Events

Rose O’Neill and Gladys Wheat are two powerful female artists from the turn of the century who spent a significant part of their lives in Missouri. Rose, known for her invention of the Kewpie comic character, was the first published female cartoonist in the United States. Gladys, who was the first female art professor at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Please join us as we celebrate these iconic illustrators and look into their histories in a short gallery talk hosted by SHSMO assistant preparator Cynthia Evans. 

This year in 2026 marks the 150th anniversary of one of Mark Twain’s most beloved novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Although it was not Twain’s best-selling work during his lifetime, the novel has never gone out of print. It has been translated into more than 70 languages and continues to offer readers a vivid glimpse into frontier Missouri life and small-town childhood.

Join us September 11 for the premiere of Magnificent Missouri and Once Films new documentary film, TheTrail State, hosted by the State Historical Society of Missouri. A free, public reception begins at 5 p.m. with the screening at 6 p.m. A conversation with the filmmakers follows the 56-minute film.

Often overshadowed by battles in the East, the Revolutionary War in the West played a pivotal role in shaping the future United States. Orders were issued from the highest levels in Great Britain to sweep the Americans and Spanish from both sides of the Mississippi River. While coordinating several separate attacks, the centerpiece of this grand plan was the descent from the North by a huge British-led contingent of 1,000 men against St. Louis (the administrative center for Spanish Upper Louisiana) and American-held Cahokia, which suffered simultaneous attacks on May 26, 1780.

Norman Akers, Osage artist and educator from Oklahoma will speak on Osage artists and the art that moves our culture forward. Osage Artists Today will examine a selection of contemporary Osage artists and how their work serves as a bridge between our history and cultural practices and the present. The Osage people experienced forced removal from Missouri and Arkansas in the early 1820s and subsequently settled on the Osage Reservation in Oklahoma in 1872. This displacement has led some to assert that there was a loss of culture and traditional practices.

As Spencer and Route 66 both mark their centennial year, a once forgotten stretch of America’s Mother Road is experiencing a remarkable revival.  Located 24 miles west of Springfield, Mo. in Miller, travelers from across the globe stop at Spencer Station to visit this historical gem that is making a comeback.