Saint Louis Manuscript Collections

This collection contains a timeline, research on housing by the Inter-Religious Council, and newspaper articles on Black Jack, Missouri, compiled by the Parkview Heights Corporation.

This collection contains theater programs from Pope's, Grand Opera Houe and Olympic Theaters.

This collection contains a photocopied family history of the Zepf, Wieben, Roething families in St. Louis, Missouri.

The records of the Western Historical Manuscript Collection (WHMC)-St. Louis contains administrative correspondence, meeting minutes, and monthly and annual reports pertaining to the founding and operation of the office. Subjects of interest include the controversy between the State Historical Society of Missouri (SHSMO) and the University of Missouri–Saint Louis (UMSL) regarding WHMC-St. Louis’s desire to remain independent from WHMC, the creation of UMSL’s University Archives, and the development of WHMC-St. Louis’s oral history program. The materials in this collection date from 1967 to 2011.

The Frank Hamsher papers contain correspondence, reports, meeting minutes, and newspapers, pertaining to Hamsher’s duties as the head of St. Louis City’s Community Development Agency (1981-1982) and counsel to Mayor Vincent Schoemehl (1982-1990). The bulk of the materials in this collection pertain to the St. Louis City-County Board of Freeholders, a nineteen-member panel first established by the Missouri Constitution of 1875, and later revived in 1987 by St. Louis County Executive, Gene McNary. The Board of Freeholders’ mission was to draft a plan for reorganizing St. Louis County municipalities, as well as consider the reunification of St. Louis City and County. Materials of interest include correspondence between Hamsher and Schoemehl, in which Hamsher provides him with advice and analysis on selecting candidates to the Board of Freeholders and public opinion regarding the Board of Freeholder’s plans.

The Elizabeth Terry Papers consists of book drafts, CD-ROMS, cassette tapes, correspondence, manuscripts, interview summaries, photographs, and photocopies of correspondence and newspapers articles regarding Terry’s research and writing of her book Oysters to Angus: Three Generations of the St. Louis Faust Family. The book recounts the lives of Anthony “Tony” Faust (January 3, 1836-September 28, 1906), a prominent St. Louis City restaurateur and owner of Faust’s Fulton Market; his son, Edward Faust (January 13, 1868-July 5, 1936), founder of the St. Louis Boat and Engineering Company; and his grandson, Leicester Busch Faust (December 22, 1897-August 31, 1979), a prominent St. Louis County farmer, who along with his wife, Mary Plant, donated 200 acres of their land to St. Louis County for what eventually became Faust Park, in Chesterfield, Missouri.  

The Dressel Family Papers contains newspaper clippings, newsletters, photographs, and essays pertaining to John M. Dressel (1886-1988), who was one of the founders of the Lindbergh School District and served on the Board of Directors of the Gravois Bank of St. Louis County, Missouri. Items of interest include a history of Sappington School, written by the Junior High History Club in 1936. The materials in this collection date from 1937 to 2001.

The Emmaus Homes Papers contain 20 display panels depicting photographs, artwork, and articles and created in 1903 by clients of and staff of Emmaus Homes on the St. Charles and Marthasville campuses. Emmaus Homes is a faith-based, nonprofit organization providing full time care services to more than 300 adults with developmental disabilities in the St. Louis metropolitan area.

The Christian Women’s Benevolent Association Records contain Christian Women Benevolent Association (CWBA) Board Meeting Minutes (1899–1952); Christian Old People’s Home Ledgers and Meeting Minutes (1915–1949); Christian Hospital of St. Louis Board Meeting Minutes (1923–1959); and scrapbooks, photographs, videotapes, and ephemera relating to the CWBA’s activities from 1899 – 2011.  Most notably, the records include admittance ledgers from the Christian Orphan’s Home as well as the Mothers and Babies Home of St. Louis from 1899 to 1933. The admittance ledgers are a particularly rich source of genealogical information, as they contain applications for entry into the home. Details such as date and place of the child’s birth; vaccination records; parents’ full names, birthplace and occupation, and nationality and religion; and location of the nearest living relative are listed.

The New Life Evangelistic Center (NLEC) Records contain correspondence, meeting minutes, reports, newsletters, newspaper clippings, and photographs documenting NLEC’s mission to provide Christian hospitality to the poor through social service programs and spiritual care. The collection is divided into five series: Administration; Larry Rice; Penny Rice; Chronological Files; Publications; Jim Barnes; Photographs; and Scrapbooks. The Chronological Files series consists of materials Larry Rice and his son, Chris Rice, gathered during their research for their five-volume history of NLEC. This series contains Rice’s handwritten drafts of the book, newspaper clippings, meeting minutes, and photographs, arranged chronologically by year. Other series of interest include the publications series, which consists of issues of the ZOA Free Paper, which NLEC published from 1972 to 2005. The materials in this collection date from 1949 to 2019. 

This collection consists of 21 photographs depicting damage from tornadoes in St. Louis in 1927, and 6 photographs depicting destruction from a fire in an unidentified building in 1939.

The Dennis Owlsey Papers contains filmed lectures, essays, oral history interviews, playlists, and photographs pertaining to his work as a Jazz scholar and critic. Owsley is the long-time host of KWMU's Jazz Unlimited (1983-present), and has written several books on St. Louis Jazz history, including City of Gabriels: The History of Jazz in St. Louis, 1895-1973. Materials of interest in this collection include oral histories Owsley conducted with notable St. Louis Jazz musicians, including Clark Terry, Larry Bowie, and Willie Atkins. Other items of interest include photographs Owsley took of Jazz performances in St. Louis, including the St. Louis Jazz Fest in 1988 and the Mid-America Fest in 1983. The materials in this collection are entirely digital and date from 1978 to 2019.

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.

The Organization for Black Struggle Records (OBS) contains correspondence, press releases, flyers, and newsletters pertaining to the group's mission to address the needs and issues of the Black working class in the St. Louis Metropolitan Area. Topics of interest include housing and job discrimination cases, criminal justice reform, and apartheid in South Africa.

This collection contains meeting minutes, property appraisal cards, annual reports, VHS tapes, and photographs pertaining to the Mercantile Bancorporation’s mission to provide financial services to customers in the Midwest. Materials of interest include property appraisal cards for residential homes in the St. Louis Metropolitan Region. The cards contain information about the lot size, construction material, and estimated value for each individual property. The materials in this collection date from 1936 to 1999.

The River des Peres Watershed coalition contains photographs and glass slide negatives the organization collected chronicling the construction of the River des Peres Sewerage and Drainage Works. The photographs in the collection primarily depict the construction near the Missouri History Museum.

The Optimist International Records contain board and convention meeting minutes, club files, publications, grant files, newspaper clippings, and photographs documenting the organization’s mission to promote the common good in communities, traditionally supporting youth through various programs. Materials of interest include files on individual Optimist Clubs throughout Missouri and the world, which include membership lists and club reports sent to Optimist International. The materials in this collection date from 1919-2019.