Columbia Manuscript Collections

The papers of David E. Thomas, Congregational minister and professor of religion, and his son, Horace E. Thomas, a Columbia, Missouri, surgeon who spent World War II in military hospitals in the South Pacific consist of correspondence, manuscripts, class notes, research notes, photographs, printed articles and pamphlets, scrapbooks, and miscellaneous materials related to their careers, including research for Horace’s medical school thesis, Chronic Radiation Poisoning in Rats.

The papers of Hans Fantel, a freelance writer, contain the articles he wrote for the New York Times and many other publications about high fidelity, home electronics, and music. Correspondence, photographs, and audiovisual materials make up the remainder of the collection.

The papers of the Dunlap family include genealogical records, a Civil War journal, photographs, maps and land surveys, and other research materials compiled to produce histories of the Dunlap and Kofahl families of Licking, Missouri.

The papers of Kemper Military School, the oldest military school west of the Mississippi River, include student records and transcripts, applications, commencement material, diplomas, grade cards, and miscellaneous material.

Students wanting a copy of their transcript must submit a hand-signed transcript request form.

Newspaper articles promoting lecture event, sound recording of Marj Paxson discussing founding of the collection, and video of the lecture and panel discussion featuring Tad Bartimus.

The papers of the Ford, English, Cunningham, and related families include family correspondence, photographs and postcards, genealogical, school, and miscellaneous material. The correspondence contains references to World War I.

The papers of the Bryan and Phillips families of New Madrid, Missouri, include various wills, deeds, accounts, genealogy, miscellaneous material, and photographs.

The papers of Ann Bryan Mariano McKay, a journalist and Vietnam War correspondent, consist primarily of material relating to her work on the independent newspaper, Overseas Weekly, and include newspapers, newspaper copy, photographs, correspondence, and legal materials regarding a lawsuit over distribution of the newspaper in Vietnam. Other materials in the collection document her work with Vietnamese orphanages, as well as various aspects of both her personal and professional life, including a return trip to Vietnam in 1995 with her adopted daughter.

The collection contains the World War II correspondence of Wilson O. Hanson to his wife and family in Webb City, Missouri. Hanson served with the 21st Ordnance Company (Medium Maintenance) as part of the American occupation forces in Japan.

The papers of Harold H. Leake, music teacher, radio broadcaster, and Episcopal priest, and Dorothy V. Leake, educator and biologist, consist of correspondence, radio scripts, manuscripts, diaries, subject files, and other materials relating to the personal and professional lives of the Leakes and their family.

The papers of Clara Louise Myers consist mainly of professional material, including course materials for classes she taught at the University of Missouri's School of Social Work. The collection also documents her participation in a variety of professional and community organizations, as well as aspects of her personal life, including her graduate education in social work.

The papers consist of correspondence, published volumes, genealogical information, legal documents, and miscellaneous materials of Carr Waller Pritchett, Henry Smith Pritchett, and Ida Pritchett.

The papers document the lives of Virginia “Kate” and Benton H. Weathers of Howard County, Missouri, and the lives of their children and grandchildren. In addition to genealogical materials on the Weathers, Duncan, and Grigsby families, the collection includes some materials on the Weathers Lumber and Hardware Store in Fayette, Missouri, and the Missouri Polled Hereford Association Records.

The papers of Jean Carnahan, U.S. Senator from the state of Missouri from 2001 to 2002, consist of legislative memos, journals, briefings, guest books, miscellaneous senatorial correspondence, photographs, and video cassettes.

The records of the Show-Me State Chapter of the American Business Women's Association include meeting minutes, membership rosters, correspondence, memos and announcements, photographs, scrapbooks, and miscellaneous material.

The Rustemeyer Family papers contain correspondence written to Bernard Rustemeyer by friends and family in Germany after his immigration to America in 1882.  The collection also includes newspaper clippings and photographs of the Rustemeyer, Alteköster, Stöckbrand, and Giese families, and Rustemeyer’s hometown, Körbecke, Germany.

