Missouri Historical Society Library & Research Center

We've missed you! We'll be open for appointments again this summer, starting May 20. Operating hours will be Thursdays and Fridays from 12pm to 5pm, and reservations must be made in advance. We're looking forward to welcoming you back! The Library & Research Center will temporarily close again in August for renovations, but remote research assistance will continue to be available throughout the summer and fall: https://mohistory.org/remote-research-assistance

If you visited 375 North Big Bend Blvd. in 1944, it may have been to enjoy a Griesedieck beer at Yacovelli's Restaurant. If you go there today, you can have your copying and printing done at Hi Tec Copy Center. #ThenAndNow

When this photo was taken in 1944, you could have a Griesedieck beer at Yacovelli's Restaurant. Today you can get your copying and printing done here. Think you know this week's #ThenAndNow building? Leave us a comment below!

Watch last week's STL HIstory Minute to discover a fascinating story from St. Louis's past!

The story of St. Louis’s Stowe Teachers College begins in 1890, just prior to the institution of Jim Crow segregation into American law following the 1896 ruling Plessy v. Ferguson. Despite being underfunded, understaffed, and overcrowded, the college became an exceptional educational institution. With a growing population of African American students in St. Louis at this time, finding enough African American instructors became a challenge for the St. Louis school board. In 1890, the board opened a new program within the facilities of Sumner High School to train educators for K12 teaching. #TeacherAppreciationWeek

Help us conserve our artifacts by donating for #GiveSTLDay!

We have artifacts in need of conservation and YOU can help! #GiveSTLDay

To help keep our staff and visitors safe with the increasing spread of COVID-19, the Missouri Historical Society (MHS) is temporarily closing its Library & Research Center until further notice beginning Friday, November 27. Don’t worry though! Our staff will continue to provide free personalized research assistance. Contact them directly at [email protected] or fill out our contact form by visiting mohistory.org/contact.

Real champions know....more baskets when you mask it! You can buy any of the masks this team is wearing by visiting mohistory.org/shop.

Today’s Mississippi River is a vastly different beast than it was in the 19th century. Back then, it lolled wide and shallow; today it’s engineered to run narrow, swift, and deep. Gone is the danger of steamboats being crumpled against the iceand so too is the city’s onetime favorite frozen playground.

If you needed a decorative contractor in 1960, you could have visited the Hamilton Company Inc. located at 4239 Lindell Boulevard. If you go there today, you can order a great seafood dinner from Bait in the Central West End Scene (CWEscene). #ThenAndNow

Hamilton Company Inc., decorative contractors, occupied this Central West End space in 1960. Today you can order a great seafood dinner here. Does this week's #ThenAndNow building look familiar?

These mean-spirited little missives had many names, including comic valentines, hit-em-hards, poison darts, and vinegar valentines. That last nickname rolls off the tongue, but often they stung more smartly than vinegarmore like carbolic acid. #ValentinesDay #VinegarValentines

Our 'See STL: The Ville' tours in partnership with 4theville are completely sold out! But you can still explore the Missouri Historical Society's #BlackHistoryMonth programming and new African American History Initiatives Resource webpage to enjoy past virtual programs, readings, and more! Plus check out these other great ways to celebrate Black History Month!

We can't wait for you to #FindYourselfHere once again, starting June 20! Book your research appointment and learn more about our new safety policies before you visit. https://mohistory.org/library-visits

If you visited the building located at Cherokee and Ohio in the 1940s, you could get a loan from the H. Steiner Finance Co. or shop for groceries at the Switzerland Store. If you go to the same spot today, you can get custom-made clothing at Bespoke. #ThenAndNow

In the early 1940s, you could get a loan from the H. Steiner Finance Co. or shop for groceries at the Switzerland Store at this site. Today, women come here to get the perfect new dress. Think you know this week's #ThenAndNow? Leave us a comment below!

Spooky season may be over but you can still learn about medium Pearl Curran and Patience Worth in a new book from MHS Press "Groundbreakers, Rule-breakers & Rebels," or by using our online collection search.

