As a modern woman, it is easy for me to take many things for granted. When I put out my trash and recycling, a garbage truck rolls by and seemingly makes the bags vanish. Food safety regulations help ensure that the tomatoes I pick up from the local grocery store are not going to sicken me. And when I need to travel, public roads lead me to where I want to go and traffic laws keep me safe along the way. These benefits of living in a modern society are there whether or not I acknowledge them, and I, along with most people, I suspect, hardly give them a passing thought. Read more »

Books have always been very intriguing objects to me—I can get lost for hours exploring a library or a used book store, or even organizing my own personal library. This fact is one of the reasons I was so excited to begin my internship at the Missouri History Museum’s Library and Research Center.

Image at left: An illustration inside of a book titled The English Home of Major Andre at Bath. Missouri History Museum. Read more »

In my first semester within the Museum Studies program at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, I began working as a graduate assistant within the Missouri History Museum Archives. There I experienced a sampling of the sort of tasks and projects that go on within a major archive, including processing collections. The first collection that came into my hands was the South Side Day Nursery Papers. Read more »

Over the years, I have heard people speak of the Home Defender newspaper in a derogatory way. I had never looked at it myself until one day when a copy of it happened to turn up in front of me. It was the Dec. 11, 1915, edition, and I thought I would take a look. The Home Defender defended restrictive covenants in housing. A vote on the issue was coming up on Feb. 29, 1916, and the paper was encouraging people to vote for the restrictive covenants. Read more »

On a recent Saturday afternoon, three generations of one family gathered at the Missouri History Museum’s Library and Research Center to look at the papers and artifacts of their ancestor, Joseph Boyce.

Photo at left: Several descendants of Joseph Boyce visited the Museum to view his papers and artifacts. Read more »

A number of archival materials (papers, books, newspapers, and lithographs) have returned to their home at the Missouri History Museum. These artifacts were sent out to be treated by conservators at the Northeast Document Conservation Center, who specialize in paper-based materials. In addition to the museum’s financial contributions, the IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services) Civil War Project Grant was instrumental in funding the conservation of these artifacts. Read more »

“Held Prisoner by Chinese Bandits for Ten Weeks” ran the headline in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Sunday Magazine on January 24, 1926. “Dr. Harvey James Howard, Department Head at Peking Union Medical College in Peking, China tells the colorful story of his adventures while a prisoner of Chinese bandits.” His story may have been colorful, but it was also harrowing. Dr. Howard was never sure he would survive his adventures with the Hung Hutze in the summer of 1925. Read more »

The Missouri History Museum Archives has many collections that provide firsthand accounts of the Civil War. One such collection is the James E. Love Papers. James enlisted with a Union regiment in St. Louis in May 1861. When his regiment left St. Louis in June 1861, James started writing letters home to his fiancée, Eliza Mary “Molly” Wilson. James continued to write these letters throughout his entire Civil War service. We believe this collection is unique because it documents not only one man’s experiences during the war, but also the great love story of James and Molly. Read more »

When I pitched the idea of writing about the Osage people in Missouri, my thought was to write about the general history of their time in the state, before a series of treaties, eight in total dating from 1808 to 1865, forced their removal from Missouri and eventually into the state of Oklahoma. I started to do some reading, and a few stories within that larger story just stayed with me. So instead of a general history here are a few interesting stories I learned about the Osage. They involve William Clark, the young Osage woman Mohongo, and the Osage word Chouteau Tah Wan. Read more »

Editor’s Note: In December 2010, Sara Murphy, a graduate student in the University of British Columbia’s School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies, spent a two week practicum at the Missouri History Museum’s Library and Research Center. In conjunction with the Splendid Heritage exhibition, one of her practicum projects was to examine and reflect on the books in the MHM Library that are written in Native American languages.

In the back of a Cherokee-language New Testament from 1860, I found a newspaper article, sepia-toned and cracking. Read more »