Originally published on March 10, 2025 (Episode 399)
Introduction
Every hundred episodes or so, I like to pause and think about what this podcast is really about—or supposed to be about. For Episode 399, I sat down with Anton Howes to reflect on history itself: how we write it, how we test it, and whether history has its own version of a replication crisis.
Our conversation explores three of Anton’s essays—Cort Case, Does History Have a Replication Crisis?, and Open History—and along the way touches on invention, methodology, and what it might mean to practice “open history” in our current moment.
About the Guest
Anton Howes is official historian at the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. He is the author of Arts and Minds: How the Royal Society of Arts Changed a Nation (Princeton, 2020). His widely read Substack newsletter, Age of Invention, explores innovation, industry, and the history of ideas.
For Further Investigation
Anton Howes, Arts and Minds: How the Royal Society of Arts Changed a Nation (Princeton, 2020)
The Substack of Anton Howes, Age of Invention
Essays discussed in this episode:
Econtalk— Russ Roberts speaks with Brian Nosek about the “Reproducibility Crisis” in social science
The Center for Open Science—in an age of ever-increasing specialization, fragmentation, and possibilities for AI-enhanced fraud, do historians need a “Center for Open History”?
Related Episodes
Listen & Discuss
Should historians borrow methods from science—or invent their own? Drop a comment with your take, and share this episode with your favorite contrarian (every historian has one).
