the State Historical Society of Missouri
In the late nineteenth century, cycling became a popular American pastime. The League of American Wheelmen, a…
Jane Ace, a radio actress whose birth name was Jane Epstein and who was known professionally as Jane Sherwood, was…
Zoë Byrd Akins was born on October 30, 1886, in Humansville, Missouri, the second of three children of Thomas…
On April 14, 1876, the eleventh anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, a handsome bronze statue…
![Phog Allen. [University of Kansas, University Archives Photo Collection, ku-uaphotos:33979]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2021-03/1-Allen-in-1929.jpg?h=835c59e0&itok=nrKUSAfj "Phog Allen. [University of Kansas, University Archives Photo Collection, ku-uaphotos:33979]")
Forrest C. “Phog” Allen, whose foghorn voice earned him his nickname, was a masterful,…
Thomas Allen was among the most prominent and powerful individuals who led St. Louis in its transition from…
![Paul Armstrong. [University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs, JWS16554]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2021-09/1-Paul_Armstrong.jpg?h=f2b1f378&itok=NE4bxA2v "Paul Armstrong. [University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs, JWS16554]")
Paul Armstrong, a journalist and playwright, was born in Kidder, a small town in Caldwell…
![Arthur Aull. [Courtesy of Chad Stebbins]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2021-03/1-Arthur-Aull.jpg?h=f88fb12f&itok=Zrs-c901 "Arthur Aull. [Courtesy of Chad Stebbins]")
Arthur Aull, who edited the Lamar Democrat from 1900 until his death in…
The Baby Tooth Survey was formed in 1958 by the Committee of Nuclear Information, a grassroots organization that…
![H. Roe Bartle. [State Historical Society of Missouri, H. Roe Bartle Papers (K0154)]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-07/1.%20H.%20Roe%20Bartle.jpg?h=e5d6a2bb&itok=lMzgzCQJ "H. Roe Bartle. [State Historical Society of Missouri, H. Roe Bartle Papers (K0154)]")
Twice elected mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, and known as “Chief” to tens of thousands of…
![The traditional illustration of David Barton. Some historians question the image’s authenticity. [Howard L. Conard, ed., Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, vol. 1 (St. Louis: Southern History Co., 1901)]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-07/1.%20David%20Barton.jpg?h=f781cce3&itok=1vsKYmtb "The traditional illustration of David Barton. Some historians question the image’s authenticity. [Howard L. Conard, ed., Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, vol. 1 (St. Louis: Southern History Co., 1901)]")
David Barton was born near Greenville, North Carolina, now in eastern Tennessee, on December 14, 1783. He was…
By popular consensus, Tom Bass was one of the most skillful and popular horsemen of his era. At the time of his…
The Battle of Wilson’s Creek or Oak Hills in southwestern Greene County on August 10, 1861, is Missouri’s best-…
![J. Christian Bay. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Jens Christian Bay Portraits, P0206-027598]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2021-09/1-J_Christian_Bay.jpg?h=8bcc14f3&itok=RY5bMuWK "J. Christian Bay. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Jens Christian Bay Portraits, P0206-027598]")
J. Christian Bay was born to Lars and Doris Christiansen Bay on October 12, 1871, in…
![James Beckwourth. [Public domain; photographer unknown]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2021-09/1-Beckwourth.jpg?h=518889fc&itok=01MEzfQk "James Beckwourth. [Public domain; photographer unknown]")
James Pierson Beckwith, better known as Jim Beckwourth following the publication of…
![Noah Beery Sr. as Captain Wolf Larsen in The Sea Wolf, 1920. [University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs, JWS19510]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-12/1.%20Noah%20Beery%20Sr.jpg?h=c32e8d64&itok=o3e5ABLN "Noah Beery Sr. as Captain Wolf Larsen in The Sea Wolf, 1920. [University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs, JWS19510]")
Noah Beery Sr., a film actor, was born on a Clay County, Missouri, farm several miles…
