A Life Dedicated to Region
Dr. Frank Nickell dedicated his career to preserving, and sharing the history of Southeast Missouri.
The Nickell Regional Heritage Archive is a new initiative of The Kellerman Foundation. The goal of this project is to digitally archive the 50-plus year collection of Dr. Frank Nickell. It will provide an opportunity for the public to discover stories on a wide variety of local and regional personalities, families, traditions, values and mores of our collective history.
Dr. Nickell has spent his life collecting and gathering stories about the local and regional history of Southeast Missouri and the Mid-Mississippi Valley Region. His collection, as it is now, fills twenty, four-drawer file cabinets, many boxes and takes up two storage units (approximately 10 x 25 ft. each). The intent of The Kellerman Foundation is to document, archive, digitize and distribute these stories for future generations.
Please join us in our efforts to preserve this important collection by clicking the Donate button now. More about the Nickell Regional Archive (NRHA)…
Dr. Franklin Delano Nickell arrived at Southeast Missouri State University in 1969 and began what would become a remarkable career as an educator, historian, author, researcher, preservationist, and storyteller. Although initially hired for a one-year appointment, Nickell would remain at Southeast for more than 40 years, influencing generations of students and helping establish the University as an important center for the study and preservation of regional history.
Born December 7, 1935, and raised on a farm near Atwood, Illinois, Nickell earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Eastern Illinois University before completing his Ph.D. in American History at the University of New Mexico in 1969. That same year, he joined the faculty at Southeast Missouri State University.
Preserving the History of a Region
Nickell’s work extended far beyond the classroom.
In 1990, he became director of Southeast Missouri State University’s Center for Regional History, a position he would hold for more than two decades. Through the Center, Nickell helped document the people, communities, events, traditions, and institutions that shaped Southeast Missouri. He conducted oral histories, collected historical materials, supported preservation projects, and edited and published approximately 25 books about Missouri and regional history.
A commitment to history.
Nickell understood that history should not simply be stored away. It should be shared.
Dr. Frank Nickell
Historian, Educator, Preservationist, and Chronicler of Southeast Missouri
Dr. Franklin Delano Nickell (1935–2025) devoted more than five decades to preserving, interpreting, and sharing the history of Southeast Missouri and the greater Mississippi River Valley. A longtime professor at Southeast Missouri State University, Nickell became one of the region’s most respected historians, educators, preservationists, and storytellers.
Born December 7, 1935, Nickell was raised on a farm near Atwood, Illinois. He attended Eastern Illinois University, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees, before completing his Ph.D. in American History at the University of New Mexico. In 1969, he accepted what was initially intended to be a one-year teaching position at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau. That appointment became a career spanning more than four decades.
Nickell taught history at Southeast from 1969 until his retirement in 2013, influencing generations of students and helping expand the University’s role in preserving and interpreting the history of the region. He received Southeast Missouri State University’s Faculty Merit Award in 1992 and was recognized throughout his career for excellence in teaching, scholarship, and public service.
In 1990, Nickell became director of Southeast’s Center for Regional History, a position he held for more than two decades. Under his leadership, the Center documented the people, communities, institutions, and events that shaped Southeast Missouri. He conducted oral histories, collected historical materials, supported preservation projects, and oversaw the publication of numerous works on regional history. He also played an important role in the development of historic preservation education at Southeast and served as a mentor to students pursuing careers in history, preservation, archives, museums, and related fields.
Nickell believed that history belonged not only in classrooms and scholarly publications but within the communities whose stories it preserved. His work extended throughout Southeast Missouri. He founded or co-founded initiatives including the Missouri History Day Program, the Cape Girardeau Civil War Roundtable, the Mississippi River Valley Scenic Drive, and the Lorimier Red House project. He served numerous historical and preservation organizations and was involved with institutions including the Scott County Historical Society and the Stars and Stripes Museum.
His ability to make regional history accessible to a broad audience was perhaps best demonstrated through *Almost Yesterday*, his long-running radio series for KRCU, Southeast Missouri State University’s NPR member station. Beginning in 2006, Nickell produced hundreds of short programs recounting people, places, events, and moments from the region’s past. The series received First Place in the Special Programs category from the Missouri Broadcasters Association in 2008.
Nickell was also an editor and author of numerous historical works and co-founded *Big Muddy: A Journal of the Mississippi River Valley*. Through the Center for Regional History, he helped edit and publish approximately 25 books concerning the region. His historical research also contributed to *Oh, Freedom After While: The Missouri Sharecropper Protest of 1939*, a nationally broadcast PBS documentary that received a Mid-America Emmy Award.
His contributions earned recognition well beyond the University. Among his honors were the Missouri Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Missouri Humanities Council’s Acorn Award for outstanding service, and the Jonas Viles Award from the Missouri State Archives for significant contributions to preserving Missouri’s heritage. In 2005, the Missouri House of Representatives recognized Nickell as an “Outstanding Missourian.” In 2019, Missouri Preservation honored him for his decades of work on behalf of the state’s historic resources.
Following his retirement from Southeast in 2013, Nickell continued his historical work as associate director of the State Historical Society of Missouri’s Research Center in Cape Girardeau. He subsequently worked with the Kellerman Foundation for Historic Preservation, continuing to research, preserve, and share the history of Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri well into the final years of his life.
Dr. Frank Nickell died on February 9, 2025, at the age of 89. His legacy extends far beyond his years in the classroom. Through the students he taught, the organizations he helped build, the histories he recorded, the publications he shepherded, and the countless stories he preserved, Nickell helped ensure that the history of Southeast Missouri would remain accessible to generations to come.
The Nickell Regional Archive carries forward that legacy: preserving the documentary record of the region and making its history available to researchers, students, educators, and the communities whose stories it represents.
In the video series below (History Preserved with Dr. Frank Nickell), you can retrace some of the stories Dr. Frank Nickell left behind.
A Legacy Preserved
Donate to the Nickell Regional Archive
For generations of Southeast students, he made history immediate and relevant by connecting national events with the people and places found in their own communities. His contributions to teaching were recognized in 1992 when Southeast Missouri State University presented him with its Faculty Merit Award.
His influence extended to the University’s historic preservation program as well. Nickell served as chair of the History Department when Southeast developed its bachelor’s degree program in Historic Preservation in 1980, helping advance a field of study that would become closely connected with the University’s regional mission.
After retiring from teaching in 2013, Nickell continued his historical and preservation work. He served as associate director of the State Historical Society of Missouri’s Research Center in Cape Girardeau and later continued his work through the Kellerman Foundation for Historic Preservation.
Nickell Regional Archive
Preserving Our Past and Inspiring Our Future
Help carry forward Dr. Frank Nickell’s legacy of preserving our region’s history. Through donations, volunteering, financial support, or sharing historical materials, you can help ensure the Nickell Regional Archive remains protected, accessible, and available for generations to come.
