As part of its mission to promote education about the westward emigrant trails, OCTA produces a wide-ranging set of quality publications.
News From The Plains
Winter 2025
News From The Plains is OCTA’s quarterly newsletter for members. It is delivered electronically via email in January, April, July and October.
The newsletter contains news about members and the organization, news of chapter events, convention reports, legislative action, trail preservation, special activities, and more.
If you would like to receive News From The Plains in a printed format rather than electronically, contact Headquarters at octa@indepmo.org. The cost is $20 per year to receive a printed issue.
If you are not a member, join OCTA and receive further instruction that will allow you to register to gain log-in access and enjoy the current issue of News From The Plains.
Overland Journal
The Overland Journal is OCTA’s peer-reviewed quarterly journal of scholarly research into the emigrant experience and the trails. In addition to research articles, the journal regularly includes book reviews and letters to the editor.
The Overland Journal is always interested in considering material for publication. Inquiries, proposals, or draft articles should be sent directly to:
The Overland Journal is sent to all members as a benefit of membership. If you are an OCTA member, you can access issues of the Overland Journal. If you are not a member, join OCTA to receive further instruction that will allow you to register to gain log-in access and enjoy every issue of the Overland Journal since 1983.
Indexes for Vol. 1 (1983) through Vol. 40 (2022-2023) are available for use.
All articles and book reviews are identified by year, volume and number, title, author, and category.
Bruff’s Wake, by H. L. James. Contains J. Goldsborough Bruff’s journal entries and drawings from his overland journey to the California Gold Rush. Soft Cover.
OCTA welcomes proposals for well-written, well-researched books on the historic emigrant trails and related history. Books submitted for OCTA Special Publications are subject to a review process and are edited to maintain quality of content and presentation.
OCTA has published educational activity books that are designed to help teachers and children learn about the western historic trails. They cover the basic questions of who, why, what, when, where, and how the historic trails developed. Reflecting the standards, they utilize a wide variety of activities based on both primary and secondary sources to discover the answers to those questions. The current activity books are:
OCTA publishes books devoted to specialized aspects of the trail experience. The current list of OCTA special publications is as follows:
OCTA has published educational activity books that are designed to help teachers and children learn about the western historic trails. They cover the basic questions of who, why, what, when, where, and how the historic trails developed. Reflecting the standards, they utilize a wide variety of activities based on both primary and secondary sources to discover the answers to those questions. The current activity books are: