HISTORY DETECTIVES: Episode 803

• June 30, 2010

Monday, July 5 at 9 p.m.

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HISTORY DETECTIVES: Episode 803

Lauste Film Clip

A New Jersey man was antiquing in Pennsylvania when he bought a collection of photos, letters, and scrapbooks that belonged to a man named Eugene Lauste. The seller said Lauste, a relative, played an important role in early filmmaking. Could this film be a piece of the first talking picture? HISTORY DETECTIVES delves into the early world of movie making, consulting with film historians, experts, and technicians, to find the answer.

–> Learn more about the Lauste Film Clip.

Baker’s Gold

A viewer from Colorado thinks he may have discovered a gem of Gold Rush memorabilia when he found an unusual drawing. This drawing depicts four huge gold nuggets, weighing one, two, six, and ten pounds. The signature, I.W. Baker, catches our contributor’s eye. Could this be the Isaac Baker famous for his photographs of the Gold Rush? And did miners actually find gold nuggets that large? History Detectives visits Baker’s haunts in California and talks with Gold Rush curators to reveal the story behind this drawing.

–> Learn more about Baker’s Gold.

Transatlantic Cable

While vacationing in Cape Cod, a HISTORY DETECTIVES fan from Maine found what looked like a length of old, twisted rope. Closer inspection revealed a curious coil of wire cables covered in thick fabric. He knows that in the 1800′s communication cables stretched from New England to Europe; so our viewer wonders if he’s found a piece of one of the first transatlantic cables that connected the United States to Europe. To solve the case, History Detectives speaks to historians to learn the monumental significance of the transatlantic cables, takes the cable to a lab to test for the type and age of the materials in the cable, then combs through the archives in the town of Orleans, MA, where our viewer found the cable, to pinpoint if this coil of wires made — or relayed — history.