What is the WHMC?

The Western Historical Manuscript Collection (WHMC) was established at the University of Missouri in Columbia in 1943 with the help of a Rockefeller Foundation grant. The State Historical Society of Missouri had been acquiring manuscript materials since 1900. The two collections combined physically in 1963 and expanded to the Kansas City, Rolla, and St. Louis campuses of the University of Missouri in 1968. 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 WHMC-Columbia's more than 16,000 linear feet of paper records, over 6,350 rolls of microfilm, 31,000 photographs and other images, and approximately 15,000 audio and video recordings

The WHMC-C has a wide ranging and eclectic scope, with unique, unpublished records of state, regional, and national significance.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 WHMC-C documents 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 WHMC-C 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.

The WHMC-C 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 encourgaged to contact WHMC-C. For a general introduction to donating papers, consult the Donor's Guide to the Western Historical Manuscript Collection.