Columbia Manuscript Collections

Account with D.A. Constable for purchase of merchandise.

Certificate of ownership for 19 shares of stock issued to I.T. Curd.

To H.G. Lewelling, from Chicago, IL, May 6, 1867. Letter offering Lewelling an agency for sale of "The American Farmer's Horse Book."

To Julia G. Tannor, Dinwiddie County, VA, from St. Charles County, MO, Sept. 9, 1844. Writes his sister about plans to practice medicine in St. Charles County.

Discharge from United States Army.

Poem entitled "Contract with Mrs. T.K. Beecher, Quarry Farm," by Mark Twain, 2 July 1895.

Mark Twain circular letter to W.L. Howard from New York, 2 May 1901, regretting he could not accept lecture engagement. Added personal note stating he would have made trip but was permanently tired of travel and hoped he had made his last journey.

The collection contains two letters written to his parents in Wisconsin about skirmishes at Chalk's Bluff, AR, and Kennett and Hornersville, MO, and capture of steamer DANIEL B. MILLER.

The collection contains records of a social organization for persons born in Missouri or who lived there for a length of time and were currently residing in California.

The collection contains memoirs of Birch, who enlisted in the Santa Fe Battalion, left Ft. Leavenworth in May 1848, and was attacked by Indians, June 18, 1848.

The collection contains letters written during World War II by an army medical officer stationed in Greenland and Iceland to his son, Byron Backlar, PhM 3/c aboard the U.S.S. SANBORN.

The collection contains a letter to Charles Dehault DeLassus, St. Louis, from Cape Girardeau, Jan. 13, 1800. The letter includes a request to the lieutenant governor of Upper Louisiana for a grant of land to establish a flour mill. A typed translation by J.A. Roldan is included.

The papers of Nathan H. McCausland contain a receipt for share of estate of Nathan Heald; an oath of loyalty, 1862; and two letters from Gratiot Street Prison, St. Louis, 1864.

The papers of Richard B. Keeble contain a statement by citizens of St. Charles County, January 24, 1862, attesting to Keeble's loyalty and recounting attack on his house (fragment). Also included are charges of disloyalty against Keeble, n.d., and parole of Keeble.

The collection contains a letter of introduction for Darius Heald, written to John Robb, Washington, D.C., from Plantersburgh, Feb. 3, 1855.

The collection contains a receipt for gold bullion deposited by Wells Fargo and Company for the McGuthries at the U.S. Assay Office, New York.

Photostat of a bill of sale for Adisson, an enslaved 22-year old, who was sold by Forrest and Maples to V. Beckworth for $1000 on July 9, 1855.

To James Shambaugh, from Clarinda, IA, Sept. 2, 1861.

Requests ten sacks of flour.

Bills and receipts for expenses of hobo convention held in Columbia, MO, in October 1901.

Letters written by servicemen at the end of World War I, from the files of the SULLIVAN NEWS.

Health of Lizzie and Emma.

Letter from "Etta" on the health of her mother; urges Paulina to visit.

To her mother and sister about family matters.

To "Aunt Hannah," from Irondale, MO, Dec. 7, 1891.

Sends sympathy on death of uncle and family news.

Advertisement of wine and liquor dealer.

The papers contain a deed of trust between Frederick Hamilton and B.F. Sharp and Beston Callahan, indenturing three enslaved people as security for notes, along with a bill of sale for enslaved people.

List of dead members of A. Lincoln Post, Moberly, MO.

Order appointing David Floyd, John Bunch, and John Clarkson to mark out an alteration to the road from Frays Mill to the Grand Prairie.

To Mrs. Austin A. King, from St. Louis, June 10, 1878.

Letter enclosing Austin A. King's license to practice law in Tennessee.

Bill for the shipment of a box of books via steamboat CHIAN to E.S. Murray, Richmond, MO.

Letters to his grandmother from New Guinea and the Philippines.

To Mrs. M.P. (Paralee Hudspeth Beall) Wood, from St. Louis, MO, Jan. 8, 1897.

