Speakers
The Missouri History Speakers Bureau
Presented by
The State Historical Society of Missouri
Speakers
Topics | Speakers by Name | Speakers by Congressional District
Upcoming Presentations | Request a Speaker
Brad Belk, Joplin Museum Complex, Joplin
Mausoleums as Elegant Homes for the Departed: Joplin’s Mt. Hope Cemetery
Nine mausoleums elegantly adorn the landscape at Mt. Hope Cemetery in Joplin, Missouri. Learn about mausoleums in general, the history of Mt. Hope Cemetery, and zinc mining in the tri–state district, since the prominent men interred in the mausoleums had direct ties to the mining economy of the area.
Art: Paintings, Glass, and Stone
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
William F. Berry, Independent Scholar, Columbia
Everyday Life in Civil War Missouri
The Civil War had an enormous impact on Missouri’s civilian population who lived under martial law. Learn more about conditions in Civil War Missouri through the letters of those experiencing the ordeal and through stories of individual soldiers’ lives.
Conflict: Wars and Dueling
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Robyn Burnett and Dr. Ken Luebbering, Independent Scholars, Jefferson City
Ken Luebbering
Gospels in Glass: Stained Glass Windows in Missouri Churches
Stained glass church windows—their history, the artists who created them, the donors who paid for them, and the faithful who worship beneath them—tell much about the history of Missouri. Learn about the immigrant glassmakers who came to Missouri and the windows that demonstrate our links to a larger world.
Art: Paintings, Glass, and Stone ; Our Religious Heritage
Special needs for presentation: Screen or blank white wall for projected slide show; ability to darken the room.
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
“I Goes to Fight Mit Siegel”: Missouri’s Germans and the Civil War
Missouri’s fertile valleys and wooded hills attracted thousands of immigrants from the German states. They settled in St. Louis, in towns and villages, and on farms along the Missouri River. Eventually spreading throughout the state, they transformed Missouri’s economics, politics, religion and culture. One of the most important contributions these immigrants made to the state was through their actions leading up to and during the Civil War. Although Missouri’s Germans were a group diverse in religion, dialect and political ideals, most wanted to prove themselves loyal to their new nation. Consequently, when forces advocating secession from the Union threatened the state, many rallied to the Union cause. Dr. Luebbering will give presentation solo.
Ethnic Heritage and Migration ; Conflict: Wars and Dueling
Special needs for presentation: Screen or blank white wall for projected slide show; ability to darken the room.
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
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Dr. Lawrence O. Christensen, Professor Emeritus, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla
African American Civil Rights in Post–Civil War Missouri
After the end of slavery, African Americans struggled to achieve equal rights in Missouri. Their efforts in education, politics, employment, and transportation led to varying results but were marked by hard work, persistence, and courage.
Ethnic Heritage and Migration
Special needs for presentation: Podium
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Carr W. Pritchett and the Civil War Era in Howard County
Carr W. Pritchett, born in Virginia and reared in Missouri, taught in various places before establishing Pritchett School Institute in Glasgow, Missouri, in 1866. Mostly self-educated, Pritchett was also for some years the most significant astronomer in the state. Pritchett School Institute, later Pritchett College, typified a major form of educational institution in nineteenth-century Missouri.
For Society’s Well-being: Health and Education
Special needs for presentation: Podium
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Little Known But Famous Twentieth–Century Missouri Women
Discussion of Missourians Elizabeth Seifert, Mary Margaret McBride, Fanny Hurst, and Annie Turnbo Malone. Seifert, a Moberly novelist, published her first book in 1938 and published at least two every year until 1979 when illness slowed her down. For her first novel she won a $10,000 literary prize. McBride started as a writer, but during the 1930s became a radio personality. In 1941, NBC gave her a weekly forty–five–minute program that attracted millions of listeners. Fanny Hurst grew up in St. Louis and became a writer of short fiction that appeared in such magazines as the Saturday Evening Post, Cosmopolitan, and Redbook. Some of her books appeared on the best–seller lists and were made into movies. Annie Turnbo Malone, an African American woman, manufactured and sold beauty supplies for black women. By 1918, she was a millionaire and created Poro College in St. Louis, where she trained beauty operators, ran a well–known restaurant, and had a 500–seat auditorium. Such black stars as Marian Anderson, Roland Hayes, and Ethel Waters appeared on her stage.
