Celebrate Native American Heritage Month this November by visiting Ellis Library to view learn about Indigenous activism, music, fashion, history, gender, memoirs, histories of removal and government action through two displays. The displays highlight books/e-books from the library collections located in the colonnade on the first floor and books published by the University Press on second floor. Included are Special Collections and Archives online exhibits that feature histories of Inshta Theamba, Francis La Flesche and Ohiye S'a and Kiowa art. Librarians also have compiled research guides with resources about Indigenous and Native American studies, music and art. Mizzou's Four Directions generously provided a list of book recommendations and resources (podcasts, blogs, articles, etc.) to the library for last year's celebration.
Woven Memories brings together the work of three University of Missouri students who use art as a vehicle for exploring their identities and personal narratives. United by a shared focus on fiber arts, these graduate and undergraduate students from the School of Visual Studies push the boundaries of their medium by combining textile techniques such as pulp painting, weaving, and crochet with other artistic processes. Each student featured in the display highlights an element from their familial past and heritage, bringing it to life through their synthesis of various mediums.
This display accompanies the exhibition Parting Gifts, currently on view at the Museum of Art and Archaeology, and is a product of a collaborative effort between the museum and MU’s School of Visual Studies. Thanks are due to Ellis Library’s Community Engagement Program for providing this space and for supporting student work
The Sandi and Barry Garron Campaign collection represents a lifetime of collecting by 1971 University of Missouri Political Science and Journalism alumnus Barry Garron. Garron is the former president of the Television Critics Association and is a longtime reporter and television critic for the Kansas City Star, The Hollywood Reporter and numerous other publications. He is also a prolific collector of presidential campaign buttons, something he has done for most of his life. In 2021, he donated the entire collection to the Truman School of Government and Public Affairs.
The collection spans the presidential election of 1896, the first with campaign buttons, through the 1996 presidential election, with some buttons from more recent elections. Garron said that he felt like a century’s worth of buttons was a good goal and he has certainly accomplished it. The collection includes buttons for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees, as well as third party candidates. The buttons both promote and oppose the candidates. Looking at the collection is a colorful, dynamic and fascinating way to learn about the political history of the 20th century in the United States.
The LGBTQ Resource Center and the MU Libraries celebrate LGBT History Month with a traveling exhibit from the Stonewall National Museum Archives & Library. The exhibit, Standing On The Shoulders Of Heroes: Stonewall National Museum & Archives Photography, showcases 15 LGBTQIA+ people who have made historic impacts and contributions in recent years.
Stonewall National Museum, Archives, & Library is a safe, welcoming place that inspires and promotes understanding through collecting, preserving, and sharing the proud culture of LGBTQIA+ people of all stories, and their significant role in American society. https://stonewall-museum.org/mission/
November is National American Indian Heritage Month and the University of Missouri Press joins in paying tribute to the rich ancestry and traditions of Native Americans with some of our recently published and backlist books, which are featured on one side of Ellis Library’s 2nd floor display case. These titles include historian Greg Olson’s newest book, Indigenous Missourians: Ancient Societies to the Present and Paul Hillmer and Ryan Bean’s Inappropriation: The Contested Legacy of Y-Indian Guides, in addition to several backlist titles on different indigenous groups and archaeology in Missouri. 
On the other side of the display case, we feature books by University of Missouri faculty. From the history of civil rights in Missouri, to the culture of fiddle music in the state, to a fictional journey through a 19th-century United States, these titles demonstrate the breadth and depth of current and former University of Missouri faculty interests. Some of these titles include O America: Discovery in a New Land, a historical novel by William Least Heat-Moon, volumes I and II of A Fire Bell in the Past: The Missouri Crisis at 200 coedited by history professor and Kinder Institute chair, Jeff Pasley, and the three-volume history of fiddling in Missouri by professor emeritus, Howard Marshall.
In 1972, the University of Missouri Library was named after the thirteenth president of the University of Missouri, Elmer Ellis (1901-1989). Dr. Ellis joined MU's History Department faculty in 1930. He was Dean of Arts and Science when he was tapped as Acting President in 1954; his appointment was made permanent in 1955. Under his leadership the University became a four-campus institution and the main campus in Columbia officially became known as the University of Missouri-Columbia. Ellis became president of the administrative arm of this new organization, named the University of Missouri System, from 1963 until his retirement in 1966.
