Columbia Manuscript Collections

The records contain departmental correspondence, 1958-1963, and the papers of W.C. Curtis, department member from 1901-1962.

The papers of Ernest Jesse Palmer contain correspondence between Palmer and his associates in fields of botany, geology, and archaeology. Most of collection deals with identification of plant species, especially the hawthorn (Crataegus). Also included is correspondence with his family in Webb City, Missouri, and W.D. Rush, a life-long friend.

The records of the College of Arts and Science contain correspondence, reports and forms from the dean’s office discussing faculty, administration, policies, courses, committees, conferences and specific problems, in addition to correspondence and reports pertaining to Missouri Bible College, Missouri College Union, and junior college accreditation.

Professor of Education at the University of Missouri, Carpenter served as educational advisor to General MacArthur during post-World War II occupation of Japan. Scrapbooks of news clippings, photos of Japanese schools, miscellaneous photos, maps, and posters.

Curtis was professor of economics and finance at the University of Missouri, and served as dean of the school of Business and Public Administration from 1936 to 1942. Papers contain correspondence related to academic courses, faculty, students, and jobs. Also includes some business questionnaires and conference programs.

The collection contains a program of service held at Westminster College Chapel, Fulton, Missouri, on occasion of Truman’s death.

Report of 1972 tour by American newspaper editors of People’s Republic of China, written by Robert M. White II, the editor of Missouri’s Mexico Ledger. Topics covered include trips to the Great Wall, Peking and Shanghai; meetings with Chou En-lai; and social, economic, and political conditions of life in China.

The papers of the McKee family of Oxford, Mississippi, contain letters, deeds, contracts, and wills. The materials include frequent reference to William McKee, sheriff of Lafayette County, and Frank McKee, owner of local hardware store; as well as one miscellaneous newspaper page from Green Forest, Arkansas.

The collection contains programs from the Society’s exhibition on April 6, 1860, and anniversary on July 3, 1860.

The collection contains a scrapbook compiled for a journalism class. Included are draft and final articles concerning Dean William Bradshaw of the University of Missouri School of Business and Public Administration, University of Missouri, and local and national news. Also includes miscellaneous quizzes.

The papers of the Westover-Whelen family contain photocopies of court records concerning the Westover and Whelen family estates in St. Francois County, Missouri.

The collection contains a copy of an unidentified woman’s account of the journey from Indiana to Washington. The copy was made about 1925-1930 and includes a record of the weather, environment, illnesses, encounters with indigenous people, territory covered each day, lists of provisions, and charges and expenses kept by George Royse.

The collection contains undated photographs of Academic Hall and of the football team, 1894 and 1895.

The collection contains a summary of the memorial service for a Kansas City businessman and brother-in-law of William Bradshaw of Columbia, Missouri.

The papers of Ethlyn Cockrell, a Missouri schoolteacher, World War I Army nurse, and Red Cross public health nurse, include material on the American Red Cross and photographs.

The papers of Lewis M. Switzler contain news clippings, photographs, and correspondence on the Civil War, Boone County, Missouri, history, and national events; poetry; anecdotes; and family announcements.

Photographs of the University of Missouri campus, sports events, student activities, and individual students. Includes scenes of Columbia, MO.

Lecture notes and related material for the protozoology course given by Curtis in the zoology department of the University of Missouri. Published articles by other authors from Curtis’ collection, a few personal letters, and photographs. Also, by-laws and business correspondence of the Westmount Civic Improvement Association, 1908-1917.

The papers contain feature articles and news stories, many written by Mary B. Aker, which appeared in newspapers in the area near Parkville, Platte County, Missouri. Also includes deed of land to Female Orphan School in Camden Point and a history of the telephone company in Parkville.

Memoir of an unknown observer (actually Theodore Pease Russell) of the 1864 Battle of Pilot Knob. He describes weapons used, skirmishes, regiments, officers, and casualties.

