MoHistory

This past July I had the opportunity to attend the Association of Midwest Museums conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. As an educator, I was particularly excited for a behind-the-scenes tour at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, one of the best in the country. In addition to incredibly engaging exhibits, they’re also home to a significant collection, …

Continue reading "Military-Inspired Toys"

EDITOR’S NOTE: In order to bring a plurality of voices to our storytelling, the Missouri Historical Society frequently asks guest writers to contribute to History Happens Here. The views and opinions expressed by guest contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missouri Historical Society, its affiliates, or …

Continue reading "The Austrian Boy Who Became Chinese"

Thinking Historically is a series of short talks and conversations presented at the Missouri History Museum’s monthly family event History Exploration Days. The series is designed to help learners and visitors of all ages explore how historians think about and make sense of the past and the present. In this blog post, readers can study …

Continue reading "Thinking Historically about Christmas Traditions"

Photographs by Alyssa Vanderweg. As part of the Missouri Historical Society’s ongoing Collections Access project, the collections management department recently cataloged 38 charcoal portraits by St. Louis artist Mildred Bailey Carpenter. Mildred was born in St. Louis in 1894 and attended art school at Washington University in St. Louis. In 1914, she married her art …

Continue reading "“Queen of the Head-Hunters”: Mildred Bailey Carpenter’s World War II–Era Portraits"

This post is part of a series about the materials that built St. Louis. Granite is by far the oldest of St. Louis’s building materials. Southeast Missouri’s St. Francois Mountains formed more than a billion years ago and have been weathered down over time. They were the result of volcanic activity underneath the earth and magma pushing its …

Continue reading "Built St. Louis: Granite"

One hundred years ago, arguably the most transformative event in the history of St. Louis occurred with the passage of an $87,372,500 bond issue—about $1.55 billion in 2023 dollars. As of this writing, it remains the third largest municipal bond ever passed in the US. The 20 projects undertaken by its passage facilitated urban renewal, …

Continue reading "The Bond Issue That Transformed St. Louis"

Born in 1883 to Bettie Baxley and Henry Johnson in Clarksville, Tennessee, Jesse J. Johnson became an essential part of Mill Creek Valley’s social culture and the St. Louis blues scene through his personal and business enterprises. Known as the “King of Market Street,” he was a restaurant owner, music promoter, booking agent, businessman, and …

Continue reading "The King of Market Street"

EDITOR’S NOTE: In order to bring a plurality of voices to our storytelling, the Missouri Historical Society frequently asks guest writers to contribute to History Happens Here. The views and opinions expressed by guest contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missouri Historical Society, its affiliates, or …

Continue reading "Notable Chinese Alumni of Missouri Institutions"

As we enter the height of fall and approach the holiday season, the time comes for many of us to harvest, preserve, bake, and cook seemingly endless amounts of food to share with family and friends. Instead of sticking to the basics this year, look for the unexpected. Now is the time to try out …

Continue reading "Tasting History: Fall Recipes"

This blog post contains content that may be sensitive in nature. Shortly after noon on November 22, 1963, 35th US President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed while traveling in a motorcade through Dallas, Texas. As part of a campaign tour, the presidential procession had been winding through the crowd-lined suburban streets of Dallas’s …

Continue reading "60 Years Later: The JFK Assassination Unfolds in the St. Louis Newsroom"

In Part 2, Tom Dooley found a sense of purpose helping Vietnamese refugees and also found himself tied to nation-building efforts led by CIA agent Edward Lansdale. As a result, his celebrity grew along with his humanitarian work. However, the CIA loomed over Dooley until his death in 1961, complicating his legacy as a humanitarian. …

Continue reading "A Closer Look at Dr. Tom Dooley: Creating an Iconic American"

This post is part of a series about the materials that built St. Louis. Southeastern Missouri’s Iron Range stretches roughly from the St. James area down toward Bonne Terre. Iron had been mined in this area since 1826, when the Merrimac Iron Works opened up, but it wasn’t until the 1850s that the material really started taking …

Continue reading "Built St. Louis: Iron"

EDITOR’S NOTE: In order to bring a plurality of voices to our storytelling, the Missouri Historical Society frequently asks guest writers to contribute to History Happens Here. The views and opinions expressed by guest contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missouri Historical Society, its affiliates, or …

Continue reading "Come Hell or High Water: The Great Flood of 1993"

Daniel L. Rust and Alan B. Hoffman are the authors of Come Fly with Me: The Rise and Fall of Trans World Airlines. The following is an excerpt from the book.  EDITOR’S NOTE: In order to bring a plurality of voices to our storytelling, the Missouri Historical Society frequently asks guest writers to contribute to …

Continue reading "Transcontinental Air Transport’s Inaugural Flights"

From a multiday Día de los Muertos festival to the family favorite Winter Getaway series, the next two months are packed with opportunities to celebrate, learn, and engage at the Missouri History Museum, Soldiers Memorial Military Museum, and the Library & Research Center. Here are 11 reasons to visit the Missouri Historical Society before ringing …

Continue reading "11 Reasons to Visit the Missouri Historical Society Before the End of the Year"

Halloween is here, and we’ve got a spine-tingling blog post that’ll be sure to give you chills! If you’ve spent any amount of time exploring the Missouri Historical Society (MHS) Collections via our Online Collections Search, you’ve likely noticed our extensive dolls collection. There’s a valid reason for this: The history of dolls can be traced …

Continue reading "Spooky Dolls from the Collections"

Listen to an episode about the Pine Street Specter on our Here’s History podcast with KDHX. Everyone loves a ghost story, which may explain why thousands braved chilly conditions one week in January 1887 to glimpse a mysterious specter reportedly haunting an upper-class St. Louis neighborhood. Sunday, January 16, 1887 The St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported that …

Continue reading "A Pine Street Specter"

The All-Volunteer Military Force program replaced compulsory US military service in 1973. I served in the army both during and after the draft years and have watched the transition with enthusiasm as well as concern. A Brief History The US initiated the draft, or compulsory military service, via the Selective Training and Service Act of …

Continue reading "US All-Volunteer Military Marks 50 Years—but Is It Sustainable?"

EDITOR’S NOTE: In order to bring a plurality of voices to our storytelling, the Missouri Historical Society frequently asks guest writers to contribute to History Happens Here. The views and opinions expressed by guest contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missouri Historical Society, its affiliates, or …

Continue reading "Lucas and Garrison: General Andrew Jackson Smith"

As part of the Missouri Historical Society’s ongoing Collections Access project, the collections management department recently cataloged and photographed over 250 chairs in collections storage. Many of these chairs have incredibly interesting stories that help tell the history of St. Louis in new and exciting ways. We explored some of them in part 1. Now sit …

Continue reading "Highlights from the Chair Collection, Part 2"