Events

As part of its mission to generate interest and appreciation for the rich cultural heritage of the state and its people, the Society hosts a wide range of engaging and educational events for scholars and community members of all ages.

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The Bright Sunshine
April 3, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm | Center for Missouri Studies, Columbia

Join author, columnist, and Columbia University professor Samuel G. Freedman, who will talk about his latest book, Into the Bright Sunshine: Young Hubert Humphrey and the Fight for Civil Rights. In the wake of America's defeat of fascism abroad in World War II, an urgent question arose on the home front. What should the United States do about its own entrenched forms of racial and religious discrimination?


classroom in Kirkwood, Mo. n.d.
April 9, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm | Center for Missouri Studies, Columbia

The American Dream holds a powerful place in our imagination. When did this idea come about, how did it change over time, and how did we come to define it? From the early theological ideals of the Puritans and the public-private partnership of the Virginia Company to commemoration of overlooked historical figures on the money in our pocket today, our disagreements on the right policies for society are often rooted in different understandings and experiences about this country's promise.


Indigenous Missourians
April 11, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm | Virtual Program

Native people have lived on the land that eventually became Missouri for at least 12,000 years and continue to call Missouri home today. Historian Greg Olson will talk about the centuries of Indigenous presence in the state. He will discuss the inventiveness and adaptability that have enabled Missouri's Indigenous population to change and evolve in the face of extreme challenges they encountered. Olson will show how this resilience allowed Indigenous people and their traditions to survive in Missouri in the 21st century.


image of kids at National History Day in Washington DC, with logo over top
April 27 | Columbia, Missouri

Join us for the National History Day in Missouri state contest, administered by The State Historical Society of Missouri. The contest will take place in-person at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Sign up to be a judge and support Missouri students! Top-ranking state projects will go on to compete in the national contest run by the NHD office in College Park, Maryland.

Sign up to be a judge: https://www.nhdmo.org/judges.html


Broadcasting the Ozarks book cover
May 2, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm | Springfield

As executive producer of Ozark Jubilee, Si Siman had to sell country music to ABC television executives who viewed the Ozarks as a backwoods region and repeatedly tried to change or cancel the show because of its "hillbillyisms." Dr. Kitty Ledbetter, co-author of Broadcasting the Ozarks: Si Siman and Country Music at the Crossroads, will look inside Siman's efforts to shape the Ozark Jubilee to their demands and his role in introducing country music and the Ozarks to viewers across America. Books will be available for purchase and signing.


John Robinson with EMMY Award for Finding Wild Missouri
May 14, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm | Center for Missouri Studies, Columbia

John Robinson, a former Missouri director of tourism, puts a different spin on the traditional road trip. Over 13 years, he drove every mile of every road on the Missouri state highway map. With an irreverent sense of humor--Robinson compares his unconventional journey to mowing a 68,000-square-mile lawn—he and his car (his only constant companion on this odyssey) discover the real America beyond the interstate. Real people. Obscure places. Forgotten facts.


Ozarks Women in Media panel
May 30, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm | Springfield

The history of the Ozarks - its stories, culture and characters - has long been preserved through the efforts of women in media, whether in writing, radio or filmmaking, Joy Robertson, former news anchor and lifestyle host, will speak with Stella Blackmon, filmmaker, producer and editor; Greta Cross, trending topics reporter at the Springfield News-Leader; Michele Skalicky, news director at KSMU Radio; and Sha'Diya tomlin, KOLR/KRBK reporter, about their work telling the region's stories, navigating the media industry, and approaching news reporting and storytelling in an ever-changing land


Pleasant Hill Times June 1944
June 11, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm | Columbia

To mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of Europe during World War II, we’ll look at how a small Missouri railroad town took on the war. The story and its pictures come from the weekly Pleasant Hill Times and from letters it published from men and women serving at home and abroad. In the postwar years, a young Bill Cloud, often tagged along when his father, Tilghman Cloud, who took pictures for the family-owned newspaper.  


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