Search for:
Collection
Articles
About
Contact Us
Homepage
|
Collection
Collection
Open Filters
Close Filters
Region
All
Central
Kansas City Metro
Northeast
Northwest
Southeast
Southwest
St. Louis Metro
Sort
Chronological (Ascending)
Chronological (Descending)
Alphabetical (A-Z)
Alphabetical (Z-A)
Themes
Agriculture
Arts & Culture
Business & Economy
Cities & Towns
Civil Rights
Education
Health, Science & Technology
Natural Enviroment
People
Politics & Government
Religion
War & Conflict
Grid View
Map View
Southeast Missouri contained one of the largest repositories of lead in the world. More than 1,000 miles of mine tunnels stretch across the region known as the Old Lead Belt. The first European mineralogical expeditions into the area were in 1700. Early explorers reported that a “shiny gray mineral… that was everywhere, often lying on the …
Missouri Mines
1800s - Present
William Clark used this hand-stitched elk-skin journal as a field diary in the fall of 1805. In this journal, Clark noted daily occurrences and sketched maps as the Corps of Discovery traversed the Bitterroot Mountains on their way to the Pacific Ocean. The maps detailed the natural landscape and Indigenous settlements along their route. These …
William Clark’s Elk Skin Journal
1805
Dating back to 1825-1850, this Missouri War axe represents those used by Indigenous tribes in the Missouri River region, such as the Sioux, Shoshones, Mandan, and Osage. Axes like this often possessed inscriptions left by the blacksmith who forged them or designs like the bleeding heart shown on this blade. A common folkloric symbol, the …
Missouri River Fur Trade War Axe
1825-1850
Missouri’s thriving beer industry can trace its roots to Adam Lemp, a German immigrant who introduced the lager style to St. Louis in the late 1830s. After a stint in Cincinnati, Lemp moved to St. Louis, where he opened a grocery store to sell his homebrewed beer alongside other goods. Realizing a greater demand for …
Corking Machine
1830 - 1840
Founded in 1837, Weston served as a major Missouri River port town in the decades before the Civil War. Settlers from the Upper South moved to Platte County to take advantage of the area’s fertile soil and easy access to the Missouri River. Platte County farmers quickly emerged as major commercial producers of tobacco and …
Tobacco Barn
1831 - present
After Missouri became a state in 1821, the U.S. Army began searching for a road to connect St. Louis and Fort Smith, Arkansas. The route they established followed a path used by Osage Indians and was commonly known to Missourians as the “Military Road,” or the “Fayetteville Road.” From 1858 to 1861, the Butterfield Overland Mail Company …
Wire Road
1836 - 1922
This is the only surviving piece of abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy’s last printing press. Throughout the nineteenth century, Missouri found itself at the center of the pro-slavery and abolitionist debate as a slave state surrounded by free states. Elijah Lovejoy joined the discussion when he founded the St. Louis Observer, an abolitionist newspaper. Harassment at the …
Elijah Lovejoy’s Printing Press
1837
The Santa Fe Trail was a route pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell to transport commercial goods from Franklin, Missouri across “Indian Country” to the northern Mexican city of Santa Fe. It took 8 to 10 weeks to haul goods by packhorse or Conestoga wagon from Western Missouri to Santa Fe. One of the thousands …
Saddle Bags
1842
Prominent St. Louis slave trader Bernard M. Lynch used this oak cash box to secure the earnings from the various activities conducted out of his business, Lynch’s Slave Pen. Located on the northeast corner of Fifth and Myrtle Streets in the city’s commercial and government district, the brick building served as a slave market and …
Bernard M. Lynch’s Cash Box
1850 - 1861
This five-hundred-pound anchor is from The Steamship Arabia. The size of the anchor surprises many. The Arabia’s size, including the weight of its cargo and passengers, and the strong currents of the “Mighty Missouri River ” mandated the anchor’s bulk. The anchor is shown resting on a piece of the original wooden deck. Next to …
Steamboat Arabia’s Anchor
1856
This wooden wine barrel assembled in Hermann, Missouri, represents the heart and humble beginnings of the state’s historic wine industry. Carved into the face of the barrel is an image of a man surrounded by fruitful grapevines. This etching symbolized the grapevine-covered land that the first German settlers purportedly found when they arrived at Hermann’s …
Wine Barrel
1875
The Kansas City Board of Trade was unofficially formed in 1856 when merchants organized a trading association for buying and selling grain. A testament to the city’s rapid economic growth, the group underwent significant changes over the next two decades. In 1876, the Kansas City Board of Trade officially incorporated and began trading in commodity …
Kansas City Board of Trade
1900