The Loman and Laura Cansler Collection represents a lifetime of collecting on Missouri’s folk song and folklore tradition. Cansler recorded and collected folk songs, proverbs, jokes, and home remedies, primarily in Missouri, but also in Kansas and Illinois. In addition to this large body of folk song and folklore material, the collection includes information on Cansler’s early life in Dallas County, Missouri, his WWII service, and his career as a school counselor at the Fayette and North Kansas City High Schools. The collection also includes slides and prints of Laura Cansler’s abstract expressionist artwork.

The papers were created by Max Schwabe, who served the Second Congressional District of Missouri in the United States House of Representatives from 1943 to 1948. The collection includes political files, newspaper clippings, published materials, photographs, and a scrapbook that outlines Schwabe's political career.

Interviews with Missourians who served in the armed forces. The collection includes compact discs, audio cassettes, DVDs, and transcripts of the interviews, as well as biographical information on the interviewees.

The papers contain correspondence, papers, photos, research, and miscellaneous material of a University of Missouri geneticist involved with cytogenetics, a branch of genetics which is concerned with the study of chromosomes and cell division.

The papers of Harold L. Volkmer, member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri's 9th District, include correspondence, bills and resolutions, press releases, hearings, subcommittee briefs and reports, research and studies, pamphlets, newsletters, newspaper clippings, photographs, speeches, and amendments and testimonials. Also included is material on the McClure-Volkmer Bill (also known as the Firearm Owner's Protection Act), the 1993 flood disaster, dioxin contamination, hazardous and radioactive waste material at Weldon Spring, Missouri, and farmer's claims resulting from the Cannon Dam Flood in 1982.

The Russell and Bernadine How collection contains photographs, maps, printed materials, and notes on grist mills in the Ozarks region of Missouri and Arkansas. The collection also includes materials related to Missouri tourism.

The papers of U.S. Navy Lieutenant J.G. Jean Schwarting Anderson, a WAVE during World War II and Missouri native, consist of correspondence, photographs and slides, and miscellaneous material.  The letters that she wrote detail in great length the training she received and the day-to-day life as a WAVE.

The papers of Beverly Kees, a journalist, editor, and journalism instructor in Minneapolis, North Dakota, Indiana, and California; the first female executive editor at a Knight-Ridder newspaper; and editor and programs director for the Freedom Forum Pacific Coast Center. The collection contains both personal and professional material, including office files, clippings, editorials, correspondence, photographs, reports, resources, and handbooks.

The papers of the Gentry family of St. Louis and central Missouri consist of correspondence, photographs, newspaper articles, genealogical material, certificates, poetry, and miscellaneous material of the Gentry, Denny, Estes, and Althouse families.

Arthur Unger was an entertainment journalist who reviewed movies and television shows for the Christian Science Monitor and Ingenue. He edited several magazines as wide-ranging as Mechanix Illustrated and Datebook and toured with the Beatles. The collection includes recordings, transcripts, and notes from his interviews with celebrities, his writings, Beatles publications, and personal materials.

The Slusher family papers consist of personal correspondence and account books of the Slushers of Lexington, Missouri, and their extended family who lived in Missouri and Virginia.

The papers of an environmentalist, editor of the Missouri Conservationist, conservation director of the National Wildlife Federation, chairman of the Natural Resources Council of America, and executive vice president of the National Audubon Society, contain correspondence, newsletters, meeting minutes, photographs, and other materials documenting Callison's work as a conservationist.

The papers of Ardath Anita Cary Young consist of correspondence, postcards, photographs, and miscellaneous family papers documenting the Cary, Young, and McMillen families from Edina, Knox County, Missouri.

The New Directions for Women collection contains the business records of a feminist newspaper based in New Jersey and published from 1972 to 1993. The records include correspondence, reader surveys, newspapers, indexes, and financial records, as well as material concerning publicity, fundraising, grants, advertising, circulation, and conferences hosted by the publication.

The collection contains a sampling of prescription records from the A.B. Hirsch Drug Store, Boonville, Missouri. Also included are papers pertaining to Vico Salve, which was developed and sold by Hirsch.

The papers of Allen Walker Read contain the personal and professional papers of a prominent etymologist, including correspondence, photographs, diaries, teaching and research materials, writings, and records pertaining to his involvement in linguistic organizations and conferences.