"'Escape Corona' - It's something we all wish we could do. And turns out, some St. Louis kids created a board game called just that." KMOV We're so grateful to sisters Ella, Leah, Ally, and mom Becky Rosenberg for donating their creative quarantine outlet to our permanent COVID-19 collection. Do you have an item you'd like to donate? Email [email protected]. #StoriesofthePandemicSTL #COVID19

Artwork comes in all shapes and sizes. This ca. 1920 open house invitation from our collections shows 4519 Lindell Boulevard with glitter and color added to it. Now, the St. Louis Catholic Archbishops call the site home. If you enjoy art, book tickets to Explore St. Louis's new "Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition" at America's Center. explorestlouis.com//michelangelos-sistine-chapel-the-exhi/

In 1941, the Green Lea Dairy Shop was located at 3651-55 S. Grand Blvd. If you go there today, you can grab a meal at Pop's Steak, Fish & Chicken. #ThenAndNow

Another #ThenAndNow challenge is here! Back in 1941, you could stop in for ice cream here at the Green Lea Dairy Shop. Today you can grab a quick steak, fish, or chicken meal at this spot. Comment below with your best guess of where this building is located.

It's #ElectionDay! In 2000, this votomatic voting machine was used in St. Louis County for elections. If you haven't mailed in your ballot, be sure to head to your polling place today.

This 1904 Olympian is staying fit and healthy. #MaskUpSTL

While any high school would be proud to claim a US Senator as an alumnus, can you imagine the odds of having two? Now try to imagine having three US Senators serving at the same time! That's exactly what happened for Country Day School in St. Louis (now part of MICDS - Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School) in 1983. At that time, both Thomas F. Eagleton and John C. Danforth were sitting US Senators. Eagleton, born in St. Louis in 1929, was a fast riser in politics.... He became St. Louis's Circuit Attorney in 1956, Missouri Attorney General in 1960 (at 31, the youngest in the state’s history), Lieutenant Governor in 1964, and US Senator from 1968 through 1987. And, in 1972 for 19 days, he was George McGovern’s running mate as the vice presidential candidate (a story unto itself). Danforth was born in St. Louis in 1936. He was elected Missouri Attorney General in 1968 at the age of 32, one year behind Eagleton’s feat. As the first Republican to hold statewide office in 40 years, he’s widely credited for the Republican Party revival in the state. He had on his staff future notables like Christopher Kit Bond, John Ashcroft, and Clarence Thomas. Danforth was elected US Senator in 1976 and served until 1995. So while both Eagleton and Danforth were serving Missouri Senators, and each state has two, how does Country Day School claim three senators at the same time? Peter B. (Pete) Wilson, while born in 1933 in Lake Forest, Illinois, attended John Burroughs, then Country Day School, after his parents moved here in the early 1940s. After Yale University, a three-year stint in the Marines, and Law School at UC Berkeley, he moved to San Diego in 1963 and embarked on a long political career. After serving as Mayor of San Diego from 1971 to 1983, he was elected US Senator from California in 1983, joining Eagleton and Danforth for the Country Day School trifecta. After 8 years in the Senate, in 1990, Wilson was elected Governor of California and served in that position until 1999. Not bad for a small Midwestern private school.

Us getting an extra hour of sleep now that #DaylightSavings is over!

Happy #Halloween! We're celebrating with a spooky trip through the archives to get some dirt (pun intended) on a mysterious local discovery. When one of our archivists read this KMOX News story about a man in Florissant uncovering several tombstones in his yard while doing some landscaping, he was intrigued: https://www.radio.com//landscaping-project-uncovers-histor One stone recorded the death of Michael Connor in 1822. Another noted the deaths of Elizabeth and Mary Biermann in 1866. Our archivist and a volunteer started doing some research, and they made an interesting discovery. In 1893, a reporter for the "St. Louis County Watchman" newspaper walked through the abandoned St. Ferdinand Cemetery and described the decaying tombstones, including the Connor and Biermann stones that were recently unearthed.

"I’ve worked with photos at MHS for over 20 years, and for almost all that time we’ve been working with images that are at least a generation or two old. Prior to 2020, we were excited to receive donations from the World War II era. That was considered pretty recent! Because of the events of the last few years and especially this year-of-years, we’ve received many more donations covering contemporary events that can be recorded in months-old dates rather than decades." Archivist Amanda

I wanted modern women to be able to see themselves in women of the past. We were committed to telling as many diverse stories as possible. We wanted women who had a story, who struggled against a barrier of some sort and some of them had every barrier you can imagine. #BeyondtheBallot