Albert Frederick Mutti (1876-1958) moved with his new wife, Eva, in 1902 to Hopkins, a town founded in northern Nodaway County just thirty years earlier. At the time, Hopkins was a thriving farming community of around 900 people that boasted multiple businesses and a railroad line. Mutti pursued many business opportunities over the years. His …
Mutti Hardware Sign
1902 - 1985
In April 1904, St. Louis opened the Louisiana Purchase Exposition to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase. Popularly known as the St. Louis World’s Fair, the exhibition showcased the city’s grand achievements and the wonders of technology, agriculture, art, history, and culture. Throughout the fairgrounds, gardens displayed beautiful landscaping, sculptures, and waterways that …
Shi Statue, Chinese Pavilion, World’s Fair
1904
This well-preserved embossed tray was unearthed during a backyard gardening project at a South Kansas City home. It is a limited-edition souvenir that accompanied an invitation to the Priests of Pallas ball in 1906. Elite Kansas City businessmen and community leaders first organized and sponsored the Priests of Pallas festivities in 1887 and held the …
Priests of Pallas
1906
This tin of “Wonderful Hair and Scalp Preparation” represents Madame C.J. Walker’s innovation and the life-changing opportunities she offered Black women in the early 20th century. Drawing inspiration from her time in St. Louis, Madame C.J. Walker developed this hair and scalp ointment to help Black women restore their natural hair. As her small operation …
Madame C.J. Walker Hair Tin
1910, ca.
Carl Worner, a German immigrant, was a drifter and traveling artisan. At a time when unemployment was high, immigrants like Worner were able to support themselves by applying their whittling and artistic skills to carve dioramas or scenes of businesses displayed in a bottle. The scene in this “bottle whimsy” created by Worner in 1908 …
Saloon Diorama Bottle
1910
During the first half of the twentieth century, segregation and racist real estate practices in Kansas City forced Black families to settle into crowded residences around the 18th and Vine intersection. As the population swelled, African Americans cultivated an autonomous area that catered to the social and cultural needs of their community. By the 1920s, …
Gem Theater
1912 - Present
The seal of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis denotes the building’s date of incorporation (May 18, 1914) and the Federal Reserve district which St. Louis would govern. District 8-H covered a large part of Missouri, all of Arkansas, and parts of Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. The Federal Reserve organizing board granted …
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Seal
1914
In the late 19th century, the convergence of transportation, livestock, industry, and commerce made Kansas City a booming Midwestern metropolis. Within fifty years, the Stockyards spanned more than 200 hundred acres and employed 20,000 people, primarily Black, Southern and Eastern European, and Mexican workers. The multiple businesses that comprised the Stockyards positioned Kansas City as …
Kansas City Stockyards Map
1917
Walt Disney began his animation career in Kansas City. Raised in Marceline, Disney’s family moved to Kansas City then to Chicago during the 1910s. After serving in WWI, Disney returned to the city in 1919 and found work at the Kansas City Film Ad Company. During this time, he and his friends created silent clips …
Laugh-O-Gram Studio
1922
Federal Prohibition Agents notoriously conducted raids on businesses and homes throughout Missouri. Raids became somewhat of a spectacle as agents publicly dismantled stills and poured beer and liquor out onto city streets. In this handwritten log, Agent Paul Toelle documented a raid in St. Louis on 24 March 1925. Notice the detailed information Agent Toelle …
Prohibition Raid Log
1925
This 1929 “white only” sign from the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company exhibits the defining presence of racial segregation in Missouri during the early twentieth century. Also known as the “Cotton Belt Railroad,” the rail connected St. Louis and Missouri to the South’s cotton industry. It later formed a critical part of other major rail …
“White Only” Sign
1929
These moonshine still photographs were captured by folklorist Vance Randolph in 1930. Born in Pittsburg, Kansas, Randolph moved to Pineville in the 1920s, and spent the rest of his life documenting and writing about life in the Ozarks. His first book, The Ozarks, offers a look into the customs and traditions of the region ranging …
Moonshine Still
1930
This photograph features the banks of Roaring River State Park lined with people fishing for trout, highlighting the popularity of the park and pastime. Roaring River State Park is best known for its clear streams stocked with Rainbow Trout from its onsite fish hatchery. The fish hatchery was constructed in 1910, making it one of …
Roaring River State Park
1930s - Present
Graham’s Rib Station, located on the corner of Chestnut Expressway and Washington Avenue, became a gathering place for Springfield’s Black community and out-of-towners traveling along Route 66. Soon after opening in 1932, owners James and Zelma Graham began catering events and selling bottles of barbeque sauce in local stores, making their signature recipe a well-known …
