Saint Louis Manuscript Collections

This collection contains copies of newspapers published during a labor strike against the major St. Louis dailies in 1973 and 1978.

On June 7, 1975, the US District Court ordered that school districts in the St. Louis County municipalities of Berkeley, Ferguson-Florissant, and the predominantly African American Kinloch merged into a single district. This decision followed a government lawsuit in 1971, maintaining that the Kinloch schools perpetuated an all-African-American created in 1937. It also followed the 1972 Liddell v. Board of Education of St. Louis court decision on school desegregation. Judge James H. Meredith ordered the merger, which was upheld by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. The collection contains newspaper clippings and reports chronicling the merger.

The St. Louis County Court incorporated Pasadena Hills in 1843. The Stifel Company was the first property owner in Pasadena Hills: Carter Realty became the second. A Board of Trustees was implemented in 1949, after Pasadena Hills incorporated into a village. The board is responsible for Pasadena Hills' laws and ordinances. The Pasadena Hills Records include correspondence, legal records, news clippings, maps, architecture drawings, and reports.

The World Affairs Council of St. Louis Records contains correspondence, meeting minutes, literature, and subject files documenting the organization’s efforts to educate citizens on world affairs.

This collection consists of a photograph album containing images of family life and buildings in Stallings, Illinois. Includes grave sites of C.F. Briggs and Mary A. Filbert.

Eileen Stein attended Roosevelt High Evening School and Cleveland High School during the early to mid-1930s. The scrapbook contains school newspapers, greeting cards, letters, memorabilia, and event programs Stein collected during her high school career.

Edmee Baur Nash created three scrapbooks. The first scrapbook contains collected news stories about the Webster Groves League of Women Voters. League news stories were clipped from various St. Louis-area newspapers between 1948 and 1953. The second scrapbook contains family photos. The final scrapbook tracks the development of a child named William Nash, who was adopted into the family in 1936. In addition, the Nash collection contains signed artwork from various artists, a volume of Edmee Nash’s collected poems, and other items related to her writing hobby.

The Paul Kranzberg Papers contain correspondence, photographs, yearbooks, and newspaper clippings pertaining to his career as a St. Louis business owner and advertising executive. Kranzberg was the founder of Padco Advertising Company, co-founder of Affiliated Advertising Agencies International, and worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Food Advertising Department during the Great Depression.

This addenda to the Arthur Witman Papers contain photographs Witman took as a photographer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Subjects of interest include Busch Stadium, Cahokia Mounds, women in World War II, and fundamentalist religious gatherings.

This addenda to the George McCue Papers contains the research files compiled by St. Louis Post Dispatch urban design critic George McCue, as well as manuscripts and related documents for the books and articles he authored. Also included in the addenda are 10,918 photographs taken by McCue to document the buildings, people, and art he wrote about during his career.

Willie Mae "Gracy" Lowry, a pioneer African-American female radio announcer and community servant. Gracy Lowery was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on April 28, 1916. She was the first female African-American radio announcer in St. Louis, and was a regular radio announcer at KATZ Radio Station for twenty-five years until her retirement. The scrapbook contains newspaper clippings documenting her career in broadcasting.

This collection contains resource materials collected by Patricia Rice while reporting on women in politics from 1973-1986 as an employee for the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

This collection contains the academic papers of 12 students of the 1992 and 1993 History Senior Seminar 393, taught by Dr. Gerda Ray of the University of Missouri - St. Louis. Topics vary from broad historical perspectives to studies of specific St. Louis ethnic communities.

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.

The Missouri Association for Adult Continuing and Community Education (MAACCE) Records contain correspondence, meeting minutes, treasurer's reorts, convention committee materials, programs, and a constitution documenting the organization's mission to promote the principles of and opportunities for adult continuing and community education in the state of Missouri through professional development and workshops.

This collection chronicles the personal and professional lives of Sam and Lenore Holtzman, who established Advertising Directors, an advertising agency, in 1953. The collection contains birth, marriage, and death certificates from their families, as well as high school diplomas, drivers' licenses, and induction papers, and a survey they conducted with famous writers on the topic of inspiration. Respondents to that survey include Upton Sinclair, Betty Smith, H. L. Mencken, Ogden Nash , Dorothy Thompson, and Irving Stone. The bulk of the collection, however, consists of client account files, photographs of various shoe styles, advertising copy, artwork and catalogs, and business ledgers and financial statements about the firm.

