Our Missouri

Summer Series 2025: Louis Houck - Joel P. Rhodes (All Aboard, Part 2)

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 in History from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He served as an associate dean and professor in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Southeast Missouri State University. In 2025, he was named the new executive director of the State Historical Society of Missouri. He is the author of The Sixties in the Lives of American Children: Growing Up in a Land Called Honalee, The Voice of Violence: Performative Violence as Protest in the Vietnam Era, and A Missouri Railroad Pioneer: The Life of Louis Houck.

Summer Series 2025: The Durham Museum - Kyle Chattleton (All Aboard, Part 1)

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 tracks, this series takes us all across Missouri and neighboring states to learn about the bygone era when train travel provided the main source of transportation for many Missourians. We will also stop in to visit some historic sites that are preserving the history of railroads. So, all aboard.

To open the 2025 Summer Series, Kyle Chattleton, Manager of Volunteer & Public Programs, and a Public Historian, at the Durham Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, joins us to talk about the Durham Museum and Omaha's role as a gateway to the West.

Episode Image: Quincy, Omaha and Kansas City Railroad train leaving Novinger, Missouri, ca. 1920s. [Cyrus R. Truitt Scrapbooks (C1432), SHSMO]

About the Guest: Dr. Kyle Chattleton is The Durham Museum's Manager of Volunteer & Public Programs and Public Historian. In addition to regularly sharing stories from the past with the public, he has presented his research at the Society for Ethnomusicology, the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, and the Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities. He is originally from Southern California, where he graduated from Chapman University before studying the history of local protests and sounds in Charlottesville, Virginia and at the University of Virginia, where he earned his PhD in 2022. Prior to working at The Durham Museum, he led over 2,000 tours for over 30,000 visitors at Monticello, the historic home and plantation of Thomas Jefferson.

Episode 113: The Volunteer State - Jennifer C. Core (State History, Part 7)

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 Society, joins host Sean Rost to discuss the Volunteer State.

Episode Image: Frances Moulder exploring a cemetery in Tennessee, ca. 1950 [Moulder Family Papers (CG0012), SHSMO]

About the Guest: Jennifer C. Core is the executive director of the Tennessee Historical Society.  At THS, she was previously the director of membership and programs and the state coordinator of Tennessee History Day. Core is a folklorist and educator by training with masters degrees from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Indiana University, Bloomington. She formerly held positions at the Tennessee Arts Commission and the Grand Ole Opry archives. She is co-founder and director of the Tennessee Sampler Survey, a not-for-profit devoted to documenting Tennessee’s needlework heritage. Her areas of research have included Tennessee outsider and folk art, Middle Tennessee baskets, and West Tennessee Choctaw crafts. As a folklorist specializing in historical ethnography and material culture, she combines methodology from the fields of folklore and history. Core is a former classroom teacher, a native of Knoxville, a resident of Nashville since 2001, and a proud Volunteer. She is the co-author with Janet S. Hasson of Tennessee Samplers: Female Education and Domestic Arts, 1800-1900.

Episode 112: The Bluegrass State - Scott Alvey (State History, Part 6)

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, joins host Sean Rost to discuss the Bluegrass State.

Episode Image: Kentucky Culture Caravan, 1961 [Arthur Witman Photograph Collection (S0717), SHSMO]

About the Guest: Scott Alvey, a 30-year museum professional, is the executive director of the Kentucky Historical Society, where he is responsible for directing the organization’s mission, values, and strategic priorities through programming, publications, exhibits, and other public resources. His career began as an education volunteer for the Museum of History and Science in Louisville. Over the next 15 years, Alvey played an integral role in implementing a long-range strategic plan to transform the museum into the Louisville Science Center. He joined KHS as design studio director in 2008, became deputy director in 2012, and was named executive director in July 2018.

Episode 111: The Land of Lincoln - William Furry (State History, Part 5)

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 Society, joins host Sean Rost to discuss the Land of Lincoln.

