Route Across the Rocky Mountains

David M. Hovde is professor emeritus of library science. Hovde retired from Purdue University in 2017 after serving in various capacities in the Purdue University Libraries since 1989. Most recently he was the research and instruction librarian in the Purdue University Libraries Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives and Special Collections Research Center. He has authored or coauthored more than sixty books, book chapters, scholarly articles, conference proceedings, occasional papers, and monographs in the areas of archaeology, ethnohistory, history, library and information science, and semiotics. He also has worked in an editorial capacity on four professional journals, a professional newsletter, and a book series. Besides writing, Hovde spends much of his time in his pottery studio and volunteers for the Tippecanoe County Historical Association. Dr. Angela Firkus holds a Ph.D. from Purdue University. She teaches both United States history and Asian history courses. Dr. Firkus often works with students outside of class, such as supervising a directed study on how wars are remembered in memoirs and in popular culture. She supervises architectural preservation research, a photograph cataloguing project in the Cottey College Archives, and ongoing work for the local history museum. Dr. Firkus is also the sponsor of the Cottey Political Interest Group (PIG) and member of the State Historical Society of Missouri, the Society for History Education, and the Organization of American Historians. In addition to teaching, Dr. Firkus remains active in the history profession and is doing research and writing about the history of the American West and attends conferences in her field.