This collection contains correspondence and several news clippings that chronicle the life and achievements of Mary Ryder, a labor activist and founder of the Mary Ryder Home.

This addenda to the Arthur Witman papers contain photographs he took as a photographer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. They include images of labor unions, women in World War II, sharecroppers, children, and schools.

This addenda to the Arthur Witman papers contain 35mm photographs he took as a photographer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. They include images of labor unions, women in World War II, sharecroppers, children, and schools.

During the late 1940s, Hershel Wileman served as the President of United Gas, Coke and Chemical Workers of America-Local #476. He worked for the Mercury Record Corporation in St. Louis, MO. The collection includes labor agreements, Congress of Industrial Organization's newspapers, union literature, correspondence, wage measures, and job classifications.

The St. Louis-based Privacy Rights Education Project (PREP) formed in July 1986 as a response to the United States Supreme Court's decision in Bowers v. Hardwick, which upheld Georgia's anti-sodomy law. PREP's mission is to further the cause of privacy rights for gay and lesbians in the United States. The collection contains handbooks, flyers, news releases, newsletters, and meeting minutes, reflecting this mission.

The St. Louis Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) was founded in 1921 after the College Club of St. Louis merged with AAUW. The materials in this collection contain bylaws, correspondence, legal proceedings, meeting minutes, and reports documenting the St. Louis Branch’s efforts toward advancing gender equity through education and advocacy.

In 1963, Trails Lake Development Company began construction on the $150 million permanent residence development called Lake St. Louis. The community is located in St. Charles County, approximately 16 miles west of the Missouri River, fronting both Interstate 70 and 64. The collection contains sales and financial records, as well as maps, newspaper clippings, and promotional materials.

The collection includes negotiated agreements with clothing industry manufacturers in St. Louis and the surrounding regions from the 1930s to the 1980s, primarily with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA). It also has organizing literature and strike materials, particularly from the most active organizing period in the 1940s, plus correspondence from union officers, activists and rank-and-file members, including labor grievances and organizing reports, newspaper clippings, newsletters, and other union publications.

The papers of Edward J. Thias Papers contain books written and/or illustrated by Thias, including works about his participation in World War II, Missouri architecture, Thias family genealogy, and collected pencil sketches. In addition, this collection contains many unbound, original pencil sketches of various St. Louis and Missouri landmarks and attractions.

This collection contains five items donated by the Farkas Family, in particular, Charlotte Farkas. The collection contains three volumes of The Beacon, a publication of Grover Cleveland High School in St. Louis, MO. In addition, the collection also contains a ledger and a copy of the Report of the Commissioners of Forest Park, 1875.

Ben Senturia has been long active in environmental, antiwar, and political reform efforts. A graduate of Washington University in 1966, Senturia served as a research assistant for Barry Commoner, an early and ardent environmentalist, from 1966 through 1968. Senturia became a predoctoral fellow in the Environmental Field Program at Washington University at this time. Thereafter, he worked as an organizer and campaign consultant for a variety of public interest, nonprofit organizations, chief among them were the St. Louis Coalition for the Environment and the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign. Throughout this time and beyond, Senturia frequently acted as a consultant to numerous nonprofit organizations, assisting them in organizing and directing political or fund-raising campaigns as part of a private business, the Center for Active Citizenship, organized in 1989. The papers contain correspondence, essays, photographs, legislative materials, and reports.

The Jet-Lag Magazine Collection contains magazine issues of Jet-Lag Magazine from 1980-1991. Based in St. Louis, the publication focused on punk rock and new wave music and covered the local music scene in the St. Louis area.

The records of the African-American Healing Arts and Lore Collection documents methods of natural healing passed down from generation to generation through interviews and public discussions. Additionally, the collection contains correspondence, grant proposals, meeting minutes, and budget narratives. Included in this collection are two cassette tapes with audio recordings. The first recording is a group discussion and performance about the relationship between song and healing arts; the second recording is of a group interview discussing various natural remedies for common ailments.

Edward Minden primarily was interested in the Long Island Railroad and the trolley and subway systems in Brooklyn and Queens. The Queens Borough Library received several Edward Minden photographs in the Ron Ziel Collection of Long Island Railroad Photographs. The photos Minden took of streetcars in St. Louis comprised part of that collection.

Step Up St. Louis established partnerships of local businesses, civic and community groups, private foundations, and individuals to implement neighborhood-oriented programs and services. Its projects included park improvements, beautification efforts, cultural activities, health, and human services. The records contain meeting minutes, pamphlets, and newsletters.

