OCTA Board and Membership Meetings to be Held Via Zoom

Yesterday we sent information regarding the board meeting and membership meeting with a request to email board member Jean Coupal-Smith if you would like the Meeteig ID # and Passcode, but we inadvertantly left one character out of the email address. The correct email address is jcs1fun1@kc.rr.com. Following is yesterday’s message:

The OCTA Board and Membership meetings are being held next month virtually via Zoom. The board meeting will begin at 10:30 AM (Central) on Friday, September 18 and the membership meeting will begin at 10:30 AM (Central) on Saturday, September 19. A meeting ID and password will be required to attend both meetings. Please email board member Jean Coupal-Smith at jcs1fun1@kc.rr.com to reserve your spot in either meeting and to get the meeting ID and password. We are hoping to include some fun wrinkles into the membership meeting so we hope to see you all virtually next month!

“Dangers and Hazards on the Trails” 2021 Calendar Now Ready

Bill Hill and the education committee are pleased to announce that the 2021 school contest calendar is now ready for purchase. Hundreds of school-children submitted their art but only fourteen images were selected for this calendar. You can order yours for only $10 by calling us at (816) 252-2276 or mail a check to:

Oregon-California Trails Association
524 S. Osage St.
Independence, MO 64050

Thank you so much for supporting this fun annual endeavor!

Gateway Chapter to Present Zoom and Facebook Program on the Iowa Tribe

Join the Gateway Chapter of OCTA and the St. Joseph Museums as they present a virtual program on August 27th (Thursday) at 1:30 pm Central. Lance Foster and Greg Olson will present a virtual program about the history, present, and future of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. In the mid-1800s, the Iowa lived in Platte Indian Territory (now northwest Missouri) before being moved across the Missouri River to Kansas Territory. Oregon and California bound emigrants had to cross their land.

OCTA member Lance Foster is Vice Chair of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska and is also their Tribal Historic Preservation Office, consulting for the tribe on environmental and cultural compliance. He also founded the tribal museum, is an Ioway language advocate, and NAGRA officer. Foster has a BA in Anthropology/Native American Studies from the University of Montana and an MA in Anthropology and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from Iowa State University. An acknowledged artist, he is also author of Indians of Iowa. He currently resides in White Cloud, Kansas.

Greg Olson was the curator of exhibits and special projects at the Missouri State Archives for nineteen years. He received an MA in History from the University of Missouri and an MFA – Art from the University of South Dakota. He is the author of two books published by the University of Missouri Press and numerous publications. One of these titles, The Ioway in Missouri, won the Missouri Humanities Council’s Governor’s Humanities Award for Distinguished Literary Achievement. Olson also published three biographies in the Notable Missourians series for upper-level elementary school students with Truman State University Press. His most recent book, Ioway Life: Reservation and Reform, 1837–1860, was named a Kansas Notable Book in 2017. He is the 2020 Center for Missouri Studies Fellow.

Gateway thanks the St. Joseph Museums for hosting and coordinating this fantastic virtual program. It should be of interest to all OCTA members.

The Zoom link for the program is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81993595920. It will also be shared and archived on the Oregon-California Trails Association Gateway Chapter Facebook page and the St. Joseph Museums Inc. Facebook page if you are not able to attend at this time. Don’t miss it! Please share with others you think would be interested.