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
Holidays on WUSTL Campus
May Fete, St. Fatima's Day & St. Patrick's Day
- May Fete on Campus
Digital exhibit about this campus celebration - Washington University Photographic Services Collection
This link opens in a new window
Photographs of various campus events
Box M-1 May Fete (May Day)
Box S-3 St. Fatima’s Day (Architects)
Box E-2 Engineering (St. Patrick’s Day)
and more....
- Volkman Files (not online), Box 07, May Day / May Fete programs and clippings (1911-1943, non-consecutive)
- WU Yearbooksfor St. Fatima's Day see Hatchet 1918, page 304
- College of Architecture Records
- This link opens in a new window
St. Patrick's Day and St. Fatima's Day both included in an oversize wooden album, 1922 – 1948
Greeting Cards & Parties
- WU Memorabilia Collection
- This link opens in a new window
Box 21, Student Scrapbook of Irene Schageman, 1915 - 1919
Includes: Greeting Cards, Dance Cards and other party favors for holidays including: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Valentines Day, and Armistice Day.
WU Anniversaries
- 25th Anniversary (1882)
- This link opens in a new window
- 50th Anniversary (1907)
- This link opens in a new window
- 75th Anniversary (1928-1932)
- This link opens in a new window
- Centennial (100th) 1952-53
- This link opens in a new window
- 125th Anniversary (1977-78)
- This link opens in a new window
- Sesquicentennial (150th) 2003-2004
- This link opens in a new window
Celebrations of Holidays in St. Louis
Christmas (post WW-II)
- City of St. Louis, Office of the Mayor Files of Raymond Tucker
- This link opens in a new window
Series 01, Box 6 and Box 7 includes:
St. Louis displays 1950 - 1957 (including fund raising, complaint letters, photographs of displays, reports of theft/vandalism)
Correspondence from other major US cities describing their decorations in 1949
National Journal of Advertising Displays "Signs of the Times" October 1957, featuring outdoor Christmas displays for sale - City of St. Louis, Office of the Mayor Files of Alfonso Cervantes
- This link opens in a new window
Series 01, Box 11 and Box 70 includes:
St. Louis displays 1966 - 1968 (including fund raising, photographs of displays, new design ideas)
Newsclippings (Box 70)
4th of July
- America's biggest birthday party, V.P. Fair, Saint Louis / photographedCall Number: E286 S14 1985 4o (Archives)Publication Date: 1985
- V.P. Fair in review, 1981-1990 : a photographic history commemorating the 10th anniversary of the V.P. FairCall Number: E286 .S14 1990 (Archives)Publication Date: 1990
19th Century Fairs
- Illuminated official programme of the autumnal festivities at St. Louis, Mo., 1886.Call Number: GT4502.13.M8 G7 1886 (Archive Ref)
Gay Pride Parades
- Women's Resource Center (WRC) Records
- This link opens in a new window
Includes flyers related to the 1979 and 1980 St. Louis Pride events (Series 01, Box 01, "HerStory 1973-80, folder 2") - City of St. Louis, Office of the Mayor: James F. Conway Records,
- This link opens in a new window
Series 02, Box 44, “Parades, April 1977 – “
Letters and flyers from Magnolia Committee, 1980 about first Gay Pride Parade in St. Louis (about 5 pages of documents)
See also other parts of Mayor Conway's Records (1977 - 1981) for "parades"
Visual Culture of US Holidays
Articles, Fiction, and Images about US Holidays & Traditions
- Dowd Illustration Archive Periodical Collectioninclude 25 different titles published during the late 19th century to the mid-20th century.
We recommend:
Harper's Weekly (1857-1912)
The Century Illustrated (1881-1906)
Ladies’ Home Journal (issues from 1910-1925)
Delineator (issues from 1918-1930)
McCall’s (issues from 1929-1930)
Good Housekeeping (issues from 1952-1954)
Greeting and Holiday Card
- Al Parker Collectionmidcentury original art greeting cards and holiday cards are located in Series 1, Box 3
Jewish Holidays & Traditions
- Robert Andrew Parker Collectionoriginal artwork and children's books about Jewish holidays and traditions:
A Great Miracle Happened There: A Chanukah Story, by Karla Kuskin
• Original artwork -- Series 1, Box 84 & 85
• Print Book -- BM695.H3 K87 1993
The Magician's Visit: A Passover Tale, by I.L. Peretz
• Original artwork, book cover, book proof pages -- Series 1, Box 87
• Print Book -- PZ7.G5674 Mag 1993