State Historical Society of Missouri
Encyclopedia
The State Historical Society of Missouri, a private membership and state funded organization, is a comprehensive research facility located in Columbia, Missouri
specializing in the preservation and study of Missouri's
cultural heritage. Established in 1898 by the Missouri Press Association and made a trustee of the state in 1901, the Society is the official historical society of the state of Missouri and is located on the campus of the University of Missouri
in Ellis Library
. The Society publishes the quarterly Missouri Historical Review
, the only scholarly academic journal produced in the state.
The Society engages in a number of outreach programs to bring Missouri's history to the public. Such programs are the Missouri History in Performance theatre, the Missouri History Speakers' Bureau, and the Missouri Conference on History. The collection of the Society, concerning pamphlets, books, and state publications, is over 460,000 items. In addition, the Society has over 500,000 manuscript items, 2,900 maps, over 150,000 state archival records, and over 800 reels of microfilm. In 2011, the Western Manuscript Collection, accessible in Columbia, Kansas City
, and St. Louis, Missouri
, specializing in the preservation and collection of Missouri and Middle West history, was absorbed into the Society.
, founder of the Missouri School of Journalism
, and a third, Isidor Loeb, a member of the University of Missouri's history and political science faculty. At the January meeting, the proposal met with support of the members and a committee was established to draw up a constitution and bylaws for a historical society that would serve the state of Missouri. In this formative period of the Society's underpinnings, Stephens and Williams sought and received great support from the University of Missouri. Such was the support, that the not yet formed Society was given space in present day Jesse Hall
. Progress advanced quickly and only four months later, at the association's annual meeting on May 26, the Missouri Press Association voted to create the State Historical Society of Missouri, and named Stephens as its president, as well, Williams as its secretary.
Never intended to exist outside of the state's governance, the Society's leaders sought to see the formal adoption of the historical society by the state. In just under a year, their lobbying efforts were awarded by the passage of a bill by the Fortieth General Assembly, signed into law on May 4, 1899, by Governor Lon Stephens, which established the Society as a trustee of the state. However, the Society did not receive its first appropriation until 1901. That amount was $4,500 dollars, intended to service the Society from 1901 to 1902.
The 1899 bill stated precisely the duties of the new state historical society:
Initially, newspapers formed the nucleus of the Society's collection, due in fact to the close relationship with the state's newspaper editors. Membership could be gained for such men by the annual donation of their papers, and after ten years, a lifetime membership granted. Secretary Loeb quickly sought to expand the collection further, putting out a request to citizens of the state for all types of items, both public and private, and including "Indian
relic
s." The collection received a noted boost in 1901 by the donations of the new secretary, Francis Asbury Sampson, which consisted of nearly 2,000 books and just over 14,000 pamphlets. Additionally, he convinced the Sedalia
Natural History Society to donate an equally considerable collection of books and pamphlets, as well maps and charts. In the same time period, the Society prepared an exhibit on the state's newspapers for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair and began the first publications of the Missouri Historical Review.
The growing collection necessitated the need for more space to store it. Slowly the society had expanded its presence in Jesse Hall, storing much of its collection in its basement, while taking over the first floor of the building. By 1902, the Society had begun looking for the resources for a new facility, going so far as attempting to lobby library philanthropist Andrew Carnegie
. Just over a dozen years later in 1915, the Society moved into the newly built Ellis Library, its home ever since.
did not seriously affect the Society, it did become involved in several ways with the New Deal
programs. For a couple years, it hired men from the National Youth Administration
to assist in the moving books and newspapers. As well as hiring women from the Civil Works Administration
to complete needed tasks about the Society such as updating the Society's "Who's Who" files for the state and indexing selected newspapers. The Society also assisted the Federal Writers' Project
and the Works Progress Administration
.
