As part of its mission to generate interest and appreciation for the rich cultural heritage of the state and its people, the Society hosts a wide range of engaging and educational events for scholars and community members of all ages.
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Through the Lens: The Photography of Raymond Corey is on display this summer at the Society’s Kansas City Research Center. Join us for the opening reception July 10 from 4 - 6 p.m. at the SHSMO Kansas City Research Center, Miller Nichols Library (Room 306), University of Missouri-Kansas City. Corey worked as a news photographer for the Coffeyville (KS) Journal, the Kansas City Kansan, and the Kansas City Star.
Since 2000 the Bait Shop Boys have been covering bawdy blues and Jumpin’ Jazz from the first half of the last century. When pressed to explain, they call their music “Hillbilly jazz”. Famous for catchy call back tunes, audience participation is irresistible. They became known for unplugging and sauntering table side to flirt with the crowd during the 2 years they were the house band at Les Bourgeois bistro.
You're invited to join SHSMO for our opening reception and book release/signing Mail Carrier with a Camera: Photographs of Burford Royston Saturday, July 12, 10 a.m. to Noon at the Center for Missouri Studies. Seventy-five photographs, mostly taken in the 1950s, were selected from hundreds of slides in the Burford Leon Royston Collection and recently donated to SHSMO by the Royston family.
This year marks the 35th anniversary of the Katy Trail State Park, a popular recreation trail that stretches along the Missouri River from Machens in St. Charles County to Clinton in Henry County. The first section of the rails-to-trails corridor opened in Rocheport in 1990. Today, the 240 miles of trail traverses some of the most scenic and historic parts of the state.
More than 350 country, gospel, and rock performers and groups recorded at Kennett Sound Studios (KSS) in Kennett, Missouri, during its almost 30 years of existence. Owned and operated by musician and songwriter Joe Keene, KSS hosted several well-known performers including Kennett native and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Sheryl Crow. Though its clients traveled from as far away as Norway, KSS primarily served musicians living in southeast Missouri and northeast Arkansas.
Between 1915-1930, the Ku Klux Klan experienced a nationwide revival through the enrollment of millions of new members, including tens of thousands in Missouri. Though largely remembered for its violent opposition to African Americans during the Civil War and the post-World War II Civil Rights Movement, this second Ku Klux Klan also focused on immigration restrictions, Prohibition enforcement, and political activity, combined with racism and religious intolerance.
Author and journalist Jodie Jackson’s new biography of retired Columbia City Manager Ray Beck offers insight into the longtime civil servant who helped shape Columbia from 1960 to 2006 as a sanitary engineer, public works director, planning director, and city manager.
SHSMO has a selection of on demand programs that are freely available to worldwide audiences.
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Step into the creative world of St. Louis artist Spencer T. Banks, a popular African American graphic designer and comic strip artist of the 1930s-1960s whose important legacy has been overlooked. The State Historical Society of Missouri Art Curator Joan Stack explores Banks’s early struggles and career as a freelance artist in St. Louis, Missouri, and his groundbreaking 1939 comic strip "Pokenia," an adventure cartoon featuring a stylish professional Black Woman as its hero.
The State Historical Society of Missouri dedicated the William Guitar Little Missouri Gallery of Art in the Center for Missouri Studies to honor Columbia resident Bill Little, whose generous gifts will help fund new art acquisitions for the State Historical Society. SHSMO Art Curator Joan Stack, along with SHSMO Executive Director Gary Kremer, Senator Roy Blunt, University of Missouri President Mun Choi, and artist Nora Othic of Marceline, Mo., spoke at the gallery dedication attended by many friends and family of Bill Little.
Walt Disney author Dan Viets offers a two-part program Wednesdays, March 12 and 26 from 11 a.m. to noon, that explores Disney's life as a young boy growing up in Marceline, Mo. and becoming an artist and entrepreneur in Kansas City where he spent ten years pioneering the art of animation. At age 20, Walt founded Laugh-O-Gram Studio on the second floor of the McConahay Building, 1127 East 31st in Kansas City, which operated until 1923.
Walt Disney author Dan Viets offers a two-part program Wednesdays, March 12 and 26 from 11 a.m. to noon, that explores Disney's life as a young boy growing up in Marceline, Mo. and becoming an artist and entrepreneur in Kansas City where he spent ten years pioneering the art of animation. At age 20, Walt founded Laugh-O-Gram Studio on the second floor of the McConahay Building, 1127 East 31st in Kansas City, which operated until 1923.
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 State Historical Society of Missouri's Bill Eddleman explains how Cape Girardeau was important to the war effort.
