Mid-Missouri residents have the chance to explore Missouri’s journey to statehood in a traveling exhibit that examines the conflict, crisis and compromise surrounding its admission into the Union for the next month.

A news release says the exhibit, “Struggle for Statehood” is on display at the State Historical Society of Missouri Center for Missouri Studies at 605 Elm Street in Columbia. It will be available through March 26. The Missouri Humanities Council and its partners developed the exhibit, which has been traveling across the state in commemoration of the bicentennial this year.

The exhibit explores the many facets of the Missouri crisis on both a national and local level. Learn about the history of Missouri leading up to its battle for admission and how that history shaped the future state. Visitors can examine what it means to be a state and how that meaning differed for the diverse groups of peoples living in Missouri at the time of its admission.

A digital exhibit tour of “Struggle for Statehood” also is available on the Missouri Humanities Council website: <https://mohumanities.wixsite.com/struggleforstatehood>.

In addition, the State Historical Society’s Art Gallery features a special bicentennial exhibit “Native Creatures: The Indigenous Mammals and Birds of Missouri” displaying images of animals that inhabited Missouri at the time the territory became a state in 1821.

Both exhibits will be on display at the Center for Missouri Studies during regular visitor hours from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays. Facial masks are required while visiting the State Historical Society during the pandemic. Free parking is available on-site using the entrance off Locust Street.

For more information on the Missouri Bicentennial, visit missouri2021.org <file:///C:/Users/pikebe/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/31GNJHO2/missouri2021.org>.