Joining Shoemaker at the Society in the same time period was George Mahan, who served as a trustee and as president. Mahan's contributions included a post-mortem donation to allow the Society to purchase books for the Society's Mark Twain
collection, as well as the payment for the Society for the establishment of twenty-nine roadside historical marker
s along United States highway 36
from St. Joseph to Hannibal
. The staff of the Society researched each marker and wrote their inscriptions. The Society would expand the historic marker program over the next decades, planting them across the state. Shoemaker also continued to expand the Society's collection, writing personal requests with some success. In 1932, Shoemaker cataloged donations for that year consisting of, "1,207 books, 964 pamphlets, 1 painting, 86 photographs and negatives, 28 manuscript collections, 3 ledger books, 1 medal, 49 clippings, 4 sheets of music, and 4 poems," not including newspaper donations.
Shoemaker pushed for more publications from the Society, which ranged from books to newspaper weeklies. From 1925 to 1939, the Society published a series of articles entitled, This Week in Missouri History, that appeared in at least one paper in 97 of the 114 counties across the state, including St. Louis. Begun in 1922, the Society embarked on a twenty volume project that concluded in 1965, entitled The Messages and Proclamations of the Governors of the State of Missouri. These volumes included biographical sketches, in addition to the documentation. Shoemaker proudly considered the Missouri Historical Review as one of the finest such publications in the country at the time.
and Thomas Hart Benton
, in addition to other artists. Overall, the Society possesses over four thousand pieces of artwork, including paintings, lithographs, sketches, and engravings. The editorial cartoon collection includes works by Daniel Fitzpatrick, S. J. Ray, Don Hesse, Tom Engelhardt, and renown Second World War
artist, Bill Mauldin
. The Society also contains photograph and map collections.
The State Historical Society of Missouri hosts changing exhibits of art and history drawn from its collections. All exhibits and collections are open and fully accessible to the public.
, Bingham grew up and lived in Missouri. Famed for his depictions of everyday life on the rivers flowing through and along the state, as well for his portraiture, one of his most famous works is General Order No. 11. A crown jewel of the Society's collection, the painting depicts the forced removal of Missourians from western counties during the Civil War
by the general order of Union
general
Thomas Ewing
. The collection of Bingham's artwork owned by the Society represents one of the largest in the nation.
, a joint initiative sponsored by the Library of Congress
and the National Endowment for the Humanities
to digitize historically significant newspapers. Select newspapers from the Society collection between the years 1880 and 1922 will appear on the Chronicling America
database in the autumn of 2009.
The Society's Reference Library is home to over half a million volumes of published secondary sources on Missouri and the Middle West. Family histories, county histories, city directories, official state publications, church histories, scholarly journals, and genealogical indexes are among the many items that the public can consult. One of the Society's most notable collections is the J. Christian Bay Collection of Western Americana.
In 2011, the Western Historical Manuscript Collection was absorbed into the State Historical Society and ceased to exist. The manuscripts and collection of the Western Historical Manuscript Collection can be accessed at the Society's Research Center located in Ellis Library.
. Annually, the Society holds the Missouri Conference on History, a multiple day event, in which lectures are given on Missouri related topics in history. In addition, awards are presented to the best book, best journal article, and best graduate student paper concerning state history.
Columbia, Missouri
Columbia is the fifth-largest city in Missouri, and the largest city in Mid-Missouri. With a population of 108,500 as of the 2010 Census, it is the principal municipality of the Columbia Metropolitan Area, a region of 164,283 residents. The city serves as the county seat of Boone County and as the...
specializing in the preservation and study of Missouri's
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
cultural heritage. Established in 1898 by the Missouri Press Association and made a trustee of the state in 1901, the Society is the official historical society of the state of Missouri and is located on the campus of the University of Missouri
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...
in Ellis Library
Ellis Library
Constructed in 1914, Ellis Library is the main library of the University of Missouri System located on the campus of the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. It was named for former university president Elmer Ellis...
. The Society publishes the quarterly Missouri Historical Review
Missouri Historical Review
The Missouri Historical Review is an academic journal of history published by the State Historical Society of Missouri concerning the history and history related topics of the State of Missouri. It was established in 1906 and also published reviews of books on or relating to Missouri history....
, the only scholarly academic journal produced in the state.
