Undergraduate

For the Kinder Institute’s inaugural ASH Scholars project, Predoctoral Fellow Kyle Jackson and Graduate TA Lillie Williams led a team of eight undergraduate researchers who unpacked the complex, layered history of the Santa Fe Trail, an overland trade route to the Southwest and beyond that sprung out of mid-Missouri, catalyzed the state’s economy for decades in the 19th century, and served as the basis for later infrastructural efforts—railroads, highways—that cut across the American interior, linking Missouri to the wider world.

As part of their work, the students created, wrote, and narrated a ten-part podcast series, Wheels Across the West, which explored a wide range of topics that intersect with the present and past of the American West: mules, military forts, missionization, Hollywood Westerns, gun culture, Indigenous pathways, pioneer women, Black cowboys, and much, much more (subscribe here).

And as the students themselves emphasized, at the heart of the project was an opportunity to take their research out of the classroom and find new, innovative ways to engage the public on topics as historically rich—and so often overlooked—as the Santa Fe Trail. Hence, Santa Fe Trail Day, an all-day, roving celebration of the students’ work that featured presentations of individual projects (and a Missouri mule!) on the quad, discussion of intersecting research conducted by our partners at University of New Mexico, and a keynote lecture by lauded historian Elliott West of University of Arkansas.