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TheMissouri Historical Society was founded inSt. Louis on August 11, 1866.[1] Founding members created the historical society "for the purpose of saving from oblivion the early history of the city and state".[2][3]
The Missouri Historical Society operates theMissouri 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.
The Library and Research Center[4] 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 is required for other collections. Among its unique collections are the 301freedom 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 theslaves' petitions for freedom under state law before theAmerican Civil War.[5]
The research library is housed in a historic 1927Byzantine revival synagogue building erected by theUnited Hebrew Congregation on Skinker Boulevard. (The congregation has moved to Chesterfield where it erected a new building.)
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.
In 1952, the Missouri Historical Society was involved in efforts to lobby the U.S. government to createcommemorative coins for the 150th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase.[6]
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