Letter of sympathy on the death of her nephew.

Certificate of election and swearing in of John A. Mason as justice of the peace.

Tax receipts from Monroe and Audrain Counties, MO, and from U.S. Express Company.

Letters written by William Powell of Huntsville, MO, to his brother, Henry A. Powell, in Yanceyville, NC. Prices of land, food, grain crops and livestock; abundance of wild game; and richness of the land. Begs the rest of the family to join them in Missouri.

To Mr. Meehan asking for information.

Teacher's certificate, grade reports, and letters of recommendation.

The collection contains a contract between Pershing and District No. 1, Township No. 56, Range No. 20, Chariton County, MO, for three months.

The collection contains a letter announcing the opening of a law office. A business card is enclosed.

The collection contains a copy of a letter to Peyton [Stephens] from Leachman, Columbia, MO, May 15, 1895, commenting on missionary work and mentioning a historical edition of the COLUMBIA HERALD.

The collection contains a receipt for payment for land at an office at Plattsburg, MO.

The collection contains a letter to Robert Aull, Mexico, MO, from E.W. Pomeroy, Santa Fe, May 29, 1847. The letter discusses Doniphan's expedition and Santa Fe trade.

The collection contains letters written by a Shannon County, MO, man to his brother and sister-in-law in Mississippi. Politics, family matters, crops, health, and cures are discussed.

The papers of George Wells contain a photostat of a letter to Wells critical of attempts to reconcile slavery and Christianity. Wells was a preacher.

The records of the Missouri Folklore Society include scattered early materials such as constitutions, programs, and publications. The bulk of the collection consists of organizational materials beginning in 1977 when the Society was reactivated, including correspondence, meeting minutes, publications, photographs, audiovisual materials, clippings, membership lists, and annual meeting materials.

The collection contains a letter to Garland [Broadhead] from James Overton Broadhead, St. Louis, Dec. 24, 1891, concerning the Missouri-Arkansas border.

The collection contains a letter to Garland [Broadhead] from James Broadhead, St. Louis, Jan. 4, 1896. The letter refers to GLOBE DEMOCRAT'S charge of James's bolting the Democratic ticket in 1874; as well as writing a paper on the Treaty of 1803 and the territory which the Louisiana Purchase embraced.

Correspondence with U.S. presidents, senators and congressmen, Missouri politicians, and other national figures. Basically an autograph collection, the letters are arranged alphabetically by surname of correspondent.

To Warren Douglas Meng, Jefferson City, MO, from Pittsburgh, KS, Oct. 16, 1934.

Answer to letter from Meng concerning crime songs sung by Negroes in a Missouri penitentiary.

To Margie [Mrs. Ralph Tennal], Sabetha, KS, from St. Louis concerning Francesca Paillou.

Positive Photostat copy of a day by day account of the journey of Morrow, attending physician to a party of Cherokee Indians, during the forced migration between c. 20 February-24 March 1839. Two typescript copies of a diary also included. Copy of 1852 letter from Morrow regarding use of liquor among Seneca Indians near Enterprise, Missouri.

Will exhorting children to live Christian lives and disposing of 120 acres of land originally granted to Henry V. Bingham.

To R.F.C. Schroeder, St. Louis, MO, from St. Louis, MO, June 12, 1878. Granting Schroeder a leave of absence. Endorsed by Charles A. Fisk.

Enclosing picture of their grandfather's house.

Appeal to Abraham Lincoln for pardon of his brother, James M. Sandusky, a prisoner at Rock Island, IL, barracks; endorsements; and directive, signed A. Lincoln, that James take the Oath of 1863 and be released.

Deeds, tax receipts, and will pertaining to property in Saline County, MO.

Refunding bond for $1000.

List of students, correspondence, and reminiscences about school which was held at Quitman, 1882-1887.

To Betsey Blackwell, Warrenton, VA, from Boonville, MO, Nov. 3, 1842.

Letter to mother giving family news and greetings and discussing merits of life in Missouri.

