Missouri Valley
One hundred years ago the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, giving women in the U.S. the hard-won right to vote. In commemoration of the centennial, the Library’s Missouri Valley Special Collections has produced a new coloring book profiling local women who took part in the suffrage movement. A limited number of free copies will be available at KC Library locations beginning in March 2020 for Women’s History Month. A digital edition and downloads of all the profiles can be found at kchistory.org/coloringkc.
The Missouri Valley Room at the Central Library is home to more than 200 special collections of archival materials documenting the history and development of the Kansas City area. For #AskAnArchivist Day on October 13, we asked our Missouri Valley Special Collections team for the some of the most common questions they receive from patrons. #AskAnArchivist Day is part of American Archives Month in October, when archives across the country come together to raise public awareness about the importance of historic documents and records.
March is Women's History Month, and there are many ways to commemorate the lives and achievements of women throughout history and share experiences of today's women. Check out the collection of books, movies, and other resources available at the Library.
Children's Book Week, an annual celebration of books for youth and the joy of reading, was launched in 1919 and is currently the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country. Marking the event's 100th anniversary, the Library shares its history and spotlights a remarkable collection of commemorative Children's Book Week posters dating to that founding year.
One hundred years ago the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, giving women in the U.S. the hard-won right to vote. In commemoration of the centennial, the Library’s Missouri Valley Special Collections has produced a coloring book profiling local women who took part in the suffrage movement. A limited number of free copies are available at KC Library locations, and a digital edition and downloads of all the profiles can be found at kchistory.org/coloringkc.
Is Kansas City the home of baseball's original fans? The almanac On This Day in America credits a local newspaper, presumably The Star or The Times, with making the first-ever reference to the sport's followers as "fans" in March 1889. We investigated the claim.
In celebration of Women’s History Month, the Library showcases several remarkable women who have left their mark on the Kansas City region in Coloring Kansas City: Women Who Made History, a special, limited-edition coloring book curated by the Missouri Valley Special Collections.
This week marks 43 years since Ralph Steadman visited a muggy Kansas City to cover the 1976 Republican National Convention for Rolling Stone magazine. Twelve of Steadman’s inimitable drawings ultimately were published alongside John Dean’s first-person story, “Rituals of the Herd.” Six of them - and six more Steadman illustrations from his time in Kansas City - are part of the traveling exhibit, Ralph Steadman: A Retrospective, on display at the Library’s Central Library through September 8, 2019.
In 2016, the Library marked the 40th anniversary of the ’76 Convention with a special exhibit, Republican Showdown in Kansas City, which included several pieces from the Library’s Missouri Valley Special Collections. The MVSC houses a number of artifacts from the convention and, in conjunction with its 43rd anniversary and the Steadman retrospective, we thought we’d showcase a bit of both.
With Library buildings open, one of the experiences patrons can once again enjoy in person is viewing exhibits in our galleries and spaces. Check out the current lineup on display and come visit and explore these celebrations of community art, culture, and history.
The Kansas City Public Library is featured in the latest C-SPAN Cities Tour, which highlights the history and literary life of a selected city. Producers spent time with the Library in examining the history of the Stockyards District and the 1920s and '30s era in which local political boss Tom Pendergast was at the height of power. The segments aired the weekend of December 2-3, 2017, and videos are available to view online.
The Library is currently migrating its large collection of digital historic images to a new software platform. An unfortunate consequence of our data migration is that we need to take the entire collection offline for about two months while the work is completed.
For more than two decades, the Kansas City Landmarks Commission has donated hundreds of historical images to the Library’s Missouri Valley Special Collections – digital photographs and slides that contribute greatly to the MVSC’s efforts to document the city’s architectural history.
This installment of “What’s Your KCQ” is a story of gambling, gangsters, and geography. Reader William Renegar wanted to know, “Was there once a gambling establishment on Southwest Boulevard on the state line that was part in Kansas and part in Missouri?” There’s a story in his family about a relative, Fred Renegar, who supposedly ran a saloon on the state line before he was killed by the mob over an unsettled debt. His murder was never solved. William Renegar wondered if there was any truth to it. Our findings indicate: Yes, it’s all true.
Throughout March, the Library commemorates Women's History Month by lifting up stories, achievements, and experiences past and present. Explore book recommendations, watch online events, and discover how local women helped shape Kansas City’s history.
Throughout March, the Library commemorates Women's History Month by lifting up stories, achievements, and experiences past and present. Explore book recommendations, watch online events, and discover how local women helped shape Kansas City’s history.
The Library recently launched its newest historical website, The Pendergast Years: Kansas City in the Jazz Age & Great Depression, a digital trove of photos, letters, documents, and original articles illuminating the wide-open era of the 1920s and ’30s when “Boss Tom” Pendergast ruled city politics, corruption was rampant., and violence, stoked by Prohibition, was commonplace.
The Missouri Valley Room in the Central Library is now accepting appointments for visitors to conduct special collections research. Learn more about the guidelines and how to schedule a session.
If archival items can be called juicy, the Folly Theater Collection, now housed in the Kansas City Public Library’s Missouri Valley Room, contains quite a few. In the Folly’s storied, 120 plus-year history, it’s been an X-rated movie house, a burlesque and vaudeville theater, and a Shakespearean playhouse, among other things.
Henry Perry, the man who first assumed the title of Barbecue King of Kansas City, was born on March 16, 1874, in Shelby County, Tennessee. By 1908, he was in Kansas City selling smoked meats to downtown workers from a stand in the Garment District, eventually relocating to the east side at 17th and Lydia before landing at his famed 19th and Highland location. July 3 is Henry Perry Day in Kansas City; we take a moment to explore Henry Perry’s life and career through an article printed in the February 26, 1932, edition of The Call.
Henry Perry, the man who first assumed the title of Barbecue King of Kansas City, was born on March 16, 1874, in Shelby County, Tennessee. By 1908, he was in Kansas City selling smoked meats to downtown workers from a stand in the Garment District, eventually relocating to the east side at 17th and Lydia before landing at his famed 19th and Highland location. July 3 is Henry Perry Day in Kansas City; we take a moment to explore Henry Perry’s life and career through an article printed in the February 26, 1932, edition of The Call.