Susan Croce Kelly, Managing Editor of OzarksWatch Magazine, a publication of the Ozarks Studies Institute, an ongoing initiative of the Missouri State University Libraries, has been awarded the History Award from the national DAR, the Daughters of the American Republic. The honor was conferred on her during this week’s regular meeting of the Rachel Donelson Chapter of the DAR. 

Ms. Kelly has had an amazing career. Three publications related to regional and national history deserve mention:

1. Route 66: The Highway and Its People (1988). The photographic essay was by Quinta Scott, and Susan Croce Kelly wrote the text. While the 1990 book about Route 66 by Michael Wallis receives more recognition as the book that revived interest in Route 66, the contemporaneous book by Quinta and Susan also revived and advanced interest in the study of Route 66. Susan’s text is well-researched and substantial – two columns of text spread over 120 pages in a coffee table sized book, before and after the actual photographic essay begins. 
   
   
2. Father of Route 66: The Story of Cy Avery (2014). While much of the published literature about Route 66 does not have much depth of research and historical context, Susan’s biography of Cy Avery is solid. Cyrus Avery generally is acknowledged as the Father of Route 66
   

3. Newspaperwoman of the Ozarks: The Life and Times of Lucile Morris Upton (2023) Another solid biography from Susan Croce Kelly. This time she focuses on an early woman news reporter and advocate for preservation of key historical sites in the Ozarks of Southwest Missouri. Because Croce and Upton were related, Susan has had access to family documents, photographs, and family knowledge that expand and enrich the narrative. Again, as with her two Route 66 books, she has taken a regional person or place and given it national historic context and significance.

Congratulations, Susan.