branding block
St. Louis Mercantile Library Special Collections
The special collections of the St. Louis Mercantile Library consist of over 400 individual collections with archival materials numbering in the millions, including over 100 historic newspaper titles, presidential letters, early travel diaries and civil war era letters, fur trade records and the newspaper and printing morgue of the St. Louis Globe Democrat, some of which is available digitally. The M-Series of collections represents the core of the Mercantile's holdings. Finding aids and descriptions can be accessed from the library's website through the Mercantile Special Collections Directory.
St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri-St. Louis
draggable directories
-
- M-008 Thomas Hart Benton Collection
- Created by Thomas Hart Benton (1782-1858); early senator from Missouri who served six terms equaling thirty years in office. Included are the handwritten lecture, "Progress of the Age," delivered at the St. Louis Mercantile Library Association, 1850; 1 letter from 1829; and 2 letters from 1858, one from J.B. Brant concerning Benton's health. Senator Benton was among the first of many illustrious figures to speak at the St. Louis Mercantile Library on November 14, 1850. This particular speech, presented to the Library by Senator Benton, himself, and several letters make up the Mercantile's small collection of primary materials by or concerning Thomas Hart Benton
-
- M-013 Maryland Land Grant
- Royal land grant to Richard Brooks pertaining to 22 acres in Maryland.
-
- M-021: Henry G. A. Caspers Journal
- Henry G.A. Caspers was corporal, later promoted to sergeant, in the artillery company of Capt. Fischer, organized in St. Louis, Missouri. At Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, the company was mustered into the service of Col. Kearney. Most of Casper's military service was served in and around Santa Fe, New Mexico, during the time of the Mexican War. This journal dates from June 13, 1846 - December 1848. Caspers included lists of company members; duties and battles; plus references to Col. Doniphan's victory at Chihuahua, Mexico; General Kearney's march to California; and the murders of Santa Fe Governor Bent in Taos, New Mexico., 1 small leather-bound, handwritten volume. 34 pp.
-
- M-022: August Chouteau Journal
- Auguste Chouteau (1749-1829), one of the founders of St. Louis, Missouri, was also a fur trader, territorial judge, and patriarch of the most influential French family in early St. Louis history. Written in English, Spanish, and French, the documents relate to exclusive trading rights among the Osage, including receipts; relationship between the Spanish and Chouteau; and treaty of peace with Great Britain and suppression of Indian hostilities. The journal is a fragment of Chouteau's "Narrative of the Settlement of St. Louis." It is the only eyewitness documentation on the activities surrounding the founding of St. Louis. A literal translation from the original manuscript by J. Givin Brown and J. Wilmer Stith was published by the St. Louis Mercantile Library Association in 1857 in the 12th Annual Report and again in 1989., 1 journal ca. 1810-1820, unsigned but in Chouteau's handwriting on ledger paper, 14pp. [in French]
-
- M-078: Quincy Library [Illinois] 1841-1857
- Handwritten record of books purchased by Quincy Library [Illinois], date and price, 1841-1857.
-
- M-355: Thomas T. Kerslake Overland Journal from Canada to New Zealand
- Thomas T. Kerslake writes of his travels from Ontario, Canada to New Zealand in 1877. He leaves Plattsville, Ontario, Canada on September 29, 1877. Traveling across the United States by rail, he gives accounts of large and small cities (Chicago, Des Moines, Council Bluffs, Omaha, Promontory Point, San Francisco) and of the landscape and wild life on the plains and the Mississippi River. At San Francisco he boards the boat "City of Sydney" sailing across the Pacific Ocean, stopping in the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands before landing in Wellington, New Zealand in early November 1877.
-
- M-369: Manuscript Cookbooks Collection
- This collection contains manuscript works about cooking, including recipes and tipped-in content about homemaking., The preferred citation for this collection is "From the collections of the St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri - St. Louis."
-
- M-380: Hungarian March
- Framed musical score for Franz Liszt's Hungarian March, composed for the coronation of Francis Joseph I, Emperor of Austria, as King of Hungary in 1867.
-
- M-393: Sale of Real Estate Broadside and Manuscript
- I Jno. K. Walker Sheriff as hereby certify that caused to be put up at the following named places a copy of this advertisement twenty days before the sale -- before the 30th day of March 1831 at the court house doors, at Fashnughty Barber Shop, at the Missouri Hotel at the city Hotel, at the Green Tree Tavern in the city of St. Louis, at Phillys Tavern in Bonhomnic, at Blacksmith Shop 5 miles east of Manchester, at -- Store in Manchester, at Lamisi Store in same place, -- McDonald's Mill in St. Ferdinand Township at Owens Station at Thomas Shop, at Connelly Grocery in Florissant, and at I. Aubuchon's -- same village, one at H. Jofo Tavern on Florissant Road -- at Darny -- Loc -- -- in St. Louis Township. Ten of the most public places in the county. Shff cost $5.00 Jno. K. Walker Shff.
-
- M-552 Scudder, John Missouri Hotel Lease Indenture
- Manuscript lease indenture between John Scudder and Benjamin L. Turnbull to lease the Missouri Hotel in St. Louis. The manuscript, dated November 15, 1836, contains witness signatures and an inventory of hotel goods, including feather-beds, lamps, linens, and a Franklin stove. The document indicates the property will be used as a tavern or house of entertainment, and a list of payments is included on the back.
Mercantile Library Collections Directory
Mercantile Special Collections Directory
Barriger Library Collections Directory
Barriger Special Collections Directory