In 2022, The Kansas City Star donated a copy of its digital image archive to the Library for the purpose of making it searchable and accessible to the public. This collection includes hundreds of thousands of photos from 1920 to 1999, featuring everyday life and significant events.

The Star's photo archive is now available online for public viewing. In a conversation moderated by the paper's opinion editor Yvette Walker, photojournalist Tammy Ljungblad, deputy opinion editor and editorial board member Derek Donovan, and the Library's special collections manager Jeremy Drouin discuss what it’s like to document the news and key moments and figures from the past that continue to shape our city today.

They talk about a curated selection of photos from politics, sports, and entertainment, including jazz greats like Jay McShann, notable elected officials like former Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes, and tragedies such as the Hyatt Regency skywalk collapse.