Exhibitions

Visit the Midwest Genealogy Center in Independence to view the "Broadcasting the Ozarks: A History of RadiOzark Enterprises" exhibit July 1 through August 30, 2024.

Created by the State Historical Society of Missouri-Springfield Research Center, the exhibit showcases the history of Springfield's RadiOzark Enterprises, the company behind nationally known syndicated radio programs such as The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, The Red Foley Show, and Shorty Thompson's Saddle Rockin' Rhythm.

Join us at the Center for Missouri Studies as we showcase a new exhibit that examines the illustrious history of Missouri baseball. The exhibit is on display in the Wenneker Family Corridor Gallery (2nd floor) through December 2024. Explore baseball’s rise in Missouri from grassroots origins to teams and great players at all levels of the sport. The public is invited to an opening reception July 18, 4-6 p.m. at the Center for Missouri Studies, 2nd floor. Refreshments will be served.

Benton & Benton: The Senator & The Artist explores art and material culture related to Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton (1782-1858), who served five terms and was known as “Old Bullion” for his support of gold currency, and his great-grand-nephew and namesake, Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975), the famed Missouri artist and founder of the American Regionalist Movement.  

A collection of costumes originally worn by Hollywood star Ginger Rogers will be on display in the SHSMO Art Gallery, in collaboration with the University of Missouri’s Department of Textile and Apparel Management. Rogers used clothing to strategically craft her own unique persona, including her partnership with Fred Astaire, throughout her career from the 1920s to 1984. Learn how the legendary performer from Independence, Missouri, inspired contemporary apparel design by students in the Department of Textile and Apparel Management. 

The artworks currently on view in the SHSMO Art Gallery are drawn from a recent donation by Simmons Bank of 38 works of photography, ceramics, fibers, painting, and mixed media. The bank is well-known for its rich art collection initiated by Brenda Landrum Bingham when the institution was owned by her family and scrupulously developed over several decades by her brother, Marquis "Mark" Landrum.

Our gallery space includes a permanent exhibition of ten large World War II paintings created by Thomas Hart Benton between 1941 and 1943. These images reflect the anxiety, horror, grief, and resolve that Benton and his audience experienced after the U.S. entered WW II on December 7, 1941. Benton responded to the national crisis with a series of nightmarish visions of war, eight of which were purchased by Abbott Laboratories and exhibited in New York City in 1942.

Our permanent exhibition of works by George Caleb Bingham includes the monumental 1869/70 Civil War painting, Gen. Order No. 11, which represents the execution of a military directive evacuating civilians in four Missouri border counties.

Greta Kempton's Portrait of the Truman Family (President Harry S. Truman, Elizabeth “Bess” Truman and their daughter Mary Margaret) is on permanent exhibition at SHSMO. The triple portrait was commissioned for the State Historical Society of Missouri with left-over funds raised by Missouri Democrats for Truman’s 1948 inaugural celebration. The painting was officially presented to the Society in 1952.