Press Release: September 15, 2009
National Archives at Kansas City
Bill Foley to discuss Murder on the Santa Fe Trail: The U.S. v. See See Sah Mah and Escotah at the National Archives
For More Information Contact:
Kimberlee Ried
(816) 268-8000
Kansas City, (MO)...The National Archives at Kansas City will host at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 24, author and historian Bill Foley for a discussion of his recently published article Murder on the Santa Fe Trail: The United States v. See See Sah Mah and Escotah. Foley’s article was published in Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains (summer 2009). Foley will be available to sign copies of his article printed in Kansas History after the event. A 6:00 p.m. reception will precede the event. The National Archives at Kansas City is located at 400 West Pershing Road, Kansas City, MO.
William E. (Bill) Foley, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Central Missouri, specializes in the history of the American West and Missouri history. His article about "Murder on the Santa Fe Trail" profiles the case of See See Sah Mah and Escotah, two Native Americans who were wrongly convicted of murdering Norris Colburn in 1847 along the trail route. What makes this case unique is the intervention of then U.S. President Millard Fillmore. Foley’s talk will highlight the importance of judicial records and their research value as they relate to Indian trials and justice under the law.
Foley currently serves as General Editor of the Missouri Biography Series for the University of Missouri Press and has authored or coauthored seven books along with numerous articles in various journals including the Western Historical Quarterly, Missouri Historical Review, Montana, the Magazine of Western History and Kansas History. His most recent book Wilderness Journey: the Life of William Clark received a Missouri Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Legacy Award, the State Historical Society of Missouri’s Missouri History Book Award, Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year Silver Award for Biography, and the Missouri Conference on History’s Distinguished Book Award.
Copies of Kansas History will be available for purchase at The Kansas City Store at the National Archives. For more information or to make a reservation call 816-268-8010 or register by e-mailing: kansascity.educate@nara.gov.
The National Archives at Kansas City is one of 13 facilities nationwide where the public has access to Federal archival records. It is home to more than 50,000 cubic feet of historical records dating from the 1820s to the 1990s created or received by nearly 100 Federal agencies. Serving the Central Plains Region, the archives holds records from the states of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The facility is located at 400 West Pershing Road, Kansas City, MO 64108. The National Archives at Kansas City is open Tuesday–Saturday, 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. for exhibits viewing and Tuesday–Saturday, 8:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. for research.
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NREA 09–27
