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The Titanic Provenance Files: History Through the Evidence She Left Behind

Society & Culture History Documentary

Damon Henrichs 15 episodes Nov 5, 2026

The Titanic Provenance Files is a history podcast that examines the evidence behind what we know about RMS Titanic. Host Damon Henrichs investigates artifacts, documents, eyewitness testimony, photographs, books, films, and conversations with researchers to trace how Titanic history has been discovered, disputed, reconstructed, and remembered. Each Case File focuses on one object, source, or story and asks what it can really reveal about the ship, the people aboard, and the night Titanic was lost. The series tells Titanic’s story through the evidence it left behind.

Episodes

Titanic's Chronometer: What Time Did Titanic Really Sink? | Tad Fitch Nov 5, 2026 50:01 We know RMS Titanic struck an iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912, and sank at approximately 2:20 a.m. the following morning. But how do we actually know those times? And whose clock are we talking about?In this episode of The Titanic Provenance Files, host Damon Henrichs welcomes Titanic researcher and author Tad Fitch to investigate one of the surprisingly complicated questions surrounding t

Titanic (1997) as Evidence: Diaries and Legacy with Alexandra Boyd Oct 22, 2026 1:03:36 What was it like to step aboard James Cameron’s Titanic—and what can the actors’ diaries reveal about the making of the film?Actress and filmmaker Alexandra Boyd joins The Titanic Provenance Files to explore Titanic (1997) from the inside. Boyd, who appeared as a first-class passenger, shares the research behind her audition, the experience of working on the recreated ship, and how costumes, sets,

Case Note 006: Following the Evidence | Titanic Mysteries That Keep Unfolding Oct 15, 2026 18:19 What happens when a historical investigation takes on a life of its own?In this special midseason edition of The Titanic Provenance Files, host Damon Henrichs reflects on the surprising directions Titanic research can take, and how questions raised in one episode can lead to unexpected discoveries in another.What began as an exploration of Titanic's Collapsible Lifeboat A with historian Mark

Titanic Artifacts: A Diary, a Ring, and the Immigrant Story of Titanic | Claes-Göran Wetterholm Oct 8, 2026 47:23 What can two small Titanic artifacts reveal about the people aboard the ship?In this episode of The Titanic Provenance Files, host Damon Henrichs speaks with Swedish Titanic historian, author, and ethnologist Claes-Göran Wetterholm about two remarkable objects featured in Musealia’s Titanic: The Human Story exhibition in Austin: Jacob Alfred Johansson’s diary and Gerda Lindell’s ring.Johansson’s d

Walter Lord’s Anonymous Letter: SURVIVOR IDENTIFIED! | Case Notes 005 Oct 1, 2026 17:49 We have a name!In an earlier Case Note, The Titanic Provenance Files investigated the anonymous letter reproduced by Walter Lord in A Night to Remember, accusing an unnamed male Titanic survivor of cowardice and of escaping after disguising himself in women’s clothing.At the time, we could eliminate several possibilities, but we could not confidently identify either the sender or the recipient.Tha

Titanic’s Chinese Survivors: Eight Names on a List | Steven Schwankert Sep 24, 2026 1:28:23 Eight Chinese passengers boarded RMS Titanic. Six survived. So why did their story nearly disappear from Titanic history?In this episode of The Titanic Provenance Files, Damon Henrichs talks with Steven Schwankert, author of The Six: The Untold Story of Titanic’s Chinese Survivors and part of the team behind the documentary The Six.The investigation begins with an extraordinarily simple artifact:

Walter Lord’s Titanic Mystery Has a New Lead | Case Notes 004 Sep 17, 2026 12:31 A listener in Switzerland has reopened the investigation into Walter Lord’s mysterious letter about a man allegedly escaping Titanic disguised as a woman. His collection includes hundreds of copied documents from the Walter Lord archive—as well as years of personal correspondence with Lord himself.Damon also follows another thread from Case File 004: the double ring recovered with Collapsible A an

Mark Chirnside on Titanic’s Lost Lifeboat: The Strange Afterlife of Collapsible A | Case File 004 Sep 10, 2026 43:39 What happened to Titanic’s Collapsible A after the sinking?Author and maritime researcher Mark Chirnside joins Damon Henrichs to follow the extraordinary provenance of one of Titanic’s most unusual lifeboats.Collapsible A was never launched in the conventional sense. As Titanic disappeared beneath the Atlantic, the partially flooded boat floated free, with survivors struggling aboard. But its stor

The Titanic Man Who Escaped Disguised as a Woman? [Continued]| Case Note 003 Sep 2, 2026 11:46 A newly uncovered letter from Walter Lord’s research files reveals another story of a man who allegedly escaped the Titanic disguised as a woman.In this Case Note from The Titanic Provenance Files, we return to our investigation of Lord’s mysterious anonymous letter and share an update from the archives. The original letter remains elusive, but a different piece of correspondence, written on behal

Titanic Food and Drink: Dinner as Evidence, the Robert Burns Cocktail, and Edwardian Dining Aug 27, 2026 1:00:10 What can a cocktail and shortbread tell us about Titanic?In this episode of The Titanic Provenance Files, Damon Henrichs is joined by Veronica Hinke, author of The Last Night on the Titanic: Unsinkable Drinking, Dining & Style, for the show’s first Sip and Ship.Together, they make a Robert Burns cocktail, pair it with shortbread, and follow the recipe as a trail into Titanic’s world: Edwardian

Titanic’s Anonymous Coward Letter: Who Was Walter Lord Protecting? | Case Note Aug 20, 2026 23:42 At the end of A Night to Remember, Walter Lord printed a vicious anonymous letter accusing a Titanic survivor of cowardice, claiming he had been stopped from entering a lifeboat by Major Archibald Butt and later returned dressed in women’s clothing.Lord removed both the sender’s name and the survivor’s name.So who were they?In this Case Note from The Titanic Provenance Files, Damon follows the evi

Don Lynch on A Night to Remember and the Book That Built Titanic Memory Aug 13, 2026 54:24 Why does Walter Lord’s A Night to Remember still matter to Titanic history?Because few books have done more to shape how the world remembers RMS Titanic, and few guests are better equipped to explain why than Don Lynch.In this case file, Damon Henrichs speaks with Titanic historian Don Lynch, author of Titanic: An Illustrated History, historian for the Titanic Historical Society, and historical co

Case Notes: A New Way to Follow the Evidence Aug 6, 2026 3:09 What happens between the major investigations?Welcome to Case Notes, a new short-form companion to The Titanic Provenance Files.Full Case Files will remain focused on Titanic history, artifacts, documents, eyewitness testimony, and the provenance trails that help us understand the disaster. Case Notes will provide a separate place for everything surrounding those investigations: corrections and cl

How Do We Know What We Know About Titanic? | Drawn to Titanic Jul 30, 2026 27:15 You know the story of Titanic. Or at least, you think you do.But where did that story come from? Which details can be traced to testimony, documents, photographs, books, and recovered objects, and which entered Titanic history through memory, repetition, or popular culture?In the first case file of "The Titanic Provenance Files," host Damon Henrichs explores the question at the heart of

Preview Trailer: The Titanic Provenance Files Jun 30, 2026 1:36 Launching July 30, 2026.The Titanic Provenance Files explores the story of Titanic through the evidence she left behind.Each episode opens a specific case file: an object, book, document, artifact, relic, or contested piece of evidence connected to Titanic and the century of memory that followed.Why July 30? On July 30, 1912, Lord Mersey’s British Wreck Commissioner’s report on the disaster was is

The Titanic Provenance Files: History Through the Evidence She Left Behind

Episodes

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