The Gary R. Kremer Center for Missouri Studies Fellowships seek to promote and disseminate scholarship about Missouri's past, including the interdisciplinary study of Missouri history and culture.
"The fellowships are designed to promote scholarship in underexplored areas of Missouri history and culture. They encourage us to take notice of the lessons that can be found, when we look at our past in new ways and in new places, such as at the intersection of business and sociology or history and science." – SHSMO executive director Gary Kremer
The fellowships program is a competition open to both academic and independent scholars. Each fellowship carries a stipend of $5,000 for a project that results in the completion of an 8,000 to 10,000-word scholarly essay, exclusive of notes, on one of the topics selected each year. Essays must be completed during the calendar year that they are awarded and must reflect significant scholarship in primary sources, evidence familiarity with appropriate secondary sources, and contain endnotes that comply with The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition. The finished product will be considered for publication in the Missouri Historical Review, although completion of the project is no guarantee of publication. In addition, successful applicants will have an opportunity to make a public presentation based on their project at a mutually agreed upon time and place.
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2027 Fellowships
The application period for the 2027 Center for Missouri Studies fellowships is open until September 8, 2026.
Topics for 2027 Center for Missouri Studies Fellowships:
Missouri's regional identity. Western, Southern, or Midwestern? Born at the confluence of rivers, Missouri has been a place where all kinds of currents collide, including the fluid flows of regional identity. This topic invites proposals exploring trends, events, or turning points in Missouri’s past that help explain how and why the state’s identity remains hard to pin down. Projects may consider either Missourians’ own expressions of self-identity, or how others have perceived the state and its people. Or explore some dimension other than geography in which Missouri’s identity has fluctuated over time—Red, Blue, or Bellwether state?
Missouri and conservation. Proposed projects should examine an aspect of Missourians’ interactions with the state’s natural environment and how choices made in respect to its natural resources have shaped Missouri’s history. Areas of inquiry might include, but are not limited to, such fields as tourism and recreation, politics, cultural identity, environmental engineering, business or industry development, or environmental protection. Any time period in Missouri’s history may be considered.
Deadline for Completion of Application: September 8, 2026
Award Announcement: December 15, 2026
Application Process: Applicants should submit a proposal/application no more than two pages in length that includes the following information:
- Applicant's name and any institutional affiliation
- Title of proposed project
- Brief (250 words or fewer) description of the project
- List of main primary and secondary sources to be used in completion of the project
- Proposed timeline for completing the project
In addition to the above requirements, applicants must submit a curriculum vitae no more than two pages in length providing evidence of ability to complete the project.
Send Applications to: The State Historical Society of Missouri, 605 Elm Street, Columbia, MO 65201, or contact@shsmo.org. Write “The Center Fellowship” in the subject line.
Or, complete the form using the button below:
Past Winners
- 2026
- Deborah Cohen, University of Missouri-St. Louis
- Brian Frehner, University of Missouri-Kansas City
- Cory Haala, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
- 2025
- Amy Shelton and Joseph R. Nichols Jr., Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO
- 2024
- Jenna Lyons, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI
- John W. McKerley, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
- 2023
- Jenny Barker-Devine, Illinois College, Jacksonville, IL
- Brooks Blevins, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO
- Sarah S. Jones, Missouri State Museum, Jefferson City, MO
- 2022
- Craig R. Amason, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO
- Connie Yen, Greene County Archives and Records Center, Springfield, MO
- 2020
- Greg Olson, Columbia, MO
- Kelly Schmidt, Loyola University, Chicago, IL
- 2019
- Thomas Ringenberg, Rockhurst University, Kansas City, MO
- Huping Ling, Truman State University, Kirksville, MO
- 2018
- Heidi L. Dodson, Marian Cheek Jackson Center for Saving and Making History, Chapel Hill, NC
- Angela Firkus, Cottey College, Nevada, MO
- 2017
- Patricia Cleary, California State University, Long Beach, CA
- Bryan Winston, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO
- 2016
- Sarah Lirley McCune, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
- Diane Everman, St. Louis Jewish Community Archives and Taylor Family Archives/Enterprise Holdings, Inc., St. Louis, MO
- Luke Ritter, Troy University, Troy, AL
- 2015
- Patrick Huber, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO
- Taylor Desloge, Washington University, St. Louis, MO