Missouri State University's one-of-a-kind Ozarks Studies Program provides students the opportunity to study the history, geography, and culture of one of North America's most fascinating regions.
A timely critique from Jared Phillips. Is it too early to dub him the "Wendell Berry of the Ozarks"? https://www.agriculture.com/farm-management/programs-and-policies/how-to-kill-rural-arkansas
In 1978, there were 2,366 dairy farms in the Arkansas Ozarks. By 2017 that had plummeted to 35, a 99% drop.
It may get older, but it never gets old. https://www.pbs.org/video/opt-documentaries-shannon-county-home/
This unique portrait pays tribute to the history and culture of Shannon County, Missouri.
A little Ozarks sleuthing, courtesy of Shiloh Museum's Carolyn Reno. https://shilohmuseum.org/vance-randolph-slept-here/?fbclid=IwAR29fFUaTCjfbwijPEi0v5aVSpTufQpzv4auOdq1AUxGCUUg7mblaZTWx60
In 1968 the Shiloh Museum was given a guest register from Springdale's Southern Hotel. Joe Robinson, a Springdale businessman and a founding board member of the Shiloh Museum, recovered
Join Dr. Brooks Blevins for a discussion of the Civil War era in the Ozarks on Saturday, November 23, at 2:00 at the Harlin Museum in West Plains.
Learn "How to Talk Ozark in Seven Simple Steps" with MSU's Dr. Brooks Blevins at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 21, at Springfield's Redeemer Lutheran Church, 2852 S. Dayton Ave. Free and open to the public.
Kaitlyn McConnell discusses her new book on St. Louis public radio: https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/passport-ozarks-guidebook-highlights-top-regional-destinations?fbclid=IwAR0UFNpY1vPcQ1hn7W-ZsdYqFHsf7Pj_lzIUWsGIMyyz1lFx3d0lvzwjlQk
The Ozark region has modernized slowly over time, and that’s allowed for the preservation of its traditional culture. To help shed light on what the region
MSU's Dr. Brooks Blevins will be discussing and signing his new book on the Civil War era in the Ozarks this Saturday, Nov. 16: at the Shiloh Museum in Springdale at 2:00 and at Nightbird Books in Fayetteville at 6:00.
Missouri State University Department of History
Free and open to the public! Don't miss out!
MSU's Dr. Brooks Blevins will be at the Crisp Museum in Cape Girardeau on Saturday, November 9, at 2:00 to discuss "The Old Ozarks: The Mountains and Their Myths." Free and open to the public.
Time for another round of Intro to Ozarks Studies online. Tell all your kinfolk.
Another good'n. https://www.ozarksalive.com/pie-suppers-a-sweet-piece-of-ozarks-history/?fbclid=IwAR0nhQieVVRIROSnMLPJ4b7IUTUmbEVK7sKON-Y2vYi8mP3khdEmHGcXNiU
A pie supper at Pine Top school, on the Missouri-Arkansas border, is shown in years gone by. (Courtesy of “These Were the Last”) Some Ozarks traditions are similar to the thick cover of fog that envelops its hills and hollers on dewy days. Snuggling like a blanket, the white cover lingers as lon...
Ozarks Alive
Here’s a sneak peek: “Passport to the Ozarks,” a guide to 61 unique places to visit in southwest Missouri (and a couple bonus stops in Arkansas) will be available VERY soon. Watch for a link to preorder the book this week!
One Ozarker introduces us to another. Few people have done more to highlight and preserve Ozarks culture in recent years than Curtis Copeland and Kaitlyn McConnell. The alliteration is just an added bonus. https://www.ozarksalive.com/preserving-the-ozarks-curtis-copeland/?fbclid=IwAR1lu1Br5bDlPr7OrK5OVDNWp46eE-kRE2651NVIuG6ES-e6WstHYO229Tc
Curtis Copeland is a Geographic Information Systems coordinator for the City of Branson, and helped revive the Society of Ozarkian Hillcrofters. (Courtesy of Curtis Copeland) Ozarks native Curtis Copeland has spent years of his life sharing, storytelling and sending people through the Ozarks. Some o...
