Digital Exhibitions
These online exhibits have been created from photographs, art, and artifacts from Special Collections and the E. M. Violette Museum Collections. Some feature all or parts of a single collection while others bring together items from two or more collections to tell a story.
Beneath White Tents
This exhibition, consisting primarily of objects held by Truman State University’s Special Collections, tells the story of the traveling circus in its heyday, and how its legacy has impacted our collective memory.
Book of Hours
Explore our Book of Hours to interact with the manuscript, learn historical information, and read a transcription and translation of the book.
Cabinet of Curiosities
A cabinet of curiosities is a collection of objects that reflects the diversity of the natural and human world. View each item in our cabinet!
Children's Literature Festival
Discover the history of Truman’s yearly Children’s Literature Festival, where middle graders and their favorite authors have been meeting since 1983.
Chinese Export Porcelain
An online exhibit on Truman State University’s Special Collections Chinese export porcelain collection.
Cuneiform
Learn more about our collection of objects from ancient Mesopotamia which include baked and unbaked clay tablets, Palestinian oil lamps, a Babylonian cylinder seal, and a votive cone.
Cutting Across the Map
Truman is fortunate to be home to many fascinating tools and weapons from across the world. This interactive map illustrates their cultural significance.
History of the Horn Book
This early teaching tool fell into obscurity after the advent of the primer. Learn about the hornbook, its various uses, and the modern day references it has inspired.
Lincoln and the Dome
Learn about the creation and restoration of Allyn Cox’s cartoon (at Pickler Memorial Library) for a segment of “The Hall of Capitols” mural in the United States Capitol.
Rural Education Innovations in Adair County, Missouri
Explore the groundbreaking work of progressive educators, John R. Kirk and Marie Turner Harvey in rural Missouri education, 1870-1924.
Schwengel Lincoln Collection: a tribute to the Honorable Fred Schwengel, 1906-1993
This collection is one of the largest “special collections.” Learn more about donor Fred Schwengel, the Lincoln Foundation and Collection, and the Annual Lincoln Contest.
Secretary Alphonso Jackson Collection
Photographs, awards, and memorabilia acquired by alumni Secretary Jackson during his tenure as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 2004-2008.
The Big Fire
Information about the 1924 fire that destroyed Baldwin and Library Halls at Northeast Missouri State Teachers College, which is now Truman State University.
The Kirksville Cyclone
A centennial photo exhibit of the destruction wrought by Kirksville’s April 1899 tornado.
Victorian Domesticity
This exhibition tells about life for families in the 19th century. Explore day-to-day home life in Victorian America.
Welcome to 1890s Kirksville
A tour of the sites and introduction to the citizens of Kirksville at the end of the 19th Century.