the State Historical Society of Missouri
Joel P. Rhodes
Joel P. Rhodes is the executive director of the State Historical Society of Missouri. He is professor emeritus of history at Southeast Missouri State University.
![This steamboat once graced northern Indian Creek in McDonald County, Missouri. [Courtesy of Ric Akehurst]](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2026-01/1.-indian-springs.jpg?itok=P_4FSwrP "This steamboat once graced northern Indian Creek in McDonald County, Missouri. [Courtesy of Ric Akehurst]")
Indian Springs, McDonald County
Indian Springs was a resort town in McDonald County founded in 1881 during the nineteenth-century medicinal springs boom.
![The editorial room of the Westliche Post, circa 1870. The paper’s prominent figures included Carl Schurz (fourth from left, seated at table), Emil Preetorius (sixth from left), and Joseph Pulitzer (not pictured). [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N01710]](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2026-01/1.-german-press-in-missouri.jpg?itok=kREz9J2X "The editorial room of the Westliche Post, circa 1870. The paper’s prominent figures included Carl Schurz (fourth from left, seated at table), Emil Preetorius (sixth from left), and Joseph Pulitzer (not pictured). [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N01710]")
The German Press in Missouri
Of all the ethnic groups to settle in Missouri, none embraced the press more vigorously than the Germans.
Emily Troxell Jaycox
Emily Troxell Jaycox is the former head librarian of the Missouri Historical Society.
![Father Peter Joseph Dunne. [Rev. J. W. Gormley, History of Father Dunne’s News Boys Home and Protectorate]](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2025-12/1.-father-dunne.jpg?itok=ICHjPe3k "Father Peter Joseph Dunne. [Rev. J. W. Gormley, History of Father Dunne’s News Boys Home and Protectorate]")
Peter Joseph Dunne (1870–1939)
Fighting Father Dunne, an RKO film, premiered in St. Louis on May 11, 1948. The black-and-white movie depicted the life of Peter Joseph Dunne, a local priest, who founded the St.
![Spencer T. Banks. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N18254]](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2025-12/1.-spencer-t.-banks.jpg?itok=TnzzJlBZ "Spencer T. Banks. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N18254]")
Spencer Thornton Banks (1912–1983)
Spencer Thornton Banks was a St. Louis artist and designer born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1912, the only child of Ellis and Elenora (Perkins) Banks. In 1926 the family moved to St.
Joan Stack
Joan Stack is the curator of art collections at the State Historical Society of Missouri.
![Naomi Brooks. [Hayti (Missouri) Central High School Yearbook, 1958, via Ancestry.com]](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2025-12/1.-brooks-v.-moberly.jpg?itok=lc1yrtCI "Naomi Brooks. [Hayti (Missouri) Central High School Yearbook, 1958, via Ancestry.com]")
Joseph R. Nichols Jr.
Joseph R. Nichols Jr. is an associate professor of education and affiliated researcher with the PRiME Center at Saint Louis University.
![Josephine Winslow Johnson. [Simon and Schuster, photo provided by the Johnson Estate]](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2025-12/1.-josephine-johnson.jpg?itok=e_SAvm5O "Josephine Winslow Johnson. [Simon and Schuster, photo provided by the Johnson Estate]")
Josephine Winslow Johnson (1910–1990)
St. Louis writer and naturalist Josephine Johnson became the youngest winner of the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 1935 for her book Now in November, set on a Missouri farm during the Great Depression.