Morgenthaler, Charles A. (1893-1980), Papers, 1870-1981 (C3004)

3.4 linear feet

INTRODUCTION

The papers of Charles A. Morgenthaler, a commercial artist and illustrator from Hallsville, Missouri, consist of photographs, sketches, scrapbooks, account books, and correspondence relating to his artwork. Family papers and photographs are also included in this collection.

DONOR INFORMATION

The Charles A. Morgenthaler Papers were donated to the University of Missouri and the State Historical Society of Missouri by his widow, Nannie (Tene) E. Morgenthaler, and Charles O'Dell between 1981 and 1999. See the information folder for complete accession information.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Charles A. Morgenthaler was born on 18 June 1893, in Hallsville, Missouri, to William and Ruth Morgenthaler. He graduated from Columbia High School, Columbia, Missouri, in 1913 and worked at various commercial art jobs in Milwaukee and Chicago before enrolling in evening classes at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1915.

He moved back to Missouri and enrolled as a special student at the University of Missouri for the 1916-1917 school year. The following year he enlisted in the Army Signal Corps and was trained as an aerial photographer. He finished his training just as World War I ended and was discharged before he could be shipped overseas. Morgenthaler returned to Missouri and took small jobs in Kansas City and St. Joseph. On 28 December 1919, he married Nannie (Tene) E. Nichols in Hallsville.

During the 1920s he worked at an assortment of jobs including surveying and making maps for the Missouri Highway Department, designing stage curtains and theatre interiors for the Kansas City Scenic Company, and freelancing for publishing companies and advertising agencies in Missouri and Chicago. He returned to Chicago to finish his course work at the Art Institute from 1921 to 1923 and 1927 to 1928.

In 1929 the Morgenthalers moved to St. Louis where Charles began his career as a commercial artist in earnest. He freelanced for many advertising agencies, publishing houses, and small businesses, most notably, Goldman's Furniture and Ad-Craft. At Ad-Craft he created movie theatre displays and print advertisements for such companies as the Missouri Pacific Railroad, Lucky Strike, and Kodak.

In 1938 he jumped at the opportunity to work at the prestigious Brown & Bigelow Company in St. Paul, Minnesota, famous for their calendar designs. Two years later he took a job with the War Department and was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia, to create illustrations for military training films. Morgenthaler returned to St. Louis in 1942 and spent most of the war years working on his oil paintings and watercolors.

In 1946 and 1947 he sketched over 1000 service men and women at military hospitals in the Midwest and in Germany for the United Service Organizations (USO) Camp Shows. He was one of only six artists asked to travel to Germany for this project. He continued to volunteer for the USO during the Korean War and Vietnam War, drawing over 1400 military personnel in all. The sketches were microfilmed by the USO and copies were sent to the patient's relatives.

After World War II Morgenthaler returned to freelance commercial artwork, doing projects for Gardner Advertising Agency in St. Louis. Some of his work there included ads for Ralston Purina and Pet Milk. He also worked on the restoration of the murals at the Missouri State Capitol dome in 1951 and at St. Louis' Old Courthouse in 1955.

In 1959, and again in 1964, he designed the floats used in the annual Veiled Prophet parade in St. Louis and in 1960 he was hired to help restore Paul Philippoteaux's murals on the walls of the Cyclorama at Gettysburg National Battlefield. While in Gettysburg he also painted the background murals at the Hall of Presidents and did a sketch of Dwight D. Eisenhower's farm, which was used as a postcard design.

In 1966 the Morgenthalers bought the house of zither maker Franz Schwarzer in Washington, Missouri, where Charles continued to work mainly on his paintings. They moved to Columbia, Missouri, in 1973 where he died on 10 December 1980 after suffering a stroke several months earlier.

He served on the St. Louis Art Commission and was an active member of the St. Louis Art Alliance, the American Artist's Professional League and the Art Director's Club. About 30 of his paintings are in the holdings of the State Historical Society of Missouri.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Charles Morgenthaler Papers consist of photographs, sketches, scrapbooks, account books, and correspondence relating to his work as well as family papers and photographs. The papers are arranged into six series:

• Correspondence
• Personal
• Photographs
• Scrapbooks
• Artwork
• Records

FOLDER LIST

The Correspondence series contains correspondence mostly relating to his freelance work. There are also a substantial number of letters from relatives of the soldiers he sketched after World War II telling him how much they appreciated his efforts.

f. 1	1912-1928
f. 2	1934-1944
f. 3	1945-1946 November
f. 4	1946 December-1947 May
f. 5	1947 June-1948
f. 6	1949-1950
f. 7	1951-1952
f. 8	1953-1955
f. 9	1956-1958
f. 10	1959-1961
f. 11	1962-1964
f. 12	1965-1966
f. 13	1967-1971
f. 14	1972-1981; n.d.

