Missouri Humanities

Christmas and Country Favorites with Dottie Dillard and Anita Kerr
2025-12-18 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago) | MO
In the 1950s and 60s, Springfieldian Dottie Dillard, Anita Kerr, and the Anita Kerr Quartet sang backup on a quarter of all Nashville recordings during that period. In 2019, Kerr guessed the Quartet had sung on 200 songs a year since it was formed in 1956. They were instrumental in inventing the “Nashville Sound,” generally defined as a mix of country music flavored with pop rhythms, instrumentation, and themes. The group won a Grammy in 1965 for Best Performance by a Vocal Group, edging out the Beatles. They won another Grammy in 1966 and several other awards during the next decade. However, Anita and Dottie are rarely mentioned in histories of popular music. This program will introduce you to Anita Kerr and Springfieldian Dottie Dillard, who was Anita’s talented alto singer. It will also be a listening experience, as we focus on the Quartet’s contribution to classic recordings of your favorite Christmas songs and Nashville hit records.

Out of the Box
2026-01-06 09:00 - 2026-01-29 17:00 | Black Archives of Mid-America, 1722 E. 17th Terr.,, Kansas City, MO, 64108
A new short-term exhibition in January 2026 featuring items recently donated to the Black Archives.

Understanding the US History Sector Webinar
2026-01-07 14:00 - 15:00 | MO
America’s history sector is vast, unique, and vital. Using AASLH’s National Census of History Organizations as a primary foundation, attendees to this webinar will learn the ins and outs of the U.S. history sector—its parameters, key characteristics, and top pain points—as well as insights into audience trends. Attendees will gain information to help strengthen their institutions and make the case for importance of the history community to varied stakeholders.

History Talk: Entertaining at the White House - Presidential China
2026-01-10 10:00 - 11:00 | Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site, 7400 Grant Rd, St. Louis, MO, 63123, United States
Presidents and their First Ladies often have new sets of china produced for their official entertaining, such as State Dinners. These events are an important part of diplomacy and the table setting conveys not only an atmosphere of elegance and hospitality, but also national pride. Julie Northrip, former interpretive program manager at the park, will show and discuss some of the china used during presidential administrations.
The program is free. Call 314-842-1867 ext. 230 for reservations.

Author Talk: John Frémont's 100 Days
2026-01-10 10:00 - 11:00 | Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site, 7400 Grant Rd, St. Louis, MO, 63123, United States
Author Greg Wolk’s newest book, John Frémont’s 100 Days in Civil War Missouri, covers U.S. Grant’s activities during his own wartime days in the state, which overlapped to a considerable extent with Fremont’s tenure.
The book tracks Grant’s progress from Quincy, Illinois to Belmont, Missouri, and his relationship to Frémont – the man who put him on the road to success.
The program is free. For reservations, please call (314) 842-1867 ext. 230.

Second Sunday- Free Days at the Museum
2026-01-11 10:00 - 16:00, 2026-02-08 10:00 - 16:00 | The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures, 5235 Oak Street, Kansas City, MO 64112, Kansas City, M, 64112, United States
Bring the whole family to Free Days at the Museum. Occurring on every second Sunday of the month, Free Days provide greater access to The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures’ vast and awe-inspiring collections for visitors near and far.
All attendees can explore the Museum at no charge.

Silver Saddle Fan Club ft. Fiddlin' Sam and the Bolo Band
2026-01-22 18:00 - 21:00 | The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Boulevard, St. Louis, 63108
Dust off your dancin’ boots for the Silver Saddle Fan Club! For the third-annual Fan Club event, The Sheldon’s Ballroom will be transformed into a western swing dance hall with dinner, dance lessons, and live music. The party opens with a pre-ordered meal by Stellar Hog. You can feast on beef brisket and pulled pork, or the vegetarian option, braised tofu. Christian Frommelt, award-winning social dance instructor, will swing the crowd into action with western styles like two-step and waltz. Then enjoy the moves you learned with live music by Fiddlin’ Sam and the Bolo Band, the St. Louis Western Swing supergroup that plays legendary tunes of Bob Wills, Milton Brown, and more.

