SHSMO On Demand Index

Route 66 caught international attention in 1928 with its first major promotional event. Famously known as the Bunion Derby, this foot race across the United States drew athletes from around the world and captivated newspaper and radio audiences for months. Racers endured harsh weather, injuries, hardships, and fatigue in a bid to come out on top and make it home with some prize money. The Bunion Derby only occurred twice at the very beginning of the Mother Road, but it helped launch its notoriety across the nation and the world.

A nation of scrappy strivers, Americans have been bound since the colonial period by the American Dream, an abiding faith that hard work pays off because of the country’s distinctive equality of opportunity. Dr. Joel Rhodes, executive director of the State Historical Society of Missouri, explores this central feature of our shared identity, tracing how generations of restless and ambitious Americans have optimistically pursued economic and social mobility while navigating historical challenges and modern realities.
 

On Stony Dell’s opening day, the Rolla Herald newspaper reported that the pool in Arlington, Missouri, attracted over 1,000 visitors; it quickly became a popular entertainment spot for locals, travelers along Route 66, construction workers, and military personnel at nearby Fort Leonard Wood during the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s. the amenities at the Stony Dell complex included a spring-fed swimming pool with a slide and diving board, stone bathhouse, restaurant, rustic cabins, souvenir shop, filling station, and a park with a picnic area and rock garden.

Americans got their kicks watching episodes of Route 66 television show airing nine seasons from 1960-1964. The series followed two young men as they travelled the country in a Chevrolet Corvette on Route 66 in search of adventure and themselves. Join Sean Rost, Assistant Director of Research at SHSMO as he explores the portrayal of Route 66 in film and television. Kathleen Seale, regional director of the SHSMO Rolla and Springfield Research Centers is the webinar host of Asphalt to Archives.

During the Depression, Rev. Vincent Bucher was sent to the impoverished Ozarks to build a church—but ended up rebuilding a community. Before FDR’s New Deal, he organized co-ops, taught farming, and built bridges to unite isolated families. This video shares his impact through the memories of those he changed. Directed and edited by Jason Brasier, Produced by Don and Kathy Love featuring interviews recorded by staff at the State Historical Society of Missouri. This film was made possible by a grant from Missouri Humanities.

A Forest Gospel” looks at the Ozarks after the timber boom, when yearly fire-setting threatened the land’s recovery. Rev. Vincent Bucher raised funds from 20,000 donors to buy 4,000 acres and restore the forest. In 2017, carbon credits saved it from being sold. Featuring interviews with a towerman, foresters, and Rev. Bucher’s children. Directed and edited by Jason Brasier and produced by Mike and Cathy Love with interviews recorded by staff at the State Historical Society of Missouri. This film was made possible by a grant from Missouri Humanities.

The State Historical Society of Missouri hosted a webinar featuring the historical case of Celia Newsom, an enslaved woman in Calloway County, Missouri, who was executed for the murder of her sexually abusive owner, Robert Newsome, on December 21, 1855.

During the Civil War, Black men who gathered to enlist at Benton Barracks in St. Louis listed birthplaces in Canada, Jamaica, and England. While more than 600 Black Canadians did serve, those men enlisting in St. Louis were not in fact coming from abroad. They were Black Missourians, seeking to join the Union cause and hide from their family or their enslavers—especially when their enslavers actually supported the Union. As part of the African American Experience in Missouri Lecture, Dr.

Students from the University of Missouri Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy conducted interview with Missourians to hear their thoughts on America's 250 years. Speaking with educators, public servants and veterans around the region, the students sought to capture the mood of our community as we prepare for a commemorative year in our nation's history. In this webinar on Feb.

Former Missouri Senator and Boone County Prosector Joe Moseley looks back on a groundbreaking case nearly 40 years ago where DNA evidence was used to convict Columbia, Mo. resident Ralph Davis of murdering his wife, Susan Davis. On June 10, 1986, Susan disappeared with her red Ford Escort car from her home. Police detectives immediately suspected Susan’s estranged husband in her disappearance due to threats Ralph had made against her. Previously, the court had issued an ex parte order of protection for Susan.

Gary R. Kremer, executive director emeritus of the State Historical Society of Missouri, was the featured speaker at the Society's annual My Missouri lecture on Nov. 22, 2025, at the Center for Missouri Studies, SHSMO's headquarters in Columbia. Kremer served as executive director of the State Historical Society of Missouri for over 21 years. He became the "unofficial state historian" to many Missourians during his half century career teaching, preserving, and publishing the state's history.

As the United States reflects on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and our history as a nation, join genealogy expert Bill Eddleman for the 19th episode of the Basic Genealogy series produced the State Historical Society of Missouri. Eddleman examines the roles our ancestors might have played in the beginning period of the United States.

