Recent news and ongoing projects from the Adair County Historical Society & Museum, pulled from the Society’s own site and Facebook page as of September 30, 2026. See our companion post, Adair County Historical Society & Museum: a guide, for location, hours, and contact info.
The Society held a dedication ceremony for a new flagpole at the museum, 211 S. Elson St., at 1 p.m. on Labor Day, Sept. 7, 2026, according to a post on the Society’s Facebook page.
The Society launched an online catalog for its gift shop in August 2026, offering books, pamphlets, postcards, and its annual calendar for purchase.
The Society has been developing a Lincoln School Legacy Project, including a history booklet on Lincoln School, alongside a multi-part series on the school’s history that previously ran in its “Embracing Local History” newspaper column.
ACHS President Blytha Ellis writes “Embracing Local History,” a long-running column (218+ installments) in the Kirksville Daily Express profiling people, families, and places that shaped Adair County. Since its chapters on the Grim family’s German immigration story and Lincoln School’s history, the column has profiled gospel singer Doris Akers, early Kirksville figure Mose Jackson, immigrant Joseph Burdman, Kirksville police officer John Wesley Rose, and pioneer Philanda (Ledford) Bell, and is now covering longtime Adair County physician Dr. Abraham Peter Williard.
ACHS researcher Larry Evans writes “Turning the Page: This Week in Local History,” a weekly column revisiting historic local news from past decades, also published in the Kirksville Daily Express.
