Barnes M. Bradshaw is a native St. Louisan. He graduated from McCluer High School and then acquired a B.A. in History from the University of Missouri at St. Louis (UMSL). He went on to spend nearly 17 years working in the Historic Division of the St. Louis County Parks Department as a Museum Educator at Jefferson Barracks and Faust Park. His time in county government included 6 years as the Director of the General Daniel Bissell House and Ft. Belle Fontaine Historic Site. That was followed by 17 years at the Missouri Historical Society as the Special and Educational Events Coordinator - or some would say “the song and dance man." During his time at MHS he facilitated or presented himself, nearly 2000 programs and events.
Barnes retired from the Missouri Historical Society in 2017 and is now the Sole Proprietor of Historically Speaking, a registered business in the State of Missouri. Through that company he offers storytelling programs, Power Point’s and costumed presentations for schools, libraries, museums and historical societies, fraternal organizations and numerous other local groups. Presentations last between 45 and 60 minutes including the Q&A. Click here for a current list of available programs, He has and continues to portray and present about people like Absalom Grimes - a Confederate Civil War Spy, Louis Roche - an early St. Louis Steamboat Captain and James Reed – an Oregon Trail wagon train organizer. (For a sample listing of places he has presented– click here.)
The people Barnes chooses to portray are those whom he considers the proverbial "everyman." While most of us have heard of Henry Shaw and visited the beautiful gardens he left us, most would not know the name of Thomas Targee, the man who saved half of St. Louis from burning to the ground in 1849, or Confederate Prisoner of War Asa V. Ladd, age 34 who was wrongly put to death by a Union Firing Squad. He talks about these characters in particular because he feels strongly that the folks we read about in our history books, the "famous" people, only got there through the wondrous efforts - the blood, sweat and tears - of countless people who are not recognized in that same way. People Like You and Me…..
