This is the gateway to AOI's extensive collection of audio and video presentations over the years. Since 2014, when the AOI moved it luncheon venue from the Pier 7/Channel Inn to the Capital Skyline Hotel, all of the programs were digitally recorded. Since moving to the Woman's National Democratic Club in 2021, most programs have been captured on video. This page is the portal to listen to or view those programs. It is our hope eventually to digitize more than 130 talks given between 1999 and 2014 at the Pier 7 and to make those available here, too.
To jump to AOI's luncheon videos, click on the button below:
AOI Podcasts are available via links to SoundCloud. Note: you do not have to download the app or sign in... Just press the Play [arrow] button. Also, please be aware that SoundCloud processes their content chronologically; so, so if you listen to one of AOI's presentations below and let the program continue it will segue to the next podcast in chronological order NOT the next one on AOI's list below. Just end the podcast, return to this page and select your next choice. For any questions, suggestions or comments please email us at: [email protected]
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African American Soldiers in World War I presented by Matthew Margis, Historian in the Histories Directorate at the US Army Center of Military History, presented on February 16, 2018.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast “American Women in World War I” Elizabeth Foxwell, shares her book, “In Their Own Words: American Women in World War I” and emphasizes in this talk the District of Columbia's Women in World War I Link to SoundCloud Podcast “African American Doctors in World War I: The Lives of 104 Volunteers” with Author W. Douglas Fisher who co-wrote he book with Joann Buckley. Mr. Fisher was accompanied by Urbane Bass the grandson of one of those doctors who served and died in service to his country.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast "Forty-seven Days: How Pershing’s Warriors Came of Age to Defeat the German Army" with Mitchell Yockelson, one of America’s foremost experts on the First World War, holds a doctorate from the Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield University, in the United Kingdom, is the recipient of the Army Historical Foundation’s Distinguished Writing Award, is an investigative archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration, as well as a former professor of military history at the United States Naval Academy. At the time of his talk in October 2018, he was teaching at Norwich University.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast AOI member and author Garrett Peck speaks on his most recent work, "The Great War in America." Garrett drew on his research and familiarity with the AOI and its members' interests to highlight portions of his book that were relevant to his District of Columbia-centric audience.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast Kenneth Burke of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine discusses the life of Clara Barton and her Office of Missing Soldiers in his role as its Site Manager.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast "The Lipstick Brigade: The Untold True Story of Washington's World War II Government Girls" - American University Professor Cindy Gueli (and future AOI President) shares her research and first-hand accounts of the World War II Government Girls.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast The Veterans History Project - The Library of Congress' Veterans History Project is explained by its Director Robert Patrick.
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DC Treasures: talks addressing the city's best-known structures, parks, and monuments.
Pictured left: Meridian Hill Park also known as Malcom X Park |
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AOI Member and Cherry Blossom author Ann McClellan hosts a panel on the History of Bonsai and Their Importance to This Country and special relationship we have with Japan. Sandra Moore and Steven Voss contribute to the presentation as Sandra has written a children's book on Bonsai and Steven has extensively photographed and published his photos of the collection at the National Arboretum.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast Kim Prothro Williams discusses her book, "Lost Farms and Estates of Washington, D.C." Kim is an employee of the District of Columbia's Historic Preservation Office (a division of the Office of Planning) and works on behalf of the District to write nominations for Historic designation and researches historic D.C. properties.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast AOI member John DeFerrari presented a series of images on "Bygone Industrial DC" to kick off a session of member reminiscences which was a hallmark of AOI meetings of old.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast Smithsonian curator and AOI member Helena Wright discusses "The Smithsonian's First Collection."
Link to SoundCloud Podcast "A Civil Servant Designed the U.S. Flag." AOI Member and researcher Earl P. Williams, Jr., discusses his research into civil servant Francis Hopkinson and his role in designing the American Flag.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast AOI member and author John DeFerrari kicks off a session of member reminiscences about streetcars and other modes of public transportation in D.C. John presented images from his book, "Capital Streetcars" to encourage members of the audience to share their memories of commuting to and from school, work, shopping and social events.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast "DC Archeology" with Dr. Ruth Trocolli, the District of Columbia's Chief Archeologist in the Historic Preservation Office (under the Office of Planning) describes her office's role, the importance -- though lack of authority -- of examining construction sites and other discoveries for artifacts and also reviewed individual efforts including the examination of the Yarrow Mamout site in Georgetown and the "Shotgun House" on Capitol Hill.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast Georgetown's Oak Hill Cemetery's Superintendent Dave Jackson and Board of Directors President George Hill discuss the historic resting place for many of Georgetown's and the District's residents.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast AOI member Jenny Masur speaks on her book, "The Heroes of the Underground Railroad around Washington, D.C." Jenny served for seventeen years with the National Park Service as the National Capital Region’s manager for the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast Retired NCPC staff member David Hamilton discusses some of the challenges faced by reviewing authorities when considering new and proposed "Memorials and Monuments in Washington, D.C."
