MISSOURI HUMANITIES COUNCIL ANNOUNCES 2005 GOVERNOR’S HUMANITIES BOOK AWARDS

Scott Kerr and R. H. Dick’s An American Art Colony: The Art and Artists of Sainte Genevieve, Missouri, 1930–1940 is a historical and pictorial journey through the eyes of colony painters. Their chosen subjects are not of the traditional bucolic landscape, instead they portray the human condition both in terms of political upheaval and that of depression era events. A comprehensive look at the colony and summer art school, its luminaries and students, and what they contributed to the town and larger community.

Wanting to work on a Missouri arts project, Dick states, “As we researched, we discovered there was something in Ste. Genevieve that was very powerful. The art colony here was one of the best in this country…maybe one of the best in the world.”

Each chapter has a biographical essay, full of stories about and from the artist, style critiques, and historical perspective. The authors hope this book “further encourages contemporary Missouri artists to be proud of the tradition they are working in, and illustrates that the citizens of the heartland can and should be the arbiters of their own cultural tastes.”

Juxtaposing a modern Missouri courtroom with historical flashbacks to the era of Mississippi River steamboaters of the 1850s and the Civil War in the 1860s, The Gold of Cape Girardeau weaves what author and Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle calls “sugar-coated” history into a story told with suspense and high drama.

Swingle’s novel (now in its third printing) has sold more than 6,000 copies, and along with his lectures and presentations has sparked renewed interest in Missouri and Cape Girardeau history.
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Through the eyes of a 16-year-old orphan the reader experiences being part of a steamboat crew based in Cape engaged in the St. Louis—New Orleans trade. As a young man he is thrust into the Civil War in Missouri, climaxing with the Battle of Cape Girardeau in April, 1863. “I wanted to write a book that is both a page-turner and a history lesson,” Swingle said. “It has everything from a love story to steamboating to the Civil War to dueling to Mark Twain.”

As Historic Site Administrator of Arrow Rock State Historic Site since 1995, Michael Dickey has contributed significantly to the preservation and interpretation of historic buildings landscapes in Arrow Rock, and to the exhibits and themes at the State Historical Site Visitors’ Center.

Arrow Rock: Crossroads of the Missouri Frontier is described as “a remarkable and fascinating narrative that tells the history of the diverse people who lived in the Arrow Rock area, and explains how they influenced nineteenth century Missouri’s society, politics, culture, and economy.”

Sources used by the author to document the important part American Indians and African Americans played in the history of Arrow Rock include artifacts and field notes of archaeological excavations, and manuscripts, interviews, and reports from research projects conducted by scholars and students of the University of Missouri at St. Louis and William Woods College, with financial assistance provided by the Missouri Humanities Council.

Georgia Warner Walter served as director of the A. T. Still Memorial Library, at the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, from 1969 until 1986. She spent the next six years writing her second book, The First School of Osteopathic Medicine, which was published for the Centennial Year of the College in 1992. This is the definitive history of the distinctly American form of medicine, founded in Missouri in 1892, by A. T. Still, MD, DO.

Missourians can be proud of the legacy this profession gives to the nation and the world. Today there are 20 medical schools in the U.S. (two in MO) based on the teachings of Dr. A. T. Still, and many more schools internationally. Walter’s detailed research and writing has preserved the rich history of the people involved in this new form of medicine during Missouri’s early years.

To learn more about the Governor’s Humanities Awards, this year’s honorees, or to nominate someone for the 2006 Public Involvement, Community Heritage, Excellence in Secondary Education, or Book Awards, please visit our website, http://www.mohumanities.org.

MHC is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities, a Federal agency.