The Personal series includes publicity clippings on Morgenthaler and his wife, the notebook he kept during his training in the army, genealogical information, awards, biographical materials, and miscellaneous family items.

The Army notebook contains detailed sketches and instructions for use of cameras in aerial photography and the daybook William Nowell kept has instructions for tanning leather, curing horse ailments as well as some recipes for food and drinks.

In addition to highlighting some of the projects Charles worked on, the publicity clippings also document Tene's quilting skills.

f. 15	Army Notebook, 1918
f. 16	Awards
f. 17	Biographical
f. 18	Clara Elliot Annual Reports, 1924-1930
f. 19	Clara Elliot Will, n.d.
f. 20	Diary, 1969
f. 21	Eppa Elliot Diary, 1935
f. 22	Family Miscellany
f. 23	Genealogy
f. 24	Isabelle Brink Diary, 1896-1918
f. 25	Miscellaneous
f. 26	Publicity Clippings
f. 27	William Nowell Daybook, 1847

The Scrapbooks series comprises scrapbooks compiled by Morgenthaler throughout his career. They include photographs and samples of his work from as early as his days at the Art Institute of Chicago. Personal photographs, memorabilia, and publicity clippings are also present in many of the scrapbooks, including many from his days in the U.S. Army during World War I and as part of the USO Camp Shows in Germany after World War II.

One scrapbook contains information concerning his Aunt Clara Elliot's estate, which Morgenthaler believed was bilked by her doctor in order to build a new hospital in Jefferson City, Missouri.

The scrapbooks have been dismantled and photocopied for preservation purposes. Sketches and photographs of his artwork which were in the scrapbooks have been removed and placed in the Artwork series.

f. 28-29	Scrapbook 1, Art Institute of Chicago; Personal; Book Illustrations
f. 30-31	Scrapbook 2, Clara Elliot
f. 32-34	Scrapbook 3, Personal
f. 35-36	Scrapbook 4, Personal
f. 37	Scrapbook 5, Landscapes; Murals
f. 38	Scrapbook 6, Portraits
f. 39	Scrapbook 7, Portraits
f. 40	Scrapbook 8, Murals
f. 41	Scrapbook 9, Murals; Cyclorama
f. 42	Scrapbook 10, Advertising; Commercial
f. 43	Scrapbook 11, USO Tour
f. 44	Scrapbook 12, Landscapes; Book Illustrations
f. 45	Scrapbook 13, Book Illustrations; Commercial
f. 46	Scrapbook 14, Advertising; Commercial; Theatre Curtains; Art Institute of Chicago
f. 47-48	Scrapbook 15, Commercial; World War I; Personal

The Photographs series consists of photographs taken by Morgenthaler and document his personal interests. The numerous photographs of trains attest to his lifelong fascination with them. There are also many photographs of steamboats, bridges, and scenery along the Mississippi River at St. Paul, Minnesota, and St. Louis, Missouri. Morgenthaler took over 300 photographs in stereoscope in the 1940s. These pictures show scenes mainly from St. Paul and Georgia. While in Georgia he photographed training exercises at Fort Benning as well as scenes from nearby Columbus and surrounding rural areas.

f. 49	1870s-1900s
f. 50	1911-1915
f. 51	1916-1917
f. 52	1918-1919
f. 53-54	1920
f. 55	1921-1925
f. 56	1930s
f. 57-59	1940
f. 60-62	1941
f. 63	1940s
f. 64	1950-1955
f. 65	1956-1959
f. 66	1960-1966
f. 67	1967-1972
f. 68	n.d.

The Artwork series contains sketches and photographs of Morgenthaler's work. Included are over 1000 thumbnail sketches from his years with the USO Camp Shows, his class work from the Art Institute of Chicago, photographs of his work at exhibitions, and photographs and scaled down sketches of his murals and other paintings. This series also contains photographs and copies of advertisements Morgenthaler worked on as a commercial artist and illustrations and rough sketches of ideas he had for magazine covers, calendars, and cartoon series.

