Midwestern History: An Oxymoron?

The general impression I've gotten from people who live on the east and west coasts is that the midwest is not interesting and has very little history besides the obvious ones: Lincoln, Lewis and Clark, and some famous authors like Mark Twain. There's so much more to midwestern history.

What's the Midwest?

Everyone knows the term and the general area, but what states are officially part of the "Midwest"? According to wikipedia (which is such a reliable source, I know) the Midwest is comprised of 12 states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Wow dude. That's a lot of states.

However, I will mostly be talking about historical places and events in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, and Missouri -- because I live or have lived in and around those states. Mostly it's about Illinois and the Kansas City area of Kansas and Missouri, but I'll try to talk about other Midwestern states as well.

What's the point of this blog?

I want to show the world how cool the midwest is and was. I was born in New Jersey and moved to Illinois when i was eight, but the only Illinois history I learned about in school was about Lincoln. I didn't realize how much cool history there was in Illinois -- especially Southern Illinois -- until I went to college at SIUC. When I moved to the Kansas City area I discovered more to love about Midwestern history.

Basically this is a forum for me to talk (which I can do forever) about cool historical places and events that happened in the midwest. Or even just learning about a particular way people lived at a particular time (like the 1830s or 1950s). Often involving pictures and sometimes video.

How do you "chase" history?

I think of "chasing" history in two ways -- to learn about an event or place and research it to find out everything you can about it, and then (if possible) go visit it. I love going to historical places like living history museums, battlefields, and reconstructed forts because it makes what happened seem more real -- like stepping back in time. Sometimes finding the place where something happened or finding information about a particular event is not as easy as it sounds, so you have to be determined and "chase" the information or location.

What qualifications do you have?

None. I'm not a professor or anything, I just love history, especially local history. I do have a BA in University Studies with a dual emphasis in Cinema and Anthropology and an accidental Minor in Classical Civilizations from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, if that helps any.