Civil WarBusiness, Industry and Agriculture
Collections that demonstrate the diversity of Missouri’s economic and agricultural activities.
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Advertising Cards Contributed by: Kansas City Public Library Victorian trade cards provide not only a rich resource for researching the history of printing, advertising, medicine, fashions, late nineteenth-century culture, etc., but also Kansas City companies. The cards reached their height of popularity in the 1880s and 1890s. |
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Bagnell Dam Construction Photographs Contributed by: Missouri State Archives This collection of 845 photographs documents all phases of the Bagnell Dam construction project, including the workers, the buildings erected for housing and other needs, and of areas around the dam site. The construction of Bagnell Dam led to the creation of the Lake of the Ozarks, one of the largest man-made lakes in the United States and a popular tourist destination. |
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Bureau of Labor and Statistics - The Red Book Contributed by: Missouri State Archives First published in 1879, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics Annual Report provides information about Missouri's history of industry and labor. The annual report became known as "The Red Book" due to the red cover of the early volumes, although the later editions are much smaller and are no longer bound with red covers. |
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Camp Ozark – Powersite Dam Photograph Collection Contributed by: White River Valley Historical Society 101 photographs of the construction of the Powersite Dam, the first hydroelectric dam in the State of Missouri. During construction, most of the workers lived at the dam site; the settlement became known as Camp Ozark. Images include those of workers, machinery, barges, buildings, excavation work, railroads, and the spillway outlet and powerhouse. |
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Carthage Picture Booklet Contributed by: Joplin Public Library Carthage, Missouri: The Most Beautiful City in the West is a promotional picture booklet created in 1906 by the Newell family to solicit investments in the family's various business enterprises including the Carthage Building Stone Co., Venango Royalty Co., Newell, Morse Royalty Co., and the Trinity Zinc, Lead and Smelting Company. |
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Cook Bros. Carriage Co. (Jewish Federation-Women's Division), 1897-1904 Contributed by: St. Louis Jewish Community Archives In 1897 two brothers from the Missouri bootheel who had found their way to St. Louis formed the Cook Bros. Carriage Co. The deeds, catalogs, biographical information and albumen photographs that illustrate their work crew and assembly line process, are part of this collection. |
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Copenhaver Collection Contributed by: Missouri State University Special Collections and Archives Department Papers of the brothers James Albert and H. H. Copenhaver, union members who worked in Springfield, Missouri's milling industry in the 1920s-1930s. The collection mainly documents the Missouri Farmers Association (MFA) Milling Company in Springfield, Missouri. This collection was scanned in its entirety. See the finding aid for more information. |
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Cows on the Lawn Contributed by: University of Missouri - Columbia This collection depicts the beginnings of dairy husbandry at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The program gained national recognition with its championship dairy cattle, notably world record holder Missouri Chief Josephine and her descendants. |
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Frisco: A Look Back at the Saint Louis-San Francisco Railway Contributed by: Springfield-Greene County Library District The collection includes postcards, Frisco employee magazines, employee information cards, and photographs to tell the story of the Saint Louis-San Francisco Railway known as the Frisco, a dominant railroad throughout south central United States. |
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Fruitful Heritage Contributed by: Paul Evans Library of Fruit Science, Missouri State University The Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station was established in 1899. Station directors and staff documented their work on 873 glass photographic plates. The collection displays the unique heritage of Ozark pomology (fruit culture). The collection documents fruit varieties, disease, insects, orchard equipment, and harvesting methods from the first half of the twentieth century. |
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Greene County Aerial Photography Contributed by: Missouri State University Aerial photography for Greene County, Missouri, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture taken in 1936, 1938, and 1953. |
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Immigrant Community of Ilasco, Missouri: Cement Company Town 1901-1965 Contributed by: Hannibal Free Public Library Photographs depicting history of the immigrant Community that resulted from the opening of the Atlas Portland Cement Company in 1901 |
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Kansas City Journal-Post's Diamond Jubilee Section Contributed by: Miller Nichols Library, University of Missouri - Kansas City Digital Version of the Kansas City Journal-Post Diamond Jubilee Section of December 29th, 1929. |
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Klondike of Missouri Contributed by: Joplin Public Library This small booklet, published in 1898 by the Kansas City, Fort Scott, and Memphis Railroad Company, paints an enticing and extravagant portrait of Joplin, Missouri, at the turn of the 20th Century. |
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Louise and Omar Putman Collection Contributed by: Missouri State Archives Amateur photographers Louise and Omar Putman spent their married life traveling primarily through Kansas and Missouri capturing images of the people they encountered and the places they loved. |
