The 52 Weeks of Firsts Podcast

This episode tells the story of the first art school and museum in America - now known as Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Marisa Magnatta is joined by Leah Triplett, Curator of Contemporary Art at PAFA and co-curator of A Nation of Artists, the landmark new exhibition celebrating American art as the country turns 250.

Marisa Magnatta is joined by the Official Baseball Historian for Major League Baseball, John Thorn, to talk about America’s first baseball team, The Olympic Ball Club of Philadelphia, and how it planted the roots of America’s favorite pastime.

Before there was freedom of the press, someone had to make the paper. This episode tells the story of William Rittenhouse, the immigrant who built America's first paper mill in Germantown in 1690, and why that mill wasn't just an industrial first, but the foundation of free speech in the colonies. Host Marisa Magnatta is joined by Professor Joseph M. Adelman, a historian of early American media, communication, and politics.

Marisa sits down with Betsy Ross herself to dig into the story of the first American flag, the remarkable woman behind it, and why her story still resonates nearly 250 years later.

This episode uncovers the Philadelphia origins of American medicine. Host Marisa Magnatta is joined by the CEO of Penn Medicine, Kevin Mahoney, to explore the remarkable story of how two Philadelphia icons, a doctor and a founding father, made it so that healthcare could be more accessible to the working-class public by starting the first ever hospital in America, changing the trajectory of medicine for good. 

This episode dives into the Philadelphia roots of Mother’s Day. Host Marisa Magnatta is joined by journalist, content creator, and new mom Holly Jones to explore the remarkable story of Anna Jarvis, the woman who fought to establish Mother's Day as a national holiday…and then spent the rest of her life trying to take it back.

Welcome to the city of harmony! This episode dives into Philadelphia music history, with the first American-made piano and world’s first sousaphone. Host Marisa Magnatta is joined by musician and historian Dave Detwiler to learn about the innovators who introduced these instruments to America, and how this impacted how we experience and make music to this day. 

Host Marisa Magnatta is joined by Lynn Heidelbaugh, Curator at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, to chat about the origins of America’s postal system through the story of its first Postmaster General, Benjamin Franklin. Together, they unpack how early postal innovations changed the flow of information, why that shift made those in power uneasy, and what it reveals about the way we communicate today.

Host Marisa Magnatta sits down with Gracie Valdez, Artistic Director of Cirque du Soleil’s LUZIA, and Zorè España, a 6th-generation circus performer and Cyr wheel artist. Together, they trace the lineage of the American circus – from John Bill Ricketts’ 1793 "riding school" in Philadelphia to the multidisciplinary spectacle of the modern-day circus.

Host Marisa Magnatta and Dr. Jen Caudle, Family Doctor and Medical Educator, unpack how two Philadelphians challenged the system and changed the way we study medicine in America - for good. Together, they trace the high-stakes rivalry between John Morgan and William Shippen Jr. and explore how a 1765 "start-up" evolved into the world-renowned Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Host Marisa Magnatta and Tessa York, founder of Meet Your Matches, strike up the story of the humble matchbook - a practical fix dreamed up by a 19th-century patent lawyer that sparked a global advertising phenomenon. Together, they explore how Joshua Pusey’s small design tweak lit the fuse for collectible matchbooks, branding culture, and the nostalgic connection people still feel every time they flip one open.