Columbia Manuscript Collections

Mimeographed copies of letters from relatives in Wales, New Zealand, and the U.S. to Daniels, who was living in Morgan County, Missouri. Letters primarily discuss family news.

Receipts for taxes and money received, notes, and letters concerning a trip west and family health and affairs.

Negative photostats of three land grants issued in Vandalia, Illinois, for nearby tracts.

Letters from locations in New York, Ohio, Indiana, and California.

Part of a journal kept by a doctor during the Mexican War. Describes nature, climate, health, war, and peace activities, traveling conditions, and his companions.

Copies and transcriptions of letters between family members in Missouri and Kentucky relating to family business, crops, neighbors, and romantic interests. Mention of Bonne Femme Academy, Boone County, Missouri. Bible class organized by Mary B. Jenkins Hardin, including list of members.

Collection of miscellaneous papers, mostly bills and accounts of wheat and tobacco sales. Included is a manuscript history of Pike County, Missouri, written by Ada Reid White; letters; newspaper clippings; pictures of St. John’s Episcopal Church; and typed copies of three magazine articles written in 1948 concerning Meriwether Lewis and correspondence pertaining to them.

Primarily land grants and deeds.

Copies of family biographies and letters concerning history of the Dulany family and lumber industry in Hannibal, Missouri, and the Middle West.

The diaries of Margaret Nelson Stephens, the wife of Missouri Governor Lon V. Stephens, 1897-1901, document her daily life from 1875 to 1927. Genealogy notes describe Margaret's ancestry and other documents cover a wide range of topics pertaining to relatives through her sister Nadine's marriage to Charles E. Leonard. Most deal with Charles E. Leonard himself, and his brothers Leverett and Abiel. Two Missouri Militia muster rolls, 1862-1863, and a bill of sale for slaves, 1849, are most notable.

Minutes of the semi-centennial meeting of the Little Bonne Femme Baptist Association, 1889. Promissory notes and receipts, 1860, 1876, 1888. Printed broadside by J.R. Brandon, Fulton, MO, on "The asylum investigation during Governor Stephens' tenure of office."

Proclamation announcing that 1968 would be the centennial year of the College of Education and explaining that in 1868 Missouri became the first state university to undertake the professional training of teachers by establishing a College of Normal Instruction.

The papers of Phineas Eldredge, a ship captain from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, consist of a letterbook and a c. 1795 bulletin entitled, "An Act for Incorporation the Society, Formed for the Relief of Poor, Aged, and Infirmed Masters of Ships, Their Widows and Children."

Letter from twenty Republican congressmen to Eisenhower asking him to resign as Supreme Allied Commander and declare himself a candidate for the presidential nomination. Eisenhower's reply, setting forth his personal reasons for remaining in his present position.

Transcripts of two letters to Russell Ferguson in California from his parents, James and Elizabeth Ferguson, Spring River, Lawrence County, MO, mentioning rumors of gold in the Wichita Mountains. One letter from Julia Sutton, also of Spring River. Originals in the possession of Mr. and Mrs. C. Kendall.

Letters of the Fristoe family, who came to Missouri from Stafford County, VA. Two were written by a soldier to his sister during the War of 1812. Notes were made by the donor.

Reports on academic performance at the University of Missouri. Also Bingham Grammar School report for Charles Hays, Jr.

Recollections of life in southeast Missouri and Franklin's part in bank, land, and railroad development during the 1880s and 1890s. Poem and article by Alice Franklin Bryant; The Land of Corn, about Franklin's southeast Missouri plantation, by J.E. Wood; two letters; and newspaper clippings.

The papers contain typed copies of the following items: deed, 1819; notice of public sale, 1845; and letter of James Hill to his daughter-in-law, 1863.

Papers of a California, MO, resident. Two notices of the sale of enslaved children; promissory notes.

The papers of Toledo, IA, merchants include promissory notes, tax receipts, general receipts, miscellaneous papers and letters, mortgages, bills of sale and labor, abstract of title for construction of Johnston’s house, and a Mexican land grant.

Letters written by a second lieutenant in the 59th Illinois Regiment to his brother in Illinois while serving with the Union Army in southern Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. Descriptions of the territory, attitudes of the people, battles, and general camp conditions.

Two letters written by John Wyatt to his daughter Mary Wyatt Gentry, describing the Missouri River flood in Warren County, disease in Marthasville, and conditions in their church. One letter contains words of a hymn composed by Benjamin Sharp and sent to his granddaughter Mary to sing to the brethren.

Letters written to George and Mary Gigous by M.E. Wagner, sister of Mary; Amos Castle, friend of George; and Daniel Stull, cousin of George. The letters describe farming, agricultural prices, immigration, rural education, and rural life in Otter Creek, IA, and Maryville, MO. Includes typed notes on the family.

