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 Mercantile Library's map collection is a vast holding of maps dating from the earliest days of printing to the 21st century. The Library's cartographic works include stand-alone maps; rare books with maps; travel ephemera; atlases; plats; federal, state and local urban planning and government documents, and much more. The maps cover geography and subjects ranging from the far and wide (the world, the territory of Louisiana, exploration of the far east) to the local and specific (cemetary plats, street car and feeder bus routing maps).
This series of the Ruth Ferris Collection consists of bills of lading. Bills of lading are documents that were issued by a steamboat, steamboat line, or a third party such as a commissioning agent and issued to the customer to give a receipt of proof of shipment on a steamboat.
The John Hartford Collection is the personal collection of former riverboat pilot and folk musician John Hartford. The collection is largely focused around John's love of the inland river system of the U.S., and contains scrapbooks, photographs, books, serials, and papers relating to steamboats, river towns, inland river lore, and related subjects. Currently, some of the photographs are digitized.
Photographs related to Missouri towns can be found here: buildings, clubs, organizations, and the like. People may be found here in the context of larger institutions or as parts of crowds and events, but for photographs of individual Missourians please consult the St. Louis Globle Democrat Photographs - People collection.
A case could be made that John Mason Peck (1789-1858) was the greatest of the pioneers who set foot in early St. Louis. Writer, Baptist missionary, educator, humanitarian, Peck set about the process of bringing the civilization he knew and loved to the Mississippi Valley. In the 1820's, he founded one of the first Protestant churches west of the Mississippi, the first college in
, residences, rooftop views) arranged alphabetically. The prints measure less than 10 inches by 10 inches. Some photos are dated, ranging from the 1870s to the early 1900s.
The BRE Collection contains publications and documents that were originally part of the Bureau of Railway Economics Library, a unit of the Association of American Railroads in Washington, DC. The collection is focused on the wide and varied history of North American Railroading including technological advancement, marketing, economics and historical works. The collection spans from the 1800s to
These books are cataloged within the circulating and non-circulating collections of the Thomas Jefferson Library, but are purchased and shelved separately as part of the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library.
This collection is comprised of images pertaining to the social and political lives of African Americans. The collection is divided into four series: Political, Lifestyle, Advertising
and Entertainment. The majority of the images are of 19th century origin and were published in major magazines at the time, such as Harpers Illustrated, Puck and Ladies Home Journal. Major artists include Nast and
posters, as well as some original drawings. The materials provide images of St. Louis from the 1760s to the 1970s, however the largest amount of material in the collection dates from the nineteenth century. The physical collection is made up of six series, divided according to medium and then arranged chronologically within the series. Materials added after initial sorting are out of sequence. The
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. Parts of these collections may be available through the digital library, but the full collections may be better accessed in person. For a complete list with finding aids, see
This collection includes city directories, blue books, gazetteers, membership rosters, city guides and other objects linking large numbers of people to places, businesses, and organizations.
To search for all directories within the UMSL Digital Library that cover a given year, begin with a basic search for all directories and narrow your results by selecting dates from the left-hand margin.
The initial creation of this collection was made possible through the support of the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the Missouri State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State. A duplicate collection is available on Missouri Digital Heritage.
The Saint Louis Lyceum was a public forum for lectures and debates in early St. Louis. It was founded in 1838 in the spirit of the Lyceum Movement, a national effort towards self-improvement and community led education for adults. It maintained and built upon the library of the city's first subscription library, the St. Louis Library Association, which was founded in the early 1820s. The