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.

The records of the Reform Organization of Welfare (ROWELL) contain correspondence, meeting minutes, press releases, and audiovisual records documenting the organization's mission to advocate for the poor by working for legislative and administrative changes to the welfare system. In particular, ROWEL advocated for increases in cash grants for Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and provided workshops to train welfare supports as lay lobbyists. Included in the collection are issues of ROWEL's in-house newsletter "Action Alerts."

This collection contains 31 issues of the Airscoop newsletter of the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation of St. Louis. These newsletters date from 1963 to 1966 and have articles on the production of space craft, jet fighters, and announcements about company events and employees.

The McDonnell Space Program in St. Louis Collection documents the role of St. Louisans in NASA’s Project Mercury (1959-1963) and Project Gemini (1961-1966). The collection consists of video and audio interviews with eleven former McDonnell Aircraft Corporation employees and accompanying materials including photographs, documents, and digital materials.

This collection contains correspondence between Harry Levin, a writer for the St. Louis Post Dispatch, and World War II veterans. These letters reflect personal accounts of civilian or military personnel during the bombing of Pearl Harbor or the D-Day invasion. The letters provided Mr. Levin with material from which he could write articles commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of these events.

The Coalition Against Public Funding For Stadiums is an organization founded by Jeanette Mott Oxford and Fred Lindecke formed in hopes of rejecting the proposed use of $421 million in state, county, and city funds for the building of a new ballpark. Although their attempts were unsuccessful, they were able to save taxpayers at least half of this cost, as well as creating new ordinances in the city and county, which called for a public vote on any public use of funds for any professional sports development. The collection includes affidavits, application of transfers, summons, and memoranda.

This collection contains a receipt book from Bigham and Porter of St. Louis. The receipts are of real estate
transactions.

This collection contains various St. Louis publications, including but not limited to store advertisements, civic organization newsletters, religious publications, women's magazines, and African-American organizations. Topics of interest include trollies, St. Louis histories, and local businesses and government.

The collection includes meeting minutes, financial reports, membership reports, photographs, and yearbooks pertaining to the Phi and Zelta chapters of Delta Kappa Gamma, a professional honorary society of women educators dedicated to promoting women in education.

The papers of Ann Morris contain oral histories and subject files pertaining to the history of St. Louis in the 20th-century. Topics of interest include the development of the Gateway Arch, the Metrolink, and Tom Curtis.

George Hall was a journalist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The George H. Hall Papers contain scrapbooks, travel notes, correspondence, and photographs regarding Hall’s career. Topics of interest include Hall’s investigations for the Post-Dispatch on communism in East Asia and travel details while there.

This collection contains a scrapbook belonging to Clinnie Dodge Dill, the daughter of a Baptist minister. Included in the scrapbook are pamphlets, programs, newspaper clippings, and invitations relating to topics relating to religion, temperance, music, plays, education, feminism, and real estate in the St. Louis area.

The collection contains a series of correspondence belonging to Missouri resident Alvina Ungerer. Letters are arranged chronologically with a date range of 1928-1933. The correspondence includes holiday cards, thank you letters, and notes from family members, with topics relating to loan repayments, inflation, farming, and weather and economic conditions.

This collection contains corresponden to and from members of the Bellville family.

The records of Metro Housing Resources contain correspondence, meeting minutes, applications, and newsletters documenting the organization's mission to advocate for fair housing and housing options for lower-income families and researching questions related to fair housing and the provisions of housing for low-income and minority families. The services consisted of developing and maintaining a listing service for clients and providing a referral and counseling service for people alleging discrimination in housing. Harry Edward Berndt, the director, closed the organization in 1982, citing declining support for housing issues under the Reagan administration.

The records of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch contain photocopies of correspondence, contracts, receipts, and balance statements relating to the newspaper's business operations.

After more than half a century of media service, Richard "Dick" Ford retired from his position as news anchor with St. Louis' KTVI Fox 2 News. Ford was born in Turtle Creek,PA and received a bachelor of science degree in political science from the University of Pittsburgh. He began working in the media industry in 1951. By the time Ford began working in St. Louis for KSDK News Channel 5, he had already established himself as a prominent journalist. In July 1992, he joined the KTVI Fox 2 News team. During his career, Ford earned an Emmy Award among other honors for journalistic excellence. This collection contains news features pertaining to notable events in the St. Louis area, as well as memorabilia pertaining to Ford's career as a news anchor.

