"A life without stories would be no life at all. And stories bound us, did they not, one to another, the living to the dead, people to animals, people to the land."

--Alexander McCall Smith

The Zoo Memories Project is a year-long effort to collect and share memories of the Saint Louis Zoo as we prepare to celebrate our centennial in 2010. We understand that our history can be told in any number of ways--it can be told through attendance figures or through timelines or through honors received. The way we prefer to examine this history is through the voices of the people who have not only welcomed the Zoo into their city but who have welcomed it into their hearts.

We are sharing these photos with you in the hopes that it will jog memories of your own experiences with the Saint Louis Zoo. We hope you enjoy the photos, and will visit our centennial exhibit when it opens in May of 2010. And if you would like your memories to be part of the exhibit or you have a photo or other artifact you would like to share, please contact Jody Sowell, our centennial curator, at (314) 361-7369 or at jsowell@mohistory.org.