A look at Larry E. Wood's new book on a true crime story in the 19th-century Ozarks, "Bigamy and Bloodshed." It's the last review on the page. https://crimereads.com/the-best-nonfiction-crime-books-of-october/?fbclid=IwAR1ep2rYV4KfpzI21QbO2Vn23y1mdGMRuDZPXq4lVMGfeZu2hVEC4gB_O80
These are boom days for writers and readers looking for thoughtful, hard-hitting stories about real-life crime. Whether you’re in the mood for a high-octane page-turner, an investigation, or a pene…
Stop by the Donald W. Reynolds Library in Mountain Home at 2:00 on Sunday afternoon, the 20th, to discuss the long Civil War era in the Ozarks with Dr. Brooks Blevins.
The Chicken Train has left the station. Farewell to an Ozarks legend. https://www.ozarksfirst.com/local-news/co-founder-of-the-ozark-mountian-daredevils-passed-away-at-73/
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A founding member of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils has passed away in Springfield at the age of 73. According to the Walnut Lawn Funeral Home, Steve Cash died Oct. 13 for r…
Dr. Brooks Blevins will give his talk, "The Old Ozarks: The Mountains and Their Myths" at the Galena (MO) Library on Saturday, Oct. 12, at 2:00. It's free. Stop by.
Catch Kaitlyn McConnell's "Ghost Towns of the Ozarks" tomorrow evening at the Library Center in Springfield, 7:00. https://thelibrary.org/programs/program.cfm?id=442382636562&lc=c
Ozarks Alive's Kaitlyn McConnell will talk about haunted spots, old-fashioned ghost towns and others that are said to be downright haunted. An Oh, The Horror! event.
Learning more all the time about prescribed burning. https://news.missouristate.edu/2019/10/01/pavlowsky/
Study looks at the interplay between fire and waterways.
An unforgettable voice of the Ozarks. https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/post/chaucer-ozarks
Explore the life and nonfiction of Donald Harington, known as "the Chaucer of the Ozarks" for his artistic and literary portrayal of the traditions and
If you're in the Batesville, AR area tomorrow, stop by the Old Independence Regional Museum to discuss the Civil War era in the Ozarks with Brooks Blevins, at 2:00. https://www.oirm.org/
The mission of the Old Independence Regional Museum in Batesville, Arkansas, is the acquisition and preservation of artifacts and archival materials significant to the history of Independence County, Arkansas, and the surrounding counties, making these materials available for research and providing....
Interesting article on the small-town Ozarks, by a native of the small town. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/opinion/sunday/trump-arkansas.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
What a fight over the local library in my hometown in rural Arkansas taught me about my neighbors’ go-it-alone mythology — and Donald Trump’s unbeatable appeal.
Scroll to the bottom and take a look/listen to Emma Wilson's piece from nine years ago as well. https://www.ksmu.org/post/new-marker-park-central-square-tells-story-springfield-lynchings?fbclid=IwAR2d4-ivfkzYobF1b4zpXya-bVW7a0LcmAtO8NI9-xK-eNnPdl6djJd-PQ0
A dark day in Springfield’s history was brought to light Wednesday. A new marker on Park Central Square tells the story of three young black men who were
Monsters in the Ozarks.
As we approach Halloween, here is something spooky from the EOA: The Gowrow! One of several fabulous monsters reported in Arkansas popular lore, it may owe its origins more to journalism than to traditional narrative and folk belief. The principal documentation of the creature’s existence (and reported death) is a story that appeared in the Arkansas Gazette on January 31, 1897, apparently written by Elbert Smithee. Elmer Burrus provided an illustration, allegedly based on a photograph, to accompany the piece. Read more about the creature here, if you dare... https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/gowrow-5669/
Lawrence County Historical Society, Arkansas
The Lawrence County Historical Society will meet at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 20th, 2019 at the Powhatan Historic Courthouse. We will start with a short business meeting with a report from the nominating committee and will elect officers.