This collection contains correspondence, reports, drawings, and photographs from architect Hugo K. Graf and the architectural firm “Kramer and Harms.” The photographs are primarily of completed businesses and residences, while the drawings depict conceptual images of buildings, residences, and one drawing of a streamlined automobile from Lawncraft Incorporated. Also included in this collection are plans, specifications, and photographs of restorations of historic buildings in Missouri, including but not limited to Arrow Rock Tavern and the Governor Fletcher House restoration.

The Robert D. Miller Correspondence consists of 13 letters written by Robert D. Miller from October 14, 1945, to October 30, 1945, during World War II. Miller, a member of the U.S. Coast Guard, wrote from the Warwick Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri to Geneva Rhoads in Middletown, Ohio.

Eilert F. Gummels was elected to the Board of Aldermen for the Eleventh Ward of Missouri on April 4, 1933. This collection includes correspondence, and certificates of election, as well as an advertising booklet for the All Day Basket Picnic of the Eleventh Ward Democratic Club, and a photograph of the Board of Aldermen taken March 16, 1934, with members identified.

The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) organized local garment workers in St. Louis in 1933 and was active until 1995. The ILGWU in St. Louis Collection is an artificial collection combining small acquisitions pertaining to the history of the ILGWU Southwest Regional Office, the St. Louis Joint Board, and its affiliated locals. The collection contains photographs and film negatives, a contract, correspondence, newspaper clippings, newsletters, and theatrical programs.

Gerhardt Kramer and Joe G. Harms formed the Kramer and Harms Architecture firm in St. Louis in 1956. The firm worked on restoring several historic buildings in the St. Loui area, including the Eugene Field House and the Chatillon-DeMenil House. They also worked on the historic village at Faust Park, the Thomas Sappington House, and the Palm House in Tower Grove Park. The collection consists of architectural plans for properties the company worked on throughout its existence.

Reverend David V. Bush presided over the Memorial Congressional Church in St. Louis between 1917 and 1921. The church, known as the church with the "revolving, flaming cross" fixed on top of the building, was located at the corner of Victoria and Graham. According to a field report from 1918, the average congregation attendance was 121 people. Most of this collection contains correspondence from dated from 1917 to 1921 regarding everyday congregational matters, such as finances and the church community.

The John Goldston Photographs Collection contains images of Gaslight Square and the destruction of Mill Creek Valley.

The Rannells Family Papers contain correspondence, legal materials, account books, and household receipts relating to the real-estate business of Charles Rannells (1814-1877), as well as his son, Edward's, legal career.

This collection primarily consists of business ledgers, financial statements, and photographs relating to Wessel Stables while under the management of Dwight and Gloria Donnan. This collection also contains artifacts of the Donnans' participation with the Mariner Gam, a civic club affiliated with the United Church of Christ of Lockwood in Webster Groves, MO. The club was similar to the Girl Scouts but offered only water-based sporting activities. The couple was involved with Mariner Gam for approximately 20 years, ending in the mid-1980s.

The Political Emphemera collection contains posters and bumper stickers collected by Senturia, largely from the 1970s through the present with a few from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1960s.Most posters support political candidates standing for office in the state of Missouri or its political subdivisions. The remainder support presidential and vice-presidential candidates. Topical posters advocate or oppose propositions to enact state and local laws, or support particular social issues. Most relate to Missouri or St. Louis.

This collection contains budgets, meeting minutes, press releases, reports, and subject files pertaining to Vincent Schoemehl's three terms as the Mayor of the City of St. Louis. Subjects of interest include housing, Homer G. Phillips Hospital, the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council, and cable television.

This collection contains World War II era employee newsletters of the Lincoln Engineering Company, St. Louis, Missouri.

This addenda to the Arthur Witman Papers include photographs, newspaper clippings, letters of congratulations, and audiotapes, pertaining to Witman's freelance work and lectures he gave on photojournalism. Also included in this addenda is a mock-up of a book on the Gateway Arch that Witman had written but was never published.

This collection contains issues of Phantom Flyer, published by the McDonnell Scales Modelers Club.

The World War II Engineer's Photograph Collection consists of 194 black and white photographs taken from 1941-1944. The collection includes images of several bridges and railroad construction projects in Italy and France.

The Bates Family Papers is comprised of correspondence, wedding announcements, newspaper clippings, books, and photographs relating to the Bates and Keith families. Materials of interest include the wedding book of Henry Clay and Ruby Bixler and "The Language of Flowers," a book of poetry that belonged to Mary Bates. Also included in the collection are photographs of family members and friends in the form of prints, tintypes, and ambrotypes.

