State Historical Society of Missouri

{| width="100%" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="5" class="FCK__ShowTableBorders" style="border-bottom: rgb(147,139,119) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(147,139,119) 1px solid; background: rgb(245,241,240) 0% 50%; border-top: rgb(147,139,119) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(147,139,119) 1px solid; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-size: auto auto"



Contact Information
E-mail: [mailto:shsofmo@umsystem.edu shsofmo@umsystem.edu]

Address:


 * State Historical Society of Missouri University of Missouri Ellis Library 1020 Lowry Street Columbia, Missouri, 65201-7298


 * With additional centers at Cape Gerardeau, Kansas City, Rolla, St. Louis, and Springfield.

Telephone: 573-882-1187 Fax:  573-884-4950

Hours and holidays: Tuesday-Friday 8:00-4:45 ; Saturday 8:00-3:30 ;  Missouri holidays

Map, parking, and public transportation:


 * Google map:  State Historical Society of Missouri at the University of Missouri Ellis Library
 * Parking:  is very limited: University Avenue Garage: metered parking on top level; Hitt Street Garage: metered parking on levels 4, 5, and 6; Limited campus parking map.
 * Public transportation:  The COMO Connect Transit bus routes Tiger Line routes, 1 Black, 2 Gold, and 10 Red each stop within a few blocks of the Ellis Library.

Internet sites and databases:


 * The State Historical Society of Missouri Columbia Research Center contact, hours, location, campus navigation and parking, group visits and tours, policies and procedures.
 * About SHSMO become a member, donate, events, exhibitions, research requests, and visitor information.
 * Merlin online catalog. Search by keyword, title, author, or journal title.

Collection Description
Good genealogy collection with historic Missouri manuscripts and reference books, collection of 460,000 books, 500,000 manuscripts, 150,000 archival records, 2,900 maps, databases, art, census, digital collections, newspapers, oral history, and photographs. This Society has research centers at Cape Gerardeau, Columbia, Kansas City, Rolla, St. Louis, and Springfield.

Guides

 * Genealogy Guides introduction, getting started, adoptions, African American, birth and death, census, land, marriage, military, and Native American.
 * Research Guides and Resources art, census, digital collections, ILL, manuscripts, maps, newspapers, oral history, photos, reference, research requests, rights and reproductions.

Tips

 * Visitor information locations, upon arrival, protocol.
 * Before your visit, please read the policies and procedures regarding use of SHSMO's facilities.

Alternate Repositories
If you cannot visit or find a source at the , a similar source may be available at one of the following.

Overlapping Collections


 * Mid-Continent Public Library Midwest Genealogy Center, Independence, a great American genealogy collection: censuses, MO federal land sales, penitentiary, St. Louis fur trade, Civil War, passenger lists, plantations, American Indians, city directories, newspapers, Draper Manuscripts, and KY taxes.
 * National Archives at Kansas City federal censuses 1790–1930; selected military service indexes, pension indexes, passenger lists, naturalizations, photos, adoptions, vital records, land, and Indian records.

Similar Collections


 * Missouri History Museum Library, St. Louis, has regional history sources, St. Louis, Missouri, the Mississippi and Missouri Valleys, the Louisiana Purchase, American West: indexes, guides, catalogs, photos, genealogy workshops. Many records of Missouri settlers from Illinois.
 * St. Louis County Library, a Missouri collection including the National Genealogical Society, and St. Louis Genealogical Society collections, online databases, federal censuses, births, deaths, cemeteries, church records, military records, naturalizations, newspapers, wills, African American records, yearbooks, and access to FHL microfilms.

Neighboring Collections


 * Boone County Health Department, Columbia, births since 1920, and deaths since 1980.
 * Boone County Clerk of the Circuit Court, Columbia, has marriage, death, probate, land, and court records from 1821.
 * Boone County Recorder of Deeds, Columbia, has marriage, and land records since 1821 and military discharges.
 * Boone County Medical Examiner, Columbia, suspicious deaths.
 * U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri, Jefferson City, recent federal civil, criminal, and bankruptcy court records.
 * Boone County Historical Society, Columbia, about, membership, museum, meet the author, concerts, hall of fame, contact, Maplewood House, Art Gallary, Village at Boone Junction, latest news.
 * Genealogical Society of Boone County and Central Missouri, Columbia, join, events, library, indexes, area deaths, GSCM Journal, bios, cemeteries, surnames, pioneers, and museum.
 * Daniel Boone Regional Library, Columbia, has Ancestry.com, Heritage Quest Online, key Internet links, guides, and how-to-find births, marriages, and deaths.
 * Columbia Missouri Family History Center has premium online services for free, can offer research suggestions, and can order genealogical microfilms from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
 * Missouri Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Jefferson City, birth, marriage, divorce, and death certificates.
 * Repositories in surrounding counties: Audrain, Callaway, Cole, Cooper, Howard, Moniteau, and Randolph.
 * Kansas City Public Library Missouri Valley Special Collections, The Missouri Valley Room has a great genealogy collection for Missouri and Kansas with biographies, periodicals, genealogies, diaries, photos, scrapbooks, and newspapers of the Kansas City area.
 * Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, has court, land, military, death records, federal censuses, county and municipal records, photos, penitentiary, and manuscript records. Birth and death record index since 1883 is online; birth records 1883-1895; marriages 1827-1937.
 * Missouri State Genealogical Association has donated their books the the Midwest Genealogy Center.
 * National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), St. Louis, federal government employee and military personnel records starting 1917.
 * St. Louis Mercantile Library, early newspapers, railroads, inland waterways, county records, biographies, and genealogies. A premier library for Missouri research.
 * St. Louis Public Library has an Obituary Index for the years 1880–1927; 1942–1945; 1992–2006, family histories, passenger lists, Heritage Quest, and Gateway Family Historian publication.
 * Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis Office of Archives and Records parish christenings, confirmations, marriages, and deaths.
 * Community of Christ Library and Archives, Independence, books, periodicals, letters, and diaries of the of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints/Community of Christ.
 * Concordia Historical Institute, St. Louis, Department of Archives and History of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
 * Episcopal Diocese of Missouri Archives, St. Louis, a library, extensive document and photograph collections, and parish registers.
 * Missouri United Methodist Archives, Fayette, historical materials on Methodism in Missouri emphasizing ministers.
 * Repositories in surrounding states: Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
 * Allen County Public Library, Ft. Wayne IN, has a premier genealogical periodical collection, genealogies, local histories, databases, military, censuses, directories, passenger lists, American Indians, African Americans, Canadians.
 * Dallas Public Central Library, outstanding genealogical collection with records for more than Texas, including Missouri, Oklahoma, the South, Mid-Atlantic, and New England states.
 * Newberry Library, a large Chicago repository with genealogies, local histories, censuses, military, land, indexes, vital records, court, and tax records mostly from the Mississippi Valley, eastern seaboard, Canada, and British Isles.