Saint Louis

Robert Tyszka Slides, 1970s-2000s (CA6540)
0.2 cubic feet

Images of various Missouri locations, including many in the St. Louis area, taken by an amateur photographer.

U.S. Olympic Festival-'94 Collection, 1990-1994 (S1226)
1 cubic foot

 Finding Aid

The U.S. Olympic Festival-’94 Collection contains press releases, advertising summaries, fact sheets, news clippings, and videos pertaining to the U.S. Olympic Festival-’94, held in St. Louis, Missouri, from July 1 to July 10, 1994. The United States Olympic Committee held the festival annually during non-Olympic years, to showcase young athletes who had the potential to participate in the World Olympics. Janet Kelley-Harmon, vice president of public relations and advertising for the 1994 festival, collected these materials. The materials in this collection date from 1990 to 1994.

U.S. Superintendency of Indian Affairs, St. Louis Records, 1807-1855 (C2969)
6 rolls of microfilm

 Finding Aid

Correspondence, account books and treaties with various Indian tribes. Much of the material is to and from Indian agents at the area agencies. The bulk of the material is from the period when William Clark was superintendent. Also included are records of the Missouri Fur Company, 1812-1817.

Originals at Kansas State Historical Society.

U.S. Superintendency of Indian Affairs, St. Louis Records, 1824-1851 (C2970)
10 rolls of microfilm

 Finding Aid

Papers pertain to surveying of Indian lands, expenses of agencies, establishment of trading posts for the Indians, policy for emigrating Indians west of the Mississippi, depredations by Indians and estimates of costs accrued, negotiations and expenses involved with treaties, transcriptions of various chiefs' speeches and reports on the conflicts between various tribal groups.

U.S. Work Projects Administration, Historical Records Survey of Missouri, 1935-1942 (C3551)
302 cubic feet (24,282 folders); also available on 817 rolls of microfilm

 Finding Aid

Correspondence, records, and working files. Originally designed to survey and inventory all county government records, the survey finally included inventories of church records, manuscript collections, vital statistics, American imprints, and federal archives. Incorporates records of the Federal Writers Project for Missouri.

Uljee Family Papers, 1884-2007 (S0350)
6 cubic feet, 1322 photographs, 21 audio tapes, 43, audio disks, 44 audio cassettes, 1 object

 Digitized Materials

 Finding Aid

The collection contains correspondence, diaries, photographs, musical programs, military papers, vital records, and school papers chronicling the lives of Albert Martin Uljee I, Eleanor Gorges, Albert M. Uljee II, and Eileen Rue who lived in St. Louis. Materials of interest include correspondence to and from Albert M. Uljee II discussing his World War II experience, and materials documenting the musical career of Eleanor Gorges, who performed as a concert pianist under the pseudonym Olga Boris.

N. Robert Underhill Papers, 1943-1945, 2017 (C4470)
0.4 cubic feet (8 folders), 16.1 MB of digital files (1 docx, 5 jpgs)

 Digitized Materials

 Finding Aid

The collection contains love letters written during World War II from N. Robert “Bob” Underhill to Merrilee Ann Meier of St. Louis during their courtship and shortly after their marriage while Bob was serving in the U.S. Navy in Panama and along the northeastern seaboard of the United States. The collection also includes some family correspondence; a memoir based on the love letters by Bob and Merrilee’s daughter, Catherine Underhill Fitzpatrick; transcripts of the letters; and digital photographs.

United Brothers of Friendship and Sisters of the Mysterious Ten Records, 1908-1980 (S0127)
0.01 cubic foot

 Finding Aid

This collection contains articles of incorporation and bylaws of a fraternal, benevolent association of African-American men and women in Missouri.

