Our Missouri

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...

If you missed her keynote address at the 66th Missouri Conference on History , don't worry, because Sydney J. Norton joined host Sean Rost to discuss her new book, Fighting for a Free Missouri: German Immigrants, African Americans, and the Issue of Slavery . Episode Image: Arnold Krekel, date unknown [Mit Feder Und Hammer: The German Experience in St. Louis Collection (S0941), SHSMO] About the Gue...

In this episode, Matthew Christopher Hulbert joins host Sean Rost to discuss his new book, Oracle of Lost Causes: John Newman Edwards and His Never-Ending Civil War . Episode Image: John Newman Edwards, date unknown [Nancy Ehrlich Collection (P0013), SHSMO] About the Guest: Matthew Christopher Hulbert is an Elliott Associate Professor of History at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. He is the aut...

In this episode, Susan Croce Kelly returns to discuss her new book, Newspaperwoman of the Ozarks: The Life and Times of Lucile Morris Upton . To listen to Susan's previous appearance on Our Missouri, check out Episode 21 . Episode Image: Woman using a typewriter, date unknown [Arthur Witman Photograph Collection (S0717), SHSMO] About the Guest: Susan Croce Kelly serves as managing editor of  Ozark...

In this episode, host Sean Rost is joined by SHSMO colleagues Kathleen Seale and John Brenner to discuss their memories of the late John Bradbury (1952-2023) as well as his recent book "'My Own Commander': The Civil War Journal of J. J. Sitton, 1863-1865."   To listen to John Bradbury's earlier appearance on the podcast, please check out Episode 24 . Episode Image: Cover of “‘My Own Commander’: Th...

To kick off the "On the Bookshelf" series, Joseph Beilein, Jr. returns to talk about his new book, A Man by Any Other Name: William Clark Quantrill and the Search for American Manhood. Episode Image: Quantrill’s Raiders Reunion, ca. 1920 [B. James George Sr. Photograph Collection (P0010), SHSMO] About the Guest: Joseph M. Beilein Jr. holds a PhD in History from the University of Missouri. Presentl...

In this episode, host Sean Rost concludes the Historic Missourians series with a focus on philanthropists and conservationists Edward "Ted" Jones and Hilda "Pat" Jones .  Episode Image: Ted and Pat Jones at their home in Williamsburg, Missouri, date unknown [Courtesy of the Missouri Department of Conservation]

In this episode, SHSMO senior archivist Elizabeth Engel joins host Sean Rost to discuss her recent Historic Missourians biography of artists and conservationists Charles and Elizabeth Schwartz . Episode Image: Charles and Elizabeth Schwartz with Canadian geese, undated. [Charles and Elizabeth Schwartz Papers (C2217), SHSMO] About the Guest: Elizabeth Engel, an Iowa native and a University of Iowa...

In this episode, SHSMO archivist Hali Allen joins host Sean Rost to discuss her new Historic Missourians biography on the "Orator of the Ozarks," Dewey Short . A video of Dewey Short's appearance on the Ozark Jubilee referenced in this episode can be found here . Episode Image: Dewey Short giving a speech, ca. 1950s. [Dewey Short Papers (C4515), SHSMO] About the Guest: Hali Allen holds a bachelor'...

In this episode, SHSMO archivist Haley Frizzle Green joins host Sean Rost to discuss her upcoming Historic Missourians biography of Ralph Foster, and the traveling exhibit "Broadcasting the Ozarks: A History of RadiOzark Enterprises," which is on display at the Center for Missouri Studies in Columbia until December 2023. Episode Image: Ralph Foster, no date [Image courtesy of the Ralph Foster Muse...

In this episode, Bridget Haney, SHSMO Historian, joins host Sean Rost to discuss her new Historic Missourians biography of Arvarh Strickland . Episode Image: Arvarh Strickland, ca. 1987 [ Arvarh E. Strickland Papers (CA4995), SHSMO] About the Guest: Bridget Haney is a PhD candidate at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Presently, she is a historian for the State Historical Society of Missouri.

In this episode, Doug Genens, SHSMO Oral Historian, joins host Sean Rost to discuss his new Historic Missourians biography of Mary Jane Guthrie . Episode Image: Rocheport Cave, one of Mary Jane Guthrie's bat collection sites, ca. 1900 [Rocheport, Missouri, Photograph Collection (P0089), SHSMO] About the Guest: Doug Genens earned a PhD in History from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Pr...

