Family and Personal Papers

V

Robert Thompson Van Horn Family Papers, 1832-1965 (K0297)
2 c.f.

 Digitized Materials

 Finding Aid

Van Horn was a newspaper owner/editor, a mayor of Kansas City, U.S. Congressmen, and civic leader. Includes correspondence, Civil War service records, business and property records, and some artifacts and ephemera. Also contains the papers of Van Horn's granddaughter Adela Cooley Van Horn, who traveled extensively, and kept correspondence, passports, narratives, and photographs, and genealogical records.

Counties

Charles Van Ravenswaay Collection, 1820-1971 (C2668)
1.2 cubic feet

 Finding Aid

Material relating to the Trigg family of Boonville, MO; the papers of Harvey Bunce, Cooper County civic leader and vice-president of the Tebo and Neosho Railroad; and Charles Van Ravenswaay's correspondence and research notes on various families, institutions, historic sites and events in Cooper and Howard Counties, and miscellaneous material related primarily to Boonville, MO.

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Gilbert Van Zandt Papers, 1865-1956 (C4163)
0.4 cubic feet

 Finding Aid

The papers of Gilbert Van Zandt contain personal correspondence, biographical information, newspaper clippings and photographs. Van Zandt became notorious as the youngest member of the Union Army.

Vandeven Family Papers, 1886-1975, 2003 (CG0040)
1.0 cubic feet

 Finding Aid

The Vandeven Family Papers include photographs, marriage and first communion certificates for members of the Vandeven family of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, as well as ledgers and papers related to the Vandeven Mercantile store.

Vandivort Family Papers, 1910, 1939-1948, 1963-1965 (CG0025)
0.6 c. f.

 Finding Aid

This collection contains correspondence from Arthur Clayton Vandivort from 1941-1945. Work related correspondence and membership cards for Leon Vandivort from 1910 and 1943-1944. Also includes genealogical information, graduation announcements, and high school basketball tournament brackets for members of the Vandivort family.

Vaughn Family Papers, 1860 (K1360)
1.25 c.f.

One book on the history of First Congregational Church of KC - Edward and Mary Vaughn founding members; receipt from Dr. Peter Baker for medical services for Edward Vaughn; thirty-one (31) photographs in pristine condition (many taken by KC studio photographers)

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Margaret Ray Vickery Papers, 1887-1974 (R0366)
105 folders microfilmed

 Finding Aid

These are papers of Margaret Ray Vickery, a newspaperwoman and author of Salem, Dent
County, Missouri. The papers consist of clippings, correspondence, photographs, and miscellaneous
historical research material, most of which pertain to her award-winning weekly column, "Sugar and
Spice," published by the Salem News, 1952-1971. The collection also includes papers of the Vickery
and Ray families.

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Hy Vile Family Papers, 1922-1984 (K0560)
8 c.f.

 Digitized Materials

 Finding Aid

Vile was a civic leader and founder and chairman of the board of Vile-Goller/Fine Arts Printing and Lithographing Co. Personal and professional correspondence of Vile including newspaper columns and manuscripts he wrote; materials related to his various community and civic activities; honors, awards and recognitions received; family history; and travel literature.

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Sue Kross Vile and Joel David Vile Papers, 1970 (K1209)
0.01 c.f.

The Vile family has been prominent leaders in the Kansas City Jewish Community. Includes a Vile family history.

Counties

Viles-Hosmer Family Papers, 1814-1948 (C3709)
6.1 cubic feet (464 folders)

 Finding Aid

This collection contains autograph albums, account books, diaries, and personal and business correspondence of the Viles and Hosmer families. Included are Jonas Viles' professional papers while professor of history at the University of Missouri from 1902 to 1942.

Samuel Spencer Vinton Collection, 1864-1939 (R0819)
(2 folders)

 Finding Aid

This is a freight receipt book of Samuel Spencer Vinton (1828-1890), and a reminiscence by his son, Samuel Spencer Vinton (1857-1951). The receipt book reflects a freighting business from Sedalia to southwestern Missouri, 1864-1865. The reminiscence, written in 1939, concerns life around Springfield, Missouri, circa 1875-1890.

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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.

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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.

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W

J.D. Wade Papers, 1940s-1960s (CA6386)
1 cubic foot

 Finding Aid

Papers of an employee of Service Pipeline Company from Odessa and Carrollton, Missouri, largely consist of personal account ledgers detailing daily expenses. Also included is a small amount of Service Pipeline and Standard Oil material and miscellaneous material.

Henry Wadsworth Papers, 1849-1864 (C1916)
0.02 cubic feet (1 folder)

 Finding Aid

Letters from relatives in Maryland and Illinois regarding collection of debts, scarcity of money, politics and war.

William Wagner Papers, 1883-1966 (K0016)
1 c.f.

 Finding Aid

Materials relating to William Wagner's personal life and to his career with the Postal Service in Kansas City, Missouri. Also in the papers are materials which belonged to Wagner's father, Joseph M. Wagner who was an architect/builder; and his mother, Minna (Schiller) Wagner.