Letters of a Union Cavalryman to his wife describing battles and scrimmages in the South, particularly Vicksburg, MS, near Memphis, TN, and Little Rock, AR, and concerning the buying of property. Letters from Lewis' friends to their relatives; deed for land in Miller County; receipts and pension certificate issued to Riley's survivors.

Concerning payment of taxes on Dolle estate in Gasconade County, MO.

Letters and papers of a St. Charles, MO, mercantile firm, discussing current markets and prices.

General account and stud book, 1860-1873; stud book, 1876-1894; weight certificate, 1889; check, 1890; and three miscellaneous items.

The papers contain typed copies of two letters concerning the activities of the Mexican-Nevada Exploration Company and an account of the author’s travels and work in Arizona and Mexico.

The papers contain photostatic copies of letters and a court order appointing Elizabeth Gross administratrix of an estate in 1823. The letters are from Virginia, Ohio, California, and Missouri. They comment on politics, religion, home life, and lead mining in California.

Miscellaneous letters discuss the Mormon conflict in 1838 and prices, weather, and family news from California and Texas.

Correspondence with A.M. Hyde about the Roosevelt Memorial Association, and with other members of the organization. Reminiscences of a Republican convention held at West Plains, MO, in 1908, and of Hollenbeck's position in the Hyde administration.

Holman, a colonel during the Civil War, was one of the first men to command African American troops. Papers include correspondence regarding his command, a map of the "seat of war," two U.S. Grant letters, one John C. Fremont letter, official documents, and personal letters.

Papers and records of a German American who lived in Cape Girardeau and Butler Counties in Missouri. Records concern Hinrich's Civil War service in Company L, 10th Missouri Volunteer Cavalry. Other papers document his agricultural interests, the Seventh Day Adventist Church, and his efforts to establish a German colony at Carola, Butler County, Missouri.

Letter to Harvey from a friend, describing happenings and dangers of a trip from New York to California by way of Isthmus of Panama, conditions in California, and advantages of working there. Letters from relatives concerning family matters. Letter from brother Richard to brother Warren commenting upon attitude of Texans toward the Confederate Army.

Letters from Wade Hampton Haley in Oregon, to relatives in Missouri, telling hazards of Oregon travel and travel in Missouri during the Civil War and describing mill and life in small settlement around mill.

The collection contains negative photostats of correspondence and estate papers of the Thomas H. Harvey family of Saline County, Missouri. Letters describe the area, give prices for land, enslaved persons, and products, and mention family news. Estate records include a will and an estate inventory, 1852.

The records contain invoices and receipts from a general merchandising store located in New Bloomfield, Missouri. The store underwent several name changes: Sanders Brothers, Sappington and Sanders, and G.P. Sanders.

Merchandise sold by the store included drugs, spices and other condiments, candy, stationery supplies, literature, school textbooks, paints, tobacco, liquor, violin strings, and some hardware items.

Account books from the general merchandise stores of G.H. and/or J.R. Tatum in Glasgow, Missouri.

Record of a general merchandise firm in Fulton, Missouri.

Tax list for residents and nonresidents of Callaway County, James Baker, assessor. The list is divided into resident and nonresident sections. These sections are arranged alphabetically by individual and list value and location of land and includes other property such as the number of livestock and enslaved individuals.

Records of the grain mill established in 1875, originally called Monitor Mills. It produced Tuberose and Snowflake flour, as well as meal, ship stuff, and bran.

Ledgers, sale books, harvest book, bank draft register, warehouse receipt book, and price list for winery and brandy distillery owned and operated by George Stark and his sons, Ottmar G. and Louis J. The company included a bottling plant in St. Louis and a whiskey distillery in Bardstown, KY.

Daybooks and ledger for a lumber and building supply business. The accounts show the sale of lumber, windows, shingles, line, hair, cement, plaster, paint, and numerous other items. Quantities purchased, prices, amount and type of payment, and disbursements are shown. Disbursements also indicate freight charges and employees' salaries.

Papers of Gottlieb A. Hoehn, a journalist and labor organization supporter from St. Louis, MO. The papers consist of printed minutes, anniversary booklets, and programs pertaining to labor organizations. They also include articles written by Hoehn and some miscellaneous materials.

The collection contains negative photostats of a diary of a trip from Salt Lake to Ringgold, California, 1850; map of trip; two letters written from gold fields; deed to military bounty land in Missouri; and obituary.

Letters of a Union soldier in Missouri to his family in Newark, MO. Also letter telling of his death in Ironton, MO, of improper vaccination.

Letter, speech, and journal of a Mexico, MO, lawyer who was the son-in-law of Charles H. Hardin.

