the State Historical Society of Missouri
Kimberly Harper is the managing editor at the State Historical Society of Missouri.
In the late nineteenth century, cycling became a popular American pastime. The League of American Wheelmen, a…
Articles Authored
![J. Christian Bay. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Jens Christian Bay Portraits, P0206-027598]](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2021-09/1-J_Christian_Bay.jpg?itok=nldBRJET "J. Christian Bay. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Jens Christian Bay Portraits, P0206-027598]")
J. Christian Bay was born to Lars and Doris Christiansen Bay on October 12, 1871, in…
![Robert P. W. Boatright, standing center with his hands in his pockets, with others gathered before a footrace at an unknown location circa 1900. [Sioux City (IA) Journal, June 4, 1911]](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2024-10/1.-robert-boatright_0.jpg?itok=zrdrIaZl "Robert P. W. Boatright, standing center with his hands in his pockets, with others gathered before a footrace at an unknown location circa 1900. [Sioux City (IA) Journal, June 4, 1911]")
Robert P. W. Boatright, hailed as the “dean of confidence men” by scholar David Maurer, was born in 1859 in…
![Performers and personnel of the Parker and Watts Circus in 1939. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Parker and Watts Circus Records (C2307)]](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2026-09/1.-2307-f1917-no47-group-photo-jpeg_0.jpg?itok=CmPGWQNO "Performers and personnel of the Parker and Watts Circus in 1939. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Parker and Watts Circus Records (C2307)]")
The brief existence of the Parker and Watts Circus illustrates the trials and tribulations that circuses…
Perl D. Decker was an attorney who served three terms from 1913 to 1919 as a US congressman from Jasper County,…