For more than 150 years, St. Louisans have entrusted the Missouri Historical Society with countless objects—photographs, diaries, home movies, clothing, books—items that future generations can turn to in order to help make sense of the past. Some of these pieces mark defining moments in our region’s history, such as Missouri’s pivotal role in a heated national debate over slavery or the transatlantic flight that changed aviation. Others reflect everyday life, from what we wore and ate to how we worked and played.

Collected is St. Louis’s history brought to life, one map, toy, T-shirt, and painting at a time. Opening March 29, 2025.

Something New to Discover, All the Time

Collected also features a rotating gallery that explores a different theme or part of the collection every year, so visitors will always have something new to see.

The first rotating gallery in Collected will draw from an archive of over 2,000 pieces of clothing worn by children throughout different decades in the 1900s: The Life of Kids’ Clothes. This special exhibit will share stories of St. Louis children that speak to childhood experiences we can all relate to.

A New Way to Experience the Missouri Historical Society Collections

Our newly launched Curated Collections site lets you take an exploratory approach to discovering objects in our digitized collections. In contrast to searching for a specific item on our Online Collections Search, our Curated Collections let you explore compilations of 10–20 items all united under a particular theme, with a new featured curated collection each month. It’s the perfect online companion to Collected!

Audio Description

Audio description of images featured in this exhibit is available for visitors to play on their own devices.