Latest News & Announcements

The public is invited to a film screening about the largest music festival held in Missouri almost 50 years ago. Two screenings of the film, “The Story of the Ozark Music Festival: Three Days of Sodom and Gomorrah in Sedalia, Missouri,” will be shown at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., Friday, June 9, at the Center for Missouri Studies in Columbia. The free public event is sponsored by the State Historical Society of Missouri.

Gary Scharnhorst, author of The Life of Mark Twain in 3 volumes, will discuss Twain as a social satirist throughout his career, from the short story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” to his indictment of imperialism at the turn into the twentieth century. The talk is open to the public and will be held June 8, 1 p.m., at the Center for Missouri studies in Columbia. Scharnhorst’s epic and authoritative biography of Samuel Clemens not only offers new insights but also corrects several myths about America’s greatest writer.

Sixty-three middle and high school students from across the state received top rankings in the National History Day contest in Missouri on April 22 on the campus of the University of Missouri-Columbia. First and second place winners will compete in the national contest June 11-15 at the University of Maryland, College Park. The theme for this year’s contest is Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas.

Former U.S. Senator Roy Blunt, who recently became president of the State Historical Society of Missouri board of trustees, will provide opening remarks at a public reception on May 9 highlighting a new congressional archival project to be funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The public reception will be held at 4 p.m. at University of Missouri-St. Louis Millennium Student Center in Rm. 312-A. The address is 17 Arnold Grobman Dr., St. Louis.

As part of its core mission to support educational outreach, the State Historical Society of Missouri is expanding the Historic Missourians website, a freely available resource that features notable people who influenced the Show-Me State.

The State Historical Society of Missouri will be celebrating its 125th anniversary with a public program Tuesday., March 14, noon- 1 p.m. at the Center for Missouri Studies, 605 Elm, Columbia. Founded in May 1898 by the Missouri Press Association and established as a trustee of the state a year later, the State Historical Society is the premiere organization that collects, preserves and shares Missouri history.

The State Historical Society of Missouri is seeking proposals for two Center for Missouri Studies fellowships to begin January 1, 2024. Each fellowship carries a stipend of $5,000 for a project that results in the completion of a 6,000 to 8,000-word scholarly essay on one of the two topics listed below. The deadline for submitting proposals is Sept. 5, 2023, and the competition is open to both academic and independent scholars.

Topics for 2024 Center for Missouri Studies Fellowships:

Author Benjamin Moore, winner of the 2022 Missouri History Book Award will discuss his book, The Names of John Gergen: Immigrant Identities in early 20th Century St. Louis, Tuesday, April 11, noon-1 p.m., at the State Historical Society of Missouri Center for Missouri Studies, 605 Elm St., Columbia.

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission has awarded the State Historical Society of Missouri a grant to organize, describe, and make available four collections of Missouri congressional papers, including U.S. Representatives Dewey Short and Bill Emerson and U.S. Senators John Danforth and Thomas Eagleton. Archivists will process over 918 cubic feet of papers, electronic records, photographs, and audio-visual materials.

The March 14 History on Elm series will boldly go on a journey featuring one of SHSMO's unique collections. A.J. Medlock, coordinator of the St. Louis Research Center, presents a brief history of science fiction fandom in Missouri. Attendees will learn about the evolution of this unique Missouri sub-culture, chronicling the formation of the Ozark Science Fiction Association in St. Louis to the Archon, one of the longest-running science fiction and fantasy conventions in Missouri.