18.2 cubic feet, 430 folders, 604 photographs, 5 volumes, 4 items
The DeVerne Calloway Papers contain correspondence, meeting meetings, newspaper clippings, photographs, posters, and scrapbooks chronicling her personal life and career as the first African American woman elected to the Missouri legislature. As the Missouri State Representative from the 70th District (1962-1981), Calloway focused on assisting welfare recipients and prisoners, which is reflected in her correspondence.
This collection can be requested to view at State Historical Society of Missouri research centers. Appointments are strongly encouraged to ensure that requested materials are available at the time of your visit. Make an appointment using the research request form.
The State Historical Society of Missouri collects materials documenting all aspects of Missouri history. Some of our paper and digital collections as well as older finding aids may include harmful or outdated language and could be considered offensive. SHSMO does not censor its collections, but we endeavor to be accurate and inclusive in how we describe them.
We are committed to revising and updating our descriptive language; however, with thousands of finding aids, this is ongoing and will take time. When processing new collections, we will occasionally re-use language provided by creators and former owners of the collection because it provides important context about the materials or appears in the formal names of organizations or titles of materials in the collection. In all finding aids, archivists work to contextualize the contents of manuscript collections.