Speaker Series: The History of the Weatherbird and St. Louis Cartooning
2026-01-24 13:00 - 14:00 | Field House Museum, 634 S Broadway, Saint Louis, MO, 63102, United States
Join us for a lively and engaging look at one of St. Louis’s most iconic characters!
On January 24, 2026, at 1 p.m., longtime St. Louis Post-Dispatch cartoonist Dan Martin will present The History of the Weatherbird and St. Louis Cartooning.
Martin will trace the evolution of the beloved Weatherbird, America’s longest-running continuously published cartoon figure, while spotlighting the rich legacy of St. Louis cartoonists who helped shape the world of comics. From Chic Young and George McManus to Lee Falk and the incomparable Mike Peters, Martin will introduce audiences to a remarkable cast of creators whose work reached far beyond the Gateway City.
Entertaining, insightful, and full of fascinating stories, this program is perfect for fans of comics, local history, and, of course, the Bird himself.
This program is free with limited availability in person and on Zoom. Reservations must be made in advance on our website, by calling the Museum at 314-421-4689, or by emailing info@fieldhousemuseum.org.

Lindenwood University's Winter Dance Concert
2026-01-29 19:30 - 21:00, 2026-01-30 19:30 - 21:00, 2026-01-31 19:30 - 21:00 | The J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts, 2300 W Clay St, St Charles, MO, 63301, United States
This year’s Winter Dance Concert highlights the creative voices of our sophomore and junior choreographers. Each pair has crafted original work and set it on their peers, resulting in thirteen unique pieces that move through humor, heartbreak, imagination, and joy. The program offers an intimate look at the artistry emerging within our program and invites audiences to experience a wide range of emotional and creative perspectives. Join us for three evenings in our three-sided black box theater, where you’ll be immersed in the action and seated up close to the performers as these young artists share the work they have built together.

Author Talk: Black St. Louis
2026-01-31 13:00 - 14:00 | Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site, 7400 Grant Rd, St. Louis, MO, 63123, United States
Black St. Louis explores the rich and inspiring history of African Americans in St. Louis from the city’s founding as a French fur trading post during the Spanish colonial era to
the new millennium. Author NiNi Harris highlights great figures who showed leadership, incredible innovation, and courage despite the injustices they faced.
The program is free. Call 314-842-1867 ext. 230 for reservations.

12 Months of Giving
2026-02-01 00:00 - 23:30 | Foster Wallace Personal Injury Lawyers, 4700 Belleview Ave Suite 304, Kansas City, 64112
At Foster Wallace Personal Injury Lawyers, giving back matters. Through our 12 Months of Giving initiative, we’re donating $3,000 each month in 2026 to local nonprofits making a difference. We invite you to nominate a local nonprofit meaningful to you using the form on our event page. Monthly recipients will be announced on our website and social media channels.