Further information on the artwork can be found in the Scrapbooks series.

f. 69	Advertising and Commercial, 1910s-1920s
f. 70	Advertising and Commercial, 1930s
f. 71	Advertising and Commercial, 1940s
f. 72	Advertising and Commercial, 1950s
f. 73	Advertising and Commercial, n.d.
f. 74	Animals
f. 75-76	Art School
f. 77	Buildings
f. 78	Collages
f. 79	Exhibits
f. 80	Fort Benning
f. 81	Gettysburg
f. 82	Gettysburg, Cyclorama
f. 83	Gettysburg, Hall of Presidents
f. 84	Ideas, Advertising and Commercial
f. 85	Ideas, Cartoons
f. 86	Ideas, Magazine Covers and Calendars
f. 87	Ideas, Paintings
f. 88-91	Illustrations
f. 92	Landscapes
f. 93-94	Miscellaneous
f. 95	Missouri State Highway Department
f. 96-97	Murals
f. 98	People
f. 99-100	Portraits
f. 101	Still Lifes
f. 102	Theatres
f. 103	USO
f. 104	Vehicles
f. 105	Veiled Prophet Parade
f. 106-107	Western Scenes

The Records series consists of ledgers and lists of projects for which Morgenthaler was hired.

The first nine folders contain a listing of Morgenthaler's job history and some of the exhibits where he displayed his work as well as notes on several of his projects. Notebooks from train trips he took in the 1950s are also included in this series.

The record books are somewhat disorganized and there are some gaps but what information is there is valuable for documenting the many projects he worked on. Though he called his record books a variety of names: Key Books, Account Books, Work Diaries; they all contain the same type of information about the jobs he was working on. He documented the employer, project name, time spent, and money earned in these books.

The USO ledgers list the veteran's name, service number, information on the next of kin, and date and hospital where Morgenthaler did the sketching. The back pages of the second USO ledger also contain some historical information on Hallsville, Missouri, including lists of government officials and war veterans since the Civil War. The record books have been arranged in chronological order when possible.

f. 108	Exhibits
f. 109	Jobs Worked, 1914-1957
f. 110	Jobs Works, 1936-1970
f. 111-112	Records and Notes, n.d.
f. 113-114	Trip Notes, 1949-1958
f. 115	Work Book 1, n.d.
f. 116	Work Book 2, n.d.
f. 117	Account Book, 1918, 1919, 1945
f. 118	Account Book 1, 1942-1948
f. 119	USO Sketches, 1947-1966
f. 120	USO Sketches, 1946-1968
f. 121	Account Book 4, 1954-1956
f. 122	Account Book 5, 1966-1974
f. 123	Key Book 5, 1947-1951
f. 124	Account Book 7, 1934-1938
f. 125	Account Book 10, 1934-1937
f. 126	Work Diary, 1958
f. 127	Work Diary, 1967-1968
f. 128	Work Diary, 1970-1972
f. 129	Personal Account Book, 1938-1965

INDEX TERMS

These index terms are the subjects, people, places, etc. under which this collection is listed in all available indexes at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia. If you are interested in a specific index term, please contact the reference staff.