After the business meeting, Dr Blake Perkins, assistant professor of history and the Chair of the Department of History and Political Science at Williams Baptist University in Walnut Ridge, will present research he has conducted on merchant Peter Halderman, free blacks, and racial conflict in Smithville before the Civil War.
A War of 1812 veteran and St. Louis merchant who came to Arkansas in 1828, Peter Halderman established a thriving mercantile on the bank of the Strawberry River and eventually helped behind the scenes to found the Lawrence County-seat town of Smithville in 1837. Halderman, a slave owner when he first arrived to Arkansas, eventually emancipated his slaves and became a well known friend of local African Americans by the 1840s. Halderman had long been a successful merchant and respected citizen in the area, but as regional and national racial tensions escalated in the 1850s, he became increasingly suspect among many of his white neighbors. Halderman and several of the free blacks residing in his household fled the area for the free state of Illinois sometime after an explosive court case in 1858 involving a dispute between a local African American and a white man in Smithville, which was then followed by the state legislature's Negro Expulsion Act of 1859. Halderman, once a prosperous and respected member of his community, had become an outcast amid the nation's sectional turmoil by the middle and late 1850s.
Dr Perkins grew up on a cattle farm in Lawrence County and graduated from Lynn High School (now Hillcrest) in 2004. He earned his bachelor's degree in history from Lyon College in 2008 and a master's in history from Missouri State University in 2010. He completed his PhD in history at West Virginia University in 2014 and then returned home to north-central Arkansas. He, his wife Jodie, and their two boys, Maddox and Rylan, live in Lynn. He is the author of "Hillbilly Hellraisers: Federal Power and Populist Defiance in the Ozarks", which was published by the University of Illinois Press in 2017, and has published numerous articles on Arkansas and Southern history.
The meeting and program are free and open to the public.
http://lchsar.org
Join MSU's Dr. Brooks Blevins for a book talk and signing at the Old Independence Regional Museum in Batesville, AR, on Sunday afternoon, October 6, at 2:00.
See the Ozarks -- before it's all gone. https://www.ozarksalive.com/
That time of year again. https://www.ky3.com/content/news/561373401.html
Walnut harvesting season begins October 1.
The quick audio version of a baffling, twisting story.
Love a mystery? Have you got 13 minutes? Want to hear a crazy true story about an Ozarker who testified in the trial of his own murder?
"OHR Stories: Brooks Blevins’ 'Ghost of the Ozarks'" is available as a free podcast!
Stream "Ghost of the Ozarks" at...
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ohr-stories-brooks-blevins-ghost-of-the-ozarks/id1073661381?i=1000450637715
Google Play:
https://play.google.com/music/m/Dj52olpa5ingngtkxdfbfpreacm?t=OHR_Stories_Brooks_Blevins_Ghost_of_the_Ozarks-Ozark_Highlands_Radio
SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/w-bill-jones/ohr-stories-brooks-blevins-ghost-of-the-ozarks
Brooks Blevins gives a native’s view of the people, music, and colorful events that shape the Ozark region. In this episode of stories, the author and historian presents the tale of "Ghost of the Ozarks” about the infamous Connie Franklin murder trial of the 1930’s. The trial became a mysterious and worldwide spectacle involving a man who testified at the trial for his own murder.
#history #Arkansas #Ozarks #mystery #murder #truecrime
Here's a new book on the Emma Molloy/Sarah Graham story. http://www.kentstateuniversitypress.com/2019/bigamy-and-bloodshed/
In the summer of 1885, ex-convict George Graham bigamously married Cora Lee, foster daughter of nationally known temperance revivalist Emma Molloy, and the three took up residence together on the Molloy farm near Springfield, Missouri. When the body of Graham’s first wife, Sarah, was found at the ...
Looky here. A great opportunity for folks in the Mountain Home area to learn about Ozarks history with Vincent Anderson. https://asumh.edu/pages/community-ed-class/27/ozarks-history?fbclid=IwAR0qaUMrRYQCzWXm4oA5EfxqjuO8d2Xy-tBf1YcQbdxVkRITD32O1qjMGYI
Serving students of Mountain Home and North Central Arkansas as a two-year campus of the Arkansas State University System.
