The public is invited to an open house reception on Thursday, October 30, 4-6 p.m. at the SHSMO Center for Missouri Studies in Columbia in honor of Gary Kremer on his retirement. Gary has served as executive director at the State Historical Society of Missouri for over 21 years and more than 50 years as a highly regarded leader, educator, and advocate for preserving, publishing, and teaching the state's history. Kremer will step down as executive director at the Annual Meeting November 22, 2025. During his tenure, Kremer led the State Historical Society of Missouri through tremendous growth in services and facilities to benefit Missourians across the state.
"Gary Kremer has become the unofficial State Historian to many Missourians over the last two decades," said Sen. Roy Blunt, president of SHSMO Board of Trustees. "Among the Society's greatest achievements during Gary's extraordinary leadership was securing $35 million in state bond funds for the construction of a new headquarters building that opened in 2019." The 76,000-square-foot building on the University of Missouri-Columbia campus provides modern equipment and space for the preservation of collections and to welcome visitors to learn about Missouri's people and their history.
New research centers in Cape Girardeau and Springfield were established under Kremer’s leadership, expanding the State Historical Society’s network to six centers across the state. In 2021, the State Historical Society’s Kansas City Research Center moved into the newly renovated Miller Nichols Library on the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus, enlarging its space, and in 2024, the Cape Girardeau Research Center moved to a larger space at Kent Library on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University.
Kremer has written, coauthored, and coedited 12 books. His most recent book, This Place of Promise: A Historian’s Perspective on 200 Years of Missouri History shares his knowledge and personal experiences as he considers what being a Missourian has meant to all the state’s people. He has continued to publish articles, books, and papers on all aspects of Missouri history during his time at the State Historical Society. He published his first essay on the African American experience in Missouri 50 years ago and 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.
A fifth-generation Missourian, Kremer earned his PhD from American University in Washington, DC. Previously, he taught history at Lincoln University in Jefferson City (1972-1987) and William Woods University in Fulton (1991-2004). He also served as the state archivist of Missouri from 1987 to 1991. He has been SHSMO’s executive director since 2004.
Following the Annual Meeting, Joel Rhodes will begin duties as SHSMO's executive director.