Correspondence to Daniel H. Spengler, of Bentonsville, Virginia, from his brothers Philip and Samuel and other relatives and friends living in Missouri and Virginia, covering the periods 1856 to 1860 and 1865 to 1870.  Also included are a map of New York City; a photocopy of the Warren County, Virginia, census of 1850; a railroad advertisement; two train tickets; and accounts of travel expenses.

The records of the Missouri Folk Arts Program contain documentation of the annual work and various programming administered by the organization. The records include fiscal information, contracts with artists, press clippings and releases, publications, exhibit documentation, correspondence, working files, and files on folk and traditional artists. The records also include photographs, audio, and video that document folk and traditional arts, artists, and events.

The papers of H.R. Torrey and his second wife, Martha Hard Torrey, include bills and receipts, correspondence, postcards, photographs, and cemetery records. The collection also contains material from other family members, including Martha Torrey's brother, William H. Hard.

The collection consists of correspondence, photographs, legal documents, journals, newspaper clippings, World War II materials, and various other papers belonging to members of the Stigliani, D’Andrea, and Vincitorio families.

The papers of Malvina Stephenson contain the professional papers of a journalist who spent most of her career covering politics in Washington, D.C. The collection includes story and subject files, scrapbooks of articles and columns, research for a biography on Senator Robert S. Kerr, scripts for radio news reports, and other personal and professional material.

The collection contains newspaper clippings, photographs, pamphlets, telegrams, and memos relating to Elliot Major's campaign for governor of Missouri in 1912, and major events that occurred during his administration.

The professional papers of Mary C. Neth, created during her research of rural women's history of the Midwest and the history of American tap dance consists of research material, essays, newspaper clippings, photographs, conference materials, professional correspondence, and other papers. The collection also includes various documents related to the activities of the Rural Women's Studies Association, of which Neth was a founding member.

The papers of Alvin "Jack" Thornton, a former World War II B-24 pilot and POW, include photographs, correspondence, diaries, and miscellaneous materials relating to his military service and family.

The collection contains business correspondence, land contracts, court appeals, share-holding certificates, payment receipts, record books, warranty deeds, and other documents produced by the Conley-Myers Bank and Gillespy & Conley Lawyers through their real estate transactions in Missouri and Texas.

The Helen Onson Papers contain photographs, diaries, newspaper clippings, and a scrapbook documenting Onson’s career as a basketball player in the 1930s and 1940s. Also included are clippings and correspondence related to Helen Stephens and her Olympic Co-Eds traveling basketball team, and material on the Harlem Globetrotters and its founder, Abe Saperstein. The collection also includes a DVD with an interview of Onson discussing her basketball career and friendship with Olympian Helen Stephens.

The papers of a suggestive therapy practitioner from Nevada (Mo.), including correspondence, photographs, courses, and other writings. Also contains works by his father, Sidney A. Weltmer, and publications of the Weltmer Institute of Suggestive Therapeutics.

The Chesmore Seed Company was founded in 1878 by Alfred M. Chesmore as a seed, farm implement, wagon, and buggy business in St. Joseph, Missouri. The collection contains historical documents, business papers, company correspondence, seed catalogs, advertisements and price lists, sales receipts, and photographs of the Chesmore Seed Company as well as photographs and personal items of the Chesmore family.

The papers of E.G. Anderson, a plant geneticist who spent most of his career researching corn genetics, including studying the effects of high energy radiation on corn, mainly contain professional material. The collection largely consists of correspondence, research material, and publications.

The papers of the Washburne family consist of personal and business correspondence concerning their wool business in Lockhart, Texas, advertisements, receipts, and account information. The correspondence deals extensively with family affairs, slavery, the Civil War, and politics. The collection also includes several bills of sale for enslaved persons.

The Zumwalt family papers consist of genealogical materials, correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, local church histories, and miscellaneous articles relating to a family that settled in Boone and Callaway Counties around 1800.

The papers of the Hughes family primarily consist of correspondence, along with a few miscellaneous items. Includes letters received by Daniel Hughes of Clay County, Missouri from relatives and friends in Bourbon County, Kentucky, 1824-1859, and letters sent to him and his sons, 1870-1896.

