A new digital collection on the Missouri Secretary of State’s website focuses on the tornado that tore through Joplin on May 22, 2011, damaging and destroying nearly 7,500 residential structures as well as many businesses and leaving 161 people dead.
Whitney Hamm is archivist at Missouri Southern State University, which compiled the collection.
She said they started work several years ago when local resident, Jane Cage, reached out to them about starting a collection and offered some photographs she had taken.
"We also had the Joplin Globe — the local newspaper — donate materials, a lot of photographs from the time of the tornado as well as the Joplin school system," she said.
There are currently 162 photos available online, and Hamm said they have hundreds more that they’re working to add. She said they’ll welcome any that people are willing to share. There are also documents in their collection related to the tornado that they plan to add later.
Hamm hopes, by sharing to the Missouri Digital Heritage site, they’ll reach more people. And she hopes the collection helps those who lived through the tornado.
"It means a lot for people to be able to look back and to see it, and maybe it doesn't hurt as much as it used to, it probably still does for many people," she said, "but it's nice to be able to reflect on how far we've come from this tragic event."
Over the summer, Hamm taught a class where a few MSSU students helped go through the photographs, compile data and put them online. Students will also be involved in the future, she said, as they work to add to the collection.
You can find it at sos.mo.gov/mdh.
