Listen to the seventh episode of the Benicia Historical Museum’s COVID Quarantine Camelcast!
Hosted by Benicia resident and BHS graduate Dean Putong, our podcast provides a “camel’s eye view” of Benicia’s unique history.
In the final episode recorded prior to his return to Yale University, Dean and Executive Director Elizabeth d’Huart discuss the city’s “founding fathers” – Benicia’s Early VIPs: General Vallejo and His Peeps. Join us for a brief discussion of how Benicia came to be, and the people behind it!
Our 2020 summer intern, Dean Putong is a senior at Yale University and is a history and political science major who is also the President of his fraternity, Sigma Chi. A passionate and talented individual, Dean spent the summer of 2019 studying foreign policy and political theory at the London School of Economics and has also been chosen as a Yale research assistant, contributing his time and efforts to several books due to be published in 2021. Dean says “I found my passion for history when I was very young, and museums played a vital role in that … I believe learning about history is vital for our society today. With the crises we’re currently experiencing, the past can give us context, references we can draw upon to find new solutions”.
If you missed our other Podcast episodes – Why Are There No Camels at the Camel Barns?, Manifest Destiny, or “Do You Have a Flag?”, The War Within the State Meets the War Between the States: California’s Place in the Civil War, Matthew Turner: Benicia’s Genius Who Changed Ship Design, Rezanov and Concepción: Benicia’s Romeo and Juliet, and Gold Rush in the Golden State — be sure to give them a listen!