Missouri Humanities

S5 E2: Why is Mark Twain Such a Literary Legend?

Missouri Humanities — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 09:00:00 -0500

In this episode, we’re thrilled to dive into a conversation about a true Missouri legend, Samuel Clemens, aka the one and only Mark Twain. Twain is someone who has undoubtedly contributed to the nation’s literary legacy and helped so many of us better appreciate the written word. To help us learn more about this Missouri icon, we talked with Megan Rapp from the Mark Twain Museum in Hannibal, Missouri.

S5 E1: What Does 250 Years Mean for Missouri?

Missouri Humanities — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 09:00:00 -0600

Welcome to Season 5 of the Missouri Humanities Podcast, The Story of US: 250 Years as Told by Missouri. To kick off this season, we talked with Dr. Joel Rhodes, Executive Director of the State Historical Society of Missour. His contribution to our conversation helps get us in gear for a year of storytelling through Missouri’s lens. We talk about Missouri as a crossroads in more ways than one, Missouri’s role in the future of the American Experiment, and what Missourians can expect from the State Historical Society and beyond during the Semi quincentennial year.

S4 E6: How Do the Humanities Build a More Perfect Union?

Missouri Humanities — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 08:00:00 -0600

As we close out this year’s signature series, we are joined by Missouri Humanities Executive Director, Ashley Beard-Fosnow to discuss how the humanities have shaped American civic leadership and the role of Missouri citizens in contributing to our “American Experiment.” Especially ahead of America’s 250th anniversary, how can each of us employ the power of the humanities to build a “more perfect union?”

S4 E5: What Does it Mean to be a Good Neighbor?

Missouri Humanities — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 08:00:00 -0500

September 28-October 5th is Good Neighbor Week. Signed into law in 2022, Missouri Good Neighbor Week encourages citizens of Missouri to “participate in events and activities to establish connections with their neighbors.” In honor of Good Neighbor Week, we’re sharing a conversation held during our 2025 Humanities Symposium: Ozarks Engaged: Citizenry and the Future of Our Communities

This session is titled Engaged Neighbor, Engaged Citizenry: How Neighboring Strengthens Civic Life. Its goal is to highlight key findings from The State of Neighboring in Missouri (2022-2024) study, exploring shifts in community connection, the impact of declining personal interactions, and local initiatives—like Missouri Good Neighbor Week and the Engaged Neighbor Pledge—that are helping rebuild trust and civic engagement.

Our conversation included David Burton from University of Missouri Extension and author of the State of Neighboring Report, and Michael Brittain from Restore SGF and Neighborhood Advisory Council Clean Committee. This conversation was recorded on April 5th, 2025, in Springfield, MO.

S4 E4: How Did Native Americans Influence Early U.S. Government?

Missouri Humanities — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 09:00:00 -0500

For this latest episode, we are taking a look back at early American history, hundreds of years ago, to explore the relationships between colonists/early Americans and Indigenous peoples in this part of North America. Specifically, how did Native groups influence early American government and civic engagement? Yes, this is a very big question, and a topic like this could fill volumes of books and hours in a lecture hall, so this episode will just scratch the surface. But, as always, we encourage you to dig in and explore more for yourself!

To help break down this very dense and complicated topic, we spoke with Robert Miller, an enrolled citizen of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe and Professor at the Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law at Arizona State University, and Dr. Peter Kastor, the Samuel K. Eddy Professor in History at Washington University in St. Louis.

S4 E3: How Well Do You Know the Constitution?

Missouri Humanities — Tue, 27 May 2025 09:00:00 -0500

This episode can best be described as “US Constitution 101.” Our guest is Dr. Silvana Siddali, professor of history at St. Louis University, and we’re diving into the foundational principles that have shaped the United States from its birth to its modern-day challenges. We’re going on a journey through the creation, evolution, and ongoing debates around the U.S. Constitution. So, grab your thinking caps—because this is a big one!

S4 E2: How Can Presidential Libraries Inspire Civic Engagement?

Missouri Humanities — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0600

This episode of our Missouri Voices podcast is a special feature, a recording of the virtual keynote program from our 2025 Signature Series. This program, titled “From History to Action: Presidential Libraries and the Future of Civic Engagement,” highlights the vital role Presidential Libraries play in fostering democracy and civic engagement. The conversation, featuring insights from several Presidential Library leaders, examines how former Presidents have defined and exemplified citizenry throughout history.

