Ben Franklin's World is a production of the Elma Hundro Institute.

Hello and welcome to episode 300 of Ben Franklin's World.

The podcast dedicated to helping you learn more about how the people and events of our

early American past have shaped the present day world we live in.

I'm your host, Liz Covart.

Wow, we're here, episode 300, that's a lot of podcast episodes.

So how do we mark this achievement that so few podcasts will ever reach?

That's a serious question.

It's a question that I post to my teammates on the Elma Hundro Institute's digital audio

team.

And they had an exciting and interesting idea.

You see, today marks not only our 300th episode, but its release date, April 13, 2021, marks

my 40th birthday.

Yes, I made the top of the hill and now I can begin my descent down it.

So Joe, Martha, Holly and Karen, my teammates, thought we should celebrate by asking 40 different

historians what they wish more people better understood about early American history.

So that's exactly what we did.

Actually, we asked more than 40 scholars and received about 37 responses in return.

So today's celebratory 300th episode is in two parts.

First, we'll enjoy a short conversation with Karen Wolff, my digital audio teammate and

the executive director of the Elma Hundro Institute.

Together, we'll explore some of the behind the scenes of the podcast and what historians

...