Letters written to King in Iowa from Munn and Farwell, land agents in Grant City, MO, giving prices and description of land. Broadside advertising cheap western homes in the Grand and Platte River country of northeast Missouri, and a genealogy of the King, Munn, and Farwell families.

The collection contains photostats of a miscellany of Perry County documents; legal papers concerning real estate; training and apprehension of enslaved persons, taxes, Civil War, loyalty of public officials; politics, 1850, 1896-1912; Missouri military orders during the Civil War.

From a soldier with the A.E.F. in France to his cousin E.M. Douglas of Benton City, Missouri. Discusses the country, weather, and army life.

Letters of a pioneer Missouri family discussing conditions on the journey to the California gold fields, family news, and crop conditions in Mississippi in 1857.

Letters from Lenoir in Fort Defiance, NC, to his brother Walter in Columbia, MO, concerning the death of their father and settlement of his estate.

To Edmond Jones, Fort Defiance, NC, from Columbia, MO, Dec. 30, 1834.

Description of Columbia and the surrounding country.

Letter to Lail from Adniram Allen, Bourbon County, KY; deposition of John Wells; and bill of sale to Lail from Decatur H. Harris for an enslaved African American girl.

Miscellaneous papers of a brigadier general in the U.S. Army, who was a member of a pioneer family of Pettis County, MO. Papers include a school report; marriage license and certificate; will; several letters; messages of sympathy and news clipping of Longan's funeral; and "The Dirigible," an army newsletter edited by Longan.

Papers of a Slater, MO, druggist. Slater Methodist Church directory, 1918; newspaper clippings, mostly about Cambridge, MO; Chautauqua programs, 1921-1922; and correspondence with Edward E. Wall.

Circulars; correspondence; statement signed by Lathrop freeing an enslaved individual; and letter to president of Hobart College, NY, regarding faculty organization. Lathrop was the first president of the University of Missouri.

Personal financial records, including state and county tax receipts.

Wm. W. Woodward letter from Tallahassee, 1859; statement of citizenship of Stephen Lincoln, 1861; petitions signed by some citizens of Massachusetts in Boston, 1878.

Family letters concerning business, family matters, and health. Letter, 1836, from Philadelphia about purchases and shipment of goods. Letters also written from Kentucky, Missouri, and California. Diary of Martha Logan describes the route taken to California in 1864.

Diary and scrapbook concerning movements of the U.S.S. NEW ORLEANS, from 30 April-30 June 1898; Spanish-American War clippings; printed copy of 1878 address; THE U.S.S. SAINT LEWIS WEEKLY; naval academy chapel bulletin; and short story.

The collection contains typed copies of letters from soldiers in Sherman's army to relatives in Ohio describing army life. Telegram to Sherman from Henry Halleck, 1864, announcing victory over enemy in battle. Letters pertaining to James R. Milner's assignment in the army.

Papers of a tobacco plantation owner who moved from near Louisville, Kentucky, to Callaway County, Missouri, about 1828. Family affairs and farming are discussed.

Price list of L. and I.J. White Company, a Buffalo, NY, firm making edge tools and planes; letter; and miscellaneous clippings, including article on reelection of Francis M. Cockrell for fifth term, inauguration of William McKinley, obituaries, poems and other items.

A letter, 5 April 1861, listing law books and where they might be purchased; a handbill for an administrator's sale, 6 June 1876; and a handwritten legal bond, 6 October 1884. Major was a public administrator.

Financial records, correspondence, notary public records, newspaper clippings, and miscellaneous items of Byron V. Morris and Frank B. Morris, Rockbridge, Ozark County, MO. Account books from B.V. Morris' businesses.

Letter, 1811, from Eunice Lowell to her children inquiring as to their health. She speaks of the religious conversion to Christ of several of her neighbors which took place "on the mountain." Reference to the conversion of a hundred or more others as well. Also an urgent request for money to buy wool. Letter, 1851, to Ira Smith from Joseph Smith concerning family health, his desire to see them, and the possibility of employment in a new saw mill.

Typed copy of diary which gives an account of trip from Milwaukee to Boise City, ID, in 1864. Describes the journey over the old Oregon Trail, storms, severity of weather, shortage of food and water for their livestock, scarcity of firewood and wild game food for themselves, difficulties in fording rivers, fear of Indian attack, encounters with Indians wanting to trade, and other problems of wagon train life.

Commencement week program, 1903. Booklet, "Songs of Missouri."

Letters to McCune, sheriff of Ralls County, MO, concerning land taxes. Delinquent land tax list for 1868 which were paid in 1870.

Bills of sale, accounts, and correspondence of flour milling company.

