I was very excited to begin my internship at the Missouri History Museum in last August. Although my position as a K–12 Educational Interpreter Intern has been quite rewarding, it comes with its share of challenges. As a graduate student I was no stranger to overcoming obstacles, but MHM would provide me with my biggest challenge yet: I was given the opportunity to create the educational component for the exhibit, Question Bridge: Black Males (open through June 16). Schools from all over the St. Read more »

This week, a year’s worth of work by five teenagers, members of the Museum’s Teens Make History program, concluded with the opening of the exhibition Between Two Worlds: Veterans Journey Home. These young people, in partnership with Museum staff, have taken the exhibit from proposal to installation. Between Two Worlds examines the experience of veterans, from WWI to the current conflict in Afghanistan, as they deal with separation from home, struggle to maintain communication with loved ones, and ultimately transition back into civilian life. Read more »

When artist and art therapist Gussie Klorer bought a neighborhood guardhouse in Clayton, she found more than a place for a studio, she found fascinating and troubling stories about her community’s past. She also found inspiration for her latest art project, which will be featured in the Missouri History Museum’s Library and Research Center beginning today, April 5. Read more »

The memorials are easy to miss. A group of stuffed animals, maybe some photos, a cross draped with flowers—roadside tributes have become a ubiquitous feature of the American landscape. But when you stop and look more closely, you find that these monuments are telling stories: stories of loss but also of life.

Image at left: Lois Ingrum, creator of the "Doll Project." Read more »

Olympic Games are judged just as much as their events and athletes, and few Games have been as harshly criticized as those held in St. Louis in 1904.

The most accurate assessment of the St. Louis Games is likely that they were neither the overwhelming success that the organizers and local press made them out to be at the time nor the embarrassing failure that is most often portrayed today.

Left: American Martin Sheridan set a new Olympic record in discus. Photograph by Jessie Tarbox Beals, 1904. Missouri History Museum.

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No event better represents both the similarities and differences between the 1904 Olymic Games and those currently being held in London than the marathon.

In St. Louis, the race began at what is now known as Francis Field on the Washington University campus and was then run over county roads. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote that “the course resembles the road from Marathon to Athens in that the hills are about the same height as those in Greece.” Read more »

The Underneath It All exhibit (currently open at the Missouri History Museum) is a visually stunning display of fashionable silhouettes from 19th century and beyond. Much work was done behind the scenes before the exhibit opened, and Missouri History Museum intern Bobby Watson photographed and documented the installation. His images and observations are below.
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Looking at photos from the 1904 Olympics it’s not difficult to spot the differences from the Games currently being held in London. Many of the competitors are wearing jerseys promoting their city’s athletic club rather than the United States of America. The athletes often appear to be competing in front of only a handful of spectators. And some of them are running in street clothes.

But look closer and you can see what connects these two Olympic Games spread so many miles and years apart. Read more »

The 2012 Olympics opens today with a ceremony featuring thousands of performers, created by the director of Slumdog Millionaire, and expected to draw a worldwide television audience of 1 billion. It will be the first and maybe biggest example of how different the 2012 Games will be from those held in St. Louis in 1904. Read more »

St. Louis holds a unique and important place in Olympic history as the first American city to host the modern games. Earning the title, however, was not a victory easily won. Read more »