Patricia and Fredrick McKissack

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

Louis Miller. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Lynn Morrow Papers (R1000)]

Louis Miller was an influential builder-architect who lived in Arcadia, in Iron County, and…

William Rockhill Nelson. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Missouri Press Portraits Collection, P1196-014545]

Of British, Quaker, and Huguenot heritage, William Rockhill Nelson was born five miles west…

Howard Nemerov. [Washington University Libraries, Special Collections, Howard Nemerov Papers]

Howard Nemerov was born on February 29, 1920, in New York City, and died on July 5, 1991,…

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 indigenous peoples and…

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…