Charles O. Finley, owner of the Kansas City Athletics, with Charlie O., the team’s mascot. [Jackson County Historical Society Archives, photo #2017.006.188]

Kansas City’s sports fans might be forgiven for overlooking or choosing to forget that American League…

Kathryn J. Kuhlman. [Courtesy of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center Archives]

Kathryn Johanna Kuhlman, born in Concordia, Missouri, on May 9, 1907, became…

Fran Landesman at the Crystal Palace, 1961. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Thelma Blumberg Collection, S0402]

Fran Landesman launched her career as a jazz lyricist in St. Louis in the 1950s. A native New Yorker, she was…

Dorothy Leake in the 1920s

Dorothy Van Dyke Leake, an educator noted for her ecological work and her efforts to…

Edward V. Long (left) at the inauguration of Missouri governor Warren E. Hearnes, 1965. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Gerald R. Massie Photograph Collection, P0016-045]

Edward V. Long was born on July 18, 1908, in Lincoln County, Missouri. He received his…

In this undated photograph, Mary Margaret McBride (right) interviews Goldena Howard, a local Missouri historian, during a broadcast from the University of Missouri library. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Mary Kathy Dains Photographs, P0300-014950]

Described as neurotic and ample, Mary Margaret McBride became a great success on network radio while…

May Kennedy McCord. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Vance Randolph Ozark Folksongs Collection, C3774]

May Kennedy McCord was an Ozark folklorist, writer, musician, and radio personality whose work…

John Francis McDermott. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N38530]

One of the foremost authorities on the history of culture, art, and society in the…

Patricia and Fredrick McKissack

Patricia C. McKissack dedicated her career as a writer to showcasing black voices through children’s books and…

<em>Missouri Indian, Oto Indian, Chief of the Puncas</em>, portraits made by Karl Bodmer during an exploration of the Missouri River and its environs led by Prince Maximilian of Wied in 1833–1834. The Missouria man portrayed is Mahinkacha (Maker of Knives). [State Historical Society of Missouri Art Collection, <a href=https://digital.shsmo.org/digital/collection/art/id/477/> 1958.0007c1</a>]

When French explorer Robert La Salle passed by the mouth of the Missouri River in 1682, he wrote that on its banks…