United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers Collection, 1925-1995 (S0756)
0.8 cubic foot, 20 folders

 Finding Aid

The United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers (UE) was founded in 1936 as a labor union, and affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) until 1948. As anti-Communist tensions escalated in post-WWII years, Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. The Act required union officers to sign an affidavit disavowing their ties to the Communist Party. Several UE officers refused to sign the affidavit, and, as a result, the CIO expelled the UE from the union and created the International Union of Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers (IUE) in its place. Many of the papers and artifacts contained herein come from the personal collection of Lloyd Austin, a former employee of Emerson Electric in St. Louis. Austin’s collection contains original copies of the Emerson Equalizer, a newsletter published by the Local 1102 UERWCIO during the Emerson Electric sit-in of 1937. The sit-in lasted 53 days and sought to gain recognition from Emerson President Joseph Newman. When the strike finally ended, Newman conceded and agreed to recognize worker’s rights under the Wagner Act of 1935. The remainder of this collection consists of World War II worker propaganda, pro/anti-Communist literature, news clippings pertaining to the Emerson strike, and a second scrapbook by Emerson employee William C. Reidel.

United Nations Association of St. Louis Records, 1945-1999 (S0446)
29 cubic feet, 116 photographs, 2 audio tapes

 Digitized Materials

 Finding Aid

The records of the United Nations Association of St. Louis contain correspondence, publications, minutes, newsletters, and programs pertaining to the group's mission to increase understanding of world problems and the United Nations' effectiveness in dealing with them. Correspondents include Edna Gellhorn, James S. McDonnell, Jr., and Eleanor Roosevelt.

United State Army Air Forces, 74th Flying Training Detachment, Chester Field Collection, circa 1944 (R1284)
(1 folder)

 Finding Aid

This collection consists of a twenty-five page booklet, "Flight Lines," that recorded the graduates of Class 44F from Primary Flying Training at Chester Army Air Field in McBride, Missouri published on February 12, 1944.

Unity Christian Church Records, 1931-2023 (S0510)
0.2 cubic feet, 10 folders, 63 photographs

 Finding Aid

The Unity Christian Church Records contain bylaws, meeting minutes, church directories, church programs, and photographs documenting the church's mission to spread the truth of Jesus Christ as interpreted by Charles and Myrtle Fillmore through the United School of Christianity and the Association of Unity Churches.

University City Residential Trust Records, 1970-2002 (S1031)
0.3 cubic feet

 Finding Aid

The University City Residential Trust Records contain correspondence, meeting minutes, and newspaper clippings relating to the University City Rental Trust’s (UCRT) mission to maintain cultural diversity during the integration process in the University City area. UCRT attempted to accomplish this task by purchasing homes in University City and renting them to white families in neighborhoods where African American children outnumbered white children in the elementary district.

University of Missouri, Saint Louis Black History Project Collection, 1911-1983 (S0201)
5 cubic feet, 143 folders, 415 photographs, 17 audio tapes, 7 microfilm rolls

 Digitized Materials

 Finding Aid

This National Historical Publications and Records Commission funded project collected historical source material documenting the African-American experience in St. Louis. The project developed a slide presentation and held three conferences on St. Louis African-American history from 1981 to 1983. The collection includes correspondence, reports, surveys, biographical information, and a slide show.

Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis Collection, 1938-1982 (S0093)
0.2 cubic foot, 5 folders

 Finding Aid

The collection consists of annual reports, newsletters, and pamphlets chronicling the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis’s efforts to provide social services for the St. Louis area’s African American population.

Florence Wyman Richardson Usher Scrapbooks, 1909-1913 (S0059)
1 microfilm roll

 Finding Aid

Florence Wyman Richardson Usher helped found the Equal Suffrage League of St. Louis in 1910. She chaired the League's lecture committee for six years and was a member of the board of governors in 1912. The scrapbooks in this collection document suffrage activities both nationally and in St. Louis. They include news clippings, correspondence, public notices, programs, leaflets, and Usher's annotations.

Thomas Watt Ustick Papers, 1849-1866 (C0183)
0.3 cubic feet

 Finding Aid

Correspondence, bills, receipts and licenses of a St. Louis printer. Summonses and other papers pertaining to a law suit in LaCrosse, WI. Indentures, contracts and miscellaneous papers, and family history.

