Latest News & Announcements

The State Historical Society of Missouri will examine the southern Missouri Route along the Trail of Tears on Tuesday, April 8, noon-1 p.m. The event is free and open to the public at the State Historical Society of Missouri Center for Missouri Studies, 605 Elm St., Columbia. Historical archaeologist Erin Whitson will speak on the topic as part of the History on Elm noon series, sponsored by SHSMO.

A new exhibition in the Wenneker Family Corridor Gallery, located at SHSMO's Center for Missouri Studies in Columbia, opened this week, offering insight into the working relationship and friendship of two influential senators from opposing parties, representing Missouri at the same time: Senators Tom Eagleton (Democrat) and John Danforth (Republican). Both served alongside each other in the US senate from 1977 to 1987.

There’s much to explore in the SHSMO digital archives if you’re looking to learn about the lives of fascinating women who were born or made Missouri their home. 

Professor Crystal R. Sanders of Emory University and author of A Forgotten Migration will be giving the African American Experience in Missouri lecture at the State Historical Society of Missouri on March 19 at 6:30 p.m. Sanders will speak about the obstacles that Black southerners faced and overcame as they pursued graduate and professional school study during the era of legal segregation. While more than 100 public and private Black colleges existed in the South, training beyond the bachelor’s degree was almost impossible.

A new exhibition titled: "A Historic Look at Black Labor in St. Louis through the Eyes of Artist Spencer T. Banks (1912-1983)," curated by Joan Stack of the State Historical Society of Missouri, is on display at Ellis Library on the University of Missouri campus through May 18. The public is invited to see the exhibition during regular visitor hours of the library. 

A one-day only exhibition and talks featuring conservation’s influential pioneers and the early movement in Missouri to restore forests, fish and wildlife in Missouri will be held Saturday, Feb. 15, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the State Historical Society of Missouri, 605 Elm St., Columbia. Legends of Conservation, a life-size display of trailblazing conservationists, including Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, John Muir, and others, will be set up in the lobby of the State Historical Society on February 15 only.

The 67th annual Missouri Conference on History will be held March 12-14, 2025, at the Adams Pointe Conference Center in Blue Springs. The conference brings together scholars, teachers, authors, and historians to learn and share their work and to advance the field of study of Missouri history. Anyone interested or involved in the teaching of history, historical research, historical preservation, or any other professional applications of history is welcome. Early Bird registration ($55) ends Feb. 10. Standard registration ($65) is Feb. 11-24 and late registration (Feb.

The State Historical Society of Missouri is hosting a series of free documentary film screenings and a special art exhibition to honor Black History Month at the Center for Missouri Studies.

Disney historian and Columbia resident Dan Viets will present a program “Walt Disney of Kansas City” January 14 at noon at the State Historical Society of Missouri (SHSMO). Viets’ talk is part of the History on Elm series, held at the Center for Missouri Studies, 605 Elm St., Columbia, noon – 1 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month. The programs are free and open to the public.

The State Historical Society of Missouri is awarding a Center for Missouri Studies fellowship to a pair of scholars from the Saint Louis University (SLU) School of Education in 2025. Amy Shelton, an adjunct professor and senior researcher at the SLU Policy Research in Missouri Education (PRiME) Center, and Joseph R. Nichols Jr., an associate professor and affiliate research faculty with PRiME, will share the fellowship for their joint research project, “School District Boundaries and the Preservation of Segregation in Suburban St. Louis.”