Our conversation includes: Dr. Jay Barth, E.D. of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum in Little Rock, AR; Alex Burden, E.D. of the Truman Library Institute in Kansas City, MO, which is the nonprofit arm of the Truman Presidential Library and Museum, and Christina Shutt, Executive Director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield Illinois. Leading our conversation is Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky. Executive Director of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon, VA.

S4 E1: How Do You "Do" Civics?

Missouri Humanities — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 11:27:27 -0600

In our Season 4 premiere, we sit down with Dr. Jay Sexton, Director of the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democrazy at Mizzou. As we explore the theme of "Civics and Citizenry" throughout this year, Dr. Sexton will guide us through defining some of the ideas and terms we’ll encounter this year and set the stage to help us better understand the role of civics in our daily lives, how they connect to the humanities, and why this conversation is necessary now more than ever.

S3 E5: What do Walt Disney, J.C. Penney, The Pony Express, and Sliced Bread Have in Common?

Missouri Humanities — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 09:00:00 -0500

What do Walt Disney, J.C. Penney, the Pony Express, and Sliced Bread have in common? They all have incredible stories of innovation originating along Missouri’s Highway 36! Also known as The Way of American Genius, Highway 36 from St. Joseph to Hannibal connects individuals and inventions from rural communities in America's Heartland.

In this special episode, we’re sharing a previously recorded program from earlier this year. In June 2024, Missouri Humanities hosted a Think-N-Drink event in St. Joseph, Missouri, which is a series that engages Missourians in thoughtful dialogue on the humanities in a laid back setting. Join us as we explore the history of Missouri Highway 36 and how it has sparked some of this country’s great innovations and innovators, and dive into community stories about how this period of ingenuity continues to shape our small towns today!

S3 E4: How Can We Engage with Stories of the Enslaved?

Missouri Humanities — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 00:00:00 -0500

For the latest episode of Missouri Marvels, we dig into a groundbreaking initiative from Washington University in St. Louis, The Wash U and Slavery Project. Our conversation will highlight the St. Louis Integrated Database of Enslavement (or SLIDE), which makes historic Census and other key data searchable online, as well as efforts to revisit connections between slavery and WashU's earliest leaders. This discussion features Dr. Geoff Ward, Professor of African and African American Studies (AFAS); Director, WashU & Slavery Project, and Kelly Schmidt, Reparative Public Historian and Associate Director of WashU & Slavery Project.

S3 E3: Why Do We Still Care About the World's Fair?

Missouri Humanities — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 08:00:00 -0500

In this episode, we invite you to meet us in St. Louis, Louis, for a conversation about the 1904 World's Fair. Joining our discussion is Adam Kloppe, a public historian with the Missouri Historical Society who worked on the new World's Fair Exhibit at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park, which opened in April 2024. We discuss both the new perspectives and harsh realities faced when creating the exhibit, as well as the innovation, grandeur, and spectacle of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition that still inspires wonder and awe to this day.

S3 E2: What Do You Ask an Astronaut?

Missouri Humanities — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0500

Our guest for Episode 2 is Dr. Linda Godwin. Selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate in June 1985, Dr. Godwin became an astronaut in July 1986. A veteran of four space flights, Dr. Godwin has logged over 38 days in space, including over 10 EVA hours in two spacewalks. She retired from NASA in 2010 and is now a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Missouri. Our conversation explores humankind's fascination with space, the future of space exploration, and how the Humanities and STEM are more closely linked than one might think.

S3 E1: Can Our Earthly Ways Thrive in the Cosmos?

Missouri Humanities — Mon, 26 Feb 2024 20:00:00 -0600

Space settlement is rapidly becoming ever more likely. Will it look like the utopian vision of Star Trek? Or the dark future of Star Wars? Can our earthly ways thrive in the cosmos? For the first episode of this new season, we are thrilled to be able to share with you a previously recorded program from Missouri Humanities. On Feb 17th, 2024, Missouri Humanities held their Keynote Event for the year’s signature series at the James S McDonnell Planetarium in St Louis, the perfect setting for this conversation featuring St. Louis Public Radio’s Elaine Cha and Dr. Erika Nesvold, astrophysicist and author of "Off Earth: Ethical Questions and Quandaries for Living in Outer Space."

