Missouri Valley Sundays

Architectural historian Keith Eggener looks at the heritage of architect Louis Curtiss (1865-1924), often described as “the Frank Lloyd Wright of Kansas City” and a pioneer of the “curtain wall” design featured in his 1909 Boley Building at 11th and Walnut. Featuring internal...

For prize-winning geographer James Shortridge, Kansas City is more than the sum of cultural icons like barbecue, jazz, and sports teams. In his new book he explores more than a century of change and how Kansas City came to look and function the way it does. He explores suburbanization, changin...

Peabody Award-winning radio personality Michael Lasser explores the songs inspired by our town, from “Everything’s Up To Date in Kansas City” to the rock classic “Kansas City” with its “pretty little women,” a tune recorded by artists as varied as the Beatles and Trini Lopez. Lasser has been...

Jim Chappell has accumulated a treasure trove of sports memorabilia that covers the walls of his restaurant. Dozens of sports personalities have talked of their lives and careers over dinner and drinks at Chappell’s. Now Chappell and co-writer Matt Fulks share the stories told by local...

In 1911 art-minded Missourians hired the nation’s leading artists to decorate the new Missouri statehouse, and the works they created were considered among the finest to adorn any state capitol. Historian Bob Priddy describes these treasures – many of which go unnoticed and unappreciated even by tho...

The 1940 U.S. Census revealed that Missouri had 3.8 million residents, there were 1.8 million Kansans, and Kansas City, Missouri, was home to 400,000 people. This year the National Archives and Records Administration opened the 1940 U.S. Census records to great fanfare, creating a valuable resource for histori...

Civil War battlefields stubbornly conceal their secrets and their archaeology remains a buried, largely untapped source of historical information. Douglas D. Scott, developer of methodology that has enabled archaeologists to systematically investigate battlefields all over the world, discusses his r...

Since his first celluloid depiction in 1908, Jesse James has been the subject of more than 40 films and has been portrayed by the likes of Tyrone Power, Audie Murphy, Robert Duvall, and Brad Pitt. Western author Johnny D. Boggs examines this cinematic heritage to separate fact from fiction and myth...

Author Brandon G. Kinney explores the complex series of events that led to the brief but bloody Mormon War of 1838, a conflict over religion, ideology, and land pitting Joseph Smith and his Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints against other Missouri residents, the governor, a...

On the eve of the 136th anniversary of the famous “Last Stand,” retired National Park Service Superintendent Paul L. Hedren asks: Was General George Custer’s defeat at the Little Bighorn on June 26, 1876, the greatest American Indian military victory? Or was it the beginning of the end of Sioux Country...