Finding Aids

This collection of images primarily relates to Western lore during the late 19th and parts of the 20th centuries. It includes cowboys and cowgirls, entertainment figures, venues as rodeos and Wild West shows, Indians, lawmen, outlaws and their gangs, as well as criminals including those involved in the Union Station Massacre.

Brookings Montgomery (1884-1963) was a local photographer who died in Kansas City at the age of 79. He owned and operated Montgomery Foto Service located at 1519 Wyandotte, Kansas City, Missouri. It is believed that these four boxes of correspondence files came with the Montgomery Photograph Collection purchased by the library in the 1960s. They have been retained in their original filing arrangement. Correspondence is from the 1940s-1960s and is arranged alphabetically by sender. The majority of the letters deal with the following subjects: circus, rodeo/wild west lore, and cowboys. Correspondents include descendants of Jesse James including Stella James, the wife of Jesse James II.

The collection's 117 developed photographs and 51 glass plate negatives show scenes from around the turn of the twentieth century by local amateur photographer, Frank S. Ford. They include photographs which detail local events as well as rural, pastoral, and human interest views.

This collection contains 67 photographs of late 19th Century Kansas City by local amateur photographer William Hyde. The photographs show scenes in Kansas City, Missouri and Bonner Springs, Kansas.

This collection contains 340 black and white, 8" x 10" photographs. Many of them were a part of the Department of Welfare, Kansas City, Missouri. The focus of this collection is on people and activities, especially neighborhood and children's activities. Subjects include the City Market, Municipal Auditorium, various parks, and numerous unidentified street scenes. City officials of the time are found in many of the photos.
Willis Castle was employed by the city of Kansas City, being Superintendent of City Markets and Broadway Bridge from 1975-1977.

This collection of amateur quality snapshots show familiar local landmarks like Union Station, the Kansas City Museum, Swope Park, etc. Also included are a few from the Kansas City, Kansas area.

The photographer(s) and originator of the scrapbook of 94 photographs of varying sizes are unknown. The images provide scenes of the Board of Trade building under construction as well as exterior and interior views of the glass Exposition Building. Early transportation is depicted by bridges, street cars, trains, railroad stations, etc. The grading of the city, riverfront views, downtown street scenes, groups of people, parades and other special events are also captured in this collection.

This collection contains 57 black and white 8" x 10" photographs housed in one box. Views include downtown area, West bottoms, riverfront area, industrial areas, midtown area including Union Station and Liberty Memorial, etc. Also included are photos of the Fairfax and Municipal Airport area, college campus scenes, and some rural areas.

This collection is composed of 69 black and white photographs of varying sizes and nine sketches and features business buildings compiled in scrapbook form by Henry D. Green in 1926-1928. Most of the pictures have a letterhead and logo of the company accompanying the picture. Besides office buildings, there are a few photographs of banks, hotels, and theaters.

This collection was originally a scrapbook entitled Description of City Ice Company of Kansas City Properties. It contains 50 black and white photographs as well as a typed descriptive page. It was dated Dec. 1932, Book No.4. The ice houses were located in Kansas City, Missouri; Kansas City, Kansas; North Kansas City, Missouri; and Omaha, Nebraska.

The collection of 30 black and white photographs include aerial views as well as ground shots of streets, rubble, river bottoms, etc., during the 1951 flood in Kansas City. It also contains views of the fire on Southwest Boulevard which occurred at this time.

These 13 8" x 10" photographs are of structures on the property limits of the proposed shopping center to be known as Old Westport on the Santa Fe Trail, 1010 Westport Ave., Kansas City, Mo. The Kansas City Orphan Boys Home was located here. Appears to have been originally compiled by Folger and Pearson, Architects.

This collection contains 388 items in black and white with 121 photographs and 267 glass slides. The glass slides were prepared as instructional material for the Kansas City, Missouri School District by their Department of Visual Instruction. Subjects include Kansas City as well as the state of Missouri. The Kansas City related slides include local buildings, sculpture, charitable organizations, parks, streets, the stockyards, and other famous landmarks. Each slide includes a typed identification and some are dated. Those dated are generally from 1935 to 1940.