It may have been "Game of Thrones" night at the Emmy awards, but the Netflix show "Ozark" came away with a couple of statues, including Julia Garner's surprise win for outstanding supporting actress. https://www.eonline.com/news/1075851/julia-garner-beat-game-of-thrones-stars-to-win-the-emmy-for-outstanding-supporting-actress-in-a-drama-series
This is the first nomination and win for the Ozark star
A little tongue-in-cheek coverage of the wild west Ozarks . . . we think. https://jezebel.com/brad-pitt-confronted-harvey-weinstein-the-ozarks-way-1838267325
Brad Pitt grew up on the mean streets of Springfield, Missouri, where wild west vigilantes protect ladies from alleged sexual predators in a real folksy way unheard of to city slickers—by telling the abusers to cease their harassment.
If you like true crime books, here's a new one set in the Ozarks. And if you're in the vicinity of Fort Smith, Arkansas, stop in at Bookish this evening.
The Ozarks Studies Symposium kicks off this evening in West Plains.
4:15-4:45 on Sept. 20: Please join us for a University of Arkansas Press Signing Event with Dr. Phil Howerton, Dr. Jared Phillips, and Dr. Andrew Milson
Spend some time at the University of Arkansas Press booth to browse their Ozarks collection and
talk with the authors of three new books:
Dr. Phil Howerton, The Literature of the Ozarks: An Anthology
Dr. Jared Phillips, Hipbillies: Deep Revolution in the Arkansas Ozarks
Dr. Andrew J. Milson, Arkansas Travelers: Geographies of Exploration and Perception,
1804–1834
View the entire University of Arkansas Press catalog at www.uapress.com
MSU's Dr. Brooks Blevins discusses the Old Ozarks on this episode of the Our Missouri Podcast. https://shsmo.org/news/2019/our-missouri-season-2-open
Sep 16 2019 Season 2 of the Our Missouri Podcast opens with the start of a multi-part series on "The Ozarks." Episode 18 features a conversation with Brooks Blevins from Missouri State University talking about his new three-volume series on the Ozarks entitled A History of the Ozarks. Episode 18: "A...
The world (or at least the UK) wants to know. https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1179007/Ozark-netflix-where-are-the-ozarks-where-is-ozark-set-missouri-midwest
OZARK is named after the picturesque region of America. But where exactly are the Ozarks and where is the show set?
Ozarks Studies Symposium at Missouri State University-West Plains
Dr. Blake Perkins, history professor at Williams Baptist Univ., made a big splash with his book Hillbilly Hellraisers. He's back at the symposium on Sept. 21 @ 8:30am for a presentation on one of the great Depression-era accounts of the Ozarks. We expect to see you all there!
Dr. Blake Perkins, Assistant Professor of History, Williams Baptist University
Presentation: "Mountain Life is Far From Ideal": Catherine S. Barker's Yesterday Today: Life in the Ozarks (1941)
The Great Depression era witnessed the "discovery" of the Ozarks mountaineers in the national consciousness. Noted Ozarks chroniclers like Vance Randolph romantically depicted a simple and hardy hill culture that had presumably escaped the superficial trappings of American modernity in the region's isolated ridges and hollers. But Catherine S. Barker's 1941 book, Yesterday Today: Life in the Ozarks, sought to illuminate another side--a reality--of what she called "remnants of eighteenth-century life and culture": poverty and despair.
Drawing on her encounters and experiences as a federal social worker in the backwoods of the southeastern Ozarks in the 1930s, Barker's book described the mountaineers as "lovable and pathetic and needy and self-satisfied and valiant," declaring that the virtuous and independent people of the hills deserved a "better way" and "more abundant life." Though often overshadowed by other Ozarks writings of the period, Yesterday Today deserves its proper place among the region's great Depression-era accounts and will soon reappear in print--edited, with a new introduction, by historian Blake Perkins--as part of the University of Arkansas Press's Chronicles of the Ozarks series.
For detailed information on the Ozarks Studies Minor at MSU, check out the "Fact Sheet" and other links at: http://www.missouristate.edu/ozarksstudies/.
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