Valle Mining Company Records, 1839-1884 (R1278)
(12 rolls of microfilm)

 Finding Aid

These are account books, ledgers, cash books, and other business records of the Valle Mining company at Valles Mines, Missouri. Most of the collection concerns mining on the Valle tract in Jefferson and Saint Francois Counties and related general merchandizing at the company's store. There are various records showing the receipt and shipment of ores, names of individual miners, charges and credits to individual and company accounts, and shipments of mineral to the Carondelet Zinc Works at Carondelet, Missouri, and consignment houses in Saint Louis and New York.

Charles Van Ravenswaay Papers, 1841-1990 (C3873)
21.8 cubic feet (1,359 folders), 1 audio cassette

 Digitized Materials

 Finding Aid

Correspondence, research notes, photographs, and literary manuscripts of historian and author Charles van Ravenswaay, former director of the Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis; Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, Massachusetts; and the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum and Gardens, Wilmington, Delaware.

Vandeventer Nites Manuscript , 1988 (S0880)
0.01 cubic foot, 1 folder

 Finding Aid

This collection contains the 1988 manuscript of Vandeventer Nites: A Tale of Gay Life in the Midwest (and a party you won’t want to miss) by Jerrold Rabushka.

Kathryn Brossard Clarke Varnell Oral History, 1922-1992 (S0632)
0.01 cubic foot

This collection contains an oral history of Kathryn Brossard Clarke. She discusses her experiences in St. Louis with her son, John Rodney Clarke.

Charles Vatterott Dissertation Collection, 1919-1972 (S1004)
3 cubic feet, 75 folders

 Finding Aid

This collection contains correspondence, articles, oral history interviews, and photographs collected by Cornelia Frances Sexauer for her 2003 thesis, "Catholic Capitalism: Charles Vatterott, Civil Rights and Suburbanization in St. Louis and the Nation 1919-1972." Charles Vatterott was a real estate and civil rights activist, who was instrumental in creating the St. Louis Interracial Justice council in 1944. He also established the Vatterott Foundation in 1948 to improve educational and career advancement opportunities for ethnic and religious minorities.

Amy Newell Verseman Papers, 1977-2011 (S0349)
0.8 cubic feet

 Finding Aid

The Amy Newell Verseman Papers contain correspondence, meeting minutes, photographs, artwork, and posters documenting her involvement with Archon, a St. Louis-area science fiction and fantasy convention. Materials of interest include correspondence from noted Science-fiction authors Robert Bloch and Philip Jose Farmer. 

Video Collection, 1990-2011 (S0832)
1 cubic foot, 34 videotapes

 Finding Aid

The Video Collection consists of VHS tapes, DVDs and other video formats of recordings pertaining to St. Louis history. Topics of interest include the Gateway Arch, Fran Landesman, Pruitt-Igoe, and the Saint Louis Zoo. Also included in this collection are oral histories staff members conducted with Judith Styx, James Neal Primm, and Irene Cortinovis.

Elaine Viets Papers, 1967-2018 (S1239)
12 cubic feet

 Finding Aid

The Elaine Viets Papers contains correspondence, copy-edited manuscripts, photographs, books, and newspaper clippings pertaining to her career as a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (1972-1997) and mystery writer of the Francesca Vierling, Dead-End Job, and Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper series. Materials of interest include correspondence from fans of Viets’s mystery novels wishing her well after her stroke in 2007, as well as photographs from Viets’s book tours and the set of Viets Beat, a KMOV talk show Viets hosted in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Also included in this collection are scrapbooks containing Viets’s columns for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, written between 1972 and 1995. The newspaper clippings are incomplete, however, as they do not contain her St. Louis Post-Dispatch columns written from 1996 to 1997.

Village à Robert, Missouri, Plat, 1794 (C1667)
0.02 cubic feet (1 folder)

 Finding Aid

Surveyed by M[onsieur] Bouvet, under the command of Captain F. Dunegan of St. Ferdinand, by order of Zenon Trudeau, lieutenant-governor at St. Louis. Includes names of landholders.

