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Join the Trails Head Chapter of the Oregon-California Trails Association on Thursday, October 24th at 6 pm at the Missouri Model Railroad Museum theater (formerly the National Frontier Trails Museum) at 312 W. Pacific Street in Independence, Missouri, to hear Asst. Prof. Sarah Keyes of the University of Nevada - Reno as she discusses her new book, "American Burial Ground: A New History of the Overland Trail."In "American Burial Ground," Dr. Keyes places death at the center of the history of the Overland Trail and, in doing so, offers a sweeping and long overdue reinterpretation of this historic touchstone.
She demonstrates how emigrant graves became seeds of U.S. possession across the West and how Native peoples defended their homelands by pointing to their graves as proofs of Indigenous persistence and enduring territorial claims.
In her presentation, Keyes will discuss some of the Kansas City-area connections of her work, including the importance of the Wyandot Cemetery.
Sarah Keyes is an historian of the United States. She specializes in the 19th-century and the history of the U.S. West, with a focus on the environment and intercultural interactions between Indigenous peoples and Euro-Americans. Her first book, "American Burial Ground: A New History of the Overland Trail," was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in October 2023. Keyes first became interested in the trails in the early 2000s when she worked at the Fort Caspar Museum in Casper, WY.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
312 W. Pacific St., Independence, MO, United States, Missouri 64050