MoHistory

St. Louisan Roscoe Robinson Jr. became the first African American four-star general in the US Army. In retirement he also served on the Board of Directors for Northwest Airlines, McDonnell Douglas, Metropolitan Life Insurance, and Giant Foods. Robinson’s leadership philosophy was “take responsibility for those under you, set goals, be willing to listen, be decisive …

Continue reading "Roscoe Robinson Jr.: A Journey of Excellence"

Historian Carter G. Woodson organized the first national Black History Week (then called Negro History Week) in February 1926. The celebration’s purpose was to recognize the central role Black people played in the development of the US. Woodson chose the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and President …

Continue reading "Black History Month in St. Louis: A Timeline"

The Lindbergh 100 Project is made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-30-19-0454-19. Charles and Anne Lindbergh spent three weeks visiting Greenland during a survey flight expedition in the summer of 1933. They were investigating a potential northern route to Europe for commercial airlines. The Lindberghs took the trip in …

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The following is excerpted from David Ramsey’s piece on Fontella Bass in the Oxford American’s Up South issue. As a teenager, Fontella Bass played piano or organ at various churches around the St. Louis area, including Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church, which bought its first organ for Fontella to play (at this time, despite eventually …

Continue reading "Fontella Bass: Can’t You See That I’m Lonely?"

Public housing challenges affected low-income communities across the nation, but it was St. Louis’s 1969 rent strike that brought these problems into focus as residents in Pruitt-Igoe and other public housing facilities grappled with the system’s shortcomings. Though rent strikes were becoming a common form of protest in the 1960s and 1970s, St. Louis had …

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Written by TMH Apprentice Gabby Johnson Artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, and Billie Holiday are widely known for the well-loved music they produced. Less familiar to the public is the history behind the often segregated venues in which they performed, many of them in St. Louis. Castle Ballroom and Cave Hall There were …

Continue reading "Segregated St. Louis Dance Halls"

Woven clothes have been around for thousands of years, but hardly anyone makes their own today. Since agriculture enhanced society some 1,500 years ago, animals and plants have been readily available to harvest hair or natural fiber. Cleaning and smoothing the fiber, spinning it into thread, then weaving it into cloth that can be cut …

Continue reading "Grandma Bugg’s Rocker Loom"

This post is part of a series exploring menus with holiday connections. Barnum’s Hotel Theron Barnum opened his first major hotel in Philadelphia before moving to St. Louis in 1840 with his wife Mary Lay Chadwick. He took over the City Hotel on Third and Vine in the Spring of 1848. Less than five years later Barnum retire …

Continue reading "Holiday Menus from the Collections: New Year’s Eve"

If you grew up in the St. Louis area, you likely saw a film at a Wehrenberg Theatres location at some point. Moviegoers can still recall the whispered name that played at the end of the company’s pre-movie video: “Wehrenberg. Wehrenberg. Wehrenberg.” The legacy of how it became the US’s oldest and largest family-owned movie …

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This post is part of a series exploring menus with holiday connections. When it first opened in 1892, Stix, Baer & Fuller occupied 815–821 Broadway near Morgan Street. Within a few years business was booming, and store owners decided to upgrade their space following the success of the 1904 World’s Fair. They acquired land previously occupied by …

Continue reading "Holiday Menus from the Collections: Christmas at Stix, Baer & Fuller"

During World War II, St. Louis Post-Dispatch war correspondent Virginia Irwin faced gender bias and German bullets while reporting from the battlefield. Despite being among many barrier-breaking women correspondents, today few history books mention her. “A Closed Shop” Born in 1908 in Quincy, Illinois, Virginia Irwin started working at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1932 …

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December is National Tie Month, and to celebrate, I wanted to highlight some of my favorite neckties in the Missouri Historical Society Collections. Neckwear has been an important part of men’s wardrobes for centuries. From lacy jabots to crisp ascots, and neckties to bow ties, these accessories allow us to share a bit of our …

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On the afternoon of August 1, 1943, a crowd of thousands gathered at Lambert Field to watch a demonstration flight of the locally built Robertson Aircraft Corporation CG-4A military troop and cargo transport glider. While the crowd hoped to see an exciting aerial display celebrating local contributions to the war effort, they instead witnessed the …

Continue reading "Disaster in the Air"

If you grew up Catholic in St. Louis and are of a certain age, chances are you were once taught by a nun. The Archdiocese of St. Louis was once home to sisters from 52 religious organizations. Each nun was dressed head to toe in her order’s distinctive habit. They taught at dozens of grade …

Continue reading "Women in Black: St. Louis’s 4,400 Holy Mysteries"

Celebrating the Centennial In 1920 and 1921, Missourians prepared to celebrate a big milestone: 100 years as a state. How to properly commemorate this event was a question on everyone’s minds. Ideas included a themed state fair, a Centennial-themed drama reenacting key moments from the push for statehood, newspaper and journal articles about Missouri’s history and its founders, and a concert of …

Continue reading "Making Missouri: Past, Present, Future"

Technology has transformed the way we communicate, and social media has become a tool for entertainment and a place to discuss important topics. Today we have Instagram and Facebook. But for much of the 20th century and beyond, African Americans relied on Black newspapers as a conventional way to communicate with each other due to …

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From the very start, Aloys P. Kaufmann’s mayoral career was entwined with the destiny of Lambert International Airport (then called Lambert–St. Louis Municipal Airport), when his predecessor perished in a glider crash during a demonstration. Sworn into office in 1943, Kaufmann served as mayor for six years, winning reelection in 1945 and guiding the city …

Continue reading "“The Spirit of St. Louis Is the Spirit of the Air”: Aloys P. Kaufmann and Lambert Airport"

Many of us observe and celebrate winter holidays in different ways—sometimes with family and friends and oftentimes with food. One way we can explore these holidays further is through the Library & Research Center’s menu collection, which spans decades and generations. This series explores menus with holiday connections. Whether they’re from department stores, club celebrations, religious gatherings, …

Continue reading "Holiday Menus from the Collections: Thanksgiving"

It’s been 58 years since President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas. The tragedy of the president’s sudden death shocked and changed a generation. The event caused many ripple effects, including in St. Louis. In an alternate timeline, President Kennedy …

Continue reading "An Invitation to the President"

The Missouri Historical Society has received many items about the 1904 World’s Fair over the years, including large collections of papers and photographs from the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, tickets, invitations, and souvenirs. Over time, we’ve also received letters and diaries written by people who attended the Fair, but they’re rare. No one had offered …

Continue reading "A Tour of the Ivory City with Adele Quinette Phelps"