Missouri Conference on History > 50th > Program

The 50th Annual Missouri
Conference on History

April 2 – 4, 2008

Hosted by The State Historical Society of Missouri with generous support from the University of Missouri Office of the Provost, Brian L. Foster


Wednesday Evening

Welcome Reception
Courtyard by Marriott, Columbia
6:00-7:00 p.m.
Appetizers and Cash Bar

Lecture by Sir Ian Kershaw
University of Missouri Campus
7:00 p.m., Ellis Auditorium

The MU Department of History invites all conference attendees to the department-sponsored lecture, “How and Why the Nazis Held out until the Bitter End,” by noted historian Sir Ian Kershaw at 7:00 p.m. in Ellis Auditorium (west side of Elmer Ellis Library). Knighted in 2002, Kershaw has taught at universities in Great Britain and West Germany and has been Professor of Modern History at the University of Sheffield since 1989. He is a celebrated, award-winning author of several works, including Making Friends with Hitler and the definitive two-volume biography Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris and Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis; and most recently Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions that Changed the World, 1940-1941. A reception will follow at the History Department quarters in Read Hall.

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Thursday

Courtyard by Marriott, Columbia

Continental Breakfast
8:00-10:00 a.m.

Conference Registration
8:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

Vendor Displays
8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Steering Committee Meeting
8:30-9:45 a.m.

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Thursday Morning Sessions

10:00-11:30 a.m.

The Cost of Loyalty in Civil War Missouri

Chair:

LeeAnn Whites, University of Missouri

Papers:

“Northern Invaders, Southern Revenge: The Defense of Southern Culture in Southeast Missouri”
Zachary S. Garrison, University of Missouri

“Foreigners in their Own Country: Who Were the Unionists of Little Dixie?”
Matthew E. Johnston, University of Missouri

Comments:

Susan L. Flader, University of Missouri

Planes, Trains, and Steamboats: Transportation History at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection

Chair:

William T. Stolz, Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia

Presentations:

“Missouri’s Airline: TWA’s ‘Around the World Service’”
David Boutros, Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Kansas City

“T. J. Moss Tie Company: A Look into a Great Business Collection”
William M. Fischetti, Western Historical Manuscript Collection-St. Louis

“A Boatload of Information: The E. B. Trail Collection at the WHMC-Columbia”
David Moore, Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia

“Railroads You Never Rode: The Lexington and St. Louis, the St. James & Little Rock, and the Missouri Island & Southern Railway Companies”
Mark Stauter, Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Rolla

Comments:

Audience

Missouri, 1820: Indian Relations and an Election

Chair and Comments:

William E. Foley, University of Central Missouri

Papers:

“Compromising Their Rights: The U.S. Senate and the Kickapoo Treaties of 1819 and 1820”
Michael W. Beatty, University of Missouri-St. Louis

“Missouri’s Era of Not-So-Good Feelings: William Clark and Missouri’s First Gubernatorial Election”
Jeffrey Smith, Lindenwood University

Theoretical and Individual Responses to Injustice

Chair and Comments:

Jamaine Abidogun, Missouri State University

Papers:

“Marxism as a Theory of Modernity”
Daniel Beneteau, Wayne State University

“‘Am I my Brother’s Keeper?’: Gary Player’s Response to Apartheid in South Africa from the Sixties to the Present”
Jason Carson, University of Missouri-St. Louis

11:45 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Luncheon

Reminiscences of Early Missouri Conferences on History

Co-presidents of the 2008 Missouri Conference on History

Richard S. Kirkendall, University of Washington
Perry McCandless, University of Central Missouri
William E. Parrish, Mississippi State University

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Thursday Afternoon Sessions

1:15-2:45 p.m.

Missouri Towns in the Civil War Era

Chair and Comments:

William G. Piston, Missouri State University

Papers:

“Carr W. Pritchett and the Civil War Era in Glasgow and Fayette”
Lawrence O. Christensen, Missouri University of Science & Technology

“The Civil War’s Impact on Urbanization in Missouri”
Donald B. Oster, Missouri University of Science & Technology

Courting History: Using Circuit Court Records in the Classroom

Chair and Comments:

Jeffrey Smith, Lindenwood University

Papers:

“Finding Control in a Powerless World”
Mary Ann Scanio, Lindenwood University

“A Combined Response to Need: Road Construction in Territorial Missouri”
Christopher Keagy, Lindenwood University

Recreating Lost Urban Landscapes: The Virtual City Project

Chair:

Louis S. Gerteis, University of Missouri-St. Louis

Presentations:

“Digitizing Historical Fire Insurance Maps”
Jerrold Siegel, University of Missouri-St. Louis
Dave van Bakergem, University of Missouri-St. Louis

