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
Modern Graphic History Library: Skye Lacerte
Film & Media Archive: Andy Uhrich
Archive Collections
- Washington University Asian Art Society Records (WUA00270)Materials from the Asian Art Society including board minutes, correspondence, 2 scrabooks, membership rosters, photos, and press releases
Busch Stadium and the surrounding area, which displaced the St. Louis Chinatown area in 1966, is mentioned in some of the following collections:
- Office of the Mayor Files of Raymond R. Tucker, 1953-1965Materials related to the stadium construction (located where St. Louis' Chinese-American community was located) are in:
Series 02, Box 11 and 32
Series 03, Box 04
Series 03, Box 20 - Finding Aid for the Milton Kinsey PapersBox 04 contains "St. Louis Downtown Sports Stadium Study, 1959"
St. Louis World's Fair and China
For general sources about the 1904 World's Fair, see also: http://libguides.wustl.edu/1904
- China: Catalogue of the Collection of Chinese Exhibits at the Louisiana Purchase ExpositionCall Number: (ebook)Publication Date: 1904
- “Hop Alley”: Myth and Reality of the St. Louis Chinatown, 1860s-1930s byPublication Date: January 2002Journal of Urban History (includes section about China's delegation to the 1904 Fair)
- "The Demolition of the Louisana Purchase Exposition of 1904" in Vol 22, No. 4 The bulletin - Missouri Historical Society byCall Number: F461 M6226 v.22 (Olin 3)Publication Date: 1965-66[print journal]
- Burns nights in St. Louis, including "Lines to Burns" by Chang Yow TongCall Number: PR4329 .S3 c.2 (Olin A)Publication Date: circa 1912Tong was a member of the Imperial Chinese Commission at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.
e-journals
- "The Chinese of Valhalla: Adaptation and Identity in a Midwestern American Cemetery [St. Louis]" byPublication Date: 1993Markers X, Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies
- Governing "Hop Alley": On Leong Chinese Merchants and Laborers Association, 1906-1966. Journal of American Ethnic History byPublication Date: January 2004; 23 (2): 50–84doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/27501419
- “Hop Alley”: Myth and Reality of the St. Louis Chinatown, 1860s-1930s byPublication Date: January 2002Journal of Urban History 28
- "Reconceptualizing Chinese American Community in St. Louis: from Chinatown to Cultural Community" byPublication Date: Winter 2005from Journal of American Ethnic History
- "Ironing Out The Fabric of Our Past: Part 1" from Chinese American Forum, Vol. 18, No. 3 byPublication Date: 1993 (re-printed 2003)Part I. Outlines the history of the early Chinese Americans in Saint Louis, Missouri. Establishment of laundry business; Social and commercial activities in Chinatown; Center for maintaining ties to Chinese culture.
- "Ironing Out The Fabric of Our Past: Part 2" from Chinese American Forum, Vol. 18, No. 4 byPublication Date: 1993 (re-printed 2003)Part II. Chronicles the history of Chinese American in Saint Louis, Missouri. Older Chinese attitude toward living in America; Experience with racial discrimination; Problems confronting Chinese American women; Church's offering of English classes to Chinese people.
- "There ought to be a monument to Alla Lee" from Chinese American Forum Vol. 15 Issue 3 byPublication Date: Jan 2000Focuses on the need to recognize Alla Lee as the first Chinese American resident in Saint Louis, Missouri in the 1800s. Role played by Lee in explaining the manners, customs and traditions of Chinese immigrants to Americans; Efforts made by Lee to hasten his assimilation within the community.
Bookshelf: St. Louis Chinese-American Community
Chinese St. Louis: from enclave to cultural community by Call Number: F474.S29 C55 2004 (Olin3)
Chinese in St. Louis, 1857-2007 (Pictoral history) by Call Number: Request via MOBIUS system
Asian American children : a historical handbook and guide by Call Number: E184.A75 A8256 2004 (Olin3)Includes "Growing up in "hop alley" : Chinese American youth in St. Louis during the early twentieth century" by Huping Ling
Chinatown : place and memory : a case study of St. Louis' Chinatown by Call Number: LD5791.8 MArch&UD91 A92 (West Campus GenStacks)Thesis --Washington University, 1991. School of Architecture
Where we live : a guide to St. Louis communities by Call Number: F474 S23 W48 1995 (Archives & Art Library)See page 13 for entry about Chinatown
City Directories
Each directory is slightly different in contents and layout to search for a name or address. They are a good primary source for St. Louis history.
- Gould's St. Louis (Missouri) city directoryCall Number: F474 S2 A18 (West Campus Oversize)Publication Date: 1881-1905, 1907-1914, 1916, 1918, 1920-1929, 1931-1932, 1935-1936, 1938-1942, 1952
- Gould's St. Louis red-blue book ..., a buyer's guide and a classified business directoryCall Number: F474 S2 A184 (West Campus Oversize)Publication Date: v.1-11 (1918-1928)
- Polk's St. Louis (Missouri) city directoryCall Number: F474 S2 A18 4o (West Campus Oversize)Publication Date: 1955, 1958-1961, 1963-1977
- Haines St. Louis city and county criss-cross directoryCall Number: F474 S23 H342 4o (West Campus Oversize)Publication Date: 1988-1999
Other Useful Guides
St. Louis Newspapers
- Search the Missouri section of "Chronicling American Newspapers" (primarily St. Louis Republican)Try relevant terms to locate digitized articles from 1836-1922, such as Hop Alley
- Newspapers from other cities in Missouri, such as:"Chinatown in Columbia" University Missourian., December 10, 1911, Page 2