The records of the Allied Printing Trades Council contain secretary reports, constitution and by-laws, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and ledger relating to the Council's mission to represent printing pressmen, bookbinders, stereotypers, and photoengravers in labor negotiations with employers.

The St. Louis County Cemetery Collection consists of subject files, books, and photographs collected by Ann Morris in preparation for her book, "Sacred Green Spaces." The subject files consist of correspondence, newspaper clippings, and pamphlets on St. Louis-area cemeteries, including Bellefontaine and Bates cemeteries. Other items of interest include drafts of the book.

This collection contains scrapbooks and a newsletter of the YMCA's Indian Guides program.

The Murray/Goede Collection contains photographs of the St. Louis County area between 1927 and 1975, including photos of the 1927 flood in Fenton, Missouri.

The collection contains newspapers and journals published by leftwing labor unions and leftist political groups, most frequently those espousing some form of socialism. The publications in this collection include the "New World Review," "The Socialist Call," and "The Western Socialist."

This collection contains dance programs, photographs, newspaper clippings, and manuscripts documenting Anna Agris' career as a ballet dancer and dance instructor in Chicago, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri. Her maiden name was Anna Agress.

The Missouri Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights (MO/RCAR) was a nonprofit corporation that connected people to abortion, family planning, and counseling service providers and educated the public about reproductive rights. The collection primarily contains pro-choice flyers, brochures, and fact sheets MO/RCAR collected and distributed to the public. Also included in this collection is correspondence from and relating to the Missouri Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights, the national Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights, and other pro-choice organizations.

This collection contains a 16mm film of the Silver Skate ice skating competition from 1958 to 1961.

The Edna Carroll papers include schoolwork and news clippings from her time at Webster College in the 1930s. Also included in the collection are issues of Transit News, a newspaper she worked for in the 1940s.

The first five folders of this collection consist of memoranda sent from FBI Headquarters in Washington and other FBI offices in 1942 and 1943. Topics range from personnel matters to national security matters, to protocols for enforcing laws and ways to file paperwork. Some memos cover several subjects. The sixth folder is a list of FBI files related to civil rights, peace, and leftist groups from the Vietnam War era in St. Louis.

Francis Scheidegger worked as a photographer in his native Kirkwood, Missouri, from 1940 until his death in 2000. Scheidegger was the first local photographer in Kirkwood, opening a storefront studio on South Kirkwood Road in 1941. This collection contains a large collection of photographic negatives documenting much of the local architecture and the Kirkwood appearances of many national celebrities, including presidents and members of Congress.

The Henry Tomas Papers include correspondence, sheet music, collections of stamps and postcards, and photographs. It also contains a series of newspaper clippings in Lithuanian. Henry Justine Tomas was born in Russia in 1918 and grew up in Lithuania. He worked as a translator for the United States intelligence services. He published Lietusviskasis Pamarys: Pakalnes ir Labguvos apskritys (“The Lithuanian Seashore: with local names and map”) in 1975.

This collection contains photographs taken by James Stebbings between 1968 and 2008. The images depict the National Stockyards Company of National City, Illinois, St. Louis Soulard market, and Times Beach and Gray Summit, Missouri.

The Boundary Commission reviewed proposals affecting the boundaries of incorporated and unincorporated areas in St. Louis County. State statute mandated that the commission approve any boundary changes in the county, although such changes also required voter approval. These changes included annexations, incorporations, disincorporation, consolidations, and transfers of jurisdiction between municipalities and the county. The Boundary Commission reviewed proposals, was responsible for proposal paperwork, and conducted public hearings on various boundary change proposals. The collection includes meeting minutes, proposals, legislation, and newspaper clippings.

The William Hungate Papers contain correspondence, reports, speeches, meeting minutes, agendas, photographs and campaign files pertaining to Hungate’s career as Missouri’s Congressman from the ninth congressional district (1964-1977) and as the United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri (1979-1992). Topics of interest include Watergate and the desegregation of St. Louis City schools. The materials in this collection date from 1954 to 1996.

The St. Louis Vertical File Collection is an artificial collection consisting of newspaper clippings, personal papers, oral histories, genealogy records, magazines, and other published material regarding St. Louis-area topics, including Forest Park, Dredd Scott, Gaslight Square, Delmo Housing Corporation, and architecture.

The collection contains personal and business correspondence, receipts, newspaper clippings, 16mm films, and personal notes regarding lectures and films documenting Vincent and Lucie Palmer's career as explorers and underwater adventures.