![Wallace Beery during his time with the Essanay film studio. [New York Public Library Digital Collections, Billy Rose Theatre Collection Photograph File, 81128]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-12/1.%20Wallace%20Beery.jpg?h=62801648&itok=6g7isCTj "Wallace Beery during his time with the Essanay film studio. [New York Public Library Digital Collections, Billy Rose Theatre Collection Photograph File, 81128]")
Standard reference works list film actor Wallace Beery’s birthplace as Kansas City,…
![Henry Marvin Belden. [University of Missouri Archives, Collection C:1/141/6]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2023-03/1.%20Henry%20Marvin%20Belden_0.jpg?h=53c868f4&itok=KpZx02e_ "Henry Marvin Belden. [University of Missouri Archives, Collection C:1/141/6]")
Henry Marvin Belden, a pioneer in the study of Missouri balladry and song, was born October…
Pitching immortal Satchel Paige, noted for his tall tales as much as his pitching, claimed that James “Cool Papa”…
![The Ben Bolt Theatre. [Courtesy of Danny Knouse]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2020-07/Ben-Bolt-Theatre.jpg?h=c4576eea&itok=2PYOXnlz "The Ben Bolt Theatre. [Courtesy of Danny Knouse]")
The Ben Bolt Theatre was a spectacular building that stood for half a century as a notable…
![Robert Russell Bennett (right) with Salvatore Dell’Isola at rehearsals for the Broadway production of South Pacific. Bennett served as orchestrator for the show, and Dell’Isola as musical director. [New York Public Library Digital Collections, Billy Rose Theatre Collection Photograph File, TH-52233]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-12/1.%20Robert%20Russell%20Bennett.jpg?h=49354a9d&itok=i_VVfYms "Robert Russell Bennett (right) with Salvatore Dell’Isola at rehearsals for the Broadway production of South Pacific. Bennett served as orchestrator for the show, and Dell’Isola as musical director. [New York Public Library Digital Collections, Billy Rose Theatre Collection Photograph File, TH-52233]")
Robert Russell Bennett was born on June 15, 1894, in Kansas City, Missouri, the only son of…
![French artist Louis-Leopold Boilly’s rendering of members of an Osage traveling party in Europe, including Big Soldier (at right). [Smithsonian Institution, National Portrait Gallery, object # S/NPG.2011.5]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2020-07/Big-Soldier.jpg?h=86a29125&itok=SubP6M24 "French artist Louis-Leopold Boilly’s rendering of members of an Osage traveling party in Europe, including Big Soldier (at right). [Smithsonian Institution, National Portrait Gallery, object # S/NPG.2011.5]")
Big Soldier, a Little Osage war leader, was probably born in 1773 in a village near the Missouri River, in…
![A seventeenth-century engraving of Paris’s Hôpital Général de la Salpêtrière, where Marie-Claire Catoire spent her childhood as an orphan. [Courtesy of the Wellcome Collection (CCBY 4.0)]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2023-12/2.-marie-claire-catoire-billeron.jpg?itok=E78WqsG0 "A seventeenth-century engraving of Paris’s Hôpital Général de la Salpêtrière, where Marie-Claire Catoire spent her childhood as an orphan. [Courtesy of the Wellcome Collection (CCBY 4.0)]")
Marie-Claire Catoire Billeron’s name first appears in North America on the…
![Frederic L. Billon. [Billon, Annals of St. Louis in Its Territorial Days from 1804 to 1821 (St. Louis: Nixon-Jones Printing Co., 1888), frontispiece]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2020-07/Frederic-Billon.jpg?h=1128d52b&itok=O2ASotLW "Frederic L. Billon. [Billon, Annals of St. Louis in Its Territorial Days from 1804 to 1821 (St. Louis: Nixon-Jones Printing Co., 1888), frontispiece]")
Frederic L. Billon’s amateur antiquarian pursuits in the mid-nineteenth century resulted in…
![Kenneth Brown Billups Sr. [National Association of Negro Musicians]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2020-07/Kenneth-Brown-Billups-Jr.jpg?h=58aae8de&itok=fQIuobvD "Kenneth Brown Billups Sr. [National Association of Negro Musicians]")
Kenneth Brown Billups Sr. was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 14, 1918, the son of…