Springfield is one of 19 cities in the country where you can see a traveling Smithsonian History Exhibit. Paleoanthropoligist Rick Potts has worked with the Smithsonian Institute for more than 30 years and in that time he has amassed one of the World's best collections of fossils and artifacts that tell the story about the origins of the human species.

"This represents about 2.5 million years of time of changes in size of the brain, change in the size of the face as our diet was changing," says Potts.

The Smithsonian is sharing some of those artifacts; in a traveling exhibit that graces 19 cities across the US.

"We want people to see what scientific researchers and research teams from all around the World have discovered that help us to reflect in ways that are pretty profound about the emergence of our species over time," says Potts.

"This is very educating, to have the Smithsonian come and bring something like this to Springfield, Missouri is just fantastic," says Clark Montgomery.

Montgomery is one of the first visitors to see the exhibit in Springfield. "I wanted to come see it because I have a love for Southwest Missouri archaeology and anthropology and just to come out to learn some more interesting things about it."

But over the next four weeks he will be far from the last to learn more about the history of his human ancestors.

"I didn't know we almost went extinct 100,000 years ago; that's something I learned," says Montgomery.

The exhibit is free and will be at the Library Center until June 2.