John Diedrich Voerster Collection, 1802-2002 (S1115)
0.5 cubic foot

 Digitized Materials

 Finding Aid

The John Diedrich Voerster collection includes family tree data for the Voerster family. Also included in this collection is family tree data from the descendants of John Diedrich Voerster (1802-1878), Engelbert Voerster (1842-1908), and John Voerster (1870-1936). The collection also includes forty-six photographs of Voerster family members.

Harry Anton Voight Papers, 1918-1951 (R1166)
1 cubic foot (26 folders, 419 photographs)

The Harry Anton Voight Papers contain the photocopies and original papers of a marine engineer, steamboat inspector, and Coast Guard officer who spent most of his career working on the Ohio River. Included are applications for federal positions, papers concerning service in the Marine Inspection Service and Coast Guard, photographs of the Ohio River flood of 1945, and personal papers.

Voluntary Interdistrict Coordination Council Collection, 1986-1987 (S1007)
0 .4 cubic feet

 Finding Aid

The Voluntary Interdistrict Coordination Council collection contains newsletters, reports, and a settlement agreement connected to the development of the magnet schools in St. Louis.

Benjamin Von Phul Letter, 1891 (C3265)
0.02 cubic feet (1 folder)

 Finding Aid

To William P. Barlow, St. Louis, Missouri, from St. Louis, Missouri, November 5, 1891. Regards lieutenants in Von Phul’s Battery, Missouri Artillery, Confederate States of America.

Vorwaerts Workmen's Singing Society Records, 1895-1977 (S0237)
3.2 cubic feet, 79 folders

 Digitized Materials

 Finding Aid

German immigrants formed Arbeiter Gesangverein "Vorwaertrs" to maintain their musical heritage and to promote working-class interests. Voerwaerts and Damenchor Vorwaerts presented regular concerts and participated in national songfests. Walter Hoops edited the Saenger Zeitung, the national journal from 1967 to 1977. The collection contains protocol books, financial ledgers, correspondence, programs, and issues of the Saenger Zeitung.

W.C. Gilman & Co., St. Louis Metropolitan Area Transportation Study, 1959 (S0405)
0.01 cubic foot

 Finding Aid

The St. Louis Metropolitan Area Population, Land Use, and Employment Study contains population, land, and employment estimates for the St. Louis area in 1957 and provided projections for 1970 and 1980. Dr. Ernest Jurkart of Marketers Research Services, Inc. authored the study.

Herb Waerckle Papers, 1942-2000 (S1008)
1 cubic foot, 6 photographs

 Finding Aid

The papers of Herb Waerckle contain family histories and a scrapbook pertaining to Waeckerle's career as a journalist for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and as well as his career in public relations working for the Schnucks and Monsanto.

Lisa Wagaman Papers, 1974-1992 (S0542)
6.4 cubic feet, 112 folders

 Finding Aid

The Lisa Wagaman papers contain meeting minutes, publications, buttons, posters, flyers, t-shirts, and newspapers relating to her activism in St. Louis's LGBTQ community. Also included in this collection are early records of the Mid-Continent Life Services, Inc.

Wainright Building Photographs, 1890-1891, 1982 (P0817)
4 photographs

Photos of the Wainwright Building, St. Louis, in 1982, and one photo of its construction.

Mark Waldemer Labor Collection, 1920-1997 (S1193)
2 cubic feet

 Finding Aid

This collection contains labor agreements, correspondence, news articles, and photographs documenting Mark Waldemer's labor activism.

Wallace Family Papers, 1929-1983 (S0725)
0.25 cubic feet, 5 folders, 33 photographs

 Digitized Materials

 Finding Aid

The Wallace Family Papers contain the papers of Lester James Wallace (1902-1985) and his wife Eleanor Wallace (1903-1986), a Catholic family who lived at 4852 Tiemann Street in St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. Wallace worked as a truck driver for ice cream and wholesale dairy operations in the 1940s and 1950s. Their papers include correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, a volume of Wallace Family History, an identification card, and a WWII draft card.

