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The Missouri Historical Society was founded in St. Louis on August 11, 1866. Founding members created the historical society "for the purpose of saving from oblivion the early history of the city and state."
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Organization
The Missouri Historical Society operates the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis' Forest Park, as well as the Library and Research Center. Admission to the museum and library are free to the public. There is a fee for special museum exhibitions, but weekly free admission times are available.
Library and Research Center
The Library and Research Center houses a regional history collection documenting St. Louis, the Mississippi and Missouri Valleys, the Louisiana Purchase Territory, and the American West. The Library and Research Center collections include:
No appointment is needed to view the library and manuscript collections, but might be needed for other collections. Among its unique collections are the 301 freedom suits of the 19th-century St. Louis Circuit Court Records, the largest group of such case files in the country. These have been scanned into a searchable database that is online for researchers. They document the slaves' petitions for freedom under state law before the American Civil War.
The research library is housed in an historic 1927 Byzantine revival synagogue building erected by the United Hebrew Congregation on Skinker Boulevard. (The congregation has moved to Chesterfield where it erected a new building.)
Programming
The Missouri Historical Society offers programs and outreach services, including traveling exhibitions, tours, theatrical and musical presentations, programs for school classes and youth groups, family festivals, special events, workshops, and lectures.