African-American Genealogy:
Putting Together the Pieces of Your Past

A Five-Part Series with Traci L. Wilson-Kleekamp

Traci Wilson-Kleekamp, Family History Research Consultant, explores the resources available online and in local, state and national historical repositories that help family historians discover more about their African-American heritage. This five-part series provides helpful tips on accessing the best websites, which records are most beneficial, and how to get the most out of original records.  Together, “What’s Out There?;” “What’s Your Story?: Finding It on the Web;” “How Do I Find Out More?;”  “What Happened During the Wars?;” and “How Do I Put All the Information Together?” teach researchers to use all the pieces they find to gain a better understanding of those who came before them.

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The Meaning of the Mark: Advertising Symbols from the Missouri State Archives

Jennifer McKnight explores the Missouri State Archives Trademark Collection, which includes thousands of images from the late nineteenth to the late twentieth century.  The program includes logos from across the state that both remind us of yesteryear and teach us about our culture and history.  McKnight is assistant professor in the Art and Art History Department at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and education chair for the St. Louis chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts.  She has completed work for the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and the Saint Louis City Museum, among others, and has had her designs, illustrations, and writing published in numerous magazines.

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Arrow Rock: Crossroads Of The Missouri Frontier

Arrow Rock, the state’s oldest historic site, was established in 1829 at the intersection of the Missouri River and the Santa Fe Trail.  As a primary center of trade between St. Louis and Kansas City, it became a “crossroads of the Missouri frontier,” and home to three Missouri governors and the preeminent American painter George Caleb Bingham.  Although the town’s prominence declined after the Civil War, it was revived as a model of historic preservation in the twentieth century and remains a cultural tourist hot spot today.  Michael Dickey discusses his award-winning book on Arrow Rock, from its rise to prominence on the frontier to its current role as a National Historic Landmark.  Dickey, the historic site administrator at Arrow Rock since 1995, used a variety of sources – documents, oral histories, maps, and archaeological evidence – to complete this book, the first comprehensive history of the area ever to be published. 

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Reflections of the Kansas City Riot of 1968

Kansas City Star photo, courtesy Illus Davis Papers, Western Historical Manuscript Collection, University of Missouri-Kansas City

The Reverend David K. Fly was ordained to the Episcopal priesthood in 1966 and began his ministry as Canon Pastor of Grace and Holy Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Kansas City, Missouri.  Fly served in urban , rural and campus ministries throughout the Midwest, and since his retirement in 1998, has been writing about his experiences.  Fly’s article, “An Episcopal Priest’s Reflections of the Kansas City Riot of 1968,” was recently published in January 2006 Missouri Historical Review, and this work is the topic of his presentation.  He has also completed a full memoir, Faces of Faith-Reflections in a Rearview Mirror. 

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Missouri Courthouses: Building Memories on the Square

Dennis Weiser discusses his new book, a pictorial review of Missouri’s 114 county courthouses. Over three hundred images richly illustrate portraits of existing exteriors, architectural features and unique interior elements of ­design, as well as pictures of courthouses long ago removed from the ­landscape. From the earliest log structures to the 19 courthouses constructed in Missouri under the Public Works Administration (1934–1941), to the ­current trend of building annexes that save the courthouse proper for administrative or judicial functions, our courthouses are true public service buildings. Each must meet very real public demands for accessibility and increased response, while managing to meet citizens’ more romantic notions of “what a courthouse should look like.”

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Listening to the Still Small Voice:
The Story of George Washington Carver

An Interview with Paxton J. Williams

Williams is the author of a one-person play telling the story of George Washington Carver. Born into slavery near Diamond, Missouri, George Washington Carver endured a difficult and dangerous childhood and acquired an excellent education that complimented his innate understanding of botanical science. Invited to join Booker T. Washington's Institute, Carver became known as the "Wizard of Tuskegee" and virtually revolutionized the southern agrarian economy by freeing it from continued dependence on cotton. Carver's more than 300 uses for the peanut, and hundreds more for soybeans, were simply part of his desire to "fill the poor man's empty dinner pail." He largely refused to patent or profit from his many inventions and products.

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In the Spirit of Yellow Eyes: A Cultural Legacy

Dorothy Eiken, an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, discusses the many ways she connects with her past as an artist, through traditional Sioux history, Lakota culture and Native American spirituality. Special focus is given to the memory of her great, great grandmother, Yellow Eyes, who was with Sitting Bull at the Battle of Little Bighorn, fled with him to Canada in 1877 and accompanied him on his return to this country and subsequent surrender in 1881.

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