Maiden Launch (vintage remix) [Video]
The shantyboat Dotty's maiden launch. Dropping a completely untested boat…
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Life On the River – 2015 Trailer [VIDEO]
The amazing Secret History River Life trailer by filmmaker Monica…
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Jessica Bierbrauer and the Future River
Jessica Bierbrauer, director of the Great River Road Visitor &…
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John Sullivan and Fish Kills
John Sullivan, retired DNR officer in La Crosse WI, talks…
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Jessica Bierbrauer and Lost History
Jessica Bierbrauer, director of the Great River Road Visitor &…
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Kali Arlene and Latsch Island
Kali Arlene, Latsch Island boathouse resident in Winona MN, talks…
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(Frozen) Water Under the Bridge
A week on the Mississippi River in the dead of…
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Ice Fishing Shack on Lake Winona [Video]
One of my goals in returning to the Upper Mississippi…
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La Crosse Boathouses [Video]
Down in La Crosse for the day, I hung out…
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Ice on Frog Slough [Video]
The other day I had just finished talking to the…
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An Intense Winter Fieldwork Trip
Tomorrow I am leaving for Minnesota and Wisconsin for a…
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Experiments with Multimedia [Video]
The production team and I are working on cutting various…
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Shantyboat at FIGMENT Oakland [Video]
A Secret History exhibited at FIGMENT in Oakland, a one…
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Lauren Donovan and the Creepy Guy [VIDEO]
Lauren Donovan, who kayaked the length of the Mississippi River…
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Sunset on the Sacramento Delta [VIDEO]
A relaxing evening at sunset from a recent trip on…
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The Producer’s Journal: Catching up
A note about the Producer’s Journals: They make either super…
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The Producers Journal: A Week of Amnesia and Delirium
It was a strange week of going through the motions…
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Beautiful People I’ve Interviewed
With help from numerous people who work and live on…
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History of Flatboating and a Charming Educational Film
A very brief history on the evolution of river craft…
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Secret History Shantyboat Exhibiting in November
At two art exhibits in November, the shantyboat will be…
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Ken Lubinski on the Resilience of Nature [Video]
Ken Lubinski, river ecologist at the USGS Upper Midwest Environmental…
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Unusual photos of the Shantyboat
Two unusual portraits of the shanyboat from inside, one a…
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Santa Cruz Sentinel: Artist turns a journey down the Mississippi into rich oral history
We're all sharing our "How I Spent My Summer Vacation"…
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Web Development Independent Study
Looking for a talented web developer with experience creating dynamic,…
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People’s History Expedition on Upper Mississippi: A Reportback
The Secret History expedition -- a reportback on the journey,…
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Film and Digital Media Independent Study
This independent study provides a focused research experience as we…
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Support For This Project
We had a successful fundraiser which covered a portion of…
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PA’s Diary #2, lovingly entitled A Leaf on the Wind
The Production Assistant's report, a lock and dam, a cute…
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This River Life Drawing to a Close
For weeks and miles people have been asking us, "How…
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Brownsville Boathouses
After La Crosse, we made our way down to Brownsville…
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Jim Ehrsam and Other People Not Interviewed
On the day before we were leaving La Crosse I…
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A Night in Winona and the Production Assistant’s Report
A report back by PA Jeremiah upon his departure at…
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Small and Not So Small Town Press [Updated]
We’ve done our best to try to let people know…
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La Crosse WXOW: 2 art students take journey in shantyboat on Mississippi
Two art students from California are traveling down the Mississippi…
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La Crosse Tribune: Artist plies Mississippi in Shantyboat to net historical portraits
California-based artists Wes Modes and Kai Dalgleish are traveling down…
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Typical Shantyboat Questions and Answers
Within minutes of arriving at the town docks, we have…
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Charming La Crosse, Wisconsin and a Theory About the Uneven Distribution of Social Capital
A sprained ankle, a man in a bowler hat, charming…
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Winona Post: History afloat down the river
It is August on Latsch Island, that beautiful time of…
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Into the Storm on the Open River
Unless we survive this storm. We are anchored on a…
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Electronics Are Not Waterproof (URGENT)
URGENT SITUATION: My iphone took at drink in the Mississippi…
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A Fog Brings to Mind Huck and Jim
We wake to a fog and make our way finally…
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Stuck on a Sandbar, Civil Defense, and Flying Predators
While making our way downriver, we saw lots of barges…
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A Watery Death on Lake Pepin Narrowly Averted
The sun was shining and the wind was still and…
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A High Speed Water Chase, Flyswatting, and Madness
We venture on to Lake Pepin where we encounter both…
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Engine Solutions, Party in the Lock, River Days, and a 97 Year Old Woman
More of the generosity of strangers in Prescott, WI and…
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Minneapolis Star Tribune: Shantyboat heads down the Mississippi, gathering stories
The Mississippi River has changed in many ways over the…
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Lauren Donovan on Nearly Drowning at Lock 11 [Video]
Lauren Donovan, who kayaked the length of the Mississippi River…
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Mike’s Shantyboat
Mike Mosedale is a great fella I met in St.…
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Engine Troubles, Burger Lexicon, A Theft, and Much Generosity
