Featuring Missouri Historical Review authors, this series brings scholarly work to life through public presentation. Review authors are invited to detail their research and respond to audience questions through in person and virtual programs hosted by the State Historical Society of Missouri.
Programs in the series are recorded and made available for free and on demand viewing.
In 1961, the Missouri Civil Defense Agency prepared for nuclear war by planning to evacuate urban populations to caves and mines in rural areas. Robert C. Ellis, the Jefferson City engineer who led the federally financed project, estimated that mines and caves could protect almost three-quarters of Missourians from radioactive fallout. The plan lacked one crucial element: meeting the basic needs of urban refugees. State and federal policymakers assumed rural Americans would voluntarily operate reception centers, and provide food, sanitation facilities, and first aid.
John Brenner, managing editor of Missouri Historical Review hosts author and historian Kelly Schmidt for a discussion of her research on people enslaved by the early Catholic Church in Missouri and the communities they formed to help each other through their hardships, challenge the terms of their bondage, and ultimately seek their freedom. A postdoctoral research associate for the Washington University and Slavery Project, Schmidt is the author of the April 2022 Missouri Historical Review article “Slavery and the Shaping of Catholic Missouri, 1810–1850.”
Watch as David Balducchi, retired from the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, DC, discusses his April 2021 Missouri Historical Review article, Harry Truman’s Tour of Duty as Missouri Reemployment Director: His Transition from Local to National Politician.
Watch as Greg Olson, independent researcher, writer, and 2020 Center for Missouri Studies Fellow, discusses his article, “White Man’s Paper Trail: Extinguishing Indigenous Land Claims in Missouri.”
