Our Missouri

Next up in the 2025 Summer Series, host Sean Rost talks with Kenneth C. Barnes about his new book, Mob Rule in the Ozarks: The Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad Strike, 1921-1923. Episode Image: Scene on the “Devil’s Eye Brow” near Seligman, Missouri, date unknown. [John F. Bradbury, Jr. Postcard Collection (R1551), SHSMO] About the Guest: Kenneth C. Barnes earned a PhD from Duke University and...

Continuing the 2025 Summer Series, we return to an earlier episode featuring Joel P. Rhodes, newly named executive director of the State Historical Society of Missouri, discussing his book, A Missouri Railroad Pioneer: The Life of Louis Houck. Episode Image: Academic Hall, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, ca. 1908. [Missouri Postcard Collection (P0032), SHSMO] About the Guest: Joel P. Rhodes holds a PhD...

Welcome to our 2025 Summer Series which is all about the history of railroads in Missouri. You know the names, the Hannibal and St. Joseph, Northern Missouri, St. Louis and Iron Mountain, Missouri and North Arkansas, Wabash, KATY, Frisco, Rock Island, Missouri Pacific, Kansas City Southern, Houck Line, BNSF, AMTRAK, and many others. From the depot, to the roundhouse, to the shops, and to the track...

Did you know that Missouri is tied for 1st place (alongside Tennessee) as the state that borders the most states in the United States? For the second half of Season 7, Our Missouri heads out to the state line to talk with our neighbors about their history, culture, and historical organizations.  Next up in the State History series, Jennifer C. Core, executive director of the Tennessee Historical S...

Did you know that Missouri is tied for 1st place (alongside Tennessee) as the state that borders the most states in the United States? For the second half of Season 7, Our Missouri heads out to the state line to talk with our neighbors about their history, culture, and historical organizations.  Next up in the State History series, Scott Alvey, executive director of the Kentucky Historical Society...

Did you know that Missouri is tied for 1st place (alongside Tennessee) as the state that borders the most states in the United States? For the second half of Season 7, Our Missouri heads out to the state line to talk with our neighbors about their history, culture, and historical organizations.  Next up in the State History series, William Furry, executive director of the Illinois State Historical...

Did you know that Missouri is tied for 1st place (alongside Tennessee) as the state that borders the most states in the United States? For the second half of Season 7, Our Missouri heads out to the state line to talk with our neighbors about their history, culture, and historical organizations.  Next up in the State History series, Kelsey Berryhill, State Government Records Archivist at the State...

Did you know that Missouri is tied for 1st place (alongside Tennessee) as the state that borders the most states in the United States? For the second half of Season 7, Our Missouri heads out to the state line to talk with our neighbors about their history, culture, and historical organizations.  Next up in the State History series, Patrick G. Williams, Secretary-Treasurer of the Arkansas Historica...

Did you know that Missouri is tied for 1st place (alongside Tennessee) as the state that borders the most states in the United States? For the second half of Season 7, Our Missouri heads out to the state line to talk with our neighbors about their history, culture, and historical organizations.  Continuing the State History series, Trait Thompson, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Historical Soci...

Did you know that Missouri is tied for 1st place (alongside Tennessee) as the state that borders the most states in the United States? For the second half of Season 7, Our Missouri heads out to the state line to talk with our neighbors about their history, culture, and historical organizations.  To open the State History series, Sarah Bell, Director of the  Kansas Museum of History , joins host Se...

In this episode, host Sean Rost talks with Marshall Garvey about his new book, “Interstate ’85: The Royals, the Cardinals, and the Show-Me World Series.” Episode Image: U. S. Senators John C. Danforth and Thomas Eagleton at a World Series celebration event, 1985 [John C. Danforth Papers (C4532), SHSMO] About the Guest: Marshall Garvey is a writer and historical consultant. He is the author of “The...

In this episode, Peter Gorton joins host Sean Rost to talk about the legendary baseball career of Glasgow, Missouri's John Donaldson, as well as the efforts of the John Donaldson Network to research and document African American baseball players and teams in the United States. Episode Image: Premiers baseball team, Webster Groves, Missouri, date unknown [Henrietta Ambrose Papers (S0698), SHSMO] Ab...

In this episode, Bridget Haney and Zack Palitzsch, co-curators of "Covering the Bases: The Evolution of Baseball in Missouri," discuss the exhibit's creation, their favorite sections, and oral history clips in the SHSMO collections from baseball legends. Episode Image: Jenkins Sons baseball team, date unknown [Irene Whitley Marcus Collection (K0452), SHSMO] About the Guests: Bridget Haney is a his...