Considering Women
Special needs for presentation: Podium
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. Thomas F. Curran, Cor Jesu Academy, St. Louis
The Confederate Women and the Civil War Military Justice System in the St. Louis Area
During the Civil War, hundreds of Confederate–sympathizing women passed through the hands of the military justice system as prisoners of war in and around St. Louis. Those deemed guilty of the most serious infractions were confined to the nearby Alton prison, the former Illinois state penitentiary, for their part in assisting the Confederate war effort. The women imprisoned in Alton came from states primarily along the Mississippi River, especially Missouri, and each spent many months in custody. This presentation focuses on those women and their experiences.
Conflict: Wars and Dueling ; Considering Women
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Thomas Danisi, Independent Scholar, St. Louis
A New Perspective on Meriwether Lewis’s Death
Meriwether Lewis’s death in October 1809 has given rise to two scenarios: did he commit suicide or was he murdered? Both scenarios rely upon statements made by Lewis’s friends and persons who spent time with him in the last month of his life. These statements have divided historians for almost two centuries because they do not reflect Lewis’s character as a national hero. A new perspective suggests a plausible third scenario and is the topic of this presentation. The speaker uses the same historical statements but will present a radical new viewpoint. Based upon modern medical documentation, Danisi believes that Lewis’s death was an accident--neither suicide nor murder. On the eve of the bicentennial of Lewis’s death, Danisi will use supportive governmental documents and personal letters to clarify this exciting new discovery.
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. Steve Dasovich, Cultural Resource Services Division, SCI Engineering, St. Ann
The Civil War in the Arcadia Valley, Iron County, Missouri: History and Archaeology
During 1864, the Arcadia Valley in Iron County, significantly influenced the course of the Civil War in Missouri. Due to its iron ore deposits, the Union fortified the valley at several points starting in 1861 and completed a railroad spur into the mining town of Pilot Knob to facilitate transport of this significant raw material. These fortifications and their associated garrison, along with their arms and ammunition, proved to be an irresistible target to General Sterling Price when he invaded Missouri in 1864. The result was that this little-known valley became the route of disaster for Price's army and ended the Confederacy's hope for a prolonged war. Conversely, before the valley ended one cause, it had launched the Civil War career of Ulysses S. Grant, who received his commission as a brigadier general at a little known historic site nestled in the town of Ironton.
Special needs for presentation: Screen, laptop and projector for PowerPoint presentation
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
The Missouri River: Graveyard of Ships
Today, the Missouri River has less impact on our country’s economy than it once had. It is all too often viewed as a river simply to be bridged; an impediment to progress; a source of flooding. But this was not always the case. The Mighty Mo used to be one of the busiest highways in our country. After our country took possession of the Louisiana Territory in 1804, and spanning into the 1880s, the Missouri River was the main highway for westward expansion and Manifest Destiny. Why? Because it was there and generally pointed westward. Steamboats plied their trade with enthusiastic gusto for over fifty years on its waters. These steamboats and the people who worked in and rode them made their mark on the river and its banks. Learn what happened to the great steamboat trade, how it impacted the entire United States, and how it met its demise. Take a journey back in time, along the banks of the perilous Missouri River.
Special needs for presentation: Screen, laptop and projector for PowerPoint presentation
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. Keith L. Eggener, Dept. of Art History and Archaeology, University of Missouri, Columbia
Given Dr. Eggener's teaching schedule this fall, Fridays and weekends will generally be best
The Liberty Memorial: Mortality, Memory, and Modernity in Kansas City
The Liberty Memorial, site of the recently opened National World War I Museum, is a major monument little noted by recent architectural and cultural historians. This 217–foot limestone tower and its associated classical moderne structures and artworks, all designed by the prominent New York–based architect H. Van Buren Magonigle, was completed in 1926 and dedicated by President Calvin Coolidge as a national memorial to the American dead of World War I.
Reference to subsequent American memorials both at home and abroad—to military conflicts, and to events such as the Oklahoma City bombing and the destruction of the World Trade Center—will round out the talk. The lecture will run about 50 minutes and be amply illustrated with slides or PowerPoint images of historic and contemporary material.
