A new podcast entitled The Last Archive, featuring voiceover by CAMD faculty member Jesse Hinson, Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Theatre, has officially launched. The podcast, written and hosted by New Yorker writer, author, and celebrated historian Jill Lepore, is about the history of truth – and the historical context for the current “fake news, post-truth” moment.

The opportunity to be a part of this project came to Professor Hinson through a former graduate school professor, Ryan McKittrick of Brandeis University – and he knew he had to embrace it.

“I was already a fan of Jill Lepore, Pushkin Industries (the podcast’s producer), and podcasts in general,” said Professor Hinson, whose online teaching methods were recently featured in News@Northeastern. “It was a no brainer, and I’m really grateful to Ryan for thinking of me.”

Professor Hinson appears in most of the episodes, playing several different characters and historical figures.

“A good rule of thumb is if you hear the voice of a newsreel reporter, it’s probably me,” added Professor Hinson. “We recorded in a studio in Cambridge and did multiple takes reading from a total of ten scripted episodes. A behind-the-scenes fact: we wore shoes with leather soles in order to be historically accurate when capturing the sound of footsteps!”

The podcast has already been attracting media attention, featured in The New York Times and WBUR. Listen to the first episode here.