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]
Banner Image: Johann Hurlimann print of Karl Bodmer’s portraits of Missouri Indian, Oto Indian, and Chief of the Puncas, ca. 1840 [The State Historical Society of Missouri Art Collection]