Sherri Helm, Program and Education Committee Chair.

Program and Education Committee

“Ladies and Gentlemen . . . the Beatles!” With those words Ed Sullivan–America’s unofficial Minister of Culture–introduced us to the Fab Four on February 9, 1964. With just five catchy songs on Sullivan’s show that Sunday night, “the sixties” as an era began. During their 1964 US tour, the Beatles played an exhausting stretch of eight concerts a week, including Kansas City. On September 19, they were secretly flown to a ranch in Alton, Missouri, for a needed weekend of rest and relaxation.

Join Joel Rhodes, State Historical Society of Missouri (SHSMO) Executive Director, as he explores how southern Missouri experienced firsthand the dawn of a musical and cultural revolution.

Joel Rhodes joined SHSMO as executive director in 2025. Dr. Rhodes is also professor emeritus at Southeast Missouri State University where he taught history and public history for twenty-four years and served as associate dean. He earned his PhD and MA from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Rhodes has written seven books, including Growing Up in a Land Called Honalee: The Sixties in the Lives of American Children and A Missouri Railroad Pioneer: The Life of Louis Houck, published by the University of Missouri Press.