Volume kept by Samuel Megown, supervisor of registration, listing names of citizens who either refused to take the oath of loyalty after the Civil War or had been loyal to the Confederacy and were thus disenfranchised. Also includes names of citizens considered loyal who were permitted to vote. Birth and death dates for some Megown family members are included at the end. Some pages are missing.

Report card and teaching certificates.

To J.H. Frame, Kansas City, MO, from Jefferson City, MO, 1902. Thanking Frame for withdrawing from race for election commissioner.

Certificate of appraisal of cattle taken up as strays. Appraisal made by Daniel Emerson and Zovak Perkins.

To Lydia, Washington County, NY, from Chariton, MO, Apr. 19, 1819. Writes his sister about land and corn prices, and admission of Missouri Territory as a state.

Agreement between Beall and Town covering financing of trip by Town to mining region.

Letters to Dresser's parents in Vermont and his sister in New Hampshire, written from St. Louis. Concern family members.

To Mr. and Mrs. Comfort C. Dresser, Chester, VT, from St. Louis, MO, Jan. 29, 1839.

Climate of Missouri, river estate, prospects of parents coming to Missouri.

To R.H. Jesse, Columbia, MO, from Salina, KS, Aug. 26, 1901.

Inquiring about facilities at Missouri University library for study in medieval and modern history about the demand for teachers. Letter referred to Isidor Loeb.

Morning reports and remarks.

Drawing of proposed bridge across the Mississippi River at St. Louis.

Correspondence, bills of lading, notes, photographs, clippings, periodicals, scrapbooks, account books, freight books, cabin registers, and portage books of E.B. Trail, collector of the history and memorabilia of steamboating on the Missouri River and its tributaries.

The papers of Henry C. Miller contain fifteen letters to Miller, a Mercer County court clerk in Princeton, MO, about Republican Party affairs and appointments in Missouri's 3rd Congressional District. The Chauncey I. Filley faction, support in Missouri of William McKinley for president in 1896, state and local Republican conventions and meetings, and factional fights are discussed.

Starr was a colonizationist, free soiler, and Presbyterian clergyman in Weston, MO, 1852-1855. The collection contains correspondence, broadsides, pamphlets, and clippings on settlement of the Kansas-Nebraska Territories, border conflicts, abolitionism vs. slavery, local politics, Indian affairs, public land sales, claims, and prices, popular sovereignty, squatters' rights, and religion on the frontier.

The papers of Smith A. Sterett contain letters from business associates, friends, and family; business papers; Sterett's Confederate Army discharge; and an elementary spelling book. Sterett was a Montana Territory prospector, Helena, MT, merchant, and Nevada, MO, hardware merchant.

The collection contains records of the town of Ste. Genevieve. Vol. 1, the Ste. Genevieve church register, includes vital statistics records, 1759-1840. Vol. 2, the Ste. Genevieve archives, includes deeds, 1766-1876; Indian affairs, 1766-1804; and New Madrid archives, 1802-1803. Two copies. Translated from the French by A. Loyd Collins.

The collection contains two letters to the judges of the Boone County court as a court of appeals, from James Shannon, president of the University of Missouri, George H. Matthews, professor of Languages, and W.W. Hudson, July 24 and August 2, 1851. The letters request relief from the unconstitutional taxation of the salaries of University of Missouri officers.

The collection contains a notice of application to County Court for Richard Gentry or Thomas Duley to be appointed justice of the peace for Columbia township, Boone County.

The collection contains a statement of amount due Collins for hauling water from Columbia to Smithton for the Boone County Court.

The collection contains a form letter to the Boone County Court, Columbia, Missouri, from Hardin, Fulton, Missouri, July 16, 1851, requesting a list of the county's impoverished mentally ill residents, known at the time as the "insane poor". Hardin was secretary of the board of managers of the State Lunatic Asylum.

The collection contains a report on the organization, facilities, regulations, and proper pupils of the asylum at Fulton.

Three-dollar bank note payable to G. Hales, signed by Aug. Chouteau, president, and Lilburn W. Boggs, cashier, of a St. Louis bank, April 22, 1817.