S2 E7: Roots & Routes of Indigenous Missouri

Missouri Humanities — Fri, 22 Dec 2023 09:00:00 -0600

As we conclude our season on the Roots & Routes of Missourians, we bring it back to the beginning to discuss Missouri’s first peoples. Joining our conversation for our final episode is Greg Olson, an independent researcher and author who lives in Columbia, Missouri. Greg talks with us about the vast and complex history of native peoples in this area, as well as the massive undertaking that is writing about roughly 12,000 years of indigenous peoples.

S2 E6: Preserving Hispanic Stories in Missouri

Missouri Humanities — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 09:00:00 -0600

Dr Gene Chavez is known for documenting the life experiences of Mexican and other immigrants in the Midwest. In this episode, we discuss the impact of hispanic peoples putting down roots in Missouri, as well as Gene's work preserving Hispanic histories and his dedication to lifting up Hispanic voices, bringing awareness to these often untold or under-represented stories in Missouri and beyond.

S2 E5: The Irish American Experience

Missouri Humanities — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 09:00:00 -0500

Our conversation for this episode features Patrick Murphy, an author and former television producer with 9 PBS in St Louis. He’s penned three books: Candy Men: The Story of Switzer’s Licorice, The Irish in St. Louis: From Shanty to Lace Curtain, and Places to Pray: Holy Sites in Catholic Missouri. We discuss the immigrant experience in Missouri, his inspiration behind writing about people and places, and why it's imperative that we continue to share stories of those who came before us and chose Missouri to put down roots, especially when it wasn’t exactly easy to do so.

S2 E4: The Roots of the Genealogy Craze

Missouri Humanities — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 11:39:01 -0500

Family historian and genealogist Kate Huffman helps us answer questions about finding our roots. She has over a decade of experience in the field and even started her own genealogy firm, "Historic Kate Genealogy." We discuss the drastic increase in public interest in genealogy, how technological advancements have changed the field, and the most fascinating parts of her job. We hope this conversation helps shed some light on this complicated and certainly hot topic, and maybe helps guide you in the right direction to discover some of your own family’s roots & routes!

S2 E3: Black Movement Part 2: The Great Migration

Missouri Humanities — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 12:28:07 -0500

Part 2 of our 2-part "Black Movement" series focuses on The Great Migration in Missouri with Dr. Tony Holland, a retired professor of history and social sciences from Lincoln University and co-author of the book "The Black Heritage of Missouri." We discuss the causes and effects of this period, which is considered one of the biggest movements of people in history, as well as how we interpret and share this history today.

S2 E2: Black Movement Part 1: The Exodusters

Missouri Humanities — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 09:28:01 -0600

This episode serves as part one of a two part series about Black Movement. Our guest for this portion is Dr. Bryan Jack, a professor of History at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville and author of The St. Louis African American Community and the Exodusters. The Exodusters were a group of Black migrants from the South that made the journey to Kansas by way of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers in search of better opportunity post-Reconstruction.

S2 E1: Where are We Going?

Missouri Humanities — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 09:00:00 -0600

Dr. Ness Sandoval joins us for Season 2's inaugural episode to help us set the stage for this idea of the “Movement and Settlement of Missourians.” He’s a demographer and sociologist at Saint Louis University, and it’s his job to help predict how places will look in the future, based on people. Our conversation digs deep into the current state of Missouri's people and places, and puts Missouri into context with other similar states in our nation.

S1 E9: A "Digestif" with Missouri Humanities

Missouri Humanities — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 09:00:00 -0600

A little "digestif" with our "Eat, THINK, & Be Merry" podcast hosts, Lisa Carrico & Caitlin Yager, and several members of the Missouri Humanities staff. In this final ET&BM episode, we wrap up the season by reflecting on some of our favorite episodes and takeaways. We also look ahead and introduce our 2023 Signature Series, "Roots & Routes: The Movement and Settlement of Missourians."

S1 E8: Hunt. Fish. Gather. with Chef Nephi Craig (White Mountain Apache/Navajo)

Missouri Humanities — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 16:36:00 -0600

The 2022 Hunt. Fish. Gather. Program, presented by Missouri Humanities, The Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies, and Washington University Dining Services, took place on November 3rd and 4th, 2022. This program creates an educational opportunity for Washington University and the local community, focused on an Indigenous model of health and wellness by incorporating traditional Native foods and decolonizing the Westernized food system here in the United States.

