George Spooner, a native of Austria, was an eyewitness to Kristallnacht - Night of Broken Glass that occurred on November 10, 1938. In the space of a few hours, thousands of synagogues, Jewish businesses and homes were damaged or destroyed. Kristallnacht was a pivotal moment in Holocaust history when 38,000 Jewish men were arrested in Germany and Austria and sent to concentration camps. Because of this event, German and Austrian Jews realized that it was time to get out of their respective countries if they were going to remain alive. Spooner's parents put him on a Kindertransport out of Austria to England where he lived with an English family. His mother and father also fled to England where both found work as domestics. All three lived in different homes for the time they were in England and then escaped by boat to the United States under darkness of night before the war ended.

Created as an elite unit of scouts and marksmen, the Western Sharpshooters Regiment was beset by trouble at its inception, but persevered to become one of the great units in the Federal Army. Mustered at St. Louis, volunteers from all the states of the Midwest had to pass an exacting marksmanship test to be allowed to enlist in the "crack regiment of the West". Beginning the war with romantic misconceptions, the men of the unit were faced with harsh reality, fighting in many of the key battles in the Western Theater. Acting as scouts and shock infantry, the Western Sharpshooters led Grant and Sherman's armies through Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia and the Carolinas, on a 3,000 mile march to victory. Military scholar Commander James Sullivan will discuss the Sharpshooters' evolution from "uniformed civilians" into elite veterans, and the unit's vital role in such key battles as Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Resaca, and Atlanta.

Launched in 1953 by Lee and Joyce Mace, a pair of young jig dancers, the Ozark Opry was innovative entertainment. It brought together talented local and regional musicians playing violin, banjo, guitar, bass, and other instruments with old-time country singing, square and jig dancing, and vaudeville comedy sketches. For over 50 years, the Ozark Opry played to sold-out audiences, six to ten shows a week in season, in a 1,000 seat auditorium near Bagnell Dam and the Lake of the Ozarks. This behind-the-scenes story of Lee and Joyce Mace's incredible venture by historian and former Opry performer Dan William Peek reawakens the foot tapping and fiddle scraping still clinging to the shores of the Lake of the Ozarks. Some of the most fascinating characters of the times - Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow, Roy Acuff, Chuck Foster, the Mabe Brothers, Albert Gannaway, Seymour Weiss, Scott O. Wright, Sarah Gertrude Knott and Cyrus Crane Willmore - interact with the Mace's along the way.

The 2012 Friends of the Missouri State Archives annual meeting will be held at the G2 Gallery located inside Jefferson City's historic Lohman Opera House. The business meeting will begin at 11:30 a.m., followed by a luncheon and a program by Stephen Fried, an award-winning journalist and author. Fried will be speaking about his new book, Appetite for America, which recreates the legendary life and entrepreneurial vision of Fred Harvey who helped shape American culture and history for three generations-from the 1880s all the way through World War II.

Harvey's eating houses and hotels along the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroad were patronized by princes, presidents, and countless ordinary travelers looking for the best cup of coffee in the country. Harvey's staff of carefully screened single young women-the celebrated Harvey Girls-were the country's first female workforce and became genuine Americana.

Come enjoy a Harvey-style meal for only $25 per person, payable at the door the day of the event or mailed to the Friends of the Missouri State Archives. Reservations for the annual meeting can be made by calling (573) 526-1981.