Research Guides: Archives: Race & Drugs in American History: Race & Drugs in American History

Primary Sources available at Special Collections

This guide contains an overview of archive collections in the WashU Libraries Department of Special Collections that include primary sources broadly related to to the topic of "Race and Drugs in American History." Topics include alcohol, temperance efforts, tobacco, smoking, marijuana, hard drugs, criminal justice, national politics, and more.

Evening Whirl Newspaper Collection
St. Louis crime newspaper from circa 1950 - present. Includes violent crime, drug related crime, and other community event. Coverage includes city, county and metro area, with particular focus on African American community topics
WUSTL Yearbooks (list of years available)
The Book and a Yearbag [1969-70] and Pandora’s Box [1970-71] include large sections that discuss drug-use on campus.
The 1934-35 yearbook especially included several full-page color cigarette ads. Also "smoker" social events are listed in various early yearbooks (pre-1930s)
Other Student Publications (list of titles and years)
See especially:
"The Dirge" - a campus humor magazine published from 1919 - 1934 included many tobacco ads, and some jokes about smoking / tobacco use and "Eliot" - a general interest campus magazine published from 1939 - 1947 included many tobacco ads, including many in full color
Urban League of St. Louis Records (WUA00368), 1923-1969
See especially:
Series 2, Box 1, Folder 18: Alcoholics Anonymous, 1962
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) Collection
See Series 2 for unusual pamphlets and publications for anti-war publications from independent newspapers in the USA (most dating from the 1960s and 1970s) including:
Capitalism Plus Dope Equals Genocide by Michael "Cetewayo" Tabor (S2B1)
Vibrations: Drug Survival News, Vol. 2, No. 4 (S2B3)
Drugs: Enslaver - Not Liberator! (S2B12)
William Greenleaf Eliot Papers
Eliot, a Unitarian Minister, co-founded Washington University and was involved in many 19th century reform efforts including the abolition of slavery, ending prostitution, and the (anti-alcohol) temperance movement.
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See also http://archon.wulib.wustl.edu/index.php?p=collections/controlcard&id=158
City of St. Louis, Office of the Mayor: Raymond R. Tucker Records (WUA00336)
Search terms: Excise Commission, Liquor, Malcolm Bliss Alcoholic Treatment Center
City of St. Louis, Office of the Mayor: Alfonso J. Cervantes Records (WUA00358), 1965-1973
See: Series 1, Box 18, folder Narcotics and Drug Abuse - Task Force Report, [1965-1969]
Also Search term: Alcoholism
City of St. Louis, Office of the Mayor: John H. Poelker Records (WUA00119), 1973-1977
Search terms: Public Safety - Excise Commission, Alcoholism
City of St. Louis, Office of the Mayor: John H. Poelker Records (WUA00119), 1973-1977
Series 1
Box 20 Folder 1: St. Louis Drug Abuse Coordinating Council (SLADACC), October 1974
Box 22 Folder 1: East-West Gateway Coordinating Council / St. Louis Area Drug Abuse Coordinating Council, 1974-1975
Box 68 Folder 4: St. Louis Drug Abuse Coordinating Council, January 1976
Box 86 Folder 23: Drug Abuse - Clippings, April 1973
City of St. Louis, Executive Secretary to the Mayor: A.J. Wilson Records (WUA00369), 1970-1976
See Box 11, St. Louis Area Drug Abuse Coordinating Council (SLADACC) - 1974-1976
Karl S. Kaltenthaler Comic Books and Zines Collection (MGHL00015)
Includes titles such as:
Captain America Goes to War against Drugs 1, 1990 (Marvel)
Cocaine Comix 1-4, 1980-1982 (Last Gasp)

Online Primary Sources

Smoking and Health @ School of Medicine Archives

A smoking machine used by Dr. Evarts Graham to test cancer risks in mice.

(Cover image from 1954 Alumni Bulletin)

Contact the Becker Archives at the WashU School of Medicine for more information about this collection

Dr Evarts A. Graham Papers
This archival collection is located at the Bernard Becker Library, 7th floor, School of Medicine campus. Contact the Becker Archive to learn more.

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