New Year’s Day January 1, 1934 Had a good time last night. Aunt Me and I went to the midnight show, ‘Convention City,’ at the Paramount…” This begins the 1934 diary of a Springfield teenager. Agnes Rita Walsh spends the next several months documenting her life – her plans, the people she knew, and…
Staff from the Missouri State University Libraries will be at PrideFest this upcoming Saturday representing the Ozarks Lesbian and Gay Archives (OLGA). This collection works to document the LGBTQ+ community in our region. Among the holdings are photographs, oral histories, records of organizations, and scrapbooks. Shown here are Tracie Gieselman France and Jeffrey Lawson as they practice putting up the new tent that will keep us out of the sun (and possibly the rain!). This tent and other outreach materials…
A recently completed collaborative project is “Our Food: Our Stories,” an oral history series containing sixteen interviews that seeks to preserve experiences of Ozarks farmers and the rich Ozarks agricultural heritage. Interviews have been collected from a diverse group of farmers across the region with particular emphasis on the stories of indigenous people, as well as immigrants, veterans, those who are underserved, the socially disadvantaged, individuals of color, as well as beginning and seasoned farmers. This project is a collaboration…
The Kentwood Series of talks and presentations about various facets of Ozarks history and life will continue on Thursday, July 11th, beginning at 7:00 p.m., when the renowned author, educator, and historian Steve Wiegenstein will speak. His talk will focus on utopian communities in Missouri, past and present. Nineteenth-century Missouri was home to several alternative communities, often termed “utopian communities” for their emphasis on social betterment and a different way of life. But although their neighbors sometimes considered these utopians…
Decades of dedication to documenting the Ozarks region led Gordon McCann to Columbia on May 19, where he was recognized as a Living Traditions Sustainer Fellow by the Missouri Folk Arts Program. The award, now in only its second year, honors individuals “and their deep-rooted contributions to traditional arts within their vibrant Missouri communities,” notes information on the MFAP’s website. Gordon McCann has long lived this reality. McCann, nearly 93, has spent much of his life working to…
Karen Durden, a Library Associate I in the Missouri State University Libraries, has completed MSU’s University Staff Ambassadors (USA) program as a valued member of the 2024 cohort. As Karen reflects on the experience: “Being part of the USA Program has been a wonderful experience. I have always been curious to understand what happens in other areas of the University and see behind the scenes. It has been good to meet staff from other areas and catch a glimpse of…
The Missouri State University Libraries joined academic colleges and university organizations on Saturday, April 6th for the Spring Showcase. The event, organized by the Office of Admissions, gave students an opportunity to meet faculty, tour campus, and learn more about the application process, financial aid, and scholarships. We enjoyed talking to participants and other academic colleges and departments about the different resources available in the Library. Special Collections and Archives were excited to share examples of primary resources, the Rare…
The Missouri State University Testing Center, located on the Lower Level of Duane G. Meyer Library and administered by the MSU Libraries, was very busy during Final Exam Week earlier this month. For the Spring 2024 Final Exam Week, the Testing Center administered 791 exams, including: 119 accommodated exams for DRC clients 87 remote exams, primarily through Zoom 450 computer-based exams 54 paper-based exams 25 comprehensive program exams 27 placement/entrance exams This is a slight increase over the SP23 finals…
One facet of MSU’s CAP (Continuous Agility Process) initiative focuses on Open Educational Resources (OER), and Tracy Stout, a library science faculty member of the Missouri State University Libraries, is providing local and statewide leadership on this initiative. The Academic Affairs CAP is a systematic, ongoing process that keeps academic affairs fresh, relevant and market-savvy. As part of a learning and growing organization, the process is designed to be continuous and agile. The April 30, 2024 CAP report to the MSU…
The spring issue of OzarksWatch Magazine will be back from the printer soon, ready for distribution to subscribers and sales to the general public. The theme of this issue is Ozarks Treasures. As Susan Croce Kelly notes in her managing editor’s overview, “Almost from the time that Hernando de Soto trekked across the southern Ozarks, there have been stories of treasures hidden in our Ozark hills, secreted in caves, or buried deep in the woods. All those stories of Spanish…