The records of the Penney-Missouri Journalism Awards consist of administrative material concerning the program's newspaper, magazine, and television competitions and workshops. The collection includes correspondence, financial records, and photographs.

The collection consists of interviews with people who attended or taught at one-room schoolhouses. Includes digitally recorded interviews and transcripts of the interviews, photographs, textbooks, as well as some biographical information on the interviewees.      

The records of the Missouri Veterans History Project contain the local copy of veteran oral history interviews recorded for the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress. The records include audio, video, interview logs, and some transcripts. The former Western Historical Manuscript Collection, a joint collection with the State Historical Society of Missouri, was a founding partner of the Veterans History Project in 2001.

The Missouri Cultural Heritage Center records contain the correspondence, grants, working files, and research materials that support Center projects and publications.

The papers of a wildlife field biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation. They include correspondence, field diaries, maps, reports, studies, publications, and photographs. Christisen specialized in the study of native prairie ecosystems, prairie chickens, squirrels, and mast (forage nuts). The papers also include railroad timetables, accident reports, photographs, worker's logs, publications, maps, and blueprints documenting his interest in railroads.

The papers of the Bower family, who settled in Bethel, Missouri, around 1850, consist of correspondence, photographs, and miscellaneous material.

The papers of O.K. Armstrong, a journalist, author, and politician from Springfield, Missouri, contain correspondence, manuscript drafts, subject files, speech material, research notes, and political material.

The Boone County Black Archives Collection is an artificial collection documenting the lives of Black people living in Boone County, Missouri. The materials include photographs, scrapbooks, correspondence, news clippings, booklets, and other ephemera.

The papers of the Lewis family consist of family records, legal documents, financial documents, correspondence, and miscellaneous material of a family from Osceola, Missouri.

The papers pertain to Jack Matthews' professional career with the University of Missouri-Columbia as a professor for the Physical Education department and as the first Dean of Students. The papers also include information regarding community organizations that Matthews was active with during his career and retirement.

The papers of Charles Shelton, a farmer from Paris, Missouri, consist of notes on agricultural machinery, account books, a Modern Woodmen of America record book, personal correspondence, and miscellaneous personal material.

Scrapbook containing newspaper clippings and short essays concerning Missouri history and politics.

This collection includes genealogical information, legal records, letters, photographs, and miscellaneous materials of the Woods and Spilman families of Lawrence County, Missouri.  It also includes published histories of the Spilman family, Lawrence County, and Pierce City, Missouri.

The collection contains the records of the publication Directory of Women's Media, and includes correspondence, advertising, and issues of the directory.

The papers of J.V. Conran, an attorney and political leader in Southeast Missouri, contain correspondence, newspapers clippings, and photographs.

The records of USS Schley Oral History Project contain the audio files and transcripts of interviews with four veterans of the USS Schley. The crew of the USS Schley consisted largely of Missourians. Also included is related documentation on the USS Schley.

The papers of the fourteenth president of the University of Missouri contain correspondence, reports, research material, speeches, newspaper clippings, publications, teaching materials, awards, degrees, photographs, and miscellaneous material.

The papers of a journalist, author, and editorial writer for the Los Angeles Times include news articles, story files, books, manuscripts, research files, correspondence, personal papers, and interviews on audio cassette.

The Beta Phi Mu Librarian Oral History Project collection contains the audio, video, and transcripts of interviews with Missouri librarians and members of Beta Phi Mu. Also included are an interview guide, correspondence, the interviewers' notes, and background materials on the librarians.

The collection contains audio, video, and images related to the James T. Scott Monument Committee in Columbia, Missouri. The committee was created to raise funds to purchase a new headstone for lynching victim James T. Scott's burial site in Columbia Cemetery.

The papers of journalist Carol Richards consists of articles, books, clippings, correspondence, handwritten notebooks, audio cassettes, and miscellaneous research materials on a variety of topics such as education, Gerald Ford, Nelson Rockefeller, and women's issues.

The papers of Marie Anderson contain material concerning her work at the Miami Herald, as well as correspondence, photographs, miscellaneous writings, clippings, and other personal and professional material.