Episode Image: Charles Trefts in a Regal Coupe exiting a covered bridge near Springfield, Illinois, ca. 1912 [Charles Trefts Photographs (P0034), SHSMO]

About the Guest: William Furry is executive director of the Illinois State Historical Society and editor of Illinois Heritage, its popular history magazine. He is a former editor of Illinois Times. He is also the author of The Preacher's Tale: The Civil War Journal of Rev. Francis Springer, Chaplain, U.S. Army of the Frontier.

Episode 110: The Hawkeye State - Kelsey Berryhill (State History, Part 4)

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 Archives of Iowa, joins host Sean Rost to discuss the Hawkeye State.

Episode Image: Iowa State Capitol, Des Moines, Iowa, 1913 [Arnot M. Finley Photograph Albums (C3422), SHSMO]

About the Guest: Kelsey Berryhill is a State Government Records Archivist in the State Archives of Iowa, a division of the Library and Archives Bureau of the State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI). Previously, she was SHSI’s Reference Librarian and a Reference Archivist at the Missouri State Archives. You can learn more about SHSI’s collections, upcoming programming and events, and planning a visit at history.iowa.gov. 

Episode 109: The Natural State - Patrick G. Williams (State History, Part 3)

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 Historical Association, joins host Sean Rost to discuss the Natural State.

Episode Image: Unidentified man standing along the White River Railroad tracks at the Missouri-Arkansas state line, ca. 1908 [Johnson Family Collection (SP0085), SHSMO]

About the Guest: Patrick G. Williams is editor of the Arkansas Historical Quarterly, secretary-treasurer of the Arkansas Historical Association, and professor of history at the University of Arkansas. He earned his BA in history at the University of Texas at Austin and his MA and PhD at Columbia University. He is the author of “Beyond Redemption: Texas Democrats After Reconstruction.”

Episode 108: The Sooner State - Trait Thompson (State History, Part 2)

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 Society, joins host Sean Rost to discuss the Sooner State.

Episode Image: Franklin D. Roosevelt Whistle Stop Tour, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 1938 [Arthur Witman Photograph Collection (S0836), SHSMO]

About the Guest: Trait Thompson has led the Oklahoma Historical Society as executive director since January of 2021. Thompson began his career with the state as policy director for former Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman. During that four-year service, Thompson read every bill submitted to the senate, met with citizens from across the state and learned how to work with others to achieve shared goals. In 2014 he assumed the project manager role for the Oklahoma Capitol Restoration Project, shepherding the preservation and restoration of one of Oklahoma’s most important historical artifacts—the State Capitol. He is author of The Oklahoma State Capitol (2022). Thompson is the co-host of A Very OK Podcast, which explores the interesting stories and fascinating personalities that make up Oklahoma’s unique history. Look for new episodes each month. OHS members receive updates from Thompson in each issue of Mistletoe Leaves, the bimonthly membership newsletter of the OHS.

Episode 107: The Sunflower State - Sarah Bell (State History, Part 1)

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 Sean Rost to discuss the Sunflower State.

Episode Image: Friends of Ned Draper stop for a meal in Kansas on their way to Wyoming, date unknown [Draper-McClurg Family Papers (C3069), SHSMO]

About the Guest: Sarah Bell is the director of the Kansas Museum of History. She attended the University of Kansas where she earned a Masters in Museum Studies and her PhD in History. Her dissertation analyzed the intersection of women's political activities with the Chautauqua Movement at the turn of the 20th century. In 2018 Sarah joined the Humanities Kansas Speakers Bureau and has enjoyed presenting to audiences across Kansas. She published an article in Kansas History in Spring 2019 that focused on the Ottawa Chautauqua.  

 

Episode 106: Interstate '85 - Marshall Garvey (Covering the Bases, Part 7)

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 Hidden History of Sacramento Baseball,” “Ellwood’s Odyssey,” and “Interstate ’85: The Royals, the Cardinals, and the Show-Me World Series.”