	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:22.5	It's a pretty massive feat to raise a 53-foot boat from 60 feet down and bring it up intact.
0:31.6	Why a restored gunboat from 1776 helps bring America's story to life.
0:45.8	Thank you. from 1776 helps bring America's story to life. It's Friday, February 6th, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WBOR, Boston.
0:52.3	I'm Shiko Tha Ui.
0:56.0	Today on the show, we continue our series
0:58.6	25 objects that tell the story of America
1:01.5	as we commemorate the country's 250th birthday.
1:05.0	We get the story of a restored gunboat
1:07.5	that sank in a 1776 Revolutionary War Battle.
1:11.6	And...
1:12.4	Listen you lads and lasses to me.
1:15.8	Oh, listen to me now I say...
1:19.2	The tale of the...
1:20.2	Young People's Records was a popular mail-order subscription club in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s.
1:26.3	We examined why the music became such a hit, how the record club works, and why it's important in telling the story of America.
1:33.8	And this is a particular window into mid-20th century, United States history, but through the lens of a child's eye.
1:42.0	But first, the Battle of Valcourt Island on Lake Champlain was key in the
1:46.7	Revolutionary War, and the outcome was very much in doubt when a gunboat for the colonies named
1:52.8	the Philadelphia sank in battle. But more than a century later, it was miraculously raised. Now,
	...

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