the State Historical Society of Missouri
![French artist Louis-Leopold Boilly’s rendering of members of an Osage traveling party in Europe, including Big Soldier (at right). [Smithsonian Institution, National Portrait Gallery, object # S/NPG.2011.5]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2020-07/Big-Soldier.jpg?h=86a29125&itok=SubP6M24 "French artist Louis-Leopold Boilly’s rendering of members of an Osage traveling party in Europe, including Big Soldier (at right). [Smithsonian Institution, National Portrait Gallery, object # S/NPG.2011.5]")
Big Soldier, a Little Osage war leader, was probably born in 1773 in a village near the…
![Morris Birkbeck. [Morris Birkbeck and George Flower, History of the English Settlement in Edwards County, Illinois (Chicago: Fergus Printing Co., 1882)]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2020-07/Morris-Birkbeck.jpg?h=c9fefaae&itok=Lsvu56gN "Morris Birkbeck. [Morris Birkbeck and George Flower, History of the English Settlement in Edwards County, Illinois (Chicago: Fergus Printing Co., 1882)]")
An early pioneer-farming expert and author, Morris Birkbeck exerted an enormous influence…
![Karl Bodmer circa 1877. [Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-50540]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2021-09/2-Karl_Bodmer.jpg?h=22fbc3ba&itok=0JA3FzpE "Karl Bodmer circa 1877. [Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-50540]")
Among the early artists to explore the trans-Mississippi River frontier, Karl Bodmer’s stay…
![Lilburn Boggs. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N11644]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2020-06/Lilburn-Boggs-Portrait.jpg?h=9196c627&itok=RNkG0lH8 "Lilburn Boggs. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N11644]")
Born in Lexington, Kentucky, on December 14, 1792, Lilburn W. Boggs became one of the most…
![Lewis Bogy. [Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Brady-Handy Photograph Collection, LC-DIG-cwpbh-00128]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2021-03/1-Lewis-Bogy.jpg?h=f831b2b7&itok=e7fp7aLh "Lewis Bogy. [Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Brady-Handy Photograph Collection, LC-DIG-cwpbh-00128]")
Born in Ste. Genevieve on April 9, 1818, as a descendant of early French…
![Carl Chapman at an unidentified archaeological site. [University of Missouri, Museum of Anthropology and American Archaeology Division, 23SN202-2]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-03/1.%20Carl%20H.%20Chapman.jpg?h=85b4253e&itok=CIxXS6JP "Carl Chapman at an unidentified archaeological site. [University of Missouri, Museum of Anthropology and American Archaeology Division, 23SN202-2]")
Carl Haley Chapman has appropriately been called the dean of Missouri archaeology, a title…
![Portrait of William Clark by Charles Willson Peale, c. 1807–1809. [Courtesy of the Independence National Historical Park]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2020-06/William-Clark-portrait-by-Peale.jpg?h=ccb5c4af&itok=ovJcr_ol "Portrait of William Clark by Charles Willson Peale, c. 1807–1809. [Courtesy of the Independence National Historical Park]")
William Clark, the celebrated explorer who joined Meriwether Lewis …
![Painting titled Cler-mónt, First Chief of the Tribe, by George Catlin, 1834. [Smithsonian American Art Museum, SAAM-1985.66.29_1]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-03/1.%20Clermont%20II.jpg?h=ef4b444f&itok=kE06LUdf "Painting titled Cler-mónt, First Chief of the Tribe, by George Catlin, 1834. [Smithsonian American Art Museum, SAAM-1985.66.29_1]")
Following the death of Clermont (Gra-Mon or “Arrow-Going-Home”) in 1796, his son, also…
![Howard A. Cowden (right) with former president Harry S. Truman. [Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, 64-1411]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-03/1.%20Howard%20A.%20Cowden.jpg?h=6e1caf6f&itok=Jv0Nn8tA "Howard A. Cowden (right) with former president Harry S. Truman. [Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, 64-1411]")
The founder of the Consumers Cooperative Association (CCA) and the original field man for…
![Forrest Donnell. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Missouri Governor Portraits, P1091-18639]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-03/1.%20Forrest%20C.%20Donnell.jpg?h=ecf8be9c&itok=EFj4IiQn "Forrest Donnell. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Missouri Governor Portraits, P1091-18639]")
Born in Quitman, Missouri, on August 20, 1884, the only child of dry-goods operator John…