Missouriana
Special needs for presentation: Podium; a darkened room; a screen or a flat, clean white wall; and either a slide projector or a PowerPoint projector. Can bring a computer if PowerPoint presentation is done, but will need a projector.
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. Regina Faden, Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum, Hannibal
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A History of Controversy
Discussion of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’s continued controversial place in American literature. Novels are not history books in the traditional sense but can uniquely reflect a society and even challenge a country’s self–concept. Since publication in 1885, Huck Finn has generated heated debate; being labeled ‘immoral’ and ‘veriest trash.’ But Twain wanted to show American life as he knew it and drew on the people, places, and incidents from his experience to craft his story. According to the American Library Association, Huck Finn is one of the most challenged American books of the 20th century and continues to be banned even today. Through looking at Twain’s novel we can see the historical roots of arguments of race in America, and the relevance of this literary work in ongoing consideration of our country’s past and future.
Missouriana ; Famous and Infamous Missourians
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. Frederick Fausz, Department of History, University of Missouri, St. Louis
The Osage–French Fur Trade Before and After Lewis and Clark
This show–and–tell presentation, using the author’s rare artifacts, reveals how Missouri’s Osage–French fur trade between 1764–1803 was indispensable for the development of St. Louis and the success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It also explains the causes and consequences of American policies that revolutionized commercial relations with western Indians after the Corps of Discovery returned from the Pacific. As the meeting place for many peoples, Missouri’s early fur trade encouraged mutual cooperation and toleration among diverse cultures and provides us with insights into human relationships and socioeconomic progress on formative frontiers.
Missouri as the Frontier: The Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries
Special needs for presentation: Need at least 3 long (6-8 foot) tables placed end-to-end at the front of the room; space for the speaker to set up and stand behind them, facing the audience; entry into the room at least one hour prior to speaking, and no impediments from the parking area to the speaking site, such as stairs, that would impede access of a 4-wheeled cart filled with artifacts and furs
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
David Fiedler, Independent Scholar, St. Louis
The Enemy among Us: German and Italian POWs in Missouri during World War II
During World War II over 15,000 German and Italian prisoners–of–war came to Missouri and lived in thirty camps scattered across the state. This presentation focuses on the responses of Missourians, both regular citizens and those operating in official capacities, when they encountered the enemy and how they treated the foe held in a weak and helpless position.
Conflict: Wars and Dueling
Special needs for presentation: A projection screen for slide presentation; ability to darken the room
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
John C. Fisher, Independent Scholar, Kennett
A Picture of Missouri through its State Symbols
Missouri’s twenty–two official state symbols include the state seal, capitol building, flag, a mineral, a rock, a fossil, several plants and animals, a state song, a musical instrument, a folk dance, and Missouri Day. Together these symbols form a picture of the state’s history, culture, economy, and natural environment. Some symbols such as the state seal were adopted early in Missouri’s history. Others like the state song required repeated attempts over a period of years, and several have been more recently adopted, with a few of the symbols having humorous stories behind their selection. As a whole, the symbols provide a visual means of learning about our state’s diversity, beauty, and uniqueness.
Missouriana
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. William E. Foley, Professor Emeritus, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg
“Hang Them, Hang Them”: Indians on Trial in Missouri Courts
Missouri’s voluminous circuit court records are replete with cases involving Indian litigants. This presentation examines the difficulties that confronted early judicial officials seeking to give Native people a fair hearing in Missouri’s court system. It includes a discussion of several unusual and sensational Missouri Indian cases.
Ethnic Heritage and Migration
Special needs for presentation: A podium and also a computer, projector and screen for a PowerPoint presentation
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
After the Expedition: Lewis and Clark’s Missouri Years
The conclusion of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial observances makes this a timely moment to take stock of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s seldom–noticed final years in Missouri. Lewis’s tragic and untimely death cut short his service, but Clark was destined to hold a succession of federal offices that kept him in St. Louis for more than thirty years. This assessment of their important post–expedition careers is both a Missouri story and an American story.
