Columbia Public History

Photo Credit: The Savitar Supplement 1970, 2. Photo courtesy of The University of Missouri Digital Collections.

The University of Missouri, like many college campuses, has often been a site of student unrest and protest. As a major university in a former slave state that had allied with the Union, it became a place where the forces of integration and segregation clashed. Like many institutions of higher education, it also struggled between acting as an enforcer of social norms and as a space for social progress. Throughout the 20th century, students agitated against segregation, the Vietnam War, and homophobia. Whether this clash took place on the sidewalks or in the courtrooms, students stood up against the university in order to call for change.

Photo Credit: The League of Women Voters Through the Decades” circa 1910 to 1920, place unknown, The National League of Women Voters History, The League of Women Voters: Media Library.

Women’s history in Columbia, Mo, reflected many of the changes and trends they experienced and participated in, which were indicative of larger national changes in transportation, consumption, and politics. This allowed for women to participate in society in new ways. In the context of the Progressive Era, we map the ways in which Midwestern women of Columbia, MO expanded their political power through consumption and grassroots activism networks.

Photo Credit: 1918 Savitar, University of Missouri

Throughout the second half of the 19th century and especially around the turn of the 20th century, the Columbia hospitality industry went through a strong shift from small taverns to large hotels. The hotels built between 1879 and 1902 represented a growing transient population in Columbia from the universities and expansion of transportation into mid-Missouri. By 1917, Columbia was firmly a part of the modern hospitality industry.

Photo Credit: Missouri University Archives

This digital exhibition explores how the Civil War affected the University of Missouri from its inception to the military occupation at the start of the war. The project sheds a light on the Columbia Tiger militia, and how it came to be the mascot of the university with the first football game. Tiger militia, and how it came to be the mascot of the university with the first football game.