the State Historical Society of Missouri
![The Figure 8 roller coaster at Lakeside Park, added in 1907, was a “huge reversing spiral” in which cars rushed down a half-mile curving track with “three figure eights in a descent of 50 feet.” [Courtesy of the Joplin Historical & Mineral Museum]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2023-06/1.%20Figure%208%20Roller%20Coaster%20Lakeside%20Park%20Joplin%20Museum%20Complex.JPG?h=c36628e1&itok=hcrmvx97 "The Figure 8 roller coaster at Lakeside Park, added in 1907, was a “huge reversing spiral” in which cars rushed down a half-mile curving track with “three figure eights in a descent of 50 feet.” [Courtesy of the Joplin Historical & Mineral Museum]")
“Once the most important and popular play place of the Tri-State district,” Lakeside Park in Jasper…
![Fran Landesman at the Crystal Palace, 1961. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Thelma Blumberg Collection, S0402]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2024-09/1.-fran-landesman.jpg?h=743325c3&itok=C1Xi1lIz "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…
![Mary Elizabeth Mahnkey. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Mary Kathy Dains Photograph Collection, P0300]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2021-09/1-Mary_Elizabeth_Mahnkey.jpg?h=fdc48845&itok=wxfN7XjG "Mary Elizabeth Mahnkey. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Mary Kathy Dains Photograph Collection, P0300]")
Mary Elizabeth Mahnkey was a lifelong newspaper and magazine journalist, and a regional poet. Born in Boone…
![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]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2024-03/1.-mary-margaret-mcbride.jpg?h=d30bdad1&itok=ahJDqNgi "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…
![William Rockhill Nelson. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Missouri Press Portraits Collection, P1196-014545]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2021-03/1-William-Rockhill-Nelson.jpg?h=8a606310&itok=rezhFlPS "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…
![Jack Oakie. [University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs, JWS25751]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-06/1.%20Jack%20Oakie_0.jpg?h=f008bb98&itok=7RltpLAI "Jack Oakie. [University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs, JWS25751]")
Jack Oakie was long considered one of the screen’s most notorious scene-stealers. He had a…
![Geraldine Page and Rip Torn on stage in Strange Interlude. [New York Public Library Digital Collections, Billy Rose Theatre Division, Friedman-Abeles Photograph Collection, #5026079]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2020-07/Geraldine-Page-and-Rip-Torn.jpg?h=58818689&itok=x7bZnVuc "Geraldine Page and Rip Torn on stage in Strange Interlude. [New York Public Library Digital Collections, Billy Rose Theatre Division, Friedman-Abeles Photograph Collection, #5026079]")
Geraldine Page was born in Kirksville, Missouri, on November 22, 1924, to Leon Elwin Page,…
![An early edition of the Missouri Intelligencer and Boon’s Lick Advertiser, August 20, 1819. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Newspaper Collection]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2020-07/Nathaniel-Patten-Boon%27s-Lick-Advertiser.jpg?h=f7ec007d&itok=de0Iqt-i "An early edition of the Missouri Intelligencer and Boon’s Lick Advertiser, August 20, 1819. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Newspaper Collection]")
Nathaniel Patten Jr. could be characterized as Missouri’s quintessential pioneer country…
![Marlin Perkins holding a bison calf. [Marlin Perkins Papers (S0516), State Historical Society of Missouri]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2024-02/1.-marlin-perkins.jpg?h=340ad325&itok=fjnCeB_T "Marlin Perkins holding a bison calf. [Marlin Perkins Papers (S0516), State Historical Society of Missouri]")
Marlin Perkins served as director at three zoos during his career: the Zoological Gardens in Buffalo, New York; the…
![William Powell on a card distributed with packs of cigarettes. [New York Public Library Digital Collections, George Arents Collection, 1206072]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2021-09/1-William-Powell.jpg?h=b4a713c2&itok=Cspik1-I "William Powell on a card distributed with packs of cigarettes. [New York Public Library Digital Collections, George Arents Collection, 1206072]")
William Horatio Powell was the epitome of the suave, urbane leading man throughout his…