Transcriptions and photostatic negatives of autobiographical letters from [Henry] Hatch to his grandson, Henry Green. Letters contain information about William Henry Hatch, father of the writer, who lived in Maine in the early 1800s, and the business career of the writer in Missouri, Boston, California, Peru, and Australia.

Fragment of diary written while in the Missouri Volunteers, January 11-April 25, 1865. Describes searches for food, swampy marches, diseases, guard and picket duty, and scouting. Writes about the daily weather and names friends with whom he corresponded.

The diary gives day to day temperature reading, January 30-December 31, in Ralls County, Missouri, and one line telling how he spent each day, at school, home, or attending to farm chores.

The papers contain letters and official papers to and from the quartermaster's office and the chief of ordnance and ordnance stores. Breese was captain of the 6th Missouri Volunteer Cavalry in charge of ordnance and ordnance stores during the Civil War.

The papers contain correspondence, receipts, promissory notes, receipts for sale of slaves, land surveys, deeds, indentures, and a book of mathematic examples of John A. and Nathan Glasgow of Columbia and Millersburg, Missouri.

Article titled, “Downingville, Vinita or The Junction.” Excerpt from the book, Vinita, I. T., The Story of a Frontier Town of the Cherokee Nation, 1871-1907. Contains references to Vinita Ream.

The papers contain a letter from James Standley, Carrollton, Missouri, to his son, Milton in Sacramento, California, 1852. Also, a transcription of the letter, a genealogy of James Standley, and other miscellaneous records of James Standley transcribed by Anne Standley Brunt.

Nine letters written by Doniphan to his cousin, Miss H. Emma Doniphan of Washington, D.C. He writes about his family, his health, and his education, and makes observations on politics and politicians.

The papers contain newspapers and other articles, mostly about agriculture and small towns in Missouri, by Roy Godsey, journalist and early air travel promoter; letters to Godsey from national and state officials; original manuscript of his novel, Aunt Betty; and miscellaneous items of interest to Godsey.

An unpublished biography of William Marion Reedy written by his wife Margaret Reedy; autobiography of Margaret Reedy; and correspondence and miscellaneous papers of Margaret Reedy. Correspondence is in regards to a search of any works written by William Reedy and miscellaneous papers include an interview of Margaret Reedy published in a journal, information on The Mirror, and an obituary of Margaret Reedy.

The papers of John A. Hockaday contain newspaper clippings and personal items kept by a Fulton, Missouri, lawyer and his wife, Edith Langstaff Hockaday. Hockaday held the offices of city and county attorney, state senator, and attorney general of Missouri.

The collection contains itemized amounts of purchases in the household of Thomas B. and Mary Todd Gentry of Columbia, Missouri, for thirty-two years.

The collection contains negative photostats of an official survey, by township, of Putnam County, Missouri, 1844-1854, and plats of thirteen towns in the county showing blocks and street names, 1857-1866.

The collection contains appointments as a notary public and deputy attorney general; and to the Society of the Sons of the Revolution, to the commission to revise Missouri statutes, and to the Board of Curators of the University of Missouri.

The collection contains copies of wills of a Virginia planter and his widow, who lived at Marmion, King George County, Virginia.

The Frank Ackerman Papers contain extensive documentation of his work on behalf of people with intellectual disabilities in Missouri. This includes his research materials on services offered to people with intellectual disabilities nationwide and his work for various organizations in Missouri. A lesser amount of material covers his farming business in Pike County, Missouri, and the funeral of Viola Ackerman. Materials include correspondence, meeting minutes, reports, printed materials, organizational records, and handwritten notes.

The Barnds papers consist of an undated memoir and a scrapbook of a farmer who lived in St. Charles and Saline Counties, Missouri. Barnds writes about early Methodism, his family before and after marriage, and the hardships of farm life.

The papers include transcripts of a court case in which Massie, formerly of Sangamon County, Illinois, was convicted of larceny from a steamboat; letters of support for Massie; a clemency petition signed by the citizens of Sangamon County, including Abraham Lincoln; and the pardon, signed by Missouri Governor Lilburn W. Boggs.