“Recreating the Old St. Louis Waterfront”
Andrew J. Hurley, University of Missouri-St. Louis
Adam Michalski, University of Missouri-St. Louis

Comments:

Audience

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3:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
Special Session:

Remembering Lewis Atherton: Inspiring Teacher and Eminent Scholar

Lewis Atherton, a member of the University of Missouri Department of History for thirty-seven years, will be remembered by a few of the more than fifty graduate students who earned a PhD degree under his supervision. The author of four books and over thirty articles focused on southern, western, and Missouri history, Atherton believed that his greatest joy came through the relationships developed with his students, their spouses, and families and that his success was measured by the number of responsible positions his former graduate students held throughout the United States.

Moderator:

Gary R. Kremer, The State Historical Society of Missouri

Roundtable:

Lawrence O. Christensen, Missouri University of Science & Technology
William E. Foley, University of Central Missouri
Perry McCandless, University of Central Missouri
William E. Parrish, Mississippi State University
J. Neal Primm, University of Missouri-St. Louis
Richard W. Sellars, historian, Santa Fe, New Mexico

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Thursday Evening

University of Missouri Campus

5:30-6:30 p.m.

Wine and Hors d’oeuvres Reception

The State Historical Society of Missouri

Exhibit Preview:

Thomas Hart Benton in the 1930s

During the 1930s, Missouri’s Thomas Hart Benton became a leading figure in the regionalist movement, emerging as one of America’s best-known artists. This exhibition examines Benton’s artwork from the decade with a focus on lithographs and drawings that reflect his aesthetic and political ideas and provide insight into the social climate of the United States during the Great Depression.

7:00 p.m.

Banquet and Keynote Address

Reynolds Alumni Center

“Faith and Foreign Policy: An Exploration into the Mind of Harry Truman”
Richard S. Kirkendall, University of Washington

Richard S. Kirkendall gave the inaugural keynote address at the first Missouri Conference on History in 1959, and we welcome his return to Columbia for the fiftieth annual meeting.  As a young faculty member at MU, Kirkendall was intrigued by the promise of the collections at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, which opened for research shortly after the 1959 conference.  Kirkendall developed this initial interest into a career focus on Missouri’s president, authoring a number of articles and essays on Truman as well as editing and supplying the introductions for The Truman Encyclopedia; The Truman Period as a Research Field; and associated Reappraisal; and Harry’s Farewell: Interpreting and Teaching the Truman Presidency.  Kirkendall also wrote the fifth volume in the series A History of Missouri (1919 – 1953) and is presently focusing on the themes of war and religion in Truman’s life and career.  In addition to serving at the University of Missouri, Kirkendall has held faculty positions at Wesleyan University, Indiana University, and Iowa State University and is currently the Scott and Dorothy Bullitt Professor Emeritus of American History at the University of Washington.

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Friday

Courtyard by Marriott

Continental Breakfast
7:00-8:30 a.m.

Registration
8:00 a.m.-12:00 noon

Vendor Displays
8:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

Friday Morning Sessions

8:30-10:00 a.m.

The Missouri History Scholarship Series

Moderator:

Lynn Wolf Gentzler, The State Historical Society of Missouri

Roundtable:

Louis S. Gerteis, University of Missouri-St. Louis
Alan R. Havig, Stephens College
Lynn Morrow, Office of Missouri Secretary of State
Diane Mutti Burke, University of Missouri-Kansas City
William E. Parrish, Mississippi State University
Bonnie Stepenoff, Southeast Missouri State University

Lost Ships: Defeat in the Orient

Chair and Comments:

Robert Wiegers, Central Methodist University

Papers:

“The Legacy of the USS Wake”
Paul M. Edwards, Center for the Study of the Korean War, Graceland University

“The Lasting Shame of the Pueblo”
Lisa A. Hecht, University of Illinois-Springfield

“Legend and the Sand Pebbles”
Gregory Edwards, Center for the Study of the Korean War, Graceland University

Christian Curiosities and Evangelical Enthusiasms

Chair and Comments:

Eric G. Tenbus, University of Central Missouri

Papers:

“The Five Lives of St. Rumwald, Infant Confessor”
Mary Ellen Rowe, University of Central Missouri

“The White Lady of Starkenburg: A Tale of Two Cultures”
Carol Piper Heming, University of Central Missouri

10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Law Enforcement and Crime in Kansas City

Chair:

William O. Wagnon, Washburn University

Papers:

“Kansas City, 1961: How J. Edgar Hoover Ambushed the Kansas City Police Chief and Secured His Position in the New Kennedy Administration”
Galen Johnson, Missouri Western State University

