State Historical Society of Missouri

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 57,000 reels of microfilm. In 2011, the Western Manuscript Collection, accessible in Columbia, Kansas City, Rolla, and St. Louis, Missouri, specializing in the preservation and collection of Missouri and Middle West history, was absorbed into 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 Williams, 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.

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