Counties

Irwin M. Wahlers Papers, 1918 (R0155)
0.01 cubic foot (1 folder)

 Finding Aid

The Irwin Wahlers Papers contain photocopies of a letter written by Wahlers during his service in World War I while stationed in France.

Counties

Walker Family Papers, 1782-1883 (C0423)
0.1 cubic feet (5 folders), 1 oversize item

 Finding Aid

Wills, tax receipts, letters of character, 1782 bond for service, letters and portraits of a family from North Carolina who moved to Tennessee, then to New Madrid County, MO, and later to the Boone's Lick Country. Also an address given by Nannie Jane Walker Lenoir at Christian College, 1883.

Charles P. Walker, Daily Express Collection, 1861 (R0649)
0.01 cubic foot (1 folder)

 Finding Aid

The Charles P. Walker, Daily Express Collection contains Volume 1, No. 29 of the Daily Express, published December 11, 1861 at Rolla in Phelps County, Missouri. Charles P. Walker, editor of the weekly Rolla Express, published the daily sheet for the military market during the Civil War. It contains an address to Congress by President Lincoln, camp news, and official notices.

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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.

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Maude Orita Wallace Papers, 1906-1949 (CA6119)
0.4 cubic feet

Papers of Maude Orita Wallace who attended the University of Missouri in 1917 and taught school in Mexico, Missouri. Includes a photograph, 1936 Missouri Writer's Guild award plaque, and select plays and music for children written and published by Wallace, primarily during World War I. Also includes limited sheet music.

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Walling Family Papers, 1895-1993 (R1396)
0.02 cubic foot (2 folders, 15 photographs)

 Finding Aid

The Walling Family Papers include family photographs and genealogical research on the Cook, Hutson, and Walling families.

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Robert Emmett Walton Papers, 1928-1974 (K0973)
4 c.f.

Walton, a Catholic priest, was an army chaplain during World War II, parish priest and pastor in Kansas City, a missionary in Bolivia, and a priest on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico. Includes yearbooks, magazines, programs, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and newsletters, and photographs, slides, and negatives chronicling Walton's adventurous life.

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Wilson Waltz Diary, 1891 (SP0093)
0.1 cubic foot (1 volume)

 Finding Aid

The Wilson Waltz diary contains daily entries written by Wilson Waltz, a farmer near Carthage, Missouri, during 1891.

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Martin Luther Walz Family Papers, 1888 (K1232)
0.01 c.f.

Genealogical information about members of the Walz family. Includes photograph of Walz as a young man, and a letter written to Walz by Emil Medious, a minister in Baiersdorf, Germany, about Walz's parents and siblings.

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Frederick Marion Wanger Family Papers, 1890-1956 (K0588)
1 c.f.

 Finding Aid

Personal papers of Wanger, a Police Judge in St. Joseph, MO including photographs, letters, and family other documents.

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James Alexander Ward Memoir, 1908 (C3890)
0.02 cubic feet (1 folder)

 Finding Aid

Typescript of the "Autobiography of J.A. Ward, M.D.," written by a nineteenth century Lincoln County, Missouri, doctor.

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James Warren Papers, 1917-1933 (C4407)
0.2 cubic feet (5 folders)

 Finding Aid

Correspondence, genealogy, and family photographs of a World War I veteran. Correspondence reflects upon James Warren's experiences as a soldier during World War I, written to various family members, including his sister Ella Proctor. Family photographs are mostly of unknown family members.

Washburne Family Papers, 1825-1900 (C4047)
0.6 cubic feet (17 folders)

 Digitized Materials

 Finding Aid

The papers of the Washburne family consist of personal and business correspondence concerning their wool business in Lockhart, Texas, advertisements, receipts, and account information. The correspondence deals extensively with family affairs, slavery, the Civil War, and politics. The collection also includes several bills of sale for enslaved persons.

Waters Family Papers, 1860s-2021 (CA6619)
0.1 cubic feet

Photographs, correspondence, and genealogical material concerning the Joseph C. Waters family of Boone County, Missouri.

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Beverly S. Watkins Collection, 1934-1983 (K0246)
0.25 c.f.

 Finding Aid

Scrapbook of news clippings and historical research compiled by James Anderson, historian for the Native Sons of Greater Kansas City, concerning the French Settlement and Community in Kansas City, MO and other people, places and events of Kansas City history.

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Watson-Westlake Family Papers, 1813-1949 (C0186)
0.7 cubic feet

 Digitized Materials

 Finding Aid

Correspondence, receipts, legal documents, and miscellaneous items of the Watson family of Boone County. Memoir by Thomas W. Westlake of his Civil War and post-Civil War experiences.

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Watts Family Papers, 1870s-1979 (CA6121)
2 cubic feet, 5 oversize items

 Finding Aid

The papers of a family from Putnam County, Missouri, include an autograph book; travel scrapbooks and family photograph albums compiled by Bertha and Christine Watts; diaries composed by the Rev. Samuel S. McWilliams; and poetry and writings.