“Organized Crime and New Deal Justice: The Angelo Donnici Case of 1939”
Patrick E. McLear, Missouri Western State University

Comments:

William O. Wagnon, Washburn University, and Lawrence H. Larsen, University of Missouri-Kansas City

1908: The Birth of Journalism Education and a Watershed for the Modern Media

Chair and Comments:

Michael D. Murray, University of Missouri-St. Louis

Papers:

“1908, The Founding of Journalism Professionalism at the University of Missouri”
Betty Houchin Winfield, University of Missouri

“Foreign Voices Yearning to Breathe Free: The Immigrant Press at the Turn of the Twentieth Century”
Berkley Hudson, University of Missouri

“Legal Impacts on 1908 Journalism”
Sandra Davidson, University of Missouri

New Explorations of Mississippi Valley Colonial History

Chair and Comments:

Kenneth H. Winn, Missouri Department of Higher Education

Papers:

“Battles over a Battle: St. Louis Historians and the Battle of 1780”
Carolyn Gilman, Missouri History Museum

“Land Fraud in Upper Louisiana: A Misconception”
Thomas Danisi, Independent Scholar, St. Louis

12:15 p.m-1:15 p.m.

Awards Luncheon and Business Meeting

2008 MCH Award for Best Book on History

Presented by:

Deborah Greene, Lincoln University

Selection Committee:

Deborah Greene, chair
Dennis K. Boman, St. Louis University
David Fiedler, Independent Scholar, St. Louis

2008 MCH Award for Best Article on Missouri History

Presented by:

Kenneth Winn, Missouri Department of Higher Education

Selection Committee:

Kenneth Winn, chair
Diana Ahmad, Missouri University of Science & Technology
Patrick McLear, Missouri Western State University

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Friday Afternoon Sessions

1:30-3:00 p.m.

African American Architecture in Missouri

Chair and Comments:

Tiffany Patterson, Missouri State Historic Preservation Office

Papers:

“The Shotgun House: An African American Legacy in Central Missouri”
Brett S. Rogers, William Woods University

“Ragtime Archaeology: The Scott Joplin House Project in St. Louis, Missouri”
Timothy E. Baumann, Missouri Valley College

Twentieth-Century Environmental Problems Here and Abroad

Chair and Comments:

Walter A. Schroeder, University of Missouri

Papers:

“‘We Believe We Have the Place’: Land Liquidation of the Ozark Land and Lumber Company”
Amy Strickland, Missouri Geographic Alliance, Drury University

“A Comparative History of Environmentalism in the United States and the Netherlands in the 1970s”
Adam Sundberg, University of Central Missouri

War and Violence

Chair and Comments:

Steven D. Reschly, Truman State University

Papers:

“B. F. Jenkins: Pioneer Farmer and Union Soldier”
Cherié L. Weible, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

“‘Bloody Bill’ Anderson’s Threat Carried Out: An Instance of Rape in Civil War Missouri”
Robert W. Frizzell, Northwest Missouri State University

“The Violent Frontier: A Historiographic Look at the Evolution of Western Violence Through History, Film, and Literature”
Mark A. Neels, University of Missouri-St. Louis

3:15-4:45 p.m.

Missouri and the Great War

Chair and Comments:

Eli Paul, National World War I Museum

Papers:

“The Collections of the National World War I Museum, 1920-2008”
Doran L. Cart, National World War I Museum

“Research Opportunities in the Library and Archives of the National World War I Museum”
Jonathan Casey, National World War I Museum

“Lessons of Liberty: New Educational Programs of the National World War I Museum”
James M. Barkley, National World War I Museum

Over There: Should We Go?

Chair and Comments:

J. Christopher Schnell, Southeast Missouri State University

Papers:

"‘A Total Departure from his Heritage’: Harry S Truman and the Origins of the Vietnam War”
Nicole L. Anslover, Waldorf College

“‘Fight for the Guard’: The Impact of the Perpich Case on the Control of the Missouri National Guard”
Jordan Rustemeyer, Central Methodist University

The Politics of Race and Emancipation in Wartime Missouri

Chair:

Gary R. Kremer, The State Historical Society of Missouri

Papers:

“Für Einheit und Freiheit: German Americans and the Politics of Emancipation in St. Louis”
Kristen Anderson, University of Iowa

“Race, Radicalism, and the Limits of Reconstruction in Wartime Missouri”
John McKerley, University of Iowa

“‘A Soldier’s Wife is Free’: Enslaved Kin and Their Claims to Military Citizenship in Civil War Missouri”
Sharon Romeo, University of Iowa

Comments:

LeeAnn Whites, University of Missouri

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