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Mining Health Study Contributed by: Joplin Public Library Report by the Federal Bureau of Mines investigators in 1914-1915 documenting mining operations and the health and safety dangers present in Joplin's zinc and lead mines. |
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Missouri Small Fruit and Vegetable Conference Proceedings Contributed by: Missouri State University Proceedings for the annual Missouri Small Fruit and Vegetable Conference (previously called the Missouri Small Fruit Conference and the Small Fruit Growers Conference) held in Springfield, Missouri. Sponsored in part by the Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station on the Southwest Missouri State University (later Missouri State University) campus in Mountain Grove. |
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Nelly Don Collection Contributed by: Kansas City Public Library Nell Donnelly built a multi-million dollar business - the Donnelly Garment Company and the Nelly Don clothing label, "a stylish, feminine frock" at a reasonable price. Many women of the 1930s and '40s owned a Nelly Don dress. These few photos are mostly group employee shots. |
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Old Grubstake Days in Joplin Contributed by: Joplin Public Library This story is a semi-factual ramble through the rags-to-riches saga of Joplin's mining industry. |
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Otto Bowles Collection Contributed by: Missouri State University Papers of Otto Bowles, which focus on the Western Missouri and Kansas District Laborers' Council, as well as memorabilia related to Bowles, who served on the Council for many years. This collection was scanned in its entirety. See the finding aid for more information. |
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Pioneering Days by Bud Belden Contributed by: Joplin Public Library Memoir of Bud Belden about his father's Belden Electric Company, electrical industry, wiring houses and businesses and the immense Schifferdecker Electric Park, family stories and anecdotes about Joplin's citizens. |
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Polk City Directories 1859-1925, Hannibal, MO Contributed by: Hannibal Free Public Library Polk City Directories 1859 - 1925. |
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Ravenna Mosaic Company: A Retrospective Contributed by: Pius XII Memorial Library, St. Louis University An exhibit on the Ravenna Mosaics Company including the complete mosaics making process. |
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Riches From the Earth Contributed by: Powers Museum; Joplin Museum Complex; Missouri Southern State University, Spiva Library Archives and Special Collections; State Historical Society of Missouri A basic introduction to the geological and industrial heritage of the Tri-State Mineral District. This district encompasses southwest Missouri, southeast Kansas, and northeast Oklahoma and was one of the United States' richest mineral districts of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. |
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South Central Business Association Contributed by: Kansas City Public Library The South Central Business Association, organized in 1919, was a business group located in the area of 31st and Troost in Kansas City. This digital collection of 900 photographs includes portraits of local business, civic, educational, and church leaders as well as famous entertainers. |
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St. Charles Car Company Contributed by: St. Charles City-County Library District, Kathryn Linnemann Branch Layouts, interior views, and exterior views of railway cars. The railway cars include baggage, passenger, and mail cars. |
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St. Louis County Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Policy Ledger Contributed by: St. Louis County Library Ledger kept by the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company of St. Louis County, Missouri. The ledger, dated 1875-1880, contains policies for St. Louis area residents and businesses. |
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St. Louis Mechanics Liens Contributed by: Missouri State Archives; St. Louis Circuit Court Mechanics Liens The St. Louis Mechanic's Liens collection consists of 5,129 liens filed in the St. Louis court system between April 21, 1824, and December 31, 1875. The documents provide a snapshot of the people living and working in the St. Louis area, as well as the costs of materials and the growth of the city over time. |
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Tri-State Mining Maps Contributed by: Missouri Southern State University and the Jasper and Newton County Environmental Task Force Collection consists of more than 5,000 maps that document lead and zinc mining in Southwest Missouri, Southeast Kansas, and Northeast Oklahoma. |
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University of Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station Publications Contributed by: University of Missouri-Columbia Special reports, research bulletins, circulars, and other bulletins published by the Agricultural Experiment Station from 1888 to 2005. The subjects covered range from agricultural education, legislation, agribusiness, and farm management to livestock, insects, soil research, crops, and orchards. |
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WEW Radio: We Enlighten the World - Saint Louis University and the early days of radio Contributed by: Pius XII Memorial Library, St. Louis University In 1921 Radio Station WEW, the original radio station of Saint Louis University, became only the second radio station in the U.S. and the first station west of the Mississippi River, and in 1947 became the first FM radio station in St. Louis. This collection consists of 66 images, articles, and yearbook pages. |
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Zinc and Lead Mining District Contributed by: Joplin Public Library A concise history of mining in the Missouri-Kansa-Oklahoma-Arkansas district. The booklet contains more than 100 scenes of mills, methods and machinery employed in zinc and lead mining, as well as street scenes, public buildings, manufacturing plants and residences of some of the leading cities and towns. |