The collection consists of 1402 color, glass negative autochrome images of Kansas City residences and gardens; some city views, including parks, statues, fountains, and other landmarks; and pictures of Saint Louis, Missouri, and Topeka, Kansas. The photos date from around 1930 through 1942, with the bulk taken before 1935. A large portion of the images are close-ups of individual plants and flowers. The collection also includes a few color slides that are not autochromes, as well as a handful of black-and-white slides. Of the total number of slides, 1228 are unique images. The collection also includes notes from lectures given by the photographer.

This collection contains over over 140 glass plate negatives, cabinet cards, and assorted prints. The images are primarily of Native American peoples, cowboys, and "Boomer" settlers in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) during the late-1880s through the early-1900s. The principal tribes represented include the Ponca, Kiowa, Comanche, Sac and Fox, Otoe, Pawnee and Apache. Many of the images were taken by prominent western photographers of the period including Thomas Croft, William S. Prettyman, George Cornish, and William E. Irwin. There are also fifteen photographs of Sioux Indians and U.S. soldiers taken by the Northwestern Photo Company during the 1890/91 conflict at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota.

The scrapbook contains 72 various-sized, second-generation black and white prints of early Kansas City riverfront views. Included are scenes of the grading of the bluffs for streets, early commercial and residential buildings, street views, and some early railroad development. Some views of the Hannibal Bridge construction events and the Gillis House are also included. Written identification appears on most of the photos.

A group of 108 color slides of images of Kansas City from the 1950s and 1960s, taken by Eldridge, an amateur photographer. The photos include buildings, fountains, hospitals, rooftop views of downtown (including riverfront areas), Municipal Airport, Richards Gebaur Air Force Base, shopping centers, streets, Union Station, and the West Bottoms. Black and white prints and negatives and two color photographs have been made from some of the slides.

The collection includes 549 negatives and 318 original prints of images taken in the 1910s focusing on railroads and transportation and rural and urban life. The geographic scope is the Midwest, primarily Missouri and Kansas. The railroad photographs pertain to the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad line. Scenes of both eastern Jackson County and Kansas City are common. The most striking features are the modes of transportation used at the time: the railroads, the newly evolving automobile, the street car, the interurban to Excelsior Springs, river boats, and an early airplane taking off in Overland Park.

The Hargrave collection of 173 black and white 8 x10 in. photographs depict scenes primarily in and around downtown Kansas City, Missouri. They were originally created to document accident sites for later use as evidence in lawsuits people had filed against the city. Hargrave recognized the intrinsic historical value of these images and received permission to save them from destruction. After his death, his close friend Joe Zenitsky contacted the Library to make arrangements for providing these photos to Library customers and to users of the World Wide Web. The bulk of the photographs date from the 1920s. Because of their original intent, they provide a unique perspective on the traditional views of streetscapes, businesses, residences, parks, and other locales.Elmo M. Hargrave was born in Kansas City in 1918. After attending Manual High School, he enlisted in the United States Army. During World War II he suffered severe injuries to his chest and throat, damaging his vocal cords. After teaching himself to speak again, he began to study the field of law to practice speaking. He had a long career as a public servant, eventually rising to the position of Municipal Judge. Judge Hargrave retired in 1983 and died 14 years later.

The 389 black and white negatives originated with the "Kansas City Journal Post" newspaper. The collection also includes 349 8" x 10" black and white photographs. All the images reflect a newspaper's interest and visual coverage for its stories and news items of the day. The majority were taken in the 1930s and include numerous aviation-related photos and celebrities such as Jean Harlow, Charles and Anne Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Charlie Chaplin, Cecil B. DeMille, Morris Fishbein, Eddie Cantor, Richard Byrd, and many others. The photos were purchased by the donor's grandmother at a sale shortly after the newspaper ceased publication in 1942. They remained in the Zeldin family until donated to the Special Collections department by Richard Zeldin. October 4, 1928, the "Kansas City Journal" and the "Kansas City Post" merged and became the "Kansas City Journal-Post." It reverted to the original name, "Kansas City Journal," again in 1938 and ceased publication March 31, 1942.

This group of 17 black and white and 12 color photographs are duplicates of those at the Aviation Department of Kansas City, Missouri. These photographic copies were processed in the summer of 1999. The collection centers on Municipal, Kansas City International, and Richards-Gebaur airports, and also includes photographs of the downtown skyline from the mid-1970s.