Route 66 Centennial Traveling Exhibit in Lebanon, MO
2026-02-05 - 2026-02-06 | Lebanon-LaClede County Library, 915 S. Jefferson Ave, Lebanon, 65536
Route 66 Centennial Traveling Exhibit in Lebanon
2/5: 10 am – 6 PM
5 PM Panel Discussion with documentarian Katrina Parks, Missouri Route 66 Association CFO Larry Sernyk and educational curriculum developer Kari Kussmann
2/6: 10 am – 4 PM
School Groups Welcome. Please email esemsch@lebanon-laclede.lib.mo.us
Free and open to the public.
Celebrating the rich legacy of the Mother Road, America’s Main Street, the Route 66 Centennial Traveling Exhibit will be on view in Lebanon, Missouri on February 5 and 6, 2026. The exhibit marks two major milestones: the 100th anniversary of Route 66 and the 250th anniversary of the United States.
The exhibit will be open to the public from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 5, and from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Friday, February 6.
Drawing from the documentary film series Route 66: The Untold Story of Women on the Mother Road by project director Katrina Parks, the traveling exhibit combines large-format interpretive panels, audiovisual materials, and educational activities designed for youth and family audiences. Together, these elements invite visitors to explore how Route 66 shaped American history, culture, and identity through the stories of the people who lived, worked, and traveled along it. From the glow of neon signs to the steady hum of tires on open pavement, every mile of Route 66 tells a story of opportunity, invention, and freedom. For nearly a century, the road has drawn visitors from around the world and continues to hold countless stories waiting to be uncovered.
On Thursday, February 5 at 5:00 p.m., the public is invited to attend a panel discussion featuring project director Katrina Parks, educational curriculum developer Kari Kussmann, and Missouri Route 66 Association Chief Financial Officer Larry Sernyk. The discussion will explore the historical significance of Route 66, the origins of the Route 66 Centennial Traveling Exhibit, and the importance of education and preservation as the nation approaches the Route 66 centennial.
The Route 66 Centennial Traveling Exhibit is made possible with support from the Missouri Route 66 Centennial Commission, Missouri Humanities, the Missouri Route 66 Association, the Lebanon-LaClede County Library and many other institutions. The exhibit will continue to travel to communities along the Mother Road, highlighting local histories while connecting them to the broader national story.
For more information about exhibit hours, programming, or upcoming tour locations, please visit www.route66exhibit.com.

History of Chocolate and Candy Making in Missouri
2026-02-05 17:30 - 18:30 | MO
An overview of the products and producers of the confections that have made Missouri a culinary destination.

America's 250th: Celebrating Black History Month
2026-02-05 18:00 - 20:00 | Lincoln University, 812 East Dunklin St., Martin Luther King, Jr. Hall, Room 106, Jefferson City, 65201
Celebrate Black History Month with the release of a local history book about Black soldiers in the Civil War from Cole County. The Cole County America 250th Committee hosts a program including author Michelle Brooks, portrayals of President Abraham Lincoln and Lincoln University’s first president Richard Baxter Foster, and Bob Priddy as emcee. Come early to view displays about local Black history.

First Saturdays at Keystone: Arts, Culture & Creative Entrepreneurship
2026-02-07 | Keystone CoLAB, 800 E 18th St, Kansas City, 64108

Laumeier's Art & Nature Day + Exhibition Opening
2026-02-07 10:00 - 16:00 | Laumeier Sculpture Park, 12580 Rott Rd, St. Louis, MO, 63127, United States
Celebrate Laumeier Sculpture Park’s 50th anniversary year with a free, all-ages event on Saturday, February 7, featuring the opening of Begin Again: 50 Years and Counting and Art & Nature Day.
Highlighting hundreds of artists and rarely seen works from Laumeier’s collection, the exhibition revisits five decades of artist commissions and exhibitions. Guests are invited to explore the Park’s history and its ongoing relationship with artists, the landscape, and the community.
Art & Nature Day, presented in partnership with St. Louis County Parks and Recreation, welcomes all to explore the deep connections between art, nature, and community with free hands-on activities and creative play.
SCHEDULE:
10 a.m.–4 p.m. / Exhibition Opening / Aronson Fine Arts Center
Explore Begin Again: 50 Years and Counting.
11 a.m.–2 p.m. / Drop-In Puppet Making Workshop / Kranzberg Education Lab
Create a unique puppet alongside members of the Puppet Guild of Greater St. Louis while learning about Laumeier’s history with puppetry arts.
11 a.m.–2 p.m. / Family Play Space / Kranzberg Education Lab
Explore loose-parts play, hop across colorful steppingstones, and enjoy open-ended creative play for all ages.
12 p.m.–12:30 p.m. / Gallery Talk / Aronson Fine Arts Center
Join Curator Dana Turkovic for insight into Begin Again: 50 Years and Counting.
1–2 p.m. / Interactive Indoor Gallery Tour / Aronson Fine Arts Center
Investigate selected works from Begin Again through hands-on activities with Laumeier’s education team.
No registration needed.
Learn more: www.laumeiersculpturepark.org/art-nature-days

