On Saturday, October 11, the Central Library is open to registered Heartland Book Festival attendees only. Regular services, such as hold pickups, public computers and phones, and public meeting rooms, will not be available.

No artist captured the people and landscape of early 20th-century Missouri more than native son Thomas Hart Benton. As a child growing up in southwest Missouri, and later as an adult, he hiked the Ozarks’ hills and valleys and floated its rivers. Benton’s travels throughout the region are reflected in many of his paintings and writings. He particularly captured the unique character and rustic lifestyle of Ozarks residents living in relative isolation in the 1930s.
Steve Sitton, administrator of the Thomas Hart Benton Home & Studio State Historic Site in Kansas City, Missouri, examines works inspired by Benton’s experiences in the Ozarks and highlights a 1971 Environmental Protection Agency film, A Man and a River. It focuses on one of Benton's many float trips on the Buffalo River in Arkansas.
Steve Sitton, administrator of the Thomas Hart Benton Home & Studio State Historic Site in Kansas City, Missouri, examines works inspired by Benton’s experiences in the Ozarks and highlights a 1971 Environmental Protection Agency film, A Man and a River. It focuses on one of Benton's many float trips on the Buffalo River in Arkansas.
Upcoming in this series:
Enfys McMurry
'Disaster at 39,000 Feet: How ...
Sunday, October 26, 2025
2:00pm
On May 22, 1962, a routine flight from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport to Kansas City turned tragic after radar contact was suddenly lost. Eight crew members and 37 passeng...
Watch or Listen to Past Events in this Series:
Sunday, October 17, 2010
4:00pm
Bill Stancil presents Rockhurst University: The First 100 Years, a lecture supplemented with numerous historical photos, on Sunday, October 17, at 2 p.m. at the Cen...