Roger D. Launius is a former associate director for collections and curatorial affairs at the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, and former chief historian for NASA.
Born in Lexington, Kentucky, on December 14, 1792, Lilburn W. Boggs became one of the most…
 the State Historical Society of Missouri
 the State Historical Society of Missouri 
        ![Lilburn Boggs. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N11644] Lilburn Boggs. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N11644]](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2020-06/Lilburn-Boggs-Portrait.jpg?itok=UuUuc_L_) 
![Peter Hardeman Burnett, circa 1860. [University of California, Berkeley, Bancroft Library]  Peter Hardeman Burnett, circa 1860. [University of California, Berkeley, Bancroft Library]](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2024-07/1.-peter-burnett.jpg?itok=0I2UZm4C) 
![A portrait of Alexander Doniphan, painted by George Caleb Bingham circa 1850. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Art Collection, 1990.0003] A portrait of Alexander Doniphan, painted by George Caleb Bingham around 1850](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2020-04/Doniphan-Bingham-portrait.jpg?itok=C2zKucHm) 
![Sidney Rigdon. [Courtesy of the Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints] Sidney Rigdon. [Courtesy of the Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints]](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-06/1.%20Sidney%20Rigdon.jpg?itok=GDkZhHkK)