History Detectives
| History Detectives | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Created by | Oregon Public Broadcasting/Lion Television |
| Starring |
Wes Cowan (Auctioneer, appraiser) Kaiama Glover (Professor of French history and literature) Elyse Luray (Appraiser, art historian) Eduardo Pagan (Professor of History, author) Gwen Wright (Professor of Architecture, author, architectural advisor) Tukufu Zuberi (Professor of Sociology, author) |
| Opening theme | "Watching the Detectives" (2003-2013), original theme song (2014) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Production | |
| Running time | 55 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Lion Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | PBS |
| Picture format | 1080i HDTV |
| Original release | 2003 – 2014 |
| Website | |
History Detectives is a documentary television series on PBS. It features investigations made by members of a small team of researchers to identify and/or authenticate items which may have historical significance or connections to important historical events, and to answer specific questions brought to them about these artifacts. Common subjects are family heirlooms and historical structures. Its stated missions is "exploring the complexities of historical mysteries, searching out the facts, myths and conundrums that connect local folklore, family legends and interesting objects."
Over its first decade, the series featured a team of several "detectives": originally Wes Cowan, Elyse Luray, Gwen Wright, and Tukufu Zuberi, later joined by Eduardo Pagán. Following a hiatus, the program returned in summer 2014 in a different format, with hosts Zuberi and Cowan joined by Kaiama Glover, as History Detectives: Special Investigations.
Though not officially cancelled, History Detectives is not planning new episodes as of September 2015.
Episodes usually include three segments, each centering on a single "mystery" or "case". Usually a case will be handled by a single "detective" although in early episodes two would occasionally investigate a single case, and there have been cases where a "detective" has called on one of their colleagues for help, usually when the case involves a specialty of their colleague's.
Each segment begins with a brief introduction and then shows the "detective" meeting with a person who has brought the case to their attention. The cases always revolve around a physical object which is supposedly related in some manner to American history. Usually these are family heirlooms of some type, although occasionally they are public objects or landmarks or items owned by private archives or museums. The person presenting them with the case then shows the investigator the item in question and relates their understanding of how this item is connected to American history. Often this involves some element of folk history which has been handed down as family or local lore. The investigator will then ask them what they want to find out about the item and the owner will generally give them two or three central questions. Often the questions will revolve around whether the item was owned by a particular famous personage or whether it was used in a particular historic event. Sometimes the investigator will be asked to track down an obscure creator of a certain item. The investigator will then promise to look into the questions and, if the item in question is portable, will ask to take it with them.
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Wikipedia