William Marion Reedy in 1904. Photo by J. C. Strauss. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection N35138]

William Marion Reedy discovered, promoted, and nurtured some of America’s most important writers during his almost…

Peter Rindisbacher, portrait by George Markham. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Objects Collection, 1985-101-0001]

Peter Rindisbacher’s paintings and watercolors are among the earliest images of the…

Gladys Swarthout with costar Jan Kiepura from the movie Give Us This Night (1936). [New York Public Library Digital Collections, Billy Rose Theatre Collection, psnypl_the_5262]

Gladys Swarthout, a concert and operatic mezzo-­soprano, was born in Deepwater, Missouri,…

Marion Talley. [University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs]

Marion Talley was born on December 20, 1907, in Nevada, Missouri, the daughter of a…

Virgil Thomson. [Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-42533]

Pulitzer Prize–winning composer and music critic Virgil Thomson was born in Kansas City,…

Melvin Tolson. [Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-134556 DLC]

Through most of his life, Melvin B. Tolson claimed he was born with the twentieth century…

Helen Francesca Traubel. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N13460]

One of the world’s great Wagnerian sopranos, Helen Traubel was born in south St. Louis on…

Carl Wimar, circa 1860. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N38636]

In his St. Louis studio, Charles “Carl” Ferdinand Wimar painted the Missouri River frontier…