Missouri History Day Filmmakers Showcase
2026-02-07 13:30 - 15:30 | State Historical Society of Missouri, 605 Elm Street, Columbia, MO, 65201, United States
Join us as we celebrate Missouri History Day filmmakers and screen several short documentaries produced by one of our Missouri History Day alumni and professional artist Brian Hawkins of Kansas City, along with Rohan Deshpande, who is a current History Day student from St. Louis. Hawkins, who is an award-winning animator and filmmaker, will have some of his art pieces for sale to benefit the National History Day program in Missouri. NHD offers a contest to students in grades 6-12 annually. The State Historical Society of Missouri is the host and organizer of the statewide Missouri History Day contest held on the University of Missouri campus in April.
The Saturday event is free and open to the public. We will provide light food and beverage to all attendees to celebrate the National History Day in Missouri program! Not able to attend? You can still support the program by donating to https://shsmo.org/donate/nhdmo

The Weatherbird Turns 125! Cake-Cutting at the Field House Museum
2026-02-07 14:00 - 16:00 | Field House Museum, 634 S Broadway, Saint Louis, MO, 63102, United States
Join us at the Field House Museum to celebrate a true St. Louis original—the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Weatherbird—as it turns 125!
Stop by for a free slice of birthday cake during this community cake-cutting celebration honoring the beloved cartoon character that has been commenting on the weather (and life in St. Louis) since 1900.
While you’re here, explore the special exhibition Behind the Feathers: A Century of Weatherbird History, and discover how the Weatherbird has evolved into one of the longest-running editorial cartoons in the world.
🎂 Free and open to the public
📅 Saturday, February 7 | 2–4 p.m.
📍 Field House Museum
Cake available while supplies last.

Stories of Resilience – An Asian American Legacy
2026-02-10 18:00 - 20:00 | Browning Hall Auditorium, 8274 Big Bend Blvd., St. Louis
Stories of Resilience – An Asian American Legacy is a companion to the national traveling exhibit, Resilience—A Sansei Sense of Legacy, sponsored by the St. Louis Japanese American Citizens League at the STL Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum. As part of their year-long storytelling festival funded by the Missouri Humanities, Cambio Center is supporting this event on February 10th, 2026, 6 pm. Through Stories of Resilience and its accompanying workshops, the organizers aim to develop greater access and interactions between storytelling experts and Asian American residents, as well as between Asian American stories and others. Come hear stories of resilience at Webster University, Browning Hall auditorium, 8274 Big Bend Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63119.

Lecture,"Missouri in 1861: The Rise and Fall of John and Jessie Fremont
2026-02-10 18:30 - 19:30 | The Orris theater, 265 Merchant Street, Ste. Genevieve, 63670
Gregory Wolk, author of a new work of nonfiction published by the Missouri Historical Society Press, describes the eventful 100 days in 1861 that western explorer John C. Fremont commanded the Western Department of the US Army from headquarters in St. Louis. An in-depth discussion of important military campaigns of the period is coupled with political intrigue when Fremont’s wife – the daughter of Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton – joins her husband’s fight against the powerful Francis Blair family of Washington and St. Louis in order to advance the cause of emancipation. In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln resists the call for emancipation, fearing that Missouri and Kentucky may join the Confederacy.

Unseen St. Louis
2026-02-11 18:00 - 19:00 | Ste Genevieve Museum Learning Center, 360 Market St, Ste. Genevieve, 63670
When historians visit the archive, they often find weird, surprising, and fun material that they rarely get to share with others…but that ends here! This event shares the stories of a selection of images and objects from various St. Louis archives that reveal an unknown side of St. Louis history. The presentation is fun, upbeat, and conversational spanning from the nineteenth century to today, from newspapers and magazines to photography and phonograph records.