• A. H. Jones Memorial Home, Hallsville, MO
• Actors, 1930s
• Agricultural implements, 1920s
• Airplanes, 1914
• Airplanes, 1940s
• Alabama, Montgomery
• Ambassador Theatre, St. Louis, Missouri
• American Art Alliance
• Anatomy, Artistic
• Animals in art
• Architecture--Details
• Arrow Rock Dam
• Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
• Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
• Art, Municipal
• Art--Exhibitions
• Austria, 1946
• Baseball, 1910s
• Biederman's Furniture Company, St. Louis, Missouri
• Black children
• Black women
• Blacks--Crimes against
• Blacksmiths, 1890
• Blacks--Social conditions, 1940s
• Boone, Daniel (1734-1820)--Home
• Boone, Daniel (1734-1820)--House
• Brink family
• Brink family
• Brown & Bigelow Company, St. Paul, Minnesota
• Bryan, Glen
• Cartoons and caricatures
• Celeste (Barge)
• Central of Georgia Railroad
• Chain of Rocks Bridge, St. Louis, Missouri
• Chain of Rocks Restaurant, St. Louis, Missouri
• Charles E. Still Osteopathic Hospital, Jefferson City, Missoiuri
• Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad
• Children, 1905
• Children, 1919
• Circus
• Civil War--Battle of Gettysburg, 1863
• Civil War--Battle of Gettysburg, 1863
• Columbia High School, Columbia, Missouri
• Columbia High School, Columbia, Missouri
• Commercial art
• Cotton picking
• Cotton--Storage
• Cyclorama, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
• Cyclorama, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
• Design, Decorative
• Design, Industrial
• DeSoto Hotel, St. Louis, Missouri
• Dole, Robert J. (1923- )
• Dolls
• Eads Bridge, St. Louis, Missouri
• Eisenhower, Dwight David (1890-1969)
• Eisenhower, Dwight David (1890-1969)—Farm
• Elephant Rocks State Park, Missouri
• Elliot Brothers Blacksmith Shop, Perche Township, Missouri
• Elliot family
• Elliot, Clara B. (1871-1947)
• Elliot, Eppa F. (1870-1943)
• First National Bank, St. Louis, Missouri
• Fort Benning, Georgia
• Fort Pulaski, Georgia
• Fox Theatre, St. Louis, Missouri
• Furniture
• Gateway Arch, St. Louis, Missouri
• Georgia, Andersonville—Cemeteries
• Georgia, Columbus
• Georgia, Savannah
• Georgia, Warm Springs
• Georgia, Waverly Hall
• Germany, 1946
• Gerold Moving Company, St. Louis, Missouri
• Goldbold, Albea
• Grand Canyon, Arizona
• Hallsville High School, Hallsville, Missouri
• Hanes, Reverend F.P.
• Hickman High School, Columbia, Missouri
• Hospitals—Jefferson City, Missouri
• Houses—Defiance, Missouri
• Houses—Hallsville, Missouri
• Houses—St. Louis, Missouri
• Houses—Washington, Missouri
• Human curiosities
• Illinois, Chicago, 1910s
• Illinois, Chicago, 1920s
• Illinois, Chicago, 1940
• Illinois, Granite City
• Illustration of books
• Indians in literature and art
• Indians, 1940
• Interior decoration, 1940s
• Interior decoration, 1950s
• Itaska State Park, Minnesota
• Kansas City Scenic Company, Kansas City, Missouri
• Keokuk Dam, Iowa, 1920s
• Lady Linda (Tow Boat)
• Lake, Leon B.
• Lewis and Clark Committee of Missouri
• Madison Barracks, New York
• Map drawing
• Maps—Missouri
• Mexico—Description and travel
• Military personnel
• Military training camps
• Milwaukee Road Railroad
• Minnesota, St. Paul
• Missouri Pacific Railroad
• Missouri State Highway Department
• Missouri, Columbia—Parades, 1910s
• Missouri, Columbia—Schools
• Missouri, Columbia—Schools, 1910s
• Missouri, Defiance—Houses
• Missouri, Hallsville
• Missouri, Hallsville—Buildings
• Missouri, Hallsville—Houses
• Missouri, Hallsville—Schools
• Missouri, Hallsville—Schools, 1905
• Missouri, Jefferson City
• Missouri, Kansas City—Floods, 1951
• Missouri, St. Charles
• Missouri, St. Joseph, 1919
• Missouri, St. Joseph. City Engineering Department
• Missouri, St. Joseph—Parades, 1918
• Missouri, St. Louis
• Missouri, St. Louis—Bridges
• Missouri, St. Louis—Houses
• Missouri, St. Louis—Parades, 1960s
• Missouri, St. Louis—Theatres
• Missouri, St. Louis—Zoo
• Missouri, Washington
• Missouri, Washington—Houses
