the State Historical Society of Missouri
Perl D. Decker was an attorney who served three terms from 1913 to 1919 as a US congressman from Jasper County,…
![Forrest Donnell. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Missouri Governor Portraits, P1091-18639]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-03/1.%20Forrest%20C.%20Donnell.jpg?h=ecf8be9c&itok=EFj4IiQn "Forrest Donnell. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Missouri Governor Portraits, P1091-18639]")
Born in Quitman, Missouri, on August 20, 1884, the only child of dry-goods operator John…
![Phil Donnelly. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Missouri Governor Portraits, P1091-18639]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-03/1.%20Phil%20Donnelly.jpg?h=a1a75ae8&itok=u_5NO6a0 "Phil Donnelly. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Missouri Governor Portraits, P1091-18639]")
Phil M. Donnelly was born in Lebanon, Missouri, on March 6, 1891. He was educated in…
![Herman Dreer. [State Historical Society of Missouri, UMSL Black History Project Photograph Collection, S0336-167]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-03/1.%20Herman%20Dreer.jpg?h=231045b5&itok=_jirNr2L "Herman Dreer. [State Historical Society of Missouri, UMSL Black History Project Photograph Collection, S0336-167]")
Herman Dreer, a respected Black St. Louis educator and scholar, was born on September 12,…
![Father Peter Joseph Dunne. [Rev. J. W. Gormley, History of Father Dunne’s News Boys Home and Protectorate]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2025-12/1.-father-dunne.jpg?h=8595de87&itok=GpoLkFFp "Father Peter Joseph Dunne. [Rev. J. W. Gormley, History of Father Dunne’s News Boys Home and Protectorate]")
Fighting Father Dunne, an RKO film, premiered in St. Louis on May 11, 1948. The black-…
![Jeanne Eagels in costume. [The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, ID#100058, New York Public Library Digital Collections]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-03/1.%20Jeanne%20Eagels.jpg?h=8b88be68&itok=FtD0mArZ "Jeanne Eagels in costume. [The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, ID#100058, New York Public Library Digital Collections]")
Although there is some dispute about the date and place of her birth, most sources state…
![Edmond J. Eckel. [Elwood L. McDonald, History of Buchanan County and St. Joseph, Missouri, 1915]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2021-09/1-Edmond_Eckel.jpg?h=bcaf3a14&itok=ehIhMyxo "Edmond J. Eckel. [Elwood L. McDonald, History of Buchanan County and St. Joseph, Missouri, 1915]")
Born on June 22, 1845, in Strasbourg, France, Edmond Jacques Eckel demonstrated an early…
![Cliff Edwards. [New York Public Library Digital Collections, Billy Rose Theatre Collection, TH-10109]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2023-08/1.%20Cliff%20Edwards.jpg?h=29e77187&itok=ShK3DfnA "Cliff Edwards. [New York Public Library Digital Collections, Billy Rose Theatre Collection, TH-10109]")
Singer-actor Cliff Edwards was born in Hannibal, Missouri, on June 14, 1895, and is best…
![A publicity photo of Gordon “Wild Bill” Elliott. [Find a Grave / William Bjornstad]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2023-10/1.-gordon-wild-bill-elliott.jpg?h=698ee15c&itok=liAhLhoD "A publicity photo of Gordon “Wild Bill” Elliott. [Find a Grave / William Bjornstad]")
Gordon “Wild Bill” Elliott was one of the film industry’s top moneymakers in westerns…
![John Breckenridge Ellis. [History of Clinton and Caldwell Counties, Missouri, 1923]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2024-11/1.-john-breckinridge-ellis_0.jpg?h=0b4ce3a6&itok=Ot5r910v "John Breckenridge Ellis. [History of Clinton and Caldwell Counties, Missouri, 1923]")
John Breckenridge Ellis wrote more than twenty-five books during his long life. At eighteen months, he…