To open Season 6 of Our Missouri, the roles are reversed as special guest Kathleen Seale sits in the host chair and talks with Sean Rost about the new podcast series on Historic Missourians as well as a biography he co-authored with Doug Genens on Paul Henning . Episode Image: Postcard labeled “Down Home in the Ozarks,” ca. 1970s [Missouri Postcard Collection (P0032), SHSMO]

With law enforcement still investigating the Union Station Massacre, the Barrow Gang quietly pulled into Platte City’s Red Crown Tavern. By the time they left, in a hail of gunfire, they were arguably one of the most wanted gangs in the United States. In Part 4, co-hosts Sean Rost and Kathleen Seale conclude the Summer Series by recounting the events that unfolded at the Red Crown Tavern, and how...

Only days after the shootout in Columbia, Pretty Boy Floyd and Adam Richetti stopped at a repair shop in Polk County. Within hours of their visit, they were in Kansas City, just in time for an event that would later be known as The Union Station Massacre. In Part 3, co-hosts Sean Rost and Kathleen Seale trace Floyd and Richetti’s travels from Polk County to Kansas City to parts unknown. Episode Im...

On June 14, 1933, Missouri State Highway Patrolman Ben Booth and Boone County Sheriff Roger Wilson were called to the intersection of Highway 40/Highway 63 in Columbia to set up a roadblock due to a bank robbery. In Part 2, co-hosts Sean Rost and Kathleen Seale discuss how the roadblock altered the lives of all involved and left Missouri law enforcement agencies scrambling to find the occupants of...

In 1933, a crime wave gripped many parts of the United States, including Missouri. During this 4-part summer series, co-hosts Sean Rost and Kathleen Seale examine the history and legacy of the events of the Summer of 1933. In Part 1, Rost and Seale discuss the Barrow Gang and their travels through southwest Missouri during the 1930s. Episode Image: Empire District Electric Company, Joplin, Missour...

To conclude Season 5 and the series “African American Heritage in the Ozarks,” this episode features Christine Peoples highlighting upcoming programs at Timmons Hall and the legacy of the History Keepers. Episode Image: Timmons Hall, Springfield, Missouri, 2021 [Courtesy of Andrew Olden] About the Guest: Christine Peoples is the Timmons Hall Education Coordinator for the Springfield-Greene County...

This episode is hot off the press! Join us as host Sean Rost discusses the contributors behind the community and society pages of newspapers such as the Kansas City Call, St. Louis Argus, Sedalia Conservator, Joplin-Springfield Uplift, and how they shared important updates on local affairs. Episode Image: Eddie Bryant and LeRoyce Stevens at the St. Louis Argus newspaper office [St. Louis Argus Pho...

In this episode, Curtis Gregory, a park ranger for the National Park Service, discusses the activities and history of George Washington Carver National Monument in Diamond, Missouri, and reflects on the life of George Washington Carver. Episode Image: Statue of George Washington Carver as a young boy, Diamond, Missouri, 1960 [Gerald R. Massie Photographs (P0016), SHSMO] About the Guest: Curtis Gre...

In this episode, host Sean Rost looks back to Frederick Douglass' 1893 visit to Springfield, Missouri, and examines who Douglass was, why he came to Springfield, and what he advised Missourians to consider at the dawn of a new century. Episode Image: College Street, Springfield, Missouri, date unknown [Arthur Richard Hill Photographs (SP0067), SHSMO]

This episode features Andrew Olden, a PhD candidate at the University of Missouri-Columbia and staff member for the African American Heritage in the Ozarks Project, discussing Civilian Conservation Corps Company 1743, an African American unit based at Washington State Park along the banks of the Big River near De Soto, Missouri, in the mid-1930s. Episode Image: Thunderbird Lodge, Washington State...

This episode focuses on the life of Voda "Bea" Hardy Curtis, and documents the path of her family from slavery to suffrage. The episode also features audio clips from Voda Curtis' 1977 oral history ( S0829 ) housed at the State Historical Society of Missouri's St. Louis Research Center, as well as final thoughts from past oral history interns–Cydney Smith, Cassie Draudt, and Keely Doll–who conduct...

In this episode, host Sean Rost introduces listeners to the life and legacy of John A. Lankford. Born in Potosi, Missouri, in 1874, Lankford achieved immense fame as one of the most celebrated architects of his generation. Listen here to learn about Lankford's journey from Potosi to Washington D.C., along the banks of the Potomac River. Episode Image: Forge Room at Lincoln Institute in Jefferson C...

In 2021, the State Historical Society of Missouri was awarded an American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant through the National Endowment for the Humanities and Missouri Humanities for a project titled “African American Heritage in the Ozarks.” Over fifteen months, staff at SHSMO identified and compiled an extensive list of primary and secondary sources related to African American life in the region,...