In 1928, the International Trans Continental Foot Race, popularly knowns as the Bunion Derby by the American press, was a footrace from Los Angeles to New York. Organized by Charles "Cash and Carry" Pyle, the race included 199 runners. Fifty-five would cross the finish line at Madison Square Garden in New York on May 26, 1928. The 3,423 miles followed the new Route 66, including parts of Missouri. Andy Payne of Claremore, Oklahoma won the race and was awarded $25,000. Historic footage in this video includes runners who came through Springfield, Missouri.

Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s…an airship? In 1897, reports circulated across the United States of mysterious nocturnal sightings of airships of unknown origins. In this recorded webinar, Sean Rost, State Historical Society of Missouri Assistant Director of Research, explores the bizarre arrival of aeronauts to the Show-Me State in 1897.

Maria Esther Hammack, PhD, Assistant Professor of African American History at The Ohio State University delivered the African American Experience in Missouri lecture at the State Historical Society of Missouri. Dr. Hammack explored the story of Roda, a 19-year-old Black woman who fled her enslaver in Missouri in 1855. Roda made her way to the southern border of Mexico, rather than taking the Underground Railroad to the northern free states. Would her freedom in the north be in jeopardy by the Fugitive Slave law?

SHSMO senior archivist Heather Richmond can help you save time and efficiently research the online digital collections at the State Historical Society of Missouri. Learn how to navigate the basic and advanced searches, browsing by location or format, and other tips and tricks for discovering the thousands of items available online in the SHSMO collections. Find out what's new in our digitized collections, including photographs, highway maps, author interviews, Route 66 memorabilia, and Civil War materials. This program was presented on Zoom September 24, 2025.

Step into the creative world of St. Louis artist Spencer T. Banks, a popular African American graphic designer and comic strip artist of the 1930s-1960s whose important legacy has been overlooked. The State Historical Society of Missouri Art Curator Joan Stack explores Banks’s early struggles and career as a freelance artist in St. Louis, Missouri, and his groundbreaking 1939 comic strip "Pokenia," an adventure cartoon featuring a stylish professional Black Woman as its hero.

The State Historical Society of Missouri dedicated the William Guitar Little Missouri Gallery of Art in the Center for Missouri Studies to honor Columbia resident Bill Little, whose generous gifts will help fund new art acquisitions for the State Historical Society. SHSMO Art Curator Joan Stack, along with SHSMO Executive Director Gary Kremer, Senator Roy Blunt, University of Missouri President Mun Choi, and artist Nora Othic of Marceline, Mo., spoke at the gallery dedication attended by many friends and family of Bill Little.

Walt Disney author Dan Viets offers a two-part program Wednesdays, March 12 and 26 from 11 a.m. to noon, that explores Disney's life as a young boy growing up in Marceline, Mo. and becoming an artist and entrepreneur in Kansas City where he spent ten years pioneering the art of animation. At age 20, Walt founded Laugh-O-Gram Studio on the second floor of the McConahay Building, 1127 East 31st in Kansas City, which operated until 1923.

Walt Disney author Dan Viets offers a two-part program Wednesdays, March 12 and 26 from 11 a.m. to noon, that explores Disney's life as a young boy growing up in Marceline, Mo. and becoming an artist and entrepreneur in Kansas City where he spent ten years pioneering the art of animation. At age 20, Walt founded Laugh-O-Gram Studio on the second floor of the McConahay Building, 1127 East 31st in Kansas City, which operated until 1923.

Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri played a larger role in the Civil War than most Missourians and others appreciate. Responding to the threat of occupation of Cape Girardeau by secessionists, the 20th Illinois Infantry occupied the town on July 10, 1861, and began to plan for four forts to protect against attack from the west and south. This presentation by State Historical Society of Missouri's Bill Eddleman explains how Cape Girardeau was important to the war effort.

The State Historical Society of Missouri sponsors and organizes the National History Day program in Missouri. Each year, thousands of students, grades 6-12, from across the state participate in local, regional, state and national contests. SHSMO education coordinator Danielle Griego hosted a webinar with Kansas City regional coordinator Sadie Troy of Hary S. Truman Library & Museum and Angela Allison, an NHD educator in Blue Springs. This program provides educators with information for the 2025 contest season.

In 1961, the Missouri Civil Defense Agency prepared for nuclear war by planning to evacuate urban populations to caves and mines in rural areas. Robert C. Ellis, the Jefferson City engineer who led the federally financed project, estimated that mines and caves could protect almost three-quarters of Missourians from radioactive fallout. The plan lacked one crucial element: meeting the basic needs of urban refugees. State and federal policymakers assumed rural Americans would voluntarily operate reception centers, and provide food, sanitation facilities, and first aid.

Cape Girardeau Research Center Coordinator Bill Eddleman presents the next installment in his genealogy series: “Combining Traditional and Archival Resources to Tell a Life Story: Michael S. Eddlemon.” Most of us consult the “traditional” sources when researching our families, and many of these are discussed in earlier sessions in this Basic Genealogy series and include census, vital records (birth, marriage, and death), land records, and more.

2024 marks fifty years since Gary Kremer, executive director of SHSMO, published his first essay on the African American experience in Missouri. Over the course of the past five decades, he 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.