Welcome to the Official Website of the Santa Fe Trail Association (SFTA).
Welcome to the Official Website of the Santa Fe Trail Association (SFTA). Painting in Header Image is courtesy of Robert Pummill.
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Welcome to the Official Website of the Santa Fe Trail Association (SFTA).

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Santa Fe Trail Association Speakers Bureau Roster

Image: right hand arrow - Click here to get read me first PDF.Read Me First

Image: right hand arrow - Click here to get read me first PDF.The Speakers Bureau PDF application can be printed out and filled in by hand and mailed to: The Santa Fe Trail Association, 1349 K-156 Hwy, Larned, KS 67550

OR you can download a Word Document version that can be typed in and emailed to Linda.

Click here to get back to the Members' Toolbox.

 

Anne Mallinson and Nancy Lewis

964 NW 600
Centerview, MO 64019

Anne:(816) 230-7228
Annemallin@hotmail.com


Nancy: (816) 229-8379

 
Image: Anne and NancyUsing research and diary entries, A Taste of the Trail tells the story of foods of the trail era and of meals prepared under difficult conditions. From sourdough bread to buffalo liver seasoned with a dash of gall, trail travelers dined on food from three sources--food they brought with them, food hunted or gathered along the way, and food provided by others. Join us as we enjoy a tasting of trail foods and the stories of how the fare was prepared. (Exhibit items, and handouts, will be available.)
     

Alice Thompson

(314) 434-3982
aatwest@worldnet.att.net

 
Alice can speak on a variety of topics related to the Santa Fe Trail and the American West in the post-Civil War period, and is an authority on the life of Sister Mary Alphonsa Thompson, S.L, a nineteen-year-old missionary teacher who died July 24, 1867, while en route to Santa Fe. Dr. Thompson is the author of the non-fiction work American Caravan, a history of one of the last great wagon trains to cross the American West during the post-Civil War era. She is also the director of a research team focused on locating the burial site of the central character of American Caravan, Sister Mary Alphonsa. Alice has traveled the Santa Fe Trail and the western United States extensively on her research projects.
     
David Clapsaddle

215 Mann
Larned, KS 67550
(620) 285-3295
adsaddle@cox.net
  David can speak on a variety of Trail topics catering to a wide variety of audience interests.
     

Harry Myers

16 Descanso Rd.
Santa Fe, NM 87508
(505) 466-4129
hmyers@cybermesa.com

  Harry can speak on New Mexican topics from the Colonial Spanish through the Territorial periods including, of course, the Santa Fe Trail.
     

Jeff Trotman

912 N. Arapahoe
Ulysses, KS 67880
620-356-1854
swpb@pld.com

  Jeff portrays one of the most legendary figured in the frontier West in “The Travels of Jedediah Smith--Frontiersman, Mountain Man, and Fur Trader.
     

Leo E. Oliva

PO Box 1
Woodston KS 67675
888-321-7341
oliva@ruraltel.net

  Image: Leo OlivaLeo will speak on most Santa Fe Trail topics of interest to the particular audience.
     

Marla Matkin

606 NE St.
Hill City, KS 67642
(785) 421-5513
rfd12@hotmail.com

 

Image: MarlaTopics:

  • Libbie Custer’s Story
  • Cattle Towns and Soiled Doves
  • Frontier Military Posts (And the Women Who Called Them Home)
     

Mark Berry

HC 2 Box 124
McDonald, KS 67745
(785) 426-2665
mberry@bwtelcom.net

 
First-person historical programs on various trail personalities, including:
• “California Joe Milner,” who went down the trail in 1846 with the Army of the West. Joe was also on the plains when the Kansas railheads, Hays and Sheridan, were the terminals of the Santa Fe Trail
• Army of the West and Doniphan's Expedition: an account of the journey down the Trail to Santa Fe as a volunteer soldier.
• Santa Fe trader: a first-person account of a trader on the Trail.
• Indian trader from Bent's Fort: first-person account of employee of George Bent.
• Buffalo Hunter; the hide business and the railroad, cities of Dodge, Granada, etc.
     
