Wheels Across the West: History and Legacy of the Santa Fe Trail

By: Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy University of Missouri
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  • Summary

  • "Wheels Across the West: History and Legacy of the Santa Fe Trail" invites listeners on a fun and fact-filled adventure across time and territory to make sense of an oft-overlooked overland trail. Created, written, and narrated by students at the University of Missouri’s Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy, Wheels Across the West covers a wide range of topics that intersect with the past and present of the American West: mules, military forts, missionization, Hollywood Westerns, gun culture, living history reenactors, pioneer women, Black cowboys, and so much more. Transporting listeners from Indigenous pathways, to international wagon caravans, to railroads, highways, and modern-day Main Streets, this series reveals how the infrastructure and cultural landscape of the West has been constructed atop foundations laid long ago.
    © 2024 Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy, University of Missouri
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Episodes
  • Media and Memory

    Media and Memory
    May 2 2024

    From old-time radio and classic Hollywood Westerns like The Lone Ranger to blockbuster games like Red Dead Redemption, the violence, peril, and romance of the story of the Wild, Wild West has been exaggerated. Modern-day perceptions of the West are rooted in mythology shaped by mass media. In this episode, we examine the impact that radio, TV, film, and video game depictions have had on how the public imagines the history of the American West and the Santa Fe Trail.


    Written and narrated by: Greg Pekurney

    Producer and engineer: Kyle Jackson

    Interview guests: Laura Young, Mya Franklin, Zeb Howell, Max Kinney, Grant Pekurney, Kyle

    Pekurney, Tracey Besgrove

    Theme Song: Fog Holler (Used with permission)

    Additional Musical Elements: Fog Holler, Casey James Holmberg, Kyle Jackson, Kate

    Bone
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    30 mins
  • Structures of Violence

    Structures of Violence
    Apr 30 2024

    This episode explores how violence unfolded in Dodge City, Kansas, and other small towns around the Santa Fe Trail during the nineteenth century. The rapid influx of guns, alcohol, and outsiders produced a toxic combination that fueled high homicide rates and gave the West its reputation for lawlessness. However, the mystique of gunslingers and saloon shootouts has distorted our perception of how violent these boomtowns really were.


    Written and narrated by: Isaac Yontz

    Producer and engineer: Kyle Jackson

    Theme Song: Fog Holler (Used with permission)

    Additional Musical Elements: Fog Holler, Casey James Holmberg, Kyle Jackson, Kate Bone
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    20 mins
  • Living History and Family Legends

    Living History and Family Legends
    Apr 25 2024

    In this episode, we dive deep into how people connect to the past through living history and genealogy. Interviews with Civil War reenactors Ken Irvin and Shane Seley grapple with the work of preserving history and engaging the next generation. Some say living history is a dying field—Ken and Shane beg to differ. By the end of this episode, listeners will better understand the question: What drives us to study our family history?


    Written and narrated by: Katelyn Irvin

    Producer and engineer: Kyle Jackson

    Interview guests: Ken Irvin, Shane Seley (Wide Awake Films)

    Theme Song: Fog Holler (Used with permission)

    Additional Musical Elements: Fog Holler, Casey James Holmberg, Kyle Jackson, Kate Bone
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    29 mins

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