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John J. Watts Papers, 1874-1912 (R0038)
2 cubic feet (38 volumes, 6 rolls of microfilm)

 Digitized Materials

 Finding Aid

The John J. Watts Papers are notebooks of genealogical records kept by a circuit-riding Baptist minister in the northern Ozarks. The records cover Phelps, Pulaski, Texas, and parts of Maries, and Dent counties in south-central Missouri.

James H. Waugh Record Book, 1862-1898 (CA5866)
1 volume

General purpose record book kept by a Columbia, MO, resident and banker, recording trustee's sales and other transactions, and miscellaneous papers.

Jeanette Miller Wayne and Robert H. Wayne Papers, 1938-1989 (K1007)
0.2 c.f.

 Digitized Materials

 Finding Aid

personal papers and photographs, papers of Sam Dantzig who served in WWI with Harry S. Truman including invitation to Truman's inauguration and signed portrait of Truman

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Weathers Family Papers, 1920s-2000s (CA6216)
32 cubic feet, 3 audio tapes

 Finding Aid

Addition of family papers, primarily from Gene Weathers of Fayette, Missouri. Includes correspondence and teaching materials for the blind.

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Weathers Family Papers, 1868-1991 (C4014)
3.0 cubic feet (71 folders), 1 audio cassette

 Finding Aid

The papers document the lives of Virginia “Kate” and Benton H. Weathers of Howard County, Missouri, and the lives of their children and grandchildren. In addition to genealogical materials on the Weathers, Duncan, and Grigsby families, the collection includes some materials on the Weathers Lumber and Hardware Store in Fayette, Missouri, and the Missouri Polled Hereford Association Records.

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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.

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Webb Funeral Homes Records, 1913-1978 (K1355)
1.17 c.f.

 Finding Aid

The records contain biographical information about decedents and document funerals arranged by Webb Funeral Homes of Blues Springs and Oak Grove, Missouri.

Counties

Webber Family Papers, 1870-1976 (R1502)
0.25 cubic foot (6 folders, 22 photographs, 9 tintypes, 5 cabinet cards, 1 cartes-de-viste)

 Finding Aid

The Webber Family Papers contains a family genealogy documents, photographs, and newspaper clippings for the Webber family of Phelps County.

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Weber Family Papers, 1899-1966 (C3113)
0.5 cubic feet

 Finding Aid

Miscellaneous papers of the Weber family of Farmington, MO, including copy book of Frank S. Weber, obituary of Kossuth W. Weber, and correspondence and newspaper clippings of Nan Gardiner Weber. Genealogy and family photographs.

Thomas A. Webster Papers, 1921-1988 (K1219)
9 c.f.

 Finding Aid

Webster was executive director of the Urban League of Kansas City, community activist, and chairman of the Social Science Department of Avila College. Includes files related to his research and writing: notes, clippings, preliminary and final drafts of articles, correspondence, and printed material. Also his personal and professional correspondence and scrapbooks and files of his wife, Fern Beck Webster (1911-2002), an early childhood educator and advocate.

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Weiss Family Papers, 1906-1919 (CG0048)
0.02 c.f.

 Finding Aid

The Weiss Family Papers contains ten postcards of the 1906 Cape Girardeau, Missouri, centennial and fourteen postcards of correspondence between Clara Weiss Masters and Wilson Masters from 1909 to 1919.

Betty Mae Gilpin Roark Weithers Scrapbook, 1927-1947 (K0613)
0.2 c.f.

Scrapbook and photographs relating to the birth and early life of Weithers, a student at Southwest High School and later a teacher and in 1967 and became director of the special education department for the Kansas State Board of Education.

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Welch Family Papers, 1839-1854 (R0391)
0.01 cubic foot (1 folder)

 Finding Aid

The Welch Family Papers contain photocopied typescripts of letters to and from members of the Welch family in Pulaski and Dade counties in Missouri, and Scott County, Illinois. Topics include family news, acquaintances, health, crops, and the weather.

Robert W. Wells Papers, 1826-1863 (C1998)
0.04 cubic feet (2 folders)

 Finding Aid

Primarily letters written by Wells to his daughter containing family news and description of conditions in Missouri prior to and during the Civil War.

Wessel and Schaefer Family Papers, 1907-1974 (S0522)
2.5 cubic feet, 48 folders, 43 photographs

 Finding Aid

The Wessel and Schaefer Family Papers contain correspondence, diaries, newspaper clippings, and photographs documenting the lives of Lillian Schaefer and Emil Wessel. The collection contains material both prior to and during their marriage, including family correspondence from 1954. The complete date range of the collection is 1907 to 1975, with bulk dates from 1917 to 1923.

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Mel and Barbara West Papers, 1987-2023 (CA6688)
0.2 cubic feet

 Finding Aid

Memoirs of Melvin E. and Barbara A. West. The topics include their childhood, family, missionary work, and the service programs and organizations they founded. Also included are published material from these service programs, poems written by Melvin, and biographical information on both Melvin and Barbara.

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Reubie Johnson West Papers, 1877-1904 (C0439)
0.05 cubic feet (1 folder)

 Finding Aid

Scrapbook of newspaper clippings, calendar school examination certificate, and commencement announcement from the family of Reubie Johnson West.