Dorris Keeven Franke

Background

  • BOOKS 
  • In Progress – The Untold Story of An American Hero – The story of Archer Alexander, born enslaved in Virginia in 1806 and immortalized on the Emancipation Memorial in Washington, D.C.
  • Utopia, Revisiting a German State in America: MISSOURI: Where the Sun of Freedom Shines; with Ludwig Brake, Walter Kamphoefner, Rolf Schmidt, and Kilian Spiethoff; Edited by City of Giessen Archives, and Reseinde Sommer-Republic; Edition Falkenberg 2013
  • Images of America: History of Warren County; Arcadia Publishing; September 2011
    Missouri’s German Heritage; Edited by Don Heirnrich Tolzmann;     2004; Chapter 4; Gottfried Duden, the Man Behind the Book. (Dorris Keeven-Franke)
  • A History of Warren County;  Compilation of newspaper articles published in the Warren County Tribune, The Warrenton Banner, The Warren County News-Journal (Dorris Keeven)
  • The Power of People: Building Today for a Better Tomorrow; Cuivre River Electric Cooperative; 1998,   Received 1999 Award of Excellence for Best Special Publication from the Council of Rural Electric Communicators (Dorris Keeven)
  • A Window Through Time: A Pictorial History of Warren County; Eagle Ventures Inc., 1990 (Dorris Keeven)
  • Missouri in the Civil War; Daughters of the Union Veterans; Warren County Missouri; 1987
  • PROGRAMS
  • Missouri: Where the Sun of Freedom Shines – Germans began immigrating to Missouri in 1830 following the publication of Gottfried Duden’s Report on a Journey to the Western States of North America. Large immigration societies would fill the Missouri River valley’s during the following decades. With the wave of immigrants following the German revolutions in 1848 came the future Union soldiers that would change our nation’s history. This program will help listeners understand the important role our German ancestor’s played in Missouri’s history during the 19th Century.
  • Utopia – Revisiting a German State in America – The story of the Giessen Emigration Society of 1834 and its founder Friedrich Muench. The group of over 500 German emigrants came from all religions and all walks of life, and all over Germany, and founded several settlements all across Missouri. Who were the German immigrants of the 1830s and why they came to Missouri is discussed in this program that explains what it was like to be a German immigrant in the early 19th Century. See also: Pauline’s Diary.
  • Pauline’s Diary – The life of Pauline Muench Busch born in Germany in 1827, who emigrated to Missouri in 1834 as a member of the Giessen Emigration Society, married Gordion Busch in 1848 and lived in Franklin County. This story is similar to thousands of German women who emigrated here in the 19th Century. This program is an interpretive program and is done in period clothing using original sources and explains. See also Utopia – Revisiting. a German State in America.

  • Other Programs for various Communities and Historical Societies
  • Missouri History Museum
  • Road Scholar
  • Oasis
  • PAPERS at conferences and symposiums
  • Missouri Historical Conference; 2011;  Freidrich Muench: From German Revolutionary to Missouri Statesman.
  • Society of German American Studies; 2010; The Giessen Emigration Society
  • Missouri Historical Conference; 2009;  Gottfried Duden; Broken Dreams
  • Society of German American Studies; 2002; Gottfried Duden – The Man Behind the Book
  • Society of German American Studies: 1996; Castles in the Sky: the Story of the Berlin Society 
  • EDITOR
  • Der Anzeiger, Journal of the Missouri Germans Consortium (previous)
  • Der Maibaum, Journal of the Deutschheim Verein (previous)
  • Newsletter of the Missouri State Genealogy Society (previous)
  • BLOGS
  • Archer Alexander
  • Missouri Germans
  • Saint Charles County History
  • Sage Chapel Cemetery
  • WRITER (Newspapers)
  • Warren County Tribune (previous)
  • The Warren County News-Journal (previous)
  • The Warrenton Banner (previous)
  • The Focus ON NewsMAGAZINE (CURRENTLY)
  • The Missourian (Washington Missouri) (previous)
  • DOCUMENTARIES & VIDEOS
  • Honoring Archer Alexander – O’Fallon Matters – O’Fallon Media
  • GERMANS TO AMERICA – ARD GERMANY (Consultant)
  • A TRIP TO A FORGOTTEN AMERICA – MAXIM FILMS (Consultant)
  • UTOPIA – Revisiting A German State in America (Consultant)
  • THE BEER BARONS OF AMERICA (Consultant)
  • EXHIBITS
  • Utopia – Revisiting a German State in America – Opened November 1, 2013 in Giessen Germany, visited Bremen, and then Washington, D.C. and St. Louis, Missouri in the United States. Traveling Summer Republic
  • Missouri Immigrants and Refugees – Washington, DC. (consultant)
  • MEMBER
  • MISSOURI HISTORICAL SOCIETY
  • AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR STATE AND LOCAL HISTORY
  • Missouri Germans CONSORTIUM (Executive Director)
  • Boone’s Lick Road Association (President)
  • German American Committee for Greater St. Louis (President)
  • St. Charles County German Heritage Club (President)
  • St. Louis – Stuttgart Sister Cities (Board)
  • O’Fallon (MO) Historic Preservation Commission
  • Association for African American Researchers of St. Louis
  • SYMPOSIUMS, CONFERENCES AND COMMEMORATIONS
  • Warren County Sesquicentennial (1987 Co-Chair)
  • Missouri Lewis and Clark Bicentennial (2002-2006 Washington, MO and MO River Communities Network)
  • 1815 Treaty for Peace and Friendship (Portage des Sioux – 2015)
  • Society for German American Studies
  • Missouri Conference on History
  • Face of Love (Missouri Germans Collaboration)
  • National Genealogical Society (2015)
  • CONSULTANT
  • MISSOURI HUMANITIES COUNCIL  – GERMAN HERITAGE CORRIDOR
  • HEC-TV
  • ARCHIVIST 
  • Saint Charles County Historical Society (May 2011-December 2013)
  • Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum (Volunteer)
  • Washington Missouri Historical Society
  • PROFFESSIONAL GENEALOGIST & TEACHER
  • City of St. Charles Adult Education Instructor
  • Francis Howell School District
  • AWARDS
  • GERMAN AMERICAN FRIENDSHIP AWARD from The Federal Republic of Germany October 2016