Missouri as the Frontier: The Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries
Special needs for presentation: A podium and also a computer, projector and screen for a PowerPoint presentation
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. Louis Gerteis, Department of History, University of Missouri, St. Louis
“A Friend of the Enemy”: Martial Law and Military Prisons in St. Louis during the Civil War
Federal efforts to suppress disloyalty in Missouri led to widespread civilian arrests and punishments. The search for effective methods of social control and the unpredictable conditions of war shaped martial law and military arrests in Missouri and the patterns of imprisonment in St. Louis.
Conflict: Wars and Dueling
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Henry Shaw and Shakespeare: The Transformation of Theater Culture in the United States in the Mid–Nineteenth Century
The William Shakespeare statue in Tower Grove Park in St. Louis stands as a monument to Henry Shaw’s memory of popular theater and to his quest for civic authority. An interpretation of the statue reveals the changing nature of social order and theater culture in industrializing America.
Art: Paintings, Glass, and Stone ; Taking a Break: Sports and Leisure
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
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Eileen S. Hacker, Independent Scholar, St. Louis
Bess, Our Missouri Treasure
Introduction to a reluctant First Lady who had a fierce desire for privacy and preferred to stay behind the scenes but performed her duties well. As author or editor of many of Harry’s speeches, Bess played an important role in the Truman White House. True to her roots, Bess never lost sight of home, and after being a witness to tremendous change and technological advances on the world stage, she and Harry were happy to return to Independence.
She lived to the age of ninety–seven and was the longest–living of the First Ladies. She is buried beside her husband on the grounds of the Truman Presidential Library in Independence.
Considering Women ; Famous and Infamous Missourians
Special needs for presentation: Podium and a microphone
John Hensley, Independent Scholar, Wentzville
The Ozarks Mountain Body: Images of Hillbillies and Mountaineers at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, 1904
Dominant American culture has tended to view people of the American mountain south, such as the Ozarks of Missouri, as either mountaineers or hillbillies. A mountaineer was regarded as an idealized “contemporary ancestor” while a hillbilly was seen as lower class. This presentation features photographs of Ozarks people taken at the turn of the twentieth century that both honored and repressed the culture of this region.
Missouriana
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. Antonio Holland, Lincoln University, Jefferson City
[an error occurred while processing this directive]Dr. Patrick Huber, Department of History and Political Science, University of Missouri, Rolla
“Butcherin’ Up the English Language a Little Bit”: Dizzy Dean, Baseball Broadcasting, and the “School Marms’ Uprising” of 1946
Jay Hanna “Dizzy” Dean is best remembered as one of the St. Louis Cardinals’ greatest pitchers, but he also enjoyed a distinguished career as a baseball broadcaster. His use of regional vernacular speech on the airwaves sparked several public controversies, including a famous incident dubbed the “School Marms’ Uprising.” This presentation focuses on Dean’s colorful broadcasting career, his role in the “uprising,” and his legacy as a sports announcer.
Famous and Infamous Missourians ; Taking a Break: Sports and Leisure
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Paul Kirkman, Independent Scholar, Independence
Social Outlaws and Notorious Persons of the Missouri–Kansas Border Area, 1860–1880
Several infamous characters lived in Missouri during the mid– to late nineteenth century, including Belle Starr, William Quantrill, Bloody Bill Anderson, Frank and Jesse James, Wild Bill Hickok, Wyatt Earp, and more. Many of their crimes or sensational activities became legend and were later featured in film and television. Learn what forces, political or personal, drove these Missourians to the spotlight.
Conflict: Wars and Dueling ; Famous and Infamous Missourians
Special needs for presentation: Table for presentation materials and if possible, a second table for promotional materials, brochures, etc.
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Frontier Justice
It took a lot of courage and commitment to tame the Wild West. Unsung heroes and heroines tended to the needs of prisoners in the log jailhouses and stone calabooses along the frontier, while desperate and dangerous outlaws were hunted and confronted by equally dangerous lawmen. Paul Kirkman presents a snapshot of the nineteenth century jail and lawmen in Missouri and Kansas. Get a feel for the challenges frontier law enforcers like Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and Wild Bill Hickok faced daily.
Conflict: Wars and Dueling ; Famous and Infamous Missourians
Special needs for presentation: Table for presentation materials and if possible, a second table for promotional materials, brochures, etc.
