Contact Info
Archive, Manuscript & Rare Book collections are accessed in Olin Library at the Special Collections reading room.
HOURS: Monday - Friday 9:00-5:00 by appointment
LOCATION: Olin Library, 1st floor, Danforth Campus
REQUESTS / APPOINTMENTS: 314-935-5495 spec@wumail.wustl.edu
*collections stored offsite require advance notice for retrieval and use
Questions about a specific topic? Contact:
University Archives: Sonya Rooney
Rare Books: Cassie Brand
Manuscript: Joel Minor
Local History: Miranda Rectenwald
Dowd Illustration Research Archive: interim curator
Film & Media Archive: Andy Uhrich
Secondary Sources
A selection of published stories, which can serve as a good starting place for further research.
Movers and shakers, scalawags and suffragettes : tales from Bellefontaine Cemetery by Call Number: F474.S262 B457 (Olin L3)See 'Scalawags' section, especially entries for John Cockerill, Arthur Duestrow, and Eliza Hayraft
Celia, a Slave by Call Number: KF223 C43 M34 (Olin L2)1850s murder case on the Kansas / Missouri border
The Lynching of Cleo Wright by Call Number: F474 S5 C36 (Olin) or ebook1942 case in Sikeston, Missouri
History of St. Louis Gangsters by Call Number: HV6439.U7 S72 2000 4o (Library Use only at Special Coll)Publication Date: 2000Discusses mob activity on both sides of the river,
Vice Squad by Publication Date: 1973-01-01Written by a former resident and police officer, the first chapter includes recollections about East St. Louis and Monsanto, Illinois.
- Divided by Violence: Crime and Policing in LGBTQ St. Louis, 1945 - 1992
An interactive online essay that attempts to "shine a light on past tragedies and to show the ways violence both divided LGBTQ people and brought them together." - Life, Volume 68, number 20 (May 29, 1970)Article -- "A two-faced crime fight in St. Louis : both the mayor and his new crime commissioner have personal ties to the underworld" by Denny Walsh.
Primary Sources at Special Collections, Olin Library
- St. Louis Urban League Records
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See Series 1, Box 3 for files "Crime and Delinquency Statistics, 1934-1946" and "Lee Baker Fund, 1939 - Correspondence and newspaper clippings re: fund for victim of a murder attempt who was to be state witness in a gangster bombing" - William Sentner Papers
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Series 5, Box 5 includes newspaper clippings and correspondence about the 1942 lynching crime that occurred in Sikeston, Missouri -- see file "Anti-Lynching League"
Also includes extensive files regarding Sentner's arrest for Smith Act violations, and during various labor actions. - Evening Whirl Newspaper Collection
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St. Louis crime newspaper from circa 1950 - present (available at Special Collections - issues are not online) - William Greenleaf Eliot Papers
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Eliot, a Unitarian Minister, co-founded Washington University and was involved in many social justice and reform efforts including: children's social welfare, the abolition of slavery, ending prostitution, and a temperance advocate (anti-alcohol).
Primary Sources - Newspapers
As of January 2021 only one newspaper (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) is available in searchable full-text online:
- Saint Louis Post-Dispatch (1874 - 2003) This link opens in a new windowContains full text of the newspaper St. Louis Post-Dispatch from 1874-2003 including its title variants. Learn more about this database
- St. Louis Newspapers (mainstream / white)Listing of other newspapers, on microfilm, in print, or partly digitized.
As of January 2021, only select issues of St. Louis African American / Black focused newspapers are available in digital format. As an alternative, online access and full-text search is available for the noted and long-running African American newspaper, Chicago Defender, which often covered national news as well as Midwest / St. Louis news:
- Chicago Defender, Historical (1910-2010) This link opens in a new windowHistorical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with first-hand accounts and coverage of Chicago's politics, society and events of the time.
- St. Louis Palladium (1904)Additional years of this paper are on microfilm
- St. Louis Newspapers (African American / Black focused)Links to microfilm and paper sources at WashU Libraries
Publications focused on and published by the LGBTQ+ / Queer communities began in 1970. None of these are keyword searchable, but some selections have been digitized:
- St. Louis LGBTQ+ newspapers and newslettersTitles available at WashU Libraries and other local archives.
Additional Research Guides
- Online St. Louis History, Culture & Heritage Resources
- St. Louis History -- Archival Sources
- St. Louis Area Historic Maps
- African-American History - Archival Sources
- Baseball History in St. Louis
- Japanese-American History in St. Louis
- LGBTQ St. Louis History - Archive Sources
- Student Activism History