The Nelly Don Collection contains 35 black and white photographic prints donated to the Missouri Valley Special Collections in August 2001. The donor's aunt had been an employee of the Donnelly Garment Company and had collected these photographs. Few of the individuals in the photographs are identified, and many images are not dated. The photographs largely consist of Donnelly Garment Company employee group portraits on holiday and otherwise festive occasions.Nell Donnelly Reed was born Ellen Quinlan in Parsons, Kansas, 1889, and moved to Kansas City in 1906. She began designing and sewing her own housedresses, several of which she offered for sale to the George B. Peck Dry Goods Company in 1916. By 1931 she owned the Donnelly Garment Company, which manufactured the widely known "Nelly Don" line of women's apparel. Reed retired in 1956, and the organization's name was changed to Nelly Don, Inc. The company evolved throughout the 1960s and 70s, although the changing economic climate of the nation eventually brought its demise. The selling of fabrics was a sustaining innovation of the 1970s, but Nelly Don, Inc., filed for Chapter 10 bankruptcy in 1978.

Richard Corliss was born in Springfield, Massachussetts, in 1915 and moved to Kansas City in 1944. He worked as a freelance photographer, capturing scenes for sale to local news agencies. His collection consists of 46 photographs of varying sizes. Most are black and white. The photographs, shot between approximately 1945 and 1960, are of local personalities and visiting celebrities, accidents, disasters, and other news events. Notable are several photographs of the Truman family after their return to Independence.

The photographs in the Ward Hunt Collection feature a number of images of famous personalities such as Sophie Tucker, Hedy Lamarr, and Jimmy Stewart, as well as local celebrities such as broadcaster Randall Jessee and University of Missouri football coach Don Faurot. Additionally, the collection contains correspondence and material documenting the career of a professional photographer in the 1940's and 1950's. Items of genealogical interest to the descendants of Ward Hunt, such as family photographs and birth/death records, are also preserved in the collection. The collection contains photographs of three types: those shot in the course of Ward Hunt's career as a professional photographer; those related to the history of his family; and personal photographs found in a scrapbook. Ward Hunt was a photographer for the Kansas City Star for 24 years. Prior to his work at the Star, he worked as an Associated Press photographer, as well as a motion picture cameraman and projectionist. His movie work included creating films of Asia and Europe with evangelist Carl Walker and shooting news subjects. He also worked as a free-lance photographer and wire photo operator. Hunt retired from the Star in April 1964. He died at the age of 63 that year.

This photograph collection contains 198 black and white photographs taken in the 1940s-1950s. The images are of health care facilities and services maintained by the Kansas City Health Department. Includes General Hospital Nos. 1 and 2, the TB Hospital in the Leeds area, nursing program, etc. The collection was acquired from the Kansas City Landmarks Commission.

Collection of 122 8' x 10' color photographs documenting the winners of biannual architecture and urban design awards granted by the Kansas City Art Commission from 1964 through 1988. Subjects include buildings, neighborhoods, parks, signage, streetscapes, gardens, and other features of the built environment that were considered to have enhanced the visual beauty of the city.

The Miscellaneous Landmarks Commission Collection contains images produced by various Kansas City, Missouri city departments during the 1920s through the 1980s. This subcollection is a part of the Landmarks Commission Collection (P34).

This collection consists of a booklet with photographs created to document public improvements of the 1947 Bond Program proposed by a Citizens Bond Committee. The Citizens Bond Committee was founded in 1946 by the Citizens Regional Planning Council, a group made up of officials from Kansas City, MO; North Kansas City; Independence; and Kansas City, KS.

The Landmarks Commission was established in 1970 to locate and identify Kansas City’s historic and architecturally significant structures and districts. This collection of slides contains images of Kansas City’s residences, businesses, churches, landmarks, and views of the city.

Local photographer Robert G. Askren donated photographs and negatives to the Missouri Valley Special Collections in 2006. He worked for Harkins Commercial Photo Co. which he later purchased and renamed The Commerical Photo Co., Inc. Images generally depict Kansas City buildings, parks, streets, important events, local personalities, and aerial views of Kansas City.Click on the link above to access the finding aid.