Link to SoundCloud Podcast Robert Headley and Pat Padua present a program on "The History of Motion Picture Exhibition in the Washington Metropolitan Area" as AOI President Thomas Neale looks on. The slide-illustrated talk covered the earliest motion pictures houses in DC to the downfall of historic movie houses to the rise of the now common multiplex theatres.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast Washington Post columnist John Kelly discussed the District's "Lost Laws" which had been 'on the books' since the early 1870s and were resurrected in the early 1950's in the civil rights efforts to afford accommodations to African Americans attempting to patronize traditionally all-white restaurants.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast Janet McFarland discusses the many efforts over the years -- led primarily by the DC Chapter of the DAR -- to locate, repair/replace and protect the original boundary stones placed by Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker to demark the 10 square mile perimeter of the city.
AOI President Bill Brown opens, "Janet McFarland will take us on a journey of discovery to learn about the laying of the first Boundary Stone to today and the recent restoration efforts in her talk, “Boundary Stones - Birthstones of our Nation's Capital.” Link to SoundCloud Podcast Melanie Choukas-Bradley discusses the History and Natural History of Rock Creek Park speaking not only of it history as a park but about the animal life, plant life and natural wonders found throughout the park during all four seasons.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast Casey Trees' Community Education Coordinator Gabrielle Rovigno discusses the District's historic designation as a City of Trees, a historic overview of the city's urban forest and efforts underway today to ensure a healthy tree canopy to help mitigate the effects of erosion, CO2 sequestration, beauty and livability.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast Carol Ottesen is the author of “A Guide to the Smithsonian Gardens,” an illustrated tour of the gardens surrounding the Smithsonian Institution. The speaker recounted the unexpected gift -- 11 boxes of gold sovereigns worth some $12 million in current money -- by James Smithson that permitted establishment of the Smithsonian Institution.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast Conrad Reid was an executive at Security Storage when he spoke to the AOI on April 13, 2013. His talk recounts some of the more unusual items his company moved and stored over the years; but, more interestingly, he recounts the company's efforts every four years to move the outgoing First Family out of the White House while the Inaugural ceremony was underway.
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DC's People: talks focusing on the personalities who contributed to making the Nation's Capital what it is today.
Pictured left: Myrtila Miner who estalished the Myrtila Miner Normal School for Colored Girls |
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Lynetta Stevens and her father Stewart discuss his decades long career as a chandelier cleaner and window washer in the White House. Mr. Stevens served while seven Presidents of both parties and their families came and went. Listen to Stewart's fascinating stories as he recalls, "The White House Chandeliers."
Link to SoundCloud Podcast John P. Richardson (AOI's Past-Secretary) discusses his recently published biography of the District's 2nd Territorial Governor Alexander Shepherd. "Alexander Robey Shepherd: The Man Who Built the Nation's Capital" traces Shepherd's life as an apprentice plumber, businessman, legislator, Governor and silver mining entrepreneur.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast Heurich House Executive Director and AOI Board Member Kim Bender shares her research on Myrtilla Miner and the school she established for African American girls which later became the D.C. Teachers College then Federal City College and now the University of the District of Columbia. Kim's talk, "Myrtilla Miner's Normal School for Colored Girls."
Link to SoundCloud Podcast William D. Nixon was President of the Oldest Inhabitants, Incorporated from 1942 until 1962. Originally organized in 1912 as the AOI (Colored), Incorporated, it was the current AOI's African American counterpart. His granddaughter Delores Mounsey talks about her grandfather's life of civic activism in the District of Columbia.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast Rebecca Boggs Roberts discusses her book, "Suffragists in Washington, D.C." detailing the near century long effort for women's voting rights. Rebecca describes in eye-opening detail the plans for the women's march on Washington and the efforts at men and other obstructionists at their attempts to disrupt it.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast Stephen Grant discusses Henry & Emily Folger's life-long project to collect the works of Shakespeare and establish the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast Historian Kathryn Allamong Jacob discusses her book, "King of the Lobby: The Life & Times of Sam Ward, Man About Washington in the Gilded Age"
Link to SoundCloud Podcast "Lars and Isabelle Anderson: Wealth & Celebrity in the Gilded Age." Stephen "Skip" Moskey discusses the influences that Larz and Isabelle Anderson (of Anderson House fame) had on the design of that iconic property (now the home for the Society of the Cincinnati) and the influences they brought from their Brookline, MA estate.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast "A Thread Runs Through Herstory." AOI Member Anita Lee discusses her research and book dedicated to the life of her mother, Evelyn Christian, and her experiences growing up in the District of Columbia.
Link to SoundCloud Podcast Paul Leeper and his partner were patrolling the West End and Foggy Bottom in plain clothes one otherwise inconsequential early morning when a call went out on the police radio to check for suspicious activity at the Watergate Apartments and Offices. The rest is history. Hear retired MPDC Sgt. Paul Leeper recount the events of that historic evening in a way you have never before heard.
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Please support the AOI of DC's initiatives to digitize the organization's existing holdings in the Kiplinger Research Library of the DC History Center by contributing financially to the William Noble Brown Preservation Fund by clicking on this link.