This year, we were joined by Chef Nephi Craig (White Mountain Apache/Navajo), a pioneer in the development of restorative indigenous food practices, a term critical for social recovery and indigenous resurgence during an age of fast food and disease. Chef Nephi has 24 years of culinary experience and is the founder of the Native American Culinary Association, a network dedicated to the research, refinement, and development of Native American cuisine. Craig provides training, workshops, and lecture sessions on Native American Cuisine to schools, restaurants, and tribal entities across America and abroad.

S1 E7: Foraging the Missouri Ozarks with Bo Brown

Missouri Humanities — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 13:40:34 -0500

In this episode, we integrate the humanities and science with our conversation with Bo Brown, outdoor wilderness educator, biologist, author of “Foraging the Ozarks,” and musician. We discuss the abundant plant biological diversity of the Ozarks, the popularity of foraging wild edibles—the history, the benefits, the dangers, the ethics and sustainability of foraging—and touch on cultural traditions, indigenous land management and the spiritual relationship with the earth, and the health impacts of humans transitioning from a hunting/gathering diet to an agrarian one.

S1 E6: "Won't You Feed My Neighbor" Panel Discussion

Missouri Humanities — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 11:48:07 -0500

This special episode is a recorded panel discussion that followed the premiere of our debut short film, "Won't You Feed My Neighbor", which highlights some of the work being done in our Missouri communities to combat food insecurity and improve access to food. The panel features Maile Auterson (Springfield Community Gardens), Jocelyn Fundoukos (Operation Food Search), and Dr. Mary Hendrickson (Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security, University of Missouri).

S1 E5: Adrian Miller, "The Soul Food Scholar"

Missouri Humanities — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 16:19:48 -0500

Adrian Miller, known as the “soul food scholar”, is a lawyer turned food writer who has written three books on the impact of African American foodways. He joins us for this special episode as we discuss his research on soul food, barbecue, and how he thinks food brings us together.

Adrian served as the keynote speaker for our 2022 MOmentum Gala, supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities’ special initiative “A More Perfect Union”.

S1 E4: Cookbooks as Cultural Heritage with Suzanne Corbett

Missouri Humanities — Wed, 10 Aug 2022 16:42:02 -0500

In this episode, our conversation with Suzanne Corbett–acclaimed writer, producer, and food historian–digs into the many ways cookbooks, recipes, and ingredients serve as a unique kind of cultural heritage. We also discuss what it’s like to write about such an experiential topic as food, and how we can look to food writing, like cookbooks, as a way to learn more about ourselves and our collective past.

S1 E3: Think-N-Drink, "Food and Community"

Missouri Humanities — Mon, 23 May 2022 13:36:49 -0500

This special episode is a recording of our 'Think-N-Drink" event that took place on April 20th, 2022, at Mother's Brewing Company in Springfield, MO. In this conversation with three local restaurateurs, we dive into how they are helping their community--and beyond-- think critically about the relationship between food, community, sustainability, and cultural ties. This event kicked off our symposium entitled "Humanities & Food: Sustenance & Sustainability in Our Communities" in partnership with Drury University.

S1 E2: Women in Brewing with Bri Burrows and Abbey Spencer

Missouri Humanities — Fri, 06 May 2022 13:13:01 -0500

In this episode, we highlight the surprising history of women in the beer brewing industry, and talk with two women who have made their mark brewing beer here in Missouri: Abbey Spencer of Third Wheel Brewing Co in Saint Peters, MO, and Bri Burrows at Big Rip Brewing Co. in Kansas City, MO. They discuss their unexpected career paths, some great resources available to aspiring brewers, and their varied experiences in this beloved, fast-paced, ever-changing world of beer.

S1 E1: Henry Kirklin Black Farmer Scholarship with Billy Polansky and Eddie Linzie

Missouri Humanities — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 10:56:18 -0500

In this inaugural episode, we discuss Columbia's Center for Urban Agriculture (CCUA) and their Henry Kirklin Black Farmer Scholarship Fund with Executive Director, Billy Polansky, and their first scholarship recipient, Eddie Linzie, who operates a small farm in Boone County. During our conversation we delve into the topic of representation of Black farmers in Missouri, the story of Henry Kirklin and his namesake scholarship, Billy and Eddie's agricultural backgrounds, and how their work impacts their local communities.

Season 1 Trailer: Eat, THINK, & Be Merry

Missouri Humanities — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 18:55:11 -0600

Our podcast hosts, Lisa and Caitlin, introduce listeners to our 2022 Signature Series and tease upcoming episodes.