The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

State Historical Society of Missouri

University of Missouri-Columbia; 1020 Lowry Street
Columbia, Missouri 65201

Phone: 573- 882-1187

Repository URL: http://shs.umsystem.edu/oralhistory/index.html

Repository code: mohi

Repository description (CRHP): This repository contains a wealth of collections related to African American history (see list at http://whmc.umsystem.edu/tl-afam.html, also attached as an upload). These include a number of oral history projects, such as the Bootheel Project and the Politics in Missouri project.

Researchers should consult the list of current projects sponsored by the society: http://shs.umsystem.edu/oralhistory/projects/index.html. These include oral history projects with veterans that have not been included in CRHP database records.

Repository description (extant): The Oral History Program of the State Historical Society of Missouri is a joint collection with the University of Missouri's Western Historical Manuscript Collection. Since 1993, The State Historical Society has had a full-time oral historian recording and transcribing hundreds of oral history interviews that preserve Missouri's history, culture, and heritage.

The first project of the oral history program focused on artists from Missouri's Bootheel region. The project, a collaboration with the University of Missouri Folk Arts Program and Museum of Art and Archaeology, was supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Missouri Arts Council. Researchers collected oral history interviews and other recordings, which resulted in Art and Heritage of the Missouri Bootheel: A Resource Guide (pdf, 8mb).

With over 3,000 interviews, the oral history program continues to actively produce and collect oral history interviews that represent Missouri's culture and history. However, researchers will find our oral history collection reaches well beyond the Show-Me State's borders.

Repository Notes (CRHP): Until January 2011, this repository was also known as University of Missouri--Columbia, Western Historical Manuscript Collection. URLs may change as consolidation continues.

A description of photos related to African American history in Missouri is available at http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/africanamerican/guide/photo.asp

See also related SHSM collections at University of Missouri campuses in Rolla, Kansas City, and St. Louis.

Repository type: State Historical Society

Collections:

Bootheel project, records
Politics in Missouri oral history project, records
Dale, E.L. (1890-1969), interview
Rogers, Harrison Lang, interview
Fannie Marie Tolson papers