Richard R. Wallin St. Louis Streetcars Photo Collection, 1958 (S1137)
0.01 cubic foot

 Digitized Materials

 Finding Aid

This collection contains thirty 35mm slides of St. Louis and Illinois streetcars, photographed by Richard R. Wallin for Blackhawk Films and published in 1958. The slides also include images of stations such as Wellston Loop Depot.

E.P. Walsh Letter, 1885 (C2682)
0.02 cubic feet (1 folder)

 Finding Aid

To [N.B.] Allen, Jefferson City, MO, from St. Louis, MO, Feb. 25, 1885.

Request for the support of Allen, a member of the Missouri legislature, for a bill providing for collection of historical documents. Walsh was secretary for the Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis.

J. and E. Walsh Invoice, 1831 (C2458)
0.02 cubic feet (1 folder)

 Finding Aid

Invoice for a quantity of goods sent to Campbell and Company, Desmoin Rappids, by J. and E. Walsh, St. Louis, MO, July 30, 1831. Signed by Thos. O. Flaherty.

Virginia Walton Postcard Collection, no date (P0142)
1 folder

A collection of Missouri postcards, including many from the St. Louis and Kansas City areas.

Warehouse Employees Local 667 Strike Bulletins, 1935-1936 (S0217)
0.01 cubic foot, 1 folder

Warehouse employees called a strike against Kroger Grocery and Baking Company on November 7, 1935. The union demanded an increase in wages, seniority rights, a closed shop, and an end to work speedup programs. In March 1936, the International Executive Board revoked Local 667's charter for failure to comply with the International's negotiated settlement. The bulletins detail the strike activity, negotiations, support from other unions, and the use of scab labor.

Washington University Photographs, 1936-1956 (P0194)

Photographs of Washington University, ca. 1936 and 1952.

Washington University School of Medicine, Class of 1943, Photograph, 1943 (P0581)
1 photograph

Class photograph from the Washington University School of Medicine, December 1943.

Washington University Ugly Club Poster, 1871 (C2841)
0.02 cubic feet (1 folder)

 Finding Aid

Caricatures of Harry H. Cabot, W.R. Schuyler, E.M. Bowman, Emile R. Abadie, Lyne S. Metcalfe, Jr., Stephen H. Jecko, Freddy Cline, W.J.S. Bryan, and Elliot C. Jewett. OVERSIZE.

Arthur Washington Papers, 1929-1995 (S1113)
1 cubic foot, 72 folders, 52 photographs

 Digitized Materials

 Finding Aid

The Arthur Washington Papers contains student handbooks, school programs, memos, certificates, and photographs pertaining to Washington's involvement in Sumner High School's academic and athletic programs. The collection also documents Washington's involvement with Alpha Phi Alpha, the Archdiocesan Development Appeal, and the campaign to revitalize the Ville neighborhood.

WBDA LP Records Collection, 1920-1930 (S1089)
0.01 cubic foot

 Finding Aid

This collection contains two LP records recorded at WBPA Sound Systems in Webster Groves, MO. Included in the recordings is a Jewish wedding and music.

Weaver Family Papers, 1941-1943 (S1168)
1 cubic foot, 28 folders

 Digitized Materials

 Finding Aid

This collection consists of correspondence between Jack Weaver and Ruth Riddick, a St. Louis-area couple, during World War II. In Weaver's letters to Riddick, he describes his service in the United States Army, providing insight into his daily life and the training he underwent in the Army's Officer Candidate School. Riddick's letters to Weaver include descriptions of life in St. Louis during the war, as well as her activities in church functions and work at United Motors as a secretary. Weaver and Riddick married in June 1943.

Webster Groves High School Memorabilia Collection, 1960-2015 (S1203)
0.25 cubic feet

 Finding Aid

This collection consists of Webster High School yearbooks, newspaper clippings, obituaries, and a photograph.

Webster Groves Nature Study Society Bulletins, 1996-1998 (S1010)
1 cubic foot

 Finding Aid

This collection consists of Issues of Nature Notes, the Bulletin of the Webster Groves Nature Society, Vol. 68, No. 6-Vol. 70, December 1998.