Mission Statement
The mission of the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia, a joint collection of the University of Missouri and the State Historical Society of Missouri, is to support the research needs of University faculty and students, Missouri residents, and the general public, by collecting, preserving, and making available to them various primary source materials documenting the history of the university, the state, and the region.
The Western Historical Manuscript Collection (WHMC) was created at the University of Missouri in 1943 with the aid of a Rockefeller Foundation grant. Initially developed to serve as a repository for the Work Projects Administration's Missouri Historical Records Survey files, the WHMC eventually came to include other documents of historical significance. In 1963 the State Historical Society of Missouri, which had been acquiring manuscript materials since 1900, and the WHMC became a joint collection when their manuscript holdings were physically combined. Branches of the WHMC were established in 1968 at the Kansas City, Rolla, and St. Louis campuses of the University of Missouri. Researchers should contact those repositories directly regarding their holdings.
Professional historians and researchers, students, genealogists, journalists, and anyone with an interest in historical research are invited to utilize the Collection's more than 16,000 linear feet of paper records, over 6,350 rolls of microfilm, 31,000 photographs and images, and approximately 15,000 audio and video cassettes, tapes, and films.
The Columbia Collection has a wide ranging and eclectic scope, with unique, unpublished records of state, regional, and national significance. Its holdings span Missouri's pre-statehood days to the present and chronicle many aspects of the history of the state and the trans-Mississippi West: social and cultural, religious and educational, military and political, economic and legal, business and labor, urban and rural, ethnic, environmental, and many others. The Collection represents present and former Missourians from many walks of life, and includes the correspondence, diaries, photographs, financial records, and other papers of pioneers, soldiers, workers, farmers, business leaders, educators, scientists, doctors, artists, writers, politicians, and itinerant preachers.
The Collection also serves as the archives for numerous state and national organizations and businesses, and holds materials that support the research and teaching interests of University faculty members. It is an approved repository of the Forest History Society, and other specially designated collections include the German Heritage Archives, the Missouri Folklore/Folklife Archives, the National Women and Media Collection, and the Archive of Soil Science.
WHMC is always interested in augmenting its holdings. Those interested in donating personal and family papers, records of organizations, or other types of historically significant materials related to the history of Missouri are encouraged to contact the Collection. For a general introduction to the donation of papers a Donor's Guide to the Western Historical Manuscript Collection is available here.