Sweet Obsessions: Chocolate and candy history in Missouri
2026-02-12 12:00 - 13:00 | First Capital Lions Club Building, 520 N Benton, St. Charles, 63301
An overview of candy history and the celebrated confectioners who made created and sold candy in Missouri.

Civil Rights Night: The Impact of Racial Laws from Jim Crow to the Holocaust
2026-02-12 18:00 - 19:00 | St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum, 36 Millstone Campus Drive, St. Louis, 63146
Join the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum for Civil Rights Night: The Impact of Racial Laws from Jim Crow and the Holocaust featuring historian Dr. Dan J. Puckett, Professor of History at Troy University and Chair of the Alabama Holocaust Commission. Dr. Puckett will explore racial laws in both American history and the Holocaust. He will be joined in conversation by Reverend Rodrick Burton, President at St. Louis Airport Interfaith Chaplaincy and member of the Museum’s Board of Directors.
This event offers a thought-provoking look at how the histories of racial oppression in the American history and Nazi genocide relate, inviting reflection on civil rights, justice, and historical memory.

The Courtship of Ulysses and Julia Grant
2026-02-14 10:00 - 23:00 | Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site, 7400 Grant Rd, St. Louis, MO, 63123, United States
Come learn about the love story of Ulysses and Julia on February 14th. Park Guide Sky Castilleja will present and discuss their courtship and young relationship.
The program is free. Call 314-842-1867 ext. 230 for reservations.

Missouri in the Revolution
2026-02-17 18:00 - 20:00 | Missouri State Archives, 600 W. Main St., Jefferson City, 65101
National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, NSDAR, the American Battlefield Trust, the Jane Randolph Jefferson Chapter, NSDAR, The Missouri State Archives, the Christopher Casey Chapter, SAR, and the Cole County America 250th Committee have partnered to bring a free, nationwide traveling exhibition, “The American Revolution Experience,” to Jefferson City from February 17 – March 5. Members of the Cole County America 250th Committee and the Christopher Casey Chapter, SAR, will present a program on George Rogers Clark and the Missouri in the Revolution to kick things off.

History Talk: Analyzing Historic Photographs
2026-02-28 10:00 - 11:00 | Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site, 7400 Grant Rd, St. Louis, MO, 63123, United States
What are the differences between a daguerreotype, an ambrotype, and a tintype? Park Historian and Curator Nick Sacco will explore a variety of historic photos from both the
park’s collection and his own. He will explain the technology of photography and how it evolved during the19th century and how photographic technology combined with the
subject can help historians to date the image. Visitors are encouraged to bring a historic photo of their own to include in the discussion.
The program is free. Call 314-842-1867 ext. 230 for reservations

Speaker Series: Missouri Slave Stampedes and the Underground Railroad
2026-02-28 13:00 - 14:00 | Field House Museum, 634 S Broadway, Saint Louis, MO, 63102, United States
In the decades before the Civil War, Missouri’s unique position as a slave state bordering free states made it a flashpoint for escape attempts. Join us on Saturday, February 28, 2026, at 1:00 pm when Dr. Charles Hotle explores the dramatic “slave stampedes,” large, coordinated efforts by enslaved people to flee across the Mississippi River into Illinois or north into Iowa. While some succeeded, many were thwarted, leaving behind court records and testimony that now offer rare insights into the lives, strategies, and networks of freedom seekers. This program examines what these stampedes reveal about the realities of slavery in Missouri, the workings of the Underground Railroad, and how exaggerated reports of such escapes fueled rising sectional tensions.
This program is free with limited availability in person and on Zoom. Reservations must be made in advance on our website, by calling the Museum at 314-421-4689, or by emailing info@fieldhousemuseum.org.