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Marc Kollbaum, Jefferson Barracks Historic Park, St. Louis
Jefferson Barracks: Gateway to the West
Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis played an important role in westward expansion and in the growth of the United States Army. It was home to many military firsts, including the first successful parachute jump from an airplane. Learn about the organization of Jefferson Barracks, its participation in several wars, and some of the famous men who served there before the Civil War, including Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee.
Conflict: Wars and Dueling
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. Huping Ling, Division of Social Science, Truman State University, Kirksville
Reconceptualizing the St. Louis Chinese American Community: From Chinatown to Cultural Community
This presentation reconstructs the history of Chinese Americans in St. Louis from the mid–nineteenth century to the present. It portrays the saga of a Chinese American community from a Chinatown centered around “Hop Alley” to a “cultural community,” one without physical boundaries but identifiable through active organizations and cultural activities.
Ethnic Heritage and Migration
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. Brad D. Lookingbill, Department of History, Columbia College, Columbia
Covering the Dead: The Indian War of 1812 in the Missouri Territory
The Missouri Territory was the scene of ethnic conflicts during the War of 1812. The rivers of the territory were at the confluence of a bloody struggle for control of the land, which ultimately erased the “Indianness” of the area and paved the way for Missouri statehood. Lookingbill answers the question: Was the federal government responsible for “ethnic cleansing” in the Missouri Territory?
Conflict: Wars and Dueling ; Ethnic Heritage and Migration ; Missouri as the Frontier: The Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. Maryellen McVicker, Independent Scholar, Boonville
Memories of Missouri: George Caleb Bingham & His Students
Known for his genre paintings depicting life in antebellum Missouri, George Caleb Bingham was also interested in helping other bright young artists to begin careers. In fact, he gave each student paintings to keep and to look at when they got in trouble artistically with their own works. This program discusses several of his students and compares their works to Bingham’s paintings, showing his influence. Come explore Missouri in the middle decades of the nineteenth century as we look back at a world now known largely through these works.
Art: Paintings, Glass, and Stone
Special needs for presentation: Screen or blank white wall for projected slide show; ability to darken the room; 3-pronged extension cord
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
There’s More to Missouri Cemeteries than Burials
Did you know cemeteries have styles like dresses or cars? Did you know you can often tell the economic level, the gender, the age, and, often times, the ethnicity of the deceased just by looking in the cemetery? Learn how tombstones and cemeteries tell more than just factual data as we explore Missouri burial grounds.
Missouriana
Special needs for presentation: Screen or blank white wall for projected slide show; ability to darken the room; 3-pronged extension cord
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Anne Mallinson, Independent Scholar, Centerview, and Nancy Lewis, Independent Scholar, Blue Springs.
[an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive]Joe Louis Mattox, Independent Scholar, Kansas City
Blacks in Blue at the Battle of Westport
The Battle of Westport marked the end of Sterling Price’s 1864 raid into Missouri, but the participation of African American Union soldiers at the battle on October 23–24 has been largely unrecognized. Learn about the fighting men of the Independent Colored Kansas Battery Light Artillery (the Douglass Battery) and the Second Kansas Colored State Militia who helped push Price and his army from the state.
Conflict: Wars and Dueling ; Ethnic Heritage and Migration
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. Arthur Mehrhoff, Museum of Art & Archaeology, University of Missouri, Columbia
A View from the Gateway Arch
This presentation grows out of archival research about westward expansion, St. Louis history, and construction of the Gateway Arch conducted at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Archives in the Old Court House in St. Louis. It draws heavily upon humanities material such as history, literature, architecture, urban design, and popular culture, including numerous visual images showing how the evolving image of the arch form symbolized fundamental shifts in American cultural history.
Missouriana
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. Debra Miles, Independent Scholar, New Bloomfield
The Road to Brown v. Board of Education: Legal Cases Along the Way in Missouri
Charles Hamilton Houston, a noted African American attorney in Washington, DC, developed the legal strategy to end segregation in public education that resulted in the Supreme Court’s decision declaring separate schools unconstitutional. The presentation will emphasize the usage of Houston’s strategy in Missouri courts with two Missouri plaintiffs, Lloyd Gaines and Lucille Bluford.
Ethnic Heritage and Migration ; For Society’s Well–being: Health and Education
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Legal Representation for Missouri Slaves: Zealous or Passive?