In this episode, Jim Leeke joins host Sean Rost to talk about his extensive research into World War I, Major League Baseball, and the men who participated in both. Episode Image: Baseball Game in Lafayette County, Missouri, ca. 1910s. [Leonard D. and Marie H. Rehkop Collection of Algert T. Peterson Photographs (C3888), SHSMO] About the Guest: Jim Leeke is a former news journalist, copywriter, and...

This episode is a throwback to the Meet Me in St. Louis series from 2020 and features Ed Wheatley, President of the St. Louis Browns Historical Society, discussing his book, "Baseball in St. Louis: From Little Leagues to Major Leagues." Episode Image: Play at home plate, St. Louis Browns vs. Detroit Tigers, 1942 [Joseph Wood Photograph Collection (S0819), SHSMO] About the Guest: Ed Wheatley is the...

In this episode of the Covering the Bases series, host Sean Rost talks with Jerry Grillo about his new book,  Big Cat: The Life of Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Mize . Episode Image: Cardinals player sliding into home plate, 1941 [Arthur Witman Collection (S0717), SHSMO] About the Guest: For almost thirty years, Jerry Grillo worked as a staff editor, writer, photographer and designer for newspaper...

As the seasons change from summer to fall, baseball, America’s pastime, transitions from the regular season to the postseason and World Series. To open Season 7 and coincide with the exhibit “Covering the Bases: The Evolution of Baseball in Missouri,” which is on display at the Wenneker Family Corridor Gallery at the Center for Missouri Studies in Columbia from now until January 2025, Our Missouri...

If you are an avid listener of Our Missouri, you know that each summer we set aside four episodes for a special summer series. This summer we are headed outdoors to sit around a campfire…albeit virtually…and tell stories with special ghost hosts, Kathleen Seale and Haley Frizzle-Green, for our summer series on…Missouri Mysteries. To conclude the Summer Series, Haley, Katie, and Sean share stories...

If you are an avid listener of Our Missouri, you know that each summer we set aside four episodes for a special summer series. This summer we are headed outdoors to sit around a campfire…albeit virtually…and tell stories with special ghost hosts, Kathleen Seale and Haley Frizzle-Green, for our summer series on…Missouri Mysteries. In Part 3, Sean shares one of his favorite unexplained stories...the...

If you are an avid listener of Our Missouri, you know that each summer we set aside four episodes for a special summer series. This summer we are headed outdoors to sit around a campfire…albeit virtually…and tell stories with special ghost hosts, Kathleen Seale and Haley Frizzle-Green, for our summer series on…Missouri Mysteries. Katie continues the Summer Series with the story of a mysterious blu...

If you are an avid listener of Our Missouri, you know that each summer we set aside four episodes for a special summer series. This summer we are headed outdoors to sit around a campfire…albeit virtually…and tell stories with special ghost hosts, Kathleen Seale and Haley Frizzle-Green, for our summer series on…Missouri Mysteries. Haley opens up the summer series with the story of Frank Edwards and...

To conclude the On the Bookshelf series, host Sean Rost talks with Sarah Lirley about her new book, "Sudden Deaths in St. Louis: Coroner Bias in the Gilded Age." Episode Image: James A. Love standing beside the grave of his first wife Ann George and child in Fulton, Missouri, 1888 [James A. Love Papers (C0131), SHSMO] About the Guest: Sarah Lirley is an associate professor of history at Columbia C...

This episode features a conversation with Kitty Ledbetter about her new book, "Broadcasting the Ozarks: Si Siman and Country Music at the Crossroads." Episode Image: May Kennedy McCord sitting on a porch with a guitar, ca. 1930s [Vance Randolph Ozark Folksongs Collection (C3774), SHSMO] About the Guest: Kitty Ledbetter is professor emerita of English at Texas State University. She formerly served...

This episode features a conversation with Kimberly Harper about her new book, "Men of No Reputation: Robert Boatright, the Buckfoot Gang, and the Fleecing of Middle America." Episode Image: Main Street in Joplin, Missouri, ca. 1902-1906 [Kay Kirkman and Roger Stinnett Photograph Collection (P0178), SHSMO] About the Guest: Kimberly Harper holds a master's degree from the University of Arkansas. Pre...

This episode features a conversation with Alex Primm about his new book, “Ozark Voices: Oral Histories from the Heartland,” and his 40+ year career alongside the rivers, gravel bars, forests, and people of the Missouri Ozarks. Episode Image: Agent Tom Wright at the Lake of the Ozarks, 1953 [Missouri Ruralist Photographs (P0030), SHSMO] About the Guest: Alex Primm has been a freelance oral historia...