Graham’s Bar-B-Q Neon Sign
1932 - 1967
The Bagnell Dam was built by the Union Electric Light and Power Company between 1929 and 1931. Construction began two months before the stock market crash of 1929 and became the only major construction project in the nation during the Great Depression. Job seekers from across the country flocked to the Ozarks for work. Records …
Bagnell Dam
1932 - Present
Excelsior Springs, Missouri, emerged as a tourist and health treatment destination after mineral waters were discovered at nearby Siloam Springs in 1880. The area’s extensive number of mineral water springs and wells and the construction of fine hotels such as the Elms and other tourist amenities contributed to the reputation of the area as a …
Hall of Waters – Excelsior Springs
1936 - present
The area that encompasses Watkins Woolen Mill State Historic Site and Park was originally settled by Waltus Lockett Watkins in the 1830s. His first dwelling was a small log cabin, but by the 1850s Waltus had begun his stately brick home that can still be viewed today. Around the same time, the woolen industry was …
Watkins Woolen Mill State Park & State Historic Site
1939 - Present
St. Louis based Dorsa Clothing Company produced this silk crepe dress and jacket in the early 1940s. Located at 1007 Washington Avenue, Dorsa was at the forefront of junior dress manufacturing. After the 1920s, a demand arose for dresses that fit more youthful figures. St. Louis makers, often credited with conceiving the first junior dresses, …
Dorsa Silk Crepe Dress
1940s
This city directory is a comprehensive catalog of Kansas City’s Black community from 1942 to 1943. The guide listed Black churches, schools, secret societies, state institutions, and organizations, as well as an index of Black-owned and managed businesses. Beyond Black public spaces, the directory also detailed the names, addresses, phone numbers, occupations, property and vehicle …
Kansas City Negro City Directory
1942 - 1943
In 1894, George Robinson, William H. Danforth, and William Andrews founded the Robinson-Danforth Commission Company in St. Louis. The company first began manufacturing feed products for horses and mules and later expanded into food products for human consumption. As Danforth moved into breakfast cereal production, he sought the endorsement of the Ralston Health Club, a …
Purina Mills
1946
As the rise of the middle class, the growth of the automobile industry, and the construction of interstate highways made the road trip the most popular form of travel among American families, the Green Book became an essential guide for Black motorists during the Jim Crow era. Victor H. Green, a Black U.S. postal worker …
The Negro Motorist Green-book
1946
The Community Builders’ Council of the Urban Land Institute, published this handbook in 1948 to serve as a comprehensive guide for suburban real estate and retail development. Influenced by the Institute’s Chairman, J.C. Nichols, the book promoted the redlining tactics he and other real estate developers employed to racially segregate the Kansas City metropolitan area …
The Community Builders’ Handbook
1948
This business card advertises the hotel owned by Alberta Northcutt Ellis, an African American entrepreneur from the Ozarks. Ellis owned several businesses in Springfield including the Crystal Lounge and The Farm–a working farm located ten miles west of the city that also served as a roadside park for Black tourists. After World War II, Ellis …
Alberta’s Hotel Business Card
1950s - 1964
Throughout the 1940s, St. Louis activists led sit-ins to protest the denial of service Black residents faced in restaurants, cafeterias, and lunch counters. The first demonstration occurred on May 15, 1944, when a group of Black and white women walked into a Stix, Baer, & Fuller department store and sat at the lunch counter. The …
Woolworth’s Luncheonette Sign
1954
Perhaps best known for his hits “Peace in the Valley” and the “Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy,” Clyde Julian “Red” Foley had been a popular star on the Grand Ole Opry for eight years when he came to Springfield to host the Ozark Jubilee in 1955. Broadcast from the Jewell Theatre, the show reached a national audience …
Red Foley Barrel Seat
1955 - 1960
In 1876, the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company reorganized and renamed its southwest branch the St. Louis and San Francisco Railways, also known as the Frisco. As the Frisco grew, the company became one of Springfield’s largest employers. Railroad buildings became a prominent part of Springfield’s landscape. The Frisco’s repair shops featured a roundhouse capable of …
FRISCO Railroad Mortgage Income Bond
1955
Former President Harry Truman and a Missouri mule at the state fair on August 23, 1955. As a young man, Truman worked on his family’s farm for eleven years where he plowed many fields with mules. The sturdy animals were first brought to Missouri by traders along the Santa Fe Trail in the 1820s. Mules soon became …