• Missouri. Cavalry, 9th Regiment, 1st Battalion, Company C
• Missouri. State Capitol
• Morgenthaler family
• Morgenthaler, Charles A. (1893-1980)
• Morgenthaler, Tene
• Motion picture theatres, 1920s
• Motion picture theatres, 1930s
• Municipal Art Commission, St. Louis, Missouri
• Mural painting and decoration
• Murdock, William A. (1872-1950)
• Nacy family
• National Cemetery, Andersonville, Georgia
• New Franklin Avenue Bridge, St. Louis, Missouri
• Nichols family
• Nixon, Richard M. (1913-1994)
• Northwestern Railroad
• Nowell family
• Old Courthouse, St. Louis, Missouri
• Painting
• Painting—Conservation and restoration
• Parades—Missouri, Columbia, 1910s
• Parades—Missouri, St. Joseph, 1918
• Parades—Missouri, St. Louis, 1960s
• Parades—St. Louis, Missouri
• Pemberton, John
• Pennsylvania, Gettysburg
• Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1918
• Philippoteaux, Paul D. (1846-1923)
• Photography, Aerial
• Pine Lawn Bank, St. Louis, Missouri
• Pinnacles Natural Area, Missouri
• Ponsford Indian Reservation, Minnesota
• Pony express
• Portraits
• Price, Thurston B.
• Quilting
• Railroad travel, 1950s
• Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, St. Louis, Missouri
• Reading Railroad
• Recipes, 1840s
• Road maps—Missouri, 1922
• Robinson, Searcy
• Rock Island Railroad
• Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1882-1945)
• Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1882-1945)—Inauguration, 1945
• Rural housing
• Sam Houston (Tow Boat)
• Schools—Columbia, Missouri, 1910s
• Schools—Hallsville, Missouri, 1905
• Schwarzer, Franz (1828-1904)
• Simons, Lewis
• Society of Independent Artists, St. Louis, Missouri
• Sports—Equipment and supplies
• St. John's Methodist Church, St. Louis, Missouri—Men's Bible Class
• St. John's Methodist Church, St. Louis, Missouri—Mothercraft Class
• St. Louis Independent Artists
• St. Louis War Memorial, St. Louis, Missouri
• St. Louis Zoo, St. Louis, Missouri
• St. Patrick's Day Parade, Columbia, Missouri, 1914
• St. Peter's Church, Washington, Missouri
• Stagecoaches
• Steamboat—Admiral
• Steamboat—Bald Eagle
• Steamboat—Belle of Calhoun
• Steamboat—Cape Girardeau
• Steamboat—Capitol
• Steamboat—Dandelion
• Steamboat—Erastus Wells
• Steamboat—J.M. White
• Steamboat—J.M. White
• Steamboat—Julius S. Walsh
• Steamboat—Kalitan
• Steamboats
• Steamboat—St. Paul
• Sulkies
• Tanning
• Tornadoes—Hallsville, Missouri, 1917
• Trains
• Trains—Models
• U.S. Army. 35th Division
• U.S. Army. 63rd Aerial Photographic Section
• U.S. Army. 63rd Aerial Photographic Section
• U.S. Army. Signal Corps, 1st Detachment
• Union Pacific Railroad
• United Service Organizations Camp Shows, Inc.
• United States—Armed forces
• University of Missouri--Academic Hall, c1917
• University of Missouri--Chemistry Hall, c1917
• University of Missouri--Columns
• University of Missouri--Commencement, 1925
• University of Missouri--Commerce Hall, c1917
• University of Missouri--Engineering Hall, c1917
• University of Missouri--Francis Quadrangle, c1917
• University of Missouri--Jesse Hall
• University of Missouri--Law Hall, c1917
• University of Missouri--Mechanical Arts Building, c1917
• University of Missouri--Parades, 1910s
• University of Missouri--Reserve Officer Training Corps, 1916-1917
• University of Missouri--Rollins Field, c1917
• University of Missouri--Savitar Ball, 1938
• University of Missouri--St. Patrick's Day Celebration, 1914
• University of Missouri--Switzler Hall, c1917
• Veiled Prophet Ball, St. Louis, Missouri, 1956
• Veiled Prophet Ball, St. Louis, Missouri, 1958
• Veiled Prophet Parade, St. Louis, Missouri
• Veiled Prophet Parade, St. Louis, Missouri, 1964
• Veterans Bridge, St. Louis, Missouri
• Veterans Hospital Camp Shows, Inc.
• Veterinary medicine, 1840s
• W.C. Bradley Company Cotton Warehouse
• Wabash Railroad
• Winsor, Ed
• Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 1914
• Women—Costume, 1918
• World War, 1914-1918—Aerial operations
• Wrench, Jesse E. (1882-1958)