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.
Mizzou employees from the MU Libraries, Museum of Anthropology and Museums of Art & Archaeology share their talents and hobbies in a summer art show! Thanks to the exhibitors: John Henry Adams, Janice Dysart, Tammy Green, Amanda J Staley Harrison, Starra Herron, Jill Kline, Haley Lykins, Susan McCormack and Nicole Merzweiler.
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 MU Libraries have a wonderful collection of photography books by artists all over the world. Select photography books are on display in shelves and exhibit cases in the colonnade area of the first floor of the Ellis Library.
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.