The Society engages in a number of outreach programs to bring Missouri's history to the public. Such programs are the Missouri History in Performance theatre, the Missouri History Speakers' Bureau, and the Missouri Conference on History. The collection of the Society, concerning pamphlets, books, and state publications, is over 460,000 items. In addition, the Society has over 500,000 manuscript items, 2,900 maps, over 150,000 state archival records, and over 800 reels of microfilm. In 2011, the Western Manuscript Collection, accessible in Columbia, Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, and St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, specializing in the preservation and collection of Missouri and Middle West history, was absorbed into the Society.
History of the Society
Established in 1898, discussion of founding an official state historical society had begun a few years earlier but did not gain substantial backing until the topic was raised at a January, 1898, meeting of the Missouri Press Association. Two of the chief supporters were Edwin W. Stephens, later first president of the Society, and Walter WilliamsWalter Williams (journalist)
Walter Williams was the founder of the Missouri School of Journalism and a former president of the University of Missouri. An internationalist, he promoted the value of journalism globally.-Biography:...
, founder of the Missouri School of Journalism
Missouri School of Journalism
The Missouri School of Journalism at University of Missouri in Columbia, claims to be the oldest formal journalism school in the world. Founded in 1908, only the Ecole Supérieure de Journalisme de Paris established in 1899 may be older...
, and a third, Isidor Loeb, a member of the University of Missouri's history and political science faculty. At the January meeting, the proposal met with support of the members and a committee was established to draw up a constitution and bylaws for a historical society that would serve the state of Missouri. In this formative period of the Society's underpinnings, Stephens and Williams sought and received great support from the University of Missouri. Such was the support, that the not yet formed Society was given space in present day Jesse Hall
Jesse Hall
Jesse Hall is the main administration building for the University of Missouri. Built in 1893 after Academic Hall burned to the ground, the building is one of the major symbols of the University. It is located at the south end of the David R...
. Progress advanced quickly and only four months later, at the association's annual meeting on May 26, the Missouri Press Association voted to create the State Historical Society of Missouri, and named Stephens as its president, as well, Williams as its secretary.
Never intended to exist outside of the state's governance, the Society's leaders sought to see the formal adoption of the historical society by the state. In just under a year, their lobbying efforts were awarded by the passage of a bill by the Fortieth General Assembly, signed into law on May 4, 1899, by Governor Lon Stephens, which established the Society as a trustee of the state. However, the Society did not receive its first appropriation until 1901. That amount was $4,500 dollars, intended to service the Society from 1901 to 1902.
The 1899 bill stated precisely the duties of the new state historical society:
Initially, newspapers formed the nucleus of the Society's collection, due in fact to the close relationship with the state's newspaper editors. Membership could be gained for such men by the annual donation of their papers, and after ten years, a lifetime membership granted. Secretary Loeb quickly sought to expand the collection further, putting out a request to citizens of the state for all types of items, both public and private, and including "Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
relic
Relic
In religion, a relic is a part of the body of a saint or a venerated person, or else another type of ancient religious object, carefully preserved for purposes of veneration or as a tangible memorial...
s." The collection received a noted boost in 1901 by the donations of the new secretary, Francis Asbury Sampson, which consisted of nearly 2,000 books and just over 14,000 pamphlets. Additionally, he convinced the Sedalia
Sedalia, Missouri
Sedalia is a city located about south of the Missouri River in Pettis County, Missouri. U.S. Highway 50 and U.S. Highway 65 intersect in the city. As of 2006, the city had a total population of 20,669. It is the county seat of Pettis County. The Sedalia Micropolitan Statistical Area consists of...
Natural History Society to donate an equally considerable collection of books and pamphlets, as well maps and charts. In the same time period, the Society prepared an exhibit on the state's newspapers for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair and began the first publications of the Missouri Historical Review.
The growing collection necessitated the need for more space to store it. Slowly the society had expanded its presence in Jesse Hall, storing much of its collection in its basement, while taking over the first floor of the building. By 1902, the Society had begun looking for the resources for a new facility, going so far as attempting to lobby library philanthropist Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
. Just over a dozen years later in 1915, the Society moved into the newly built Ellis Library, its home ever since.
