At the first Summer Meeting of the Association, September 1-2, 1916, one of the papers was on a historical topic by Professor David Eugene Smith, Columbia University. In the report on this meeting in the October 1916 Monthly is the statement, “The paper by Professor Smith aroused keen enthusiasm and brought out many expressions of appreciation both at the time and later at the dinner in the evening. Historical topics in connection with mathematics have already won a favorable place in the estimation of members of the Association as desirable program material.” Beginning with the 2006 Missouri Section meeting, I hope “keen enthusiasm” for the history of our section can be stirred up, and this presentation will attempt to provide some motivation in that direction.