Slaves accused of crimes in Missouri were represented by white lawyers. The focus of this presentation is determining the adequacy of that representation, with an analysis of Missouri court cases involving slaves charged with capital crimes.
Ethnic Heritage and Migration
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Ricky Earl Newport, Independent Scholar, Carrollton
A Female Film Pioneer from Missouri: The Life and Career of Gene Gauntier, 1885–1966
Gene Gauntier (stage name of Genevieve Liggett, 1885–1966) was a film pioneer of the early silent era who grew up in the small north–central Missouri towns of DeWitt and Brunswick and in Kansas City. After a modest career as an actress on the New York stage, Gauntier entered the fledgling film industry in 1906. She is credited with starring in over 300 films, many of which she also wrote, including 1912’s classic From the Manger to the Cross (one of the first American feature films). Besides being a popular movie star and the first female screenwriter, Gauntier became the first woman to direct a motion picture, played a key role in a U.S. Supreme Court case that established copyright guidelines for the film industry, and after her retirement from acting, wrote two novels that employed real locales and characters from her Missouri girlhood.
Considering Women ; Taking a Break: Sports and Leisure
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Rose Nolen, Independent Scholar, Sedalia
African American Customs and Traditions throughout Missouri History
From the toe–tapping rhythms of ragtime to the taste–tempting flavors of soul food, Missouri’s African Americans continuously celebrate the customs and traditions that have characterized their historic journey from slavery to the twenty–first century. Explore the origins and experience the largesse of the shared legacy inherited by black Missourians.
Ethnic Heritage and Migration
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. Michael Polley, Department of History, Columbia College, Columbia
Missourians’ Letters from the Good War, 1942–1946
Several collections at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection include letters from Missourians who fought and served in World War II. The letters tell of heroism, hope, and the everyday tasks of soldiers in wartime. Selections from the letters are inspirational and educational and reveal a great deal about the hopes and fears of average Americans during wartime.
Conflict: Wars and Dueling
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Scott A. Porter, Center for Army Tactics, U. S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
‘Bashi–Bazouks’ and Rebels Too: Action at Camden Point, July 13, 1864
The struggle for northwest Missouri during the Civil War is a unique story due to the Confederate alignment with guerrillas and defecting Union–enrolled Missouri Militia in a bold attempt to seize control of the area prior to Gen. Sterling Price’s invasion of Missouri. The Union forces, temporarily split by their illogical command structure and cut off by the Missouri–Kansas border, were able to quickly overcome the problem to mount a counterattack and reclaim this vital land east of Fort Leavenworth. The site now claims the second oldest Confederate monument west of the Mississippi River. Frank and Jesse James, Col. Charles R. Jennison, and Gen. Samuel Curtis were all involved in this significant action.
Conflict: Wars and Dueling
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Tom Rafiner, Independent Scholar, Parkville
Missouri Families and Order No. 11
Order No. 11, which mandated the evacuation of most of the civilian population in Jackson, Cass, and Bates counties and a portion of Vernon County, impacted the entire state. Rafiner examines the circumstances that led to the order and focuses on specific individuals and families living in Cass County at the time, discussing where they fled and why many chose not to return.
Conflict: Wars and Dueling
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. Steven D. Reschly, Truman State University, Kirksville
The Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonites in Missouri and the Midwest
Dr. Reschly begins with the history of the Amish and related groups, with a focus on the Midwest and on nineteenth–century and contemporary Missouri. The Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonite presence in the state in the early twenty–first century is visible and growing, with good prospects for the near future. There will be time for questions and answers on all aspects of Amish and Mennonite history and culture.
Our Religious Heritage
Special needs for presentation: A screen for PowerPoint slide presentation.
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. Joel Rhodes, Department of History, Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau
The Father of Southeast Missouri: The Life and Times of Louis Houck
Lawyer, journalist, entrepreneur, college regent, philanthropist, and historian Louis Houck became a self–taught railroad builder in the late nineteenth century. His railroads provided the major impetus for southeast Missouri’s population, agricultural, lumbering, and commercial growth. Houck also strove to make art, culture, and formal education available to all social classes in the region. Dr. Rhodes is the author of a new biography of Houck published by the University of Missouri Press, A Missouri Railroad Pioneer: the Life of Louis Houck.
