Latest News & Announcements

Join us, beginning this Thursday, as we tell the stories of people and places in Missouri that helped make Route 66 into a national icon. On the second Thursday of every month at 11am the State Historical Society of Missouri will be talking Route 66 in Missouri in this virtual program. Host Kathleen Seale, coordinator of the SHSMO Rolla and Springfield Research Centers, will talk with SHSMO staff who are contributing to the centennial events and collections. Seale serves on national and state organizations planning this year's Route 66 centennial celebrations.

A new exhibition at the State Historical Society of Missouri highlights stories and experiences of veterans, woven within the fibers of the American military uniform. The free exhibition on display at the William Guitar Little Missouri Gallery of Art also invites the public to write their wishes for the country’s future during the 250th anniversary of the nation’s Declaration of Independence on the exhibition’s “wishing wall.”  The gallery is located inside the State Historical Society of Missouri’s headquarters at the Center for Missouri Studies, 605 Elm St., Columbia, Mo.

Thanks to all who joined us for Missouri Conference on History held at Old Stoneybook Inn in Camdenton! It was a great opportunity for the 175 registrants to network and hear from scholars who are doing research in the field of Missouri history. Congratulations to the award winners whose work has contributed to Missouri history this past year. They include:

Missouri Book Award: Matthew Knox Averett, Creighton University, “Canfield Drive: A History of Race and the American City on a Street in St. Louis”

The Missouri Humanities Board of Directors recently announced two books to represent Missouri as the 2026 Great Reads from Great Places, including This Place of Promise: A Historian's Perspective on 200 Years of Missouri History by Gary R. Kremer, SHSMO executive director emeritus. Kremer's book was selected in the adult literature category to represent Missouri in 2026.

The State Historical Society of Missouri is hitting the pavement this year to commemorate 100 years since Route 66 began with a telegram sent from the Colonial Hotel Springfield, Mo., accepting the number "66" for the soon-to-be famous highway. We look back on this national icon to understand the places and people who traveled from afar or lived or ran businesses along the Mother Road. SHSMO's new exhibition, Through the Windshield: Missouri’s Route 66, helps us view this prism in 20th century history and culture in Missouri.

Ozark Vitality, the State Historical Society of Missouri, and Opportunity 1888 Foundation announce the world premiere of Soaring Together: A Tuskegee Airmen Story, a new short film inspired by the true story of World War II Tuskegee Airmen James Shipley of Tipton, Missouri, and Harry Stewart Jr. of Queens, New York.

Happy New Year! The State Historical Society of Missouri is offering a variety of talks, publications, music, and programs, both online and in person, as the nation celebrates the semiquincentennial of the U.S. Declaration of Independence throughout 2026. 

The State Historical Society of Missouri is awarding three Gary R. Kremer Center for Missouri Studies fellowships in 2026. The 2026 fellows are Deborah Cohen, associate professor of history at the University of Missouri–St. Louis; Brian Frehner, professor and chair of the University of Missouri–Kansas City Department of History; and Cory Haala, assistant professor of history at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point.

The State Historical Society of Missouri board of trustees has elected Robert M. Clayton III of Hannibal as president of the State Historical Society for a three-year term. Clayton has served as a trustee of the Society since 2013. Senator Roy Blunt, who has served as SHSMO’s president since 2023 will continue to serve as a trustee of the Society. 

The State Historical Society of Missouri is among 20 organizations partnering with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Google Arts & Culture to celebrate the centennial of Route 66 with a collection of 130 stories of the Mother Road’s past, present, and future. America’s iconic highway offers a unique place in history representing the nation’s spirit of adventure and its diverse culture and people that shaped the communities along Route 66.