Latest News & Announcements

Join us for a free music series at the State Historical Society of Missouri on the 2nd Fridays of May, June, and July from noon to 1 p.m. Enjoy live music on Hirsch Plaza, the north entrance of our headquarters at 605 Elm St., Columbia. We have a variety of musicians that will play songs as we welcome warmer weather and more sunshine. Bring a lawn chair and enjoy music over the noon hour. In case of rain, we’ll move inside our building lobby.

Here's the lineup:

The State Historical Society of Missouri opened its latest exhibition this month at the newly renamed William Guitar Little Missouri Gallery of Art in the Center for Missouri Studies. Formerly the SHSMO Art Gallery, the space is renamed to honor Columbia resident Bill Little, whose generous gifts will help fund new art acquisitions.

The State Historical Society of Missouri is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Joel Rhodes as its new executive director. Rhodes, a distinguished historian and educator, succeeds Gary Kremer, who will retire in November after more than two decades of dedicated service in that position.

The State Historical Society of Missouri will be welcoming about 500 students and their families to its headquarters on the University of Missouri-Columbia campus this Saturday, April 26. Thank you to our volunteers who are assisting SHSMO staff with the annual state contest for students in grades 6-12. Recently, we received good news about one of our NHD students, who has been awarded second place in the inaugural Latest Generation Film Contest sponsored by the Lincoln Presidential Foundation and the Better Angels Society.  

The Vietnam War came to an end 50 years when North Vietnam troops captured Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam on April 30, 1975. A two-day special event to commemorate the Fall of Saigon anniversary will be held April 30 and May 1, 12-1:30 p.m. at the State Historical Society of Missouri Center for Missouri Studies, 605 Elm St., Columbia, Mo. 

The State Historical Society of Missouri, with the generous support of Missouri Humanities, 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.