The collection contains proclamations of Columbus Day by Governor David R. Francis; Thanksgiving Day and LaFayette Day by Governor Lon Vest Stephens, and calls for relief of flood-damaged Steelville, Missouri. These proclamations bear the seal of the State of Missouri.

The menu and formal opening program of the Daniel Boone Tavern on October 13, 1917.

The records contain a list of names and street addresses of residents of Chaffee, Missouri, served by the mail carriers of route no. 1 in the town between 1929 and 1957.

Meeting minutes, scrapbooks, photographs, newspaper clippings, publications, and miscellaneous material of the Columbia, Missouri, League of Women Voters.

Correspondence, reference materials, minutes of meetings, special events, and media material used in planning commemoration of Morrill Land-Grant Act.

The papers of Warren Browne contain the original manuscript of “Titan vs. Taboo: The Life of William Benjamin Smith” and letters and materials used by Browne in writing his book about Smith, mathematician, philosopher, poet, and Biblical critic.

The papers of Frederick Mumford contain reports, notes, documents, data and correspondence, most of which was used by Dean Mumford in preparation of his book, History of the Missouri College of Agriculture, published in 1944 as “Bulletin” 483 of the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station.

Photographs, biographies, newspaper clippings, and correspondence compiled by John H. Norton concerning surviving members of a Spanish-American War company comprising University of Missouri students.

The Peter Mayo Papers consist of correspondence between Chicago architect Mayo and editorial cartoonists throughout the United States requesting original cartoons for his collection. There is also an audio tape of a Mayo interview.

Programs, clippings, photographs, postcards, and miscellaneous items, collected by a Columbia, Missouri, resident and member of several women's organizations.

Three ledgers containing listings of items such as livestock, feed, wages, and other expenses involved in maintaining the household and farm of Derby Bass in Boone County, Missouri. Records of the Deer Park Red Cross Society, 1917-1918, kept by Ella Bass.

Records of Dr. James F. Rupe of Clay County, Missouri, including ledgers; account books, Paradise, Missouri, Christian Church treasurer's books; two warranty deeds; and four diplomas, including his diploma from medical college in St. Joseph, Missouri, in 1886, and photographs.

Business correspondence, financial papers, photographic salon stickers, prizes, and other items of St. Louis professional photographer Charles Trefts, organizer of the Advertising Slide Company. His photographic collection was presented to the State Historical Society in 1964.

Letters received by Reverend Albert J. Prokes, administrator of St. John Nepomuk Catholic Church in St. Louis, Missouri, from parishioners serving in the armed forces during World War II.

The daybooks of Agnes Lee Hadley Haskell, wife of Governor Herbert S. Hadley and later wife of Henry J. Haskell, editor of the Kansas City Star, contain records and diary entries noting her social and club engagements and the activities of her children; and various programs, newspaper clippings, receipts, and correspondence.

Land sale indentures, correspondence, and unsigned Civil War forms.

Printouts showing pledging results under 1969 quota, with no quota and with a self- (by sororities) determining quota.

Correspondence, executive committee meeting notes, minutes of annual meeting, copies of constitution, proposed revision, and constitution adopted in 1973.

Office correspondence of Henry J. Waters, who from 1895 to 1909 was dean of the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, professor of agriculture, and director of the experiment station at the University of Missouri.

Clarence Eugene Lemmon was a Disciples of Christ minister in Columbia, Missouri. Church and limited family correspondence; sermon outlines and typescripts; notes and outlines for articles and books; First Christian Church materials; biographical and financial materials; and religious magazines and books.

Commission as clerk of circuit court; commission as captain of Company A, 28th Regiment, Illinois Infantry Volunteers; subsequent commissions as lieutenant-colonel and colonel; mustering out rolls, limited correspondence, tax receipts, and various land deeds. Two diaries, will, and correspondence.

Papers of an active churchwoman and wife of C.E. Lemmon, Disciples of Christ, minister. Personal and church-related materials. 

Records of an association organized to improve and extend the health and welfare of the people of the State of Missouri, and to promote the improvement of public and private social services and the prevention of poverty, crime, and disease in the state. The records consist of correspondence, minutes, committee records, newsletters and conference materials.