Famous and Infamous Missourians ; Roads and Rails
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Armin Schannuth, Independent Scholar, Independence
The Railroad History of West Central Missouri
Railroads played an important role in economic development during the nineteenth century. The Missouri Pacific, not completed from St. Louis to Kansas City until 1865, suffered much destruction during the Civil War. Small towns in west central Missouri celebrated the arrival of the railroad in the late 1870s, and passengers became victims of occasional robberies.
Roads and Rails
Special needs for presentation: Projection screen and slide projector or power point projector with a lap top; ability to darken the room. The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Loula Grace Erdman
Missouri author, Loula Grace Erdman, was born in Lafayette County in 1898. The award-winning author served on the faculty of the West Texas State College (now WTAMU) English Department from 1945 until 1976. Erdman wrote 21 books and numerous articles and short stories; many of her books are set in Missouri. Miss Erdman’s 21st and last book was Save Weeping for the Night, 1975. It is about the life of Mrs. General Joe Shelby, the wife of the famous Missouri Confederate General, during the Civil War. Her short stories have appeared in such periodicals as: The Reader’s Digest, Woman’s Home Companion, Ladies Home Journal, Redbook and The Christian Herald.
Miss Erdman died in Amarillo, Texas on June 20, 1976 and was buried in Blackburn Cemetery in Saline County, Missouri.
Considering Women
Special needs for presentation: Projection screen and slide projector or power point projector with a lap top; ability to darken the room. The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. J. Christopher Schnell, Department of History, Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau
The New Deal in Missouri: The Works Progress Administration
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal poured millions of dollars into Missouri to fight the Great Depression. The most important New Deal program was the Works Progress Administration. The lecture and accompanying rare slide collection depict how the New Deal and the WPA changed the face of Missouri while saving thousands of jobs.
Missouriana
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. Walter A. Schroeder, Professor Emeritus, University of Missouri, Columbia
Cultural Regions of Missouri
Lying where westward migration routes converged, Missouri has experienced one of the most complex and fascinating histories of settlement in the United States. This presentation focuses on the major cultural groups that settled in the state, where they settled and why, and features of the visible landscape that make the cultural regions distinctive.
Ethnic Heritage and Migration
Special needs for presentation: Overhead projector (for transparencies;) a screen (the larger, the better;) and a room sufficiently dark for viewing the transparencies.
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Ronald Sergent, Independent Scholar, Columbia
Harry and Bess: Missouri’s Greatest Love Story
This is the story about the unique and powerful bond of love between Missouri’s most famous political son, Harry Truman, and Bess Wallace, the little, blue–eyed, curly–haired blond girl he adored from the first time he saw her in Sunday school class—a story of a farm boy loving and courting a city girl. The courtship ultimately led to a marriage of determination and commitment that survived lean, tumultuous times and glowed throughout their lives together.
Famous and Infamous Missourians
This speaker prefers to travel no further than 100 miles outside of Columbia.
Special needs for presentation: Need a podium with a table alongside and at least one easel to display 3x4 foot size photos; more (4) easels would be even better. Please allow at least 30 minutes for this presentation in all cases.
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dennis Stroughmatt, Independent Scholar, Albion, Illinois
La Guillanee: Ancient French Traditions Live in Missouri through Music and Food
Who could have imagined a tradition that began centuries ago, one now extinct in western France, would remain alive in the “Illinois Country” of Illinois and Missouri? The guillanee, originally a Celtic tradition to share food and bounty throughout the community during winter, began in Europe as a gesture of charity over two thousand years ago. In France it also brought the community together to celebrate the New Year and joie de vivre (joy of life). This musical and educational presentation will explore the European, Canadian, and French Creole roots of this now Missouri tradition as well as the fiddle music performed and food eaten during the festivities.
Ethnic Heritage and Migration
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide
equipment for speakers' presentations.
French Creole Music and Language from the Missouri Mines: 1723-2008
With the arrival of French lead miner Phillipe Renault in 1723, the face of Upper Louisiana and the future state of Missouri changed forever. Known by the French government as a credible source of lead and other minerals, southeast Missouri enticed French miners and eventually, voyageurs, clergy, farmers, and craftsmen. For over three-quarters of the eighteenth century, a steady flow of colonists from Canada, Lower Louisiana, and northwestern France formed the nucleus of a French Missouri that eventually included villages and towns such as St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau, New Madrid, St. Charles, and the modern-day "Old Mines" region.