The Shoemaker Years
At approximately the same time, Floyd C. Shoemaker joined the Society and began a forty-five career with the institution. In his time, Shoemaker accomplished a number of milestones under the Society. One such accomplishment was a campaign to establish the Society's membership as the largest in the nation, with the membership expanding from 1,285 in 1916 to 3,356 in 1936. While the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
did not seriously affect the Society, it did become involved in several ways with the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
programs. For a couple years, it hired men from the National Youth Administration
National Youth Administration
The National Youth Administration was a New Deal agency in the United States that focused on providing work and education for Americans between the ages of 16 and 24. It operated from 1935 to 1939 as part of the Works Progress Administration . Following the passage of the Reorganization Act of...
to assist in the moving books and newspapers. As well as hiring women from the Civil Works Administration
Civil Works Administration
The Civil Works Administration was established by the New Deal during the Great Depression to create manual labor jobs for millions of unemployed. The jobs were merely temporary, for the duration of the hard winter. Harry L. Hopkins was put in charge of the organization. President Franklin D...
to complete needed tasks about the Society such as updating the Society's "Who's Who" files for the state and indexing selected newspapers. The Society also assisted the Federal Writers' Project
Federal Writers' Project
The Federal Writers' Project was a United States federal government project to fund written work and support writers during the Great Depression. It was part of the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal program...
and the Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
.
Joining Shoemaker at the Society in the same time period was George Mahan, who served as a trustee and as president. Mahan's contributions included a post-mortem donation to allow the Society to purchase books for the Society's Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
collection, as well as the payment for the Society for the establishment of twenty-nine roadside historical marker
Historical marker
A historical marker or historic marker is an indicator such as a plaque or sign to commemorate an event or person of historic interest and to associate that point of interest with a specific locale one can visit.-Description:...
s along United States highway 36
U.S. Route 36 in Missouri
In the U.S. state of Missouri, U.S. Route 36 is an expressway that provides access between Kansas and Illinois.-Route description:U.S. Route 36 runs from the Pony Express Bridges in St. Joseph to the western terminus for Interstate 72 which begins in Hannibal, MO....
from St. Joseph to Hannibal
Hannibal, Missouri
Hannibal is a city in Marion and Ralls counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. Hannibal is located at the intersection of Interstate 72 and U.S. Routes 24, 36 and 61, approximately northwest of St. Louis. According to the 2010 U.S. Census the population was 17,606...
. The staff of the Society researched each marker and wrote their inscriptions. The Society would expand the historic marker program over the next decades, planting them across the state. Shoemaker also continued to expand the Society's collection, writing personal requests with some success. In 1932, Shoemaker cataloged donations for that year consisting of, "1,207 books, 964 pamphlets, 1 painting, 86 photographs and negatives, 28 manuscript collections, 3 ledger books, 1 medal, 49 clippings, 4 sheets of music, and 4 poems," not including newspaper donations.
Shoemaker pushed for more publications from the Society, which ranged from books to newspaper weeklies. From 1925 to 1939, the Society published a series of articles entitled, This Week in Missouri History, that appeared in at least one paper in 97 of the 114 counties across the state, including St. Louis. Begun in 1922, the Society embarked on a twenty volume project that concluded in 1965, entitled The Messages and Proclamations of the Governors of the State of Missouri. These volumes included biographical sketches, in addition to the documentation. Shoemaker proudly considered the Missouri Historical Review as one of the finest such publications in the country at the time.
Collections & Exhibits
The Society houses a large collection of works by famed Missouri artists George Caleb BinghamGeorge Caleb Bingham
George Caleb Bingham was an American artist whose paintings of American life in the frontier lands along the Missouri River exemplify the Luminist style. Left to languish in obscurity, Bingham's work was rediscovered in the 1930s...
and Thomas Hart Benton
Thomas Hart Benton (painter)
Thomas Hart Benton was an American painter and muralist. Along with Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, he was at the forefront of the Regionalist art movement. His fluid, almost sculpted paintings showed everyday scenes of life in the United States...
, in addition to other artists. Overall, the Society possesses over four thousand pieces of artwork, including paintings, lithographs, sketches, and engravings. The editorial cartoon collection includes works by Daniel Fitzpatrick, S. J. Ray, Don Hesse, Tom Engelhardt, and renown Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
artist, Bill Mauldin
Bill Mauldin
William Henry "Bill" Mauldin was a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist from the United States...