The Joseph Wood Collection contains photographs of St. Louis baseball teams and players, dog shows, and the U.S. Merchant Marine. Wood was an accomplished photojournalist with the St. Louis Globe-Democrat for twenty-seven years and was has been inducted into the Missouri Photojournalist Hall of Fame. Additional items include magazines, newspapers, and a booklet.

The Herstory collection consists of newspapers, journals, and newsletters relating to Women from 1956-1974. The Women’s History Library in Berkeley, California, collected the material.

This collection contains correspondence, books, newspaper clippings, and subject files on Kay Drey's attempt to turn St. Louis' Old Post Office into a downtown Art Museum.

This collection contains historical recordings from St. Louis's past, including audio of President Calvin Coolidge welcoming Charles Lindbergh to Washington, D.C. on June 11, 1927, as well as jazz recordings.

This collection consists of correspondence, reports, and subject files concerning nuclear technology and radioactive waste sites connected to Mallinckrodt Chemical Works. Mallinckrodt developed a chemical process that led to the first nuclear chain reaction in 1942 and until 1966 processed uranium for nuclear weapons at plants in downtown St. Louis and Weldon Springs. The company dumped radioactive wastes at sites in St. Louis County.

The Donald Bergmann Papers consists of correspondence, meeting minutes, and photographs, documenting his service in the Army in Korea after World War II and his later involvement in St. Louis businesses, organizations, and charities. Topics of interest include the St. Louis Chapter of the Victorian Society in America, the Landmarks Association of St. Louis, and the German American Heritage Society.

The Oral History Collection consists of reel-to-reel tapes, cassettes, and transcripts of oral histories conducted by Western Historical Manuscript Collection staff and the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) students. Topics of interest include African-American community leaders, labor leaders, immigrants, the Great Depression in St. Louis, and Jazz musicians.

The papers of John W. Lister contain photocopies of his memoirs as a Captain in the United States Navy during the Civil War. Lister served in the Mississippi River Brigade as a carpenter and recounted his experiences in the Siege of Vicksburg and the Red River Campaign.

The NASA Skylab Collection contains 459 photographs documenting the construction of Skylab, specifically its Airlock Module and Multiple Docking Adapter (MDA) at the McDonnel Douglas plant in Saint Louis. Also included in this collection are books and pamphlets documenting the history of Skylab.

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.

The John E. Henseler Papers contain photocopies of photographs, military service summaries, and certificates pertaining to Henseler's service in the 35th Missouri Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War.

The Walsh Papers Collection consists of brochures, books, photographs, booklets, newspaper clippings, and pamphlets, relating to the history of St. Louis, earthquakes, and the space program.

This collection contains photographic prints of images Witman took as a photographer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The photographs include images of women working in factories during World War II, the St. Louis Zoo, Carl Sandburg, and the March on Washington Movement (MOWM) Rally in St. Louis.

William James Phelan, a St. Louis native, served as a Regimental Sergeant Major in the 314th Engineer Regiment, 89th Infantry Division during World War I.  Phelan trained in Camp Funston, Kansas before being sent overseas on the USS Carpathia.  Following the Armistice, Phelan and the 314th were part of the post-war occupation of Germany. Beginning in September 1917, Phelan kept a detailed diary about his experiences during World War I. From shipping out of Union Station, basic training, service near the front line in France and occupation duty in Germany.  Scattered throughout the diary’s pages are mementos, photographs, and insignia related to Phelan’s service in Europe.

The Kay Drey Civil Rights Subject Files Collection consists of topics on University City public schools, University City Residential Service, racism in St. Louis City, and O.J. Simpson.

The Leonard Matthews Family Papers contain correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, and Leonard Matthews's autobiography "A Long Life In Review," pertaining to the lives of Leonard Matthews, Leonard Matthews Jr., and William Matthews.

This collection contains reports, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, and Kay Drey's notes on the environmental impacts of chemicals and nuclear waste. Topics of interest include Dioxin, Weldon Springs, and waste disposal.

The Adult Education Council Records contains meeting minutes, correspondence, grant proposals, personnel and contact files, surveys, and photographs pertaining to the group’s mission to provide information to adult students and professional adult educators in the greater St. Louis area with information on adult education activities and offerings. The materials in this collection date from 1932 to 1981. 

This collection contains correspondence, newsletters pertaining to the AFL-CIO Community Services mission to coordinate community services for organized labor.