The mix of French immigrants brought slight variances of French dialects, foods, and music into Upper Louisiana. But through creolization, a Midwest French Creole culture was born and has survived in Missouri for over 250 years. With discussion and song, this program explores the history of French Missouri and traces its musical and linguistic ties to Canada, Louisiana, and France.
Art: Paintings, Glass, and Stone ; Ethnic Heritage and Migration ; Missouri as the Frontier: The Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dan Viets, Independent Scholar, Columbia
Missouri’s Walt Disney
Walt Disney became a successful film producer and revolutionized the amusement park and resort industry. His early childhood years in Marceline, Missouri, served as the basis for many of the elements of his films and the design of his theme parks. He later spent more than ten years in Kansas City, where he began his first animation studio. This presentation emphasizes Disney’s connections to Missouri.
Famous and Infamous Missourians
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. Danny Wedding, Missouri Institute of Mental Health, St, Louis
A History of the Treatment of People with Mental Illness in Missouri
Will not be available from September 1, 2008 through August 31, 2009.
Early mental health care centers in the state included State Hospital Number One in Fulton, the St. Louis County Insane Asylum, and the Saint Louis Hospital for Social Evils. The history of these hospitals, the treatments offered patients, and the management of people with mental illness as affected by social and medical movements form the core of this presentation.
For Society’s Well–being: Health and Education
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. Kenneth Winn, Adjunct Professor, Department of History, University of Missouri – Columbia, Jefferson City
Arsenic as a Nineteenth-Century Beauty Aid (with a Little Murder on the Side)
On November 20, 1855, Catherine Bennett, the most beautiful woman in St. Louis, died. According to the local newspaper, the fashionable, thirty-seven-year-old mother of three girls expired suddenly and tragically after a brief illness. The “brief illness” was caused by her poisoning herself with arsenic. Yet this was no suicide attempt, but rather an attempt to beautify herself. Taking arsenic to whiten feminine skin was a fashionable, if secret, fad among many women in Victorian America. This talk traces the rise and fall of arsenic as a beauty aid in the nineteenth century and the assistance it provided some scheming men in dispensing with troublesome wives.
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
The Frown of Fortune: George Sibley and Breach of Promise on the American Frontier
In 1812 Osage Indian agent George Sibley, the grandson of one of America’s greatest theologians, asked Ellen Lorr, the daughter of his Indian language interpreter, to live with him, making a written promise to protect her from the “frown of fortune.” When the War of 1812 drove them from Fort Osage near present-day Kansas City to St. Louis, Lorr sued Sibley for failing to marry her. The battle soon became political as the old French colonial elite rallied to Lorr, while their new American opponents took Sibley’s side. Before the case was over, Sibley married Mary Easton, the daughter of his defense attorney. Together, they founded the Linden Wood School for Young Ladies, now Lindenwood University.
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Dr. W. Raymond Wood, Professor Emeritus, University of Missouri, Columbia
The Missouri River Before Lewis and Clark
The Missouri River had been explored for decades before Lewis and Clark by French, English, and Spanish explorers. By the 1790s, all of the major streams as far as the Mandans had been named (names most of them still bear today). The most important pre–Lewis and Clark expedition was led by Scotsman James Mackay and John Thomas Evans from Wales for Spanish merchants in St. Louis; their maps were important guides for the first full year of the Lewis and Clark exploration.
Missouri as the Frontier: The Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
Early Views of Missouri: The Artwork of Charles–Alexandre Lesueur and Karl Bodmer
Two early artists created priceless images of Missouri in the early nineteenth century. In 1826 Charles–Alexandre Lesueur traveled through southeastern Missouri’s lead district, where he sketched the countryside, the Mississippi and its boats, homes and homesteads, mines, and people. When Karl Bodmer accompanied Prince Maximilian up the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers in the 1832 he created sketches and watercolors of Missouri towns, Cahokia mounds, and views along the rivers. Together these images illustrate the everyday lives of the inhabitants of Missouri in its formative years.
Missouri as the Frontier: The Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries
Special needs for presentation: none
The State Historical Society does not provide equipment for speakers' presentations.