Collection of genealogical research materials compiled by Siegmar Muehl documenting the Strehly family of Hermann, Missouri, particularly focusing on Joseph Carl Strehly (1778-1860) and Maria Strehly Wolff (1822-1906), including family photographs, correspondence, a travel diary, wills, clippings, genealogical charts, and biographies.

The Eugene Bushmann Papers document the political campaigns of Thomas F. Eagleton in 1964, 1968, and 1974 in Missouri. The papers consist primarily of correspondence, speech materials, publicity materials, directories, clippings, and newsletters. The collection also contains newspaper clippings regarding Eagleton's political opponents True Davis and Edward Long in the 1968 U.S. Senate election.

The papers of Gloria N. Biggs, a journalist, editor, and the first woman publisher of a Gannett newspaper, the Melbourne Times in Florida in 1973, contain correspondence and clippings pertaining to her career.

The papers of Marjorie B. Paxson, a journalist and newspaper publisher who established the National Women and Media Collection, include news articles, correspondence, material on national and international women's conferences, and miscellaneous personal and professional papers.

The papers of Charles K. Sheets Sr. contain family papers of the Berry, Bell, Sheets, and Blades families, and include marriages, correspondence, photographs, and newspaper clippings. Also included in the collection is business material pertaining to Sheets’ business with Faulconer, Sheets & Co, in Montgomery City, Missouri.

The records contain transcripts of interviews with women who worked as radio homemakers from the 1940s through 1980s. Radio homemakers broadcast on rural, Midwestern radio stations and offered information and advice on domestic affairs such as cooking, sewing, and child rearing. Also includes paper presented to 1992 Popular Culture Convention based on the interviews.

The papers of Christy C. Bulkeley, one of the first women publishers for a Gannett newspaper, contain correspondence, news clippings, speeches, writings, subject files, photographs, and a variety of miscellaneous professional and personal material.

The papers of Irvine and Nona Bell Davis contain records pertaining to the Davis, Bell, Woolery, Schanz, Cartee, Hildebrand, and Dayton families of mid-Missouri.

The papers of Adrienne Drell contain articles, drafts, subject files, correspondence, and miscellaneous professional and personal papers of a journalist who worked for the Waukegan News-Sun and the Chicago Sun-Times, largely covering court cases. Included in the papers is material relating to cases she covered, including the Rev. L.R. Davis, Operation Greylord, and Baby Richard.

The papers of Mel Carnahan contain election materials from his state treasurer's race in 1980 and governor's race in 1984.

The papers of a former journalist, educator, and author of several books on women in Missouri history.

The memoir contains a timeline presentation of women journalists' fight to get equal access to news events and be allowed full membership in the formerly all-male National Press Club.

Papers presented at symposium on women and media; intra-family communication; women and networking; and women, work, and technology.

The collection contains interviews with Missouri veterans on DVDs and DAT tapes.

Proposals, schedules, reports, correspondence, questionnaires, articles, and notes of the United States Conference of the International Women's Media Project, held in Washington, D.C., November 12-15, 1986.

The papers of the director for New Directions for Women include personal and professional material, including her material concerning involvement in various feminist organizations. Included in the papers are correspondence, photographs, writings, awards, research projects, news clippings, and conference notes and speeches.

The collection consists of interviews with people who experienced, were affected by, and/or were a part of the devastating EF5 multiple-vortex tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri, on May 22, 2011. The focus of this project is to help document the community of Joplin both before and after the tornado, as well as the rebuilding of this community. The collection consists of digitally recorded interviews, transcripts, and photographs.

The records of an organization which focused on projects monitoring the advancement of women in media and the portrayal of women by the media.

A public service campaign launched in 1992 by the Foundation of American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT) to combat sexual harassment in the workplace.

The papers of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) consist of a list of elected and appointed standing committees from 1972-1988, abstracts, and papers presented at various conferences and conventions, arranged chronologically.

International newsletter published in Sweden to exchange information about research and activities concerned with sex roles in mass media. Formerly titled Sex Roles Within Massmedia.

The papers of Robert E. Acock contain correspondence, a Polk County plat, and legal papers pertaining to the Acock and Robinson families of Polk County, Missouri.