ST. LOUIS – It is believed that when we can see and touch something tangible, we can better understand and appreciate history. The Missouri History Museum has more than 175,000 unique artifacts in its collection.

Their program Tuesday is called The Collecting Process: the African-American History Initiative at the Missouri Historical Society. There, you will learn about all that goes into their process of getting artifacts to display to you all.

Gwen Moore, the curator of Urban Landscape and Community Identity, will talk specifically about the collecting process as it relates to the African-American History Initiative. You might even have something at home to contribute that you’ve never thought twice about.

Moore has been collecting artifacts for years and will be able to speak about all that she’s discovered from Missourians with pieces of history in their homes.

“They meet in their kitchen to talk about this item coming from the Masons from my great-great-grandmother, or this is the diploma from the graduate at this specific school,” Public historian Cicely Hunter explained. “She’s the one who is meeting with these families and digging deeper about these specific stories. – throw anything away.”

This is a presentation and question-and-answer session, and it gets started later Tuesday morning at 11:00 a.m.