Gerald R. Massie (1911-1989) was Missouri’s first official state photographer, holding that position from 1945 to 1974. His interest in photography developed early in life as a youth in his native Clinton, Missouri, when, at the age often, he won a July Fourth bicycle race around the courthouse and as a prize, his first camera, a $1.98 Brownie.

Drafted in the Army in early 1942, he served during World War II with the U.S. Strategic Air Force as an aerial photographer, documenting the effects of bombing missions and taking ground news photos. In England he supervised a 22-man photo lab. During the war Massie earned a Bronze Star and five battle stars, surviving a returning bomber plan crash in England. In 1945 Massie returned to Missouri, and found a position as the state’s photographer in the newly formed Resources and Development Commission, later called Commerce and Industrial Development. One of his early assignments in 1946 was the coverage of Winston Churchill’s "Iron Curtain Speech" in Fulton, Mo. Massie quickly became a key figure in state government in 1946 when, for the first time in history, Missouri used state revenues to advertise the state nationally. In 1947, "The Great Pictures" contest co-sponsored by Encyclopedia Britannica and the University of Missouri School of Journalism, judged two of his photos among the nation’s 100 best.