Our Missouri

In this episode, host Sean Rost sits down with Rachel Davidson to discuss Missouri's newest national park, Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park.

Episode Image: Pencil drawing by Roscoe Misselhorn of Jean Baptiste Valle Home [Missouri Postcard Collection (P0032), SHSMO]

About the Guest: Rachel Davidson is Superintendent of Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park

In the next episode of the "Origins" series, Linda Carol Jones joins host Sean Rost to discuss her book, The Shattered Cross: French Catholic Missionaries on the Mississippi River, 1698-1725.

Episode Image: Steeple of Ste. Genevieve Catholic Church, date unknown [Missouri Postcard Collection (P0032), SHSMO]

About the Guest: Linda Carol Jones holds a PhD in Instructional Technology from the University of New Mexico. Presently, she is Professor of Language Specialties at the University of Arkansas. She is the author of Language Encounters Along the French Colonial Mississippi and The Shattered Cross:  French Catholic Missionaries on the Mississippi River, 1698-1725.

In this episode for the "Origins" series, Mark Walczynski joins us to talk about his new book, Jolliet and Marquette: A New History of the 1673 Expedition.

Episode Image: Tower Rock in the Mississippi River, ca. 1960 [Missouri Postcard Collection (P0032), SHSMO]

About the Guest: Mark Walczynski is a retired faculty member at Illinois Valley Community College and the Park Historian for the Starved Rock Foundation. He is the author of The History of Starved Rock 1673-1911; Inquietus: La Salle in the Illinois Country; Massacre 1769: The Search for the Origin of the Legend of Starved Rock; and Jolliet and Marquette: A New History of the 1673 Expedition.

Next up in the “Origins” series, Patricia Cleary joins host Sean Rost to talk about her award-winning book, Mound City: The Place of the Indigenous Past and Present in St. Louis.

Episode Image: Monk’s Mound, 1987 [James Stebbings Photograph Collection (S0811), SHSMO]

About the Guest: Patricia Cleary holds a PhD in History from Northwestern University. Presently, she is Professor of History at California State University, Long Beach. She is the author of several books, including Elizabeth Murray: A Woman’s Pursuit of Independence in Eighteenth-Century America; The World, the Flesh, and the Devil: A History of Colonial St. Louis; and Mound City: The Place of the Indigenous Past and Present in St. Louis.

Continuing the "Origins" series, John Hagermann from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources discusses Missouri’s American Indian Cultural Center at Annie and Abel Van Meter State Park.

Episode Image: Mealy Mounds, Callaway County, date unknown [Missouri Department of Natural Resources Photographs (P0136)]

About the Guest: John Hagermann is the Park & Historic Site Specialist at Annie and Abel Van Meter State Park and Missouri’s American Indian Cultural Center

If you are a frequent listener of the Our Missouri, you might remember the 2021 series “Bicentennial Book Club” that coincided with the state’s 200th birthday and looked at influential books and authors focused on Missouri history. With the United States’ semi-quincentennial arriving in 2026, Our Missouri is launching a 20-episode series entitled, “Origins: A Reflection on Missouri at 250 & Beyond.” From the first people to arrive at the land now called Missouri, to the efforts to bring it into the Union as the 24th state, this series examines major moments in the years prior to statehood as well as Missouri’s complex history in relation to the United States’ 250th.

To open the "Origins" series, Greg Olson sits down with host Sean Rost to discuss his award-winning book, Indigenous Missourians: Ancient Societies to the Present.

Episode Image: Cottonwood trees in Pike County, 1960 [Missouri Ruralist Photographs (P0030), SHSMO]

About the Guest: Greg Olson is a historian and graphic artist who, for thirty-five years, has worked with members of various Indigenous tribes to tell stories of Native presence in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. He is the chair of the For the People Powwow Committee. He is also the author of several books, including Ioway Life: Reservation and Reform, 1837-1860; Voodoo Priests, Noble Savages, and Ozark Gypsies: The Life of Folklorist Mary Alicia Owen; The Ioway in Missouri; Indigenous Missourians: Ancient Societies to the Present.

To conclude the "Cave State" series, Anthony Orazio, superintendent of Rock Bridge Memorial State Park, joins host Sean Rost to discuss Rock Bridge Memorial State Park and the uniquely named Devil’s Icebox.

Episode Image: Devil’s Icebox at Rock Bridge Memorial State Park [Image courtesy of Sean Rost]

About the Guest: Anthony Orazio is superintendent of Rock Bridge Memorial State Park and the Midwest section of Katy Trail State Park.

Next in the Cave State series, Murphy Kindoll, Natural Resource Ecologist at Missouri State Parks, talks with host Sean Rost about Roaring River State Park.

Episode Image: A group relaxing near the entrance to Roaring River Spring Cave, 1956 [Gerald R. Massie Photographs (P0016), SHSMO]

About the Guest: Murphy Kindoll is the Natural Resource Ecologist at Roaring River State Park

In this episode, Ed Schott, superintendent of Meramec State Park, joins Sean Rost to discuss Fisher Cave and Meramec State Park.

Episode Image: Stalactites in Fisher Cave, date unknown [John F. Bradbury, Jr. Postcard Collection (R1551), SHSMO]

About the Guest: Ed Schott is the superintendent of Meramec State Park. Prior to this position, he worked at Route 66 State Park, Hawn State Park, and Onondaga Cave State Park. He holds a bachelor's degree in forestry from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

In this episode, Sean Rost talks with Nick Kromrie of Missouri State Parks about Grand Gulf State Park.

Episode Image: A person gazes out at Grand Gulf [Gerald R. Massie Photographs (P0016), SHSMO]

About the Guest: Nick Kromrie is park superintendent of Grand Gulf State Park, Bryant Creek State Park, and Eleven Point State Park