The State Historical Society of Missouri

Renowned quilt historian and designer Bettina Havig will discuss the art and cultural traditions of quilting in Missouri on Saturday, March 14, at 1:00 p.m. in The State Historical Society of Missouri’s Conference Room.  Havig, director of the Missouri Heritage Quilting Project, which documented quilts made in the state before the 20th century, will focus on quilts selected for inclusion in the project’s book and traveling exhibit, “Missouri Heritage Quilts.”

Havig has been quilting since 1970 and teaching the craft since 1974; she owned a quilt shop in Columbia from 1977 to 1983.  A prolific writer, she has penned five books on the topic and many articles for quilting magazines.  Her quilts have been exhibited in many national invitational quilt shows, and she has presented programs at the Quilters’ Heritage Celebration, Quilt America, the American Quilters Society Annual Show, the National Quilt Festival, and Quilts Across America.  She has taught for guilds throughout the United States as well as in Europe.  An active member of the American Quilt Study Group, she has served as president of their board of directors.  She is the founding chair of the Missouri State Quilters’ Guild.  For more information about Bettina Havig, visit her Web site at http://www.bettinahavig.com/.

“Missouri Heritage Quilts” is free and open to the public, and attendees are invited to bring one or two quilts to the workshop for review and discussion.  Those planning to bring quilts should call the Society at (573) 882-7083 before March 1 to reserve space.  The State Historical Society of Missouri is located in Ellis Library at the intersection of Hitt Street and Lowry Mall on the University of Missouri campus, with parking available in three nearby garages.

The political, social, and geographic history of Missouri will be displayed on February 25 as The State Historical Society of Missouri and Western Historical Manuscript Collection host Map Day in Missouri from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Third Floor Rotunda at the State Capitol in Jefferson City.  More than 15 maps visually detailing Missouri’s history will be on exhibit, including a Civil War Battle of Springfield map and one of the earliest maps devoted solely to the state after it joined the Union.

            Map Day in Missouri is a special occasion for legislators to view a sample of the state’s cartographic history while offering constituents the chance to discuss with lawmakers the caretaking of that history.  Representative Chris Kelly, District 24, will introduce a resolution in the House to open the exhibit and proclaim February 25, 2009, as “Map Day in Missouri” to create this opportunity for conversation and observance. 

State Historical Society trustees, members, and staff will be available to discuss the maps in the exhibit and explain the Society’s work promoting greater understanding and appreciation of our cultural heritage.  Preserved documents and artworks are not just for scholars and historians; they are resources to be used and enjoyed by schoolchildren, genealogists, private citizens, and public servants—all those with an interest in our shared past. 

Map Day in Missouri is free and open to the public.

Renowned Kansas City artist Thomas Hart Benton produced drawings that ranged from detailed nature studies to spontaneous gestural sketches.

Joan Stack leads an illustrated presentation that examines the drawings of Thomas Hart Benton on Sunday, February 15, at 2 p.m. at the Kansas City Public Library Central Library, 14 W. 10th St. Stack will discuss Benton’s diverse approaches to drawing, with particular emphasis on the study of an oak tree depicted in the painting Persephone and in an illustration for Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Joan Stack is curator of Art Collections at the State Historical Society of Missouri, home of one of the most extensive public collections of Thomas Hart Benton artwork.

This presentation is part of the Missouri Valley Speakers Series, a program of the Missouri Valley Special Collections at the Central Library. The series is made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

More information is available at the Kansas City Public Library Web site

April 15-17, 2009

Hosted by Missouri State University Department of History

http://shs.umsystem.edu/mch

Join The State Historical Society of Missouri and Missouri State University Department of History in Springfield for the  51^st Annual Missouri Conference on History.  The conference will be held at the University Plaza Hotel & Convention Center located in Jordan Valley Park, close to the Springfield Expo Center, Hammons Field AAA baseball stadium, and other area attractions.

More than forty researched presentations will be given by historians on topics such as World War I, women’s inclusion in the armed forces, modern Germany, medical history, the University of Missouri, and early modern Europe.  Twenty-seven different colleges and universities, including twelve in Missouri, are represented on the program, as well as eight historical agencies and three K-12 schools.

Two speakers will be featured at the 2009 conference.  Virginia Laas of Missouri Southern State University will give the luncheon address “A Place on the Firing Line or in the Petticoat Brigade: Emily Newell Blair’s Search for Women’s Voice and Power in Politics.”  The banquet keynote will be made by Kerby Miller, University of Missouri, titled “’Irish’ and ‘Scotch-Irish’ in Ireland and America: Only ‘Two Traditions’?”

Teachers, preservationists, public history professionals, and all those who are interested in history are invited to exchange ideas and promote the study of the past. 

For more information contact Laura Wilson at (573) 884-7904 or wilsonlo@umsystem.edu

The vibrant colors and intriguing perspectives of nationally known watercolorist Keith Crown will be on display in the Main Gallery of The State Historical Society of Missouri beginning on February 6, 2009, in Keith Crown: A Retrospective.  Members and guests are invited to view the exhibit, which features works from the Society’s collection, the artist’s personal holdings, and private collectors, in celebration of Crown’s 90th birthday.

                A Retrospective showcases the art of a man who has called Columbia home for 25 years in works of oil, watercolor, and painted ceramics.  After earning degrees from the Art Institute of Chicago and serving in World War II, Crown taught art at the University of Southern California for 37 years, served as president of the National Watercolor Society, and helped found the Los Angeles chapter of Artist’s Equity.  He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Watercolor USA Honor Society in 2003.  Crown’s work hangs in museums and art centers across the country.  He has been the subject of a biography, Keith Crown Watercolors, by Sheldon Reich, and his paintings and influences have been discussed by many authors during his career.

                “Like the American landscape painters John Marin and Charles Burchfield,” Crown said, “I try to make visible the invisible elements of nature: various wind, moisture, temperature, odors and sounds that are specific to a particular place at a particular time.”

Keith Crown: A Retrospective will be on display through June 6, 2009.

The early history of the United States space program will be examined by author Tahir Rahman during his program “Reaching for the Moon: How the Gemini Project Culminated in Apollo 11” on Saturday, February 21, 2009, at 2:00 p.m. in The State Historical Society of Missouri Conference Room.  Rahman will discuss the aspects of Project Gemini that made possible the Apollo missions and fulfilling President John F. Kennedy’s goal of “landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth,” as well as his book, We Came in Peace for All Mankind: The Untold Story of the Apollo 11 Silicon Disc.

            Tahir Rahman is a Johns Hopkins University-trained psychiatrist who practices in Leawood, Kansas, but who has always maintained an interest in space history.  Although he had previously studied many artifacts and documents related to the space program, it was his access to the Apollo 11 silicon disc that inspired him to write We Came in Peace for All Mankind.  The disc, containing messages of peace and hope from world leaders, was left on the moon by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the first men to walk on the moon’s surface.

            “Reaching for the Moon” is free and open to the public and is presented in conjunction with The St. Louis Gemini Story, an exhibit containing photos, documents, and editorial cartoons related to NASA’s Gemini program currently on display in the Society’s North-South Corridor Gallery. The State Historical Society of Missouri is located in Ellis Library at the intersection of Hitt Street and Lowry Mall on the University of Missouri campus, with parking available in three nearby garages.