The papers of Richard Gentry contain a receipt for payment of a $50 fine for allowing card playing in his house and a proclamation from Governor John Miller ordering Gentry's fine remitted and charges dismissed.

Report compiled by MASW on state welfare services, particularly correctional and eleemosynary institutions, their historical development, organization, and functions.

Hume was an army surgeon with the 23rd U.S. Infantry Medical Detachment in the Second Division, A.E.F. Diary, September 6, 1917-February 14, 1918, describes the war in France, medical facilities and staff, troops, battles, living conditions and rations, German submarine and troop maneuvers, and John J. Pershing.

Journey of the Stephanites from Saxony to St. Louis, 1838, and settlement in Perry County, 1839. Difficulties of ocean voyage to New Orleans and riverboat travel to St. Louis. Economic conditions, prices, religious beliefs, organization of colony, and impressions of Martin Stephan.

Unpublished manuscript of Henry County history within the broader context of Missouri and American history. Biographies of outstanding residents and an historical calendar to county events from pioneer settlement to 1937.

Collection of twelve essays covering various events in the history of the area.

To French Glascock, Upperville, Loudoun County, VA, from New London, Ralls County, MO, August 10, 1823.

The letter mentions the duel fought between Thomas C. Rector, brother of William V. Rector, and Joshua Barton, brother of David Barton, U.S. senator from Missouri. Letter also describes an epidemic of typhus that occurred in New London that summer.

Manuscript submitted to MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW about Southwestern Missouri's Indian population, especially the Osage Indians.

Article about the William Bolton family of Jefferson City, MO, submitted to MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW for publication.

Article submitted to MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW. Armstrong concluded that Laura Hawkins Frazer was Mark Twain's original Becky Thatcher.

Manuscript submitted to MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW. History of Wythe Lead Mines in Ivanhoe, Wythe County, VA, 1750-1812. Biographical sketches of the men who owned or operated the mines: John Chiswell, Moses and Stephen Austin, Thomas Jackson, James Newell, Daniel Sheffey, and David Pierce.

Correspondence and receipts of a Franklin County, MO, family. The majority of the correspondence is between Josiah Harrison Farrar in the California gold fields and his wife, Lucretia Jane, at home, 1852-1853. Also included are letters from other Farrar-Caldwell relatives in the gold fields. The letters describe California's climate, the crops grown, and contain news of Franklin County neighbors also in California.

Genealogical material gathered by McCormick concerning the McCormick and other related families who settled in Pettis County, MO. Includes photocopy of pension application of Revolutionary War veteran George McCormick; will of George McCormick; deposition of Massina Moreau McCormick, an early Missouri settler; and lists of those buried in family cemeteries in Pettis County and from family Bibles.

Photocopies of newspaper clippings about and photographs of McMullin, first licensed pilot in Missouri. McMullin was born and lived in Sikeston his entire life. He owned a plane and was often a stunt pilot. Also included are articles on early aviation in Missouri.

Poem submitted to the MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW.

Manuscript submitted to the MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW. Interview with Colonel Joseph Burbridge McCullagh, editor of the ST. LOUIS GLOBE-DEMOCRAT, on November 12, 1895, about his rumored senatorial candidacy. Interview was published in the ST. LOUIS REPUBLIC, November 13, 1895.

Autobiographical sketch.

To J[ohn] W. Simonton, [Mifflinburg, PA], from Richwoods, [MO], June 9, 1859.

A recent immigrant from Pennsylvania, Irwin wrote his brother-in-law about Missouri. He discussed the prices of land, grain, stock, and provisions, the abundance of game and water, neighbors and friends, education, and religion.

Promotions of Younker to 2nd Corporal and 5th Sergeant. Broadside with names of personnel and memorandum of action of Illinois Infantry, 51st Regiment, Volunteers, Company G, from 14 February 1861 to 20 November 1863.

Article about the origin of names of Ozark towns and villages, submitted to the MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW for publication.