Primarily letters written by A.J. McRoberts to his wife Mollie during the Civil War, and her replies. McRoberts was a Union sympathizer living in Saline County, MO. His wife had returned to her family in Ohio. They describe conditions in their respective locales. Other letters discuss family affairs.

Letter of recommendation, teaching certificate, recipe for pickled pork, and commission as probate judge.

Correspondence to Arch and W. B. McRoberts in Monticello, Missouri, concerning the state legislature. Also includes an account book, 1851-1874, Lewis County, Missouri, Board of Education record book, 1866-1870, book of sermons and home medicines, and a U.S. INFANTRY & RIFLE TACTICS BOOK, 1861.

Typed copies of letters to [William Barclay] Napton from his wife, discussing family incidents and activities.

Accounts and receipts of a Jackson, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, resident for taxes, groceries and produce, household goods, and labor.

Civil War letters written by Captain Perkins from a Union prison camp near Sandusky, OH.

Typed copies of letters which appeared in THE SUNNY SOUTH. Cover such subjects as the Revolution, Episcopal Church, politics, and Sebree family genealogy. Also personal letters.

Campaign tour scrapbook, 1934; newspaper clippings scrapbook; and speeches of a U.S. senator from Missouri, 1928-1934.

Deeds to land in [Charette] Village, District of St. Charles, to Thomas Parmer from Joseph Chartrau and Joseph Larrevy, and instruments recording the deeds, 1834. Also plan of town of Rockcastle, MO, 1837.

Compositions containing biographical material and merchandising information, written by the head of the J.C. Penney chain stores. Pamphlets on the J.C. Penney Missouri farms. Also a reproduction of the PLEASANT RIDGE PEARL, 1859, containing an oration by Penney's father.

Indenture between Theobold, Earl of Carlingford, and Charles Brett, 1737; letter to French poet Alphonse de Lamartine and his reply, 1859; and patent materials.

Receipts, five-day furlough for Pendleton during the Civil War, judgment against Caldwell and Mitchell, and page of accounts with a general store.

Synopsis of letters written between 1848 and 1850 by Alexander M. Philpott, the editor's uncle. A.M. Philpott was a medical student in Jefferson City when he left for the gold fields. He died in Sacramento, 1850. Also genealogical information.

Photostat copies of letters from St. Louis, Missouri Territory, to his brother John Post in Vermont commenting on land prices, condition and availability.

Commencement programs, 1899 and 1900, and catalogue, 1914-1915.

The papers contain campaign materials from Wilson’s 1970 challenge to the 8th district’s incumbent U.S. congressman Richard H. Ichord, arranged as county files or research and reference files; Columbia City Council files arranged alphabetically by topic; and material regarding cable television coming to Columbia.

Written about family affairs from Louisville, KY; Lexington, MO; Cincinnati, OH; and Stewartsville, MO.

Documents concerning land transactions in Shelby County, Missouri. Four deeds, five checks, and two memorial poetry cards.

Letters and papers of a Boonville, MO, family concerned with the McFarland estate, Rankin estate, and the firm of William and Smith Rankin.

Bill of sale for an enslaved African American by Betsey Rutter to her husband. Notice in regard to stray horse in Knox County, MO. Letter from General Land Office, Shelby County, MO.

Two manuscripts, a contract, and a newspaper obituary of Opie Read, humorist and novelist. Manuscript of four-act play, "Young Abraham," based on the romance of Abraham Lincoln and Ann Rutledge. The other manuscript is a short story. Both were written by Read.

The papers contain positive photostats of the following: two letters from John Y. Rankin, Confederate soldier, describing the last two years of the Civil War; two letters to John Rice of Palmyra, Missouri, one of which is from Thomas Marlin; deeds of gold claims in Utah Territory and Montana for William Rice.

John Dubois' membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, April 7, 1851; Little Miami and Columbus and Xenia Railroad Company, freight ticket, 1863; letter, 1900, concerning Springfield, MO, freight office; and letter to a Springfield daily newspaper from Rice, 1947, with early Missouri historical notes.

Letters, newspaper clippings, and other items concerning the death of a Confederate general in the Battle of Elk Horn, MO, and the removal of the remains to Fayettville, AR.

Papers of George R. Smith, a Missouri pioneer lawyer and politician, and his daughters, Sarah E. Cotton, and Mrs. M.E. Smith. Some letters about the George R. Smith College. Smith was the founder of Sedalia, Missouri.

Letters to Samuel H. Sutherland, a student at the University of Missouri, from his parents in St. Clair County.

Manuscript of DOCTOR WOODWARD'S AMBITION (originally called "The Hospital"), published by Dodd, Mead & Company in 1945. Also notes, clippings, and two letters from the publishers.