St. Paul, MN to Prescott, WI and the many awesome…
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Hastings Star Gazette: California artist in shantyboat stops in Hastings during Mississippi River tour
Hastings Star Gazette/Pierce County Herald by Chad Richardson It’s not uncommon…
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Peter Rachleff on the Creativity of Poor People [Video]
Peter Rachleff, Professor of History, talks about how poor people…
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First Few Days on the River
We’ve had our first few days on the river. We…
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Found Photos
Tag your photos with #shantyboat to share them on social…
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Living on the Shantyboat
Here are a few shantyboat details minutes before our departure…
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Send Off Party
Our Minneapolis friends are organizing us a Shantyboat Send Off…
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Shantyboat Runabout [video]
Today we powered up Mr. Johnson and motored about in…
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Shantyboat Open House
Drop on by to check out the Shantyboat, share stories,…
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The Secret History Shantyboat is Afloat
This afternoon after two years of building, months of planning,…
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15 Discoveries After Two Days of (nearly) Non-Stop Driving
Bug massacre, crossing the Rockies, mysterious cattle, new truck, two…
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A Brief Tour of One Random Neighborhood in Salt Lake City
We found ourselves stranded on a Sunday in Salt Lake…
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A Secret History Expeditions
An interactive map of the Secret History expedition.
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For Your Information: The Rockies Are Big
In which our heroes discover that the Rocky Mountains eat…
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Desert Crossing
Today was the day I had scheduled to be in…
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The Trouble With Building a Boat in California
Stuck in California needing a new radiator. We are trying…
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A Series of Unfortunate Events
California, we love you, but please please let us achieve…
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Finally On Our Way
Our list of Must-Dos in the last few days was…
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The Joys and Heartache of Saying Goodbye
With days left before our departure for the Secret History…
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Odds and Ends We Still Need
This is like a Secret History scavenger hunt whose items…
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On the Eve of the Secret History Expedition
Our shantyboat nears completion and we are readying it for…
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A Month of Fervent Preparation
It was a busy month making preparations for the soon-to-be-launched…
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Minneapolis Reconnaissance
I have been in Minneapolis for the last week doing…
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How You Can Help
We’re scrambling to get the trip together by July, including making…
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Shantyboat on the Mississippi
In July, we are bringing the shantyboat across country to…
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Reddit: I am an artist who hopes you don’t read about my death when we launch our homemade (and untested) shantyboat on the Mississippi River AMA!
For years I’ve been building DIY boats, often out of…
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Indebtedness
In no particular order, here is an ever-growing list of…
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A River Reading List
Here are materials we consider critical to our growing River People Library:…
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The Shantyboat
A shantyboat is a small crude houseboat. There is a…
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Time is an Enormous, Long River
Time is an enormous, long river, and I’m standing in…
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Mississippi River Map
[WPVT]
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A People’s River History
Secret History seeks to examine both the historical context of…
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History
There is a long forgotten history in America of people…
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The Forgotten River
The river. The forgotten waterways that flow through most towns,…
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Beginnings
In 2005, I set out on a punk rafting journey,…
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A Secret History of American River People
Secret History is an ongoing research effort to discover, present,…
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Secret History Blog
An online journal in which we chronicle the Secret History…
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Invisible Stories
While much has been written about the immigrant experience in…
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The Project
Secret History is a on-gong research effort to discover and…
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What the #*@&% happened?
You must hate me. Last I left you with “Walls…
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We Turn To The River – 2014 Trailer [VIDEO]
The Secret History lyrical trailer from the talented Lauren Kincaid-Filbey…
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Roof Rafters – The cabin takes shape
When we disassembled the Hollister chicken coop, we got a…
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Cabin Framing, More Mistakes Were Made
If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s not being…
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Cabin Wall Framing. Finally.
Whew, finally. We get to constructing the cabin walls. This…
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New Boat Vocabulary Word: Coaming
One of the smarter things I’ve done on the shantyboat,…
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A Collection of Photos from a Non-Shantyboat River Float
I took a two-week break from building the shantyboat to…
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Bow Eyes and Stern Tiedowns
Sometimes little things can be a big headache. And sometimes…
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The Cabin Has a Floor
Let’s put in a floor! This is the floor that…
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Obsessive woodworking, top side
With both decks on, I could be an obsessive woodworker…
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Installing the aft deck
I put the aft deck on. Thought you should know.…
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Motor Well, A Mini-Project Unto Itself
Oh, the motor well. Seems simple enough. Build a box…
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Protecting the Bilge
Water is the enemy of wood longevity. Protecting the wood…
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