As I peruse the topics of this spring issue of the Missouri History Museum’s online magazine, I hear a multitude of voices, telling me some stories that are beyond my own experience and other tales that are already a part of me.

I am pleased to have two of my own experiences included here. One recalls a chance meeting in our Seeking St. Louis gallery, where I learned from a visitor a story invoked by artifacts from the Scullin Steel Company, which introduces our "Workers" section. Scullin Steel closed down before I ever came to St. Louis, but now I have a memory of working there, thanks to the woman who shared a family narrative with me.

The other is my interview with former St. Louis mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. I have known Mr. Bosley well and for a long time, yet as he spoke of his years in city politics I became acquainted with other facets of this interesting and dedicated St. Louisan, as will you when you read excerpts from the interview.

We have the voice of Clem Wilding, a folk artist who spoke in the medium of wood and paint, and, in the words of his daughter, captured the essence of art and nature.

A young patriot who entered the army in time for the first World War recorded his wartime career with a camera when such a memory device was not so widely used. We hear Joseph Broz’s voice through these 1917 photographs in a scrapbook from our Photographs and Prints Collection.

Wood carving and picture albums communicate in venerable ways, which the Missouri History Museum honors and preserves, but we are also committed to making our resources available to an ever-wider community with the most modern technology we can achieve. Our participation in the online service Flickr provides not only information but also an opportunity to develop a social network and a means of ongoing conversation. We enlisted a knowledgeable staff member, Angie Dietz, to discuss this valuable community tool. Another staff member, Alex Detrick, talks about our experience with journalism students, those young people who are becoming the voices of the future.

It takes a thousand voices to tell a single story—so goes an old proverb sometimes credited to the Nez Perce chief Joseph. Here in this issue of Voices you will hear some of those voices telling our diverse yet interconnected story.

Robert R. Archibald, Ph.D.
President, Missouri History Museum