Missouri Mules
1955
Charles Francis O’Reilly began his career in the automotive part business in 1914 as a traveling salesman for Fred Campbell Auto Supply in St. Louis. By 1932, he had become manager of Link Motor Supply in Springfield. One of his sons, Charles H. “Chub” O’Reilly, had also joined the company. In 1957, Link Motor Supply …
O’Reilly Auto Parts Ceremonial Scissors
1957 - Present
This grinder cart was owned and operated by Italian immigrant Anthony “Tony” Gagliarducci. Like many before him, he relied on his trade skills to make a living in a new country. Gagliarducci started his tool sharpening business in the 1920s, pushing a 250-pound cart through the streets of Southern St. Louis for over 60 years. …
Grinder Cart of Anthony Gagliarducci
1958
This promotional poster advertised the grand opening of Branson theme-park Silver Dollar City on May 1, 1960. The sign is designed like a wanted poster, featuring “wanted” in old-fashioned letters and the bust of an outlaw to evoke the 1880s theme of the park. A family favorite for over 60 years, Silver Dollar City continues …
Silver Dollar City “Wanted” Poster
1960
In the early 1900s, real estate developer J. C. Nichols began the development of the Country Club District in Kansas City. The area, located south of Brush Creek, included upscale housing, manicured landscapes, and other planning features to complement the city’s parks and boulevards projects. In order to complete his vision of an exclusive district …
Map of Country Club Plaza
1967
Bass Pro Shops, a mega-retailer of hunting, fishing, camping, and sports gear, is headquartered in Springfield. The company’s logo features an illustrated bass which reflects founder Johnny Morris’s passion for bass fishing and harkens back to the shop’s humble origins. In 1972, the company got its start when Morris began selling fishing tackle out of …
Bass Pro Shops
1972 - Present
Located in St. Louis, Harris-Stowe State University is one of the two historically Black colleges in Missouri. The university began as two normal schools: Harris Teachers College and Sumner Normal School. Founded in 1857, Harris Teachers College became the first public teachers’ college west of the Mississippi, primarily training white teachers to work in white …
Harris-Stowe University Cheer Uniform
1977-1979
This poster urged Missourians to vote “no” on Amendment 23. If approved, the measure slated for the November 1978 election would have added verbiage to the State Constitution prohibiting collective bargaining contracts requiring union membership and dues as a condition of employment. The piece depicts an image of the 1933 Strike in St. Louis’ Garment …
Defeat Right to Work Poster
1978
David Wing Yin Leong is responsible for creating a favorite local dish affectionately referred to as “Springfield-style cashew chicken.” This dish features deep-fried chicken covered in a brown slurry of soy and oyster sauce, covered with green onions and halved cashews. Leong understood Americans’ fondness of fried foods and found a way to integrate the …
Springfield Style Cashew Chicken
1983
This photograph depicts Bernard and Bernard Jr. Francka inspecting corn on their family farm in Bolivar, Missouri. In 1901, the Francka family and other Czech immigrant families built a church and founded the town of Karlin, just south of Bolivar. The Francka family has continuously farmed the area since focusing on dairy operations. Missouri is …
Francka Farm
1983
First published in November 1989, Coming Out: A Lesbian Newsletter was created by and for lesbians in Columbia. According to its first issue, the newsletter’s mission was to fight against the community’s alienation and “create a greater sense of connectedness” among lesbians in the area. For nearly a decade, Coming Out published local news stories, …
Coming Out: A Lesbian Newsletter
1989
Joe Peebles, photographed on his dairy farm in Boaz, faced declining diary prices alongside other Missouri farmers in the 1990s. In 1992, decreasing dairy prices helped fuel a rash of family farm sales and closures as larger corporate farms replaced smaller operations and drove down prices. On April 6, 1992, a convention was held at …
Peeble’s Dairy Farm
1992
The World famous Budweiser Clydesdales appear at Hammons Field in Springfield, Missouri. To celebrate the end of prohibition in the United States, Adolphus Busch and August A. Busch Jr. presented their father with a gift of 12 Clydesdale Horses on April 7, 1933. Adolphus Sr. immediately recognized the marketing potential of the Scottish-bred horses and …
Budweiser Clydesdales
2005
Missouri’s rivers, primarily the Mississippi and Missouri, have played an essential role in commercial transportation since the start of the twentieth century. Once used by steamboats to transport people and freight, the Missouri and Mississippi rivers transitioned into commercial routes for transporting goods via barge around World War I. After the devastating 1927 Mississippi River …
Barge on the Mississippi River
2013