. The Society also contains photograph and map collections.
The State Historical Society of Missouri hosts changing exhibits of art and history drawn from its collections. All exhibits and collections are open and fully accessible to the public.
George Caleb Bingham Collection
One of the prominent artists of the Society's collection is George Caleb Bingham. Though born in VirginiaVirginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, Bingham grew up and lived in Missouri. Famed for his depictions of everyday life on the rivers flowing through and along the state, as well for his portraiture, one of his most famous works is General Order No. 11. A crown jewel of the Society's collection, the painting depicts the forced removal of Missourians from western counties during the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
by the general order of Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
general
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
Thomas Ewing
Thomas Ewing
Thomas Ewing, Sr. was a National Republican and Whig politician from Ohio. He served in the U.S. Senate as well as serving as the Secretary of the Treasury and the first Secretary of the Interior.-Biography:...
. The collection of Bingham's artwork owned by the Society represents one of the largest in the nation.
Society Libraries
The Society's Newspaper Library has the largest collection of Missouri state newspapers in the nation beginning with the very first newspaper published in 1808. Thousands of newspapers on microfilm are available to the public at the Society or via inter-library loan. The Society has at least one newspaper for each of Missouri's one hundred and fourteen counties. In 2008 the Society was chosen to participate in the National Digital Newspaper ProgramNational Digital Newspaper Program
The National Digital Newspaper Program is a joint project between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress to create and maintain a publicly available, online digital archive of historically significant newspapers published in the United States between 1836 and 1922...
, a joint initiative sponsored by the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
and the National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
to digitize historically significant newspapers. Select newspapers from the Society collection between the years 1880 and 1922 will appear on the Chronicling America
Chronicling America
Chronicling America is a website created by the newspaper digitization program, the National Digital Newspaper Program . The Chronicling America website contains digitized newspaper pages and information about historic newspapers to place the primary sources in context and support future...
database in the autumn of 2009.
The Society's Reference Library is home to over half a million volumes of published secondary sources on Missouri and the Middle West. Family histories, county histories, city directories, official state publications, church histories, scholarly journals, and genealogical indexes are among the many items that the public can consult. One of the Society's most notable collections is the J. Christian Bay Collection of Western Americana.
Western Historical Manuscript Collection
A joint collection held between the University of Missouri and the Society, the Western Historical Manuscript Collection (WHMC) is accessible at various locations throughout the state. Each of the four locations offer different historical material; the WHMC in Kansas City, specializes in the history and culture of Kansas City; the WHMC collection located at the University of Missouri-Rolla features material concerning the Ozark highland and southern Missouri; and likewise, the WHMC office in St. Louis focuses on collecting material relating to the history of St. Louis and its surrounding region. The WHMC location in Columbia, Missouri, specializes on the history of the state from prior its establishment to the present, as well as, "the trans-Mississippi West: social and cultural, religious and educational, military and political, economic and legal, business and labor, urban and rural, ethnic, environmental, and many others." The Columbia collection consists in part of diaries, letters, photographs, and other material, of Missourians ranging from farmers, bankers, and frontier pioneers.In 2011, the Western Historical Manuscript Collection was absorbed into the State Historical Society and ceased to exist. The manuscripts and collection of the Western Historical Manuscript Collection can be accessed at the Society's Research Center located in Ellis Library.
Society Outreach
In an effort to bring history to the public, the Society operates a number of programs. The Missouri History in Performance (MoHiP) is one such way. Through MoHiP, playwrights craft performances concerning moments in Missouri history, often which use the talents of folk musicians Cathy Barton and Dave Para. Often the playwrights draw upon Nineteenth Century plays, personal letters, and newspaper stories for reference. Another avenue adopted by the Society to extend history to the public is the Missouri History Speakers' Bureau. For nearly forty years, the Society, through the Bureau, has made available lecturers to groups and organizations throughout the state to speak on various moments in the state's history. It is funded in part by the Missouri Humanities Council with assistance from the National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
. Annually, the Society holds the Missouri Conference on History, a multiple day event, in which lectures are given on Missouri related topics in history. In addition, awards are presented to the best book, best journal article, and best graduate student paper concerning state history.