The papers of George Pohlman contain material on Macon County and other northern Missouri counties. Included are original survey maps of roads, records from county officials, school and church records, land entries, estate, business and legal papers, biographies and rare English documents.

Letters to Olive Gilbreath from William L. Cazalet, a British businessman living in Russia. Primarily love letters but also include impressions of World War I, the Russian Revolution, and British refugees from Russia.

Papers of a Kansas City, Missouri, investment firm active in Arkansas, Kansas, Texas and Mexico. Business correspondence and papers pertaining to investments in mineral and mining lands, farm and ranch lands, and small manufacture. Examples of letterheads, business cards, and commercial advertising flyers.

Manuscript by an American lawyer who lived in Asia. Correspondence pertaining to Browne's estate. Articles written by Browne's brother-in-law, Henry Kinyon.

Report of the board’s investigation into the airplane crash that killed Congressman Jerry L. Litton, his family, pilot Paul Rupp, Jr., and Rupp's son near Chillicothe, Missouri, on August 3, 1976. Includes reports of groups investigating various aspects of the aircraft, statements of witnesses, a wreckage distribution chart, flight tests, crashworthiness analyses, and test data.

Professional and administrative correspondence related to the departments of Farm Management and Agricultural Economics, University of Missouri, and civic and personal correspondence. 

Correspondence of the Schwarzer family; factory records, catalogs, and photographs of zithers and other stringed instruments manufactured at the zither factory in Washington, Missouri, founded by Schwarzer in 1869.

Constituent correspondence and congressional committee material from Karsten's terms as Democratic congressman from Missouri's 1st District, 1947-1968.

Newspaper clippings about the Missouri constitutional convention of 1943-1944 and about the first five years of transactions of the Missouri State Board of Mediation, a board which acted in public utility labor disputes.

Correspondence, sermon notes, sermons, pastor's books, daybooks, and scrapbooks of a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, bishop, and president of Central College, Fayette, Missouri. 

Collection of American Legion records, World War II letters, and miscellaneous items concerning residents of the El Dorado Springs, Missouri, area. World War II veteran Snell, an officer of Koca-Reeder-Giddens Post No. 233, was in charge of securing financial aid for veterans and their families.

The papers contain notes, correspondence and genealogical records compiled by Lucy Grant Carpenter Bly while tracing all branches of her family. Most of the early letters are to the Carpenter family of Boone County from relatives in Virginia.

The records contain an abstract of real estate, Blackwater assessment district, 1858; notice by county court to taxpayers; militia exemptions; and agriculture records.

The records contain ledgers, daybooks, and papers pertaining to operation of a farm, grist and sawmill and steam threshing and agricultural implement business by Golterman and his nine sons in St. Charles County, Missouri.

The papers contain articles by Pompey on Ozark people, their religions and folk music, and the Civil War in Missouri. Lines and verses of songs are included.

The papers contain an account by Ethel Milton Hughes of the ceremony dedicating a new monument at the grave of Brigadier General John Taylor Hughes, C.S.A. (1817-1862), in Independence, Missouri. Also address delivered on the occasion by Henry A. Bundschu. Hughes was killed in 1862 at the first battle of Independence.

Printed copy of resolution sent to the U.S. Congress by the Missouri State Convention approving a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery in the states and territories.

Two-page history of one of the first Methodist churches west of the Mississippi, written on occasion of its centennial.

History of a house built in Fulton, Missouri, in the 1860s, and occupied until 1963 by the Hockaday family.

Account of formation of the Confederate Home Association, building of the home, cost, dedication, and takeover by the state. List of inmates and list of men and women buried in the cemetery.

History of the post office, the first store, Lake Lovewell, and some early Lovewell residences.

Organization, orders, campaigns, mustering out, and casualties of ten Missouri regiments in the Civil War.

History of Weaubleau Congregational Christian Church and Weaubleau Christian College, 1867-1960, in Weaubleau, Missouri.