New home for State Historical Society's Cape Girardeau Research Center unveiled

Guests socialize and view displays during the State Historical Society of Missouri's open house unveiling its new Cape Girardeau Research Center on Tuesday, Aug. 27, at Kent Library on Southeast Missouri State University's campus is Cape Girardeau.

J.C. Reeves ~ jcreeves@semissourian.com

Eighteen months after moving from its original location in Pacific Hall, the State Historical Society of Missouri’s (SHSMO) Cape Girardeau Research Center has a new home on the third floor of Kent Library on Southeast Missouri State University's campus.

SHSMO held an open house Tuesday, Aug. 27, to welcome guests to the new space.

The research center had previously been housed in a temporary location and many of its records in storage after water damage and mold, caused by a faulty HVAC system flooding the ground floor, were discovered in its original location in Pacific Hall in December 2022 on SEMO's campus. None of the historical records were damaged, but relocation was necessary.

The new space, in the southwest corner of the library's third-floor computer lab, provides a larger space to house the records. According to research center coordinator Bill Eddleman, the new location was available because the amount of computers needed in the lab was reduced following the COVID-19 pandemic.

“They decided, (for) the space, to take it out of the computer lab. It’s not going to impact the students that much,” Eddleman said. “So the State Historical Society then paid for the renovation.”

The center holds more than 70 collections of private records, each donated by individuals, businesses, churches and other groups “all related to history.” The center’s largest collection is from the Oliver, Oliver and Waltz, P.C. law firm, with records that date back to the late 1800s.

“They pretty much saved almost everything they ever accumulated, which is kind of rare for back then. They were interested in a lot of different things,” Eddleman said. “For example, we've got a number of things that were originally in the County Historical Society that R.B. Oliver copied, because he was a major wheel behind the County Historical Society forming. We've got things they don't have, because some of their things got filched years ago, but there's lots of other things here, too. …

“There was a lot of stuff that really didn't, wasn't archivable. The example I always use is the one file that was an exchange over the quality of toilet paper that was being sold to the Olivers, and they were ticked about it. Well, OK, that’s not really worth saving. In one file, somebody went to a bar conference in Las Vegas and they saved everything, like the TV Guide and all the stuff related to their stay at the motel.”

Eddleman said people often think of “displays and museums” when they think about history, but made it clear that the center isn’t that.

“We deal with manuscripts, photographs, letters and all that sort of thing,” he said. “We're primarily oriented toward people doing historical research and genealogy, that sort of thing.”

The research center is accessible from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.