Events

Join State Historical Society of Missouri Art Curator Joan Stack on an informal walk-through of SHSMO's current exhibition "Daily Disney: Walt Disney Cartoons in the Funny Pages." Disney, who grew up in the Missouri towns of Marceline and Kansas City, cross-promoted his animated cartoons with nationally syndicated comic strips. This exhibition includes a selection of these cartoons, as well as other images, such as a photo of Missouri artist Thomas Hart Benton at Disney Studios, that reflect Disney's powerful influence on American culture.

Join Kathleen Seale, coordinator of the Rolla and Springfield Research Centers for an in-person and virtual presentation on the history of the Rotoscope film process developed by Rowe Carney, Jr. The event is part of the opening reception of Lights, Camera, ROLLA, an exhibition that explores the history of film in Rolla and its links to Hollywood.

Dive into the heartwarming story of Walt Disney’s early years in his hometown of Marceline, Missouri. Learn how those formative days helped shape the figure he became and inspired his films and theme parks that continue to touch hearts worldwide. In this special presentation by the founder and the operations manager of Walt Disney Hometown Museum, we'll explore the special ways Walt honored his hometown, and see how Marceline celebrates his legacy today.

About the Speakers:

Disney historian and Chapman University Presidential Fellow Jeff Kurtti offers insight into Walt Disney's lifelong connection to the newspaper industry. From his six years as a Kansas City Star newsboy to his job as a railroad "news butcher" on the Missouri Pacific Line between Kansas City and Jefferson City, Walt Disney's early "newsie" experience impacted his life.

Learn how to draw Micky Mouse and other animals with local artists. Fun for ALL ages and abilities. Art curator Joan Stack will lead us in fun art-related activities with morning and afternoon sessions. Plus, we'll be showing several Disney animated short cartoons on the big screen! While you're here, be sure to check out the Daily Disney exhibition, which recently opened in the SHSMO Art Gallery.

From 1854-1929, orphanages in New York sent an estimated quarter million children westward to live with new families. Most of those children knew nothing about their own origins and how they came to be in an orphanage. In this presentation, Dr. Greg Markway gives a history of the orphan train movement and what it was like for those children coming to Missouri. Markway also tells the story of his grandfather who rode the train in 1901, and how his grandfather longed to know his own history.

Learn more about what happens behind the scenes of history documentaries with Dr. Larry Gragg, professor emeritus at Missouri S&T. Short clips of footage from upcoming documentaries will be shown in this in-person and virtual presentation. This program is in conjunction with the new exhibition Lights, Camera, ROLLA, an exhibition that explores the history of film in Rolla and its links to Hollywood.

Nestled in the foothills of the Saint François mountains, Old Mines, Missouri, is a place where the boundary between history and folklore is especially thin. French colonists established the lead mining town in 1723. As the local French dialect was dying in the 20th century, residents sought ways to preserve their culture. In the 1930s, scholars and locals began amassing archives of oral literature, songs, and customs.

Join us for the SHSMO annual meeting luncheon and My Missouri speaker featuring Peter Herschend, co-founder and co-owner of Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation. The Herschend family business started in Southwest Missouri with a hole in the ground called Marvel Cave. To give visitors more to do, Peter and brother Jack built an old Ozarks Village named Silver Dollar City. TripAdvisor and USA TODAY call it the number one theme park in America. Today, Herschend Enterprises is the nation's largest family-owned entertainment company.

In the spring of 1885, newspapers around the United States carried sensational coverage of mysterious bones, artifacts, and alleged riches discovered by an exploration party in Tim Collins’ coal mine near Moberly, Missouri. However, just as quickly as the story reached a national audience, allegations of a hoax dampened the excitement. Join SHSMO Assistant Director of Research, Sean Rost, for Chapter 5 of the Missouri Mysteries series as he explores the mystery of Collins’ Coal Mine.

Is your classroom or history club participating in the 2025 National History Day contest? Are you unsure or interested but don’t know where to start? Are you not participating but still want to dive into historical content?

Join the National WWI Museum and Memorial, Shawnee Town 1929 Museum, and Truman Presidential Library education teams to explore content centered on Rights and Responsibilities in the 20th Century in a free and fun teacher workshop, with complementary food and beverages.

Missouri S&T Archivist Debra Griffith will give a short talk on the work of MS&T alumni Gerald Racket who innovated several film techniques and became the vice president of Technicolor. Griffith’s talk will be followed by the 1939 feature film The Wizard of Oz, made possible by Racket’s work using Technicolor’s three-strip film process. Come for the talk and stay for a special screening of this classic film in technicolor!

Artist and Missouri native Bryan Haynes will speak about his 40+ year career journey from commercial artist in Los Angeles, to becoming a fine artist developing his style that has been termed New Regionalism. “Living in the hills that bump up against the south bank of the Missouri River, and spending time in the oak and hickory forests here, how can one not imagine the people that came before,” writes Haynes. As an artist born in Missouri, Haynes’s sketchbook fills with figures, Osage warriors, the first Europeans, and early settlers.

2024 marks fifty years since Gary Kremer, executive director of SHSMO, published his first essay on the African American experience in Missouri.  Over the course of the past five decades, he has written dozens of articles and five books on the topic of race in Missouri, a publishing record unrivalled by any other scholar of the subject.  This presentation will feature Kremer talking about what he regards as some of his most important findings over the course of a half century of research and writing, along with stories about the fascinating people he has met and interviewed

Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri played a larger role in the Civil War than most Missourians and others appreciate. Responding to the threat of occupation of Cape Girardeau by secessionists, the 20th Illinois Infantry occupied the town on July 10, 1861, and began to plan for four forts to protect against attack from the west and south. This presentation by SHSMO’s Bill Eddleman will discuss why Cape Girardeau was important to the war effort.