Inez Ross

inezross@mail.hubwest.com
 

Image: InezInez Ross will present dramatic monologues in costume based on the Santa Fe Trail experiences of Marian Russell, who took five trips in covered wagons from Kansas to New Mexico in the 19th century. Marian Russell was an amazing frontier lady who knew Francis Aubry and Kit Carson, married Richard Russell at Fort Union, had nine children, and with him ran the trading post at Tecolote, New Mexico, for five years. Her niche in history is preserved by the book Land of Enchantment, her memoirs which she dictated to her daughter-in-law when she was in her eighties. Her extraordinary memory for details and the emotional descriptions make her book the outstanding non-fiction account of life on the Santa Fe Trail. Inez, as a member of the Santa Fe Trail Association, has studied Trail history first hand by hiking with four women along the entire Santa Fe Trail from Santa Fe to Franklin, Missouri, where the Trail began in 1821. The eight-year treks on the Cimarron Route generated two books: Without A Wagon, the compilation of journal entries and newspaper articles of the expedition, and Perilous Pursuit on the Santa Fe Trail, a humorous novel a la Sherlock Holmes. Both books will be available at the programs. Presentations last from twenty to thirty minutes, followed by time for questions.

     

Joyce Thierer and Ann Birney

Ride into History

2886 N. Hwy 99
Admire, KS 66830
(620) 528-3580
ridehist@satelephone.com

www.rideintohistory.com

 

Image: Joyce ThiererDrs. Thierer and Birney offer first-person interpretations of women in a variety of historical venues:

• Santa Fe Trail traveler Julia Archibald Holmes, who climbed Pike's Peak in 1858
• "Grower" of the Earth Lodge People (On Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery)
• Calamity Jane
• Amelia Earhart
• Cattle Tales told by Georgiana Jackson, cattle drover and rancher.
• Rachel Carson, environmental pioneer
• "Settling in the Territory" by Mary Fix
• "Fighting Beside My Brother" Civil War Veteran, JO

     

John Atkinson

1113 Safari Drive,
St. Joseph, MO 64506
816-233-3924
Atkinson@stjoelive.com

 
John portrays one of the most pivotal figures in the history of the Santa Fe Trail and the American West as one of the Bent brothers in “The Life and Times of William Bent.” William Bent operated Bent’s Fort on the Upper Arkansas from 1833 until 1849. William, along with his brother Charles and Ceran St. Vrain, managed a vast fur trading empire rivaling that of the American Fur Company to the north. Bent’s Fort was the only place of refuge and comfort on the Santa Fe Trail between the settlements of Missouri and the Mexican outposts of Taos and Santa Fe. Most of the famous people of the period passed through Bent’s Fort. William Bent destroyed the adobe fort in 1849, and built Bent’s New Fort downstream. John portrays William Bent as Bent might have reviewed his colorful life in the days before he died. “William Bent” will share stories of his eventful life, including and the successes, failures and frustrations of trying to bring together three diverse cultures. He will also provide some little known facts about Bent’s third wife, Adalina Harvey, and the recent relocation and marking of her grave.
     

The Gum Springs Serenaders

Carl Anderton
5816 Perry Lane
Merriam, Kansas 66203
(913) 722-3870
andertonj@yahoo.com

www.gumspringsserenaders.com

 

Carl Anderton, Banjo, Vocals

Dave Ryan, Guitar, Vocals,

Edward Richardson, Tamborine, Jawbone, Vocals

     

The Free Staters

Jonathon Goering
1115 N. Poplar
Newton, KS 67114
Work: (316) 265-9655
Home: (316) 283-4612,
thefreestaters@yahoo.com

www.thefreestaters.com

 
Our program is focused on music of the mid 19th century. We bill ourselves as "music from the front porch of mid-19th century America," so many of the songs we play could have been heard in Territorial Kansas. This includes old minstrel tunes and various traditional tunes dating back to the 18th & 19th century. We dress in period civilian clothing and play on instruments commonly used in that time period (mostly reproductions ex. fiddle, fretless banjo, bones, tambourine, guitar). In addition, we use the playing techniques that musicians of that time period used - this helps recreate that unique sound.”


 

The Santa Fe Trail Association, 1349 K-156 Hwy, Larned, KS  67550 - (620)285-2054 - E-Mail

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