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Title: Native American & Western Photograph Collection
Description: This artificial collection of 146 photographic images, circa late 1880s to the early 1900s, includes scenes of Native American peoples in Indian Territory, Oklahoma, "Boomer" settlers and settlements, and scenes from the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre. The principal tribes represented are the Ponca, Kiowa, Comanche, Pawnee, Apache, Cherokee, Sac and Fox, Otoe, and Sioux.

Title: Willis Castle Memorial Photographs
Description: Primarily from the 1940s-1950s, these 340 photographs contain shots of the city market, municipal auditorium, street scenes, city officials, aerial views, and parks. Willis Castle, was employed by Kansas City, Missouri, as Superintendent of Markets and Broadway Bridge from 1974-1977.

Title: Woodcut Society Prints
Description: The Woodcut Society Collection contains 18 print folios commissioned by Alfred Fowler for the organization between 1932 and 1941. The majority of the prints are in black and white, but a few are in color. Each artist used a block to make 200 prints by hand. The prints were sent to Fowler who placed them in a folio folder and printed a brief article about the artist on the facing page. These folios were then issued to Woodcut Society members.

Title: Guerrillas and Outlaws
Description: This digital collection consists of 52 charcoal portraits created by artists Anna Lee (Dillenbeck) Stacey and Elmer Stewart. Unfortunately, the provenance for the drawings is unknown. A 1992 library office memo indicates they came to the library many years ago, and that some of the drawings were displayed in the library around the late 1980s. At one time, the portraits were been mounted and perhaps framed, but the mat boards were removed before digitizing. They are now part of the Missouri Valley oversize works (MVO), a collection of various types of art work such as paintings, sculpture, drawings and sketches, large-size photographs, posters, and other miscellaneous items.

Title: Transportation
Description: This collection shows modes of transportation used around 1910: railroads, the newly evolving automobile, streetcars, interurban to Excelsior Springs, riverboats, and an early airplane. Few photos of rolling stock and engines appear, but views of railroad track and bridges are numerous as well as railroad employees such as cooks and depot workers. These photographs capture both rural and urban scenes as well as the dress, style, and mood of the time.

Title: Nineteenth-Century Kansas City
Description: These late nineteenth-cenutry images of early Kansas City, primarily the 1870s-1890s, provide unique views such as the Board of Trade building under construction, exterior and interior views of the glass Exposition Building, unusual weather events, hotels, and businesses. Early transportation is depicted by bridges, street cars, trains, railroad stations, etc. The bulk of these photographs are from the William Hyde collection and two scrapbooks-Number 1 and Number 3.

Title: Landmarks Commission
Description: Kansas City Landmarks Commission donated nearly 1,000 photographs to the Missouri Valley Special Collections. They are divided into four groups, but only three have images in the MVSC Digital Gallery: Health Care; Art Commission Awards; and a group of over 580 Miscellaneous photos primarily from different city departments. Images include architectural award-winning Kansas City locations, area hospitals, Kansas City Police, Fire, Public Works, and Sanitation Departments, the 1951 Flood, the Stockyards, and more.

Title: Education
Description: Kansas City schools and school children comprise the bulk of this grouping of over 470 images. Included are the following special collections: Nikoles Aleski/Virtuana System; James A. Hazlett; Kansas City, Mo. School District; James F. Spalding; Thomas Fitzpatrick.

Title: Nelly Don Photographs
Description: When Nell Quinlan married Paul Donnelly and moved to Kansas City from Parsons, Kansas, in 1906, she wanted to keep costs low, but still look stylish while working around the house. Not finding what she wanted, she designed and sewed her own housedresses. Her creative genius grew into a multi-million dollar business-the Donnelly Garment Company and the Nelly Don clothing label, "a stylish, feminine frock." Many women of the 1930s and '40s owned a Nelly Don dress. These few photos are mostly group employee shots.

Title: Historic Kansas City Foundation Images
Description: The Historic Kansas City Foundation is a nonprofit organization that advocates for the preservation and rehabilitation of historic buildings, landscapes, and neighborhoods in Kansas City. This collection contains images documenting the preservation efforts of the organization.

Title: Family Collections
Description: In addition to photographs, this group has images of documents such as letters. Included are the following special collections: James J. Akard (Civil War related papers); Carl Betz; Jim Bridger; Dixon/Jordan Family; Leonard/Guitar Family; Myers Family; Peery Family; Robinson Family; and John Barber White.

Title: The Kansas City Bridge
Description: In 1870, engineers Octave Chanute and George Mason published their account of the building of the Hannibal Bridge, the first permanent rail crossing of the Missouri River. Their text covers every detail of the project from its initial conception through its opening in 1869. The bridge helped transform Kansas City from a minor river town into a center of Midwestern commerce in subsequent years. In addition to a digitized copy of their book, its many drawings and photographs documenting the bridge’s construction can be viewed within this collection.

Title: Business Buildings
Description: In 1926-1928 Henry D. Green created a scrapbook with 78 images that feature business buildings, banks, hotels, and theaters.

Title: Postcards (Mrs. Sam Ray)
Description: Mrs. Sam (Mildred) Ray's postcard collection contains over 16,000 postcards from all over the world. Only 700 of these have been digitized. For some years, Mrs. Ray wrote a weekly column for The Kansas City Star and The Kansas City Times called "Postcards from Old Kansas City." The digital images in this collection include her historical articles. Additionally, the general collection includes thousands of postcards, but only a few have been digitized. The postcards not digitized can be viewed in the Missouri Valley Room at the Central Branch of the library.

Title: Askren Photograph Collection
Description: Local photographer Robert G. Askren donated photographs and negatives to the Missouri Valley Special Collections in 2006. Images generally depict Kansas City buildings, parks, streets, important events, local personalities, and aerial views of Kansas City. The bulk of the collection dates from 1950s-1980s, although there are some early aviation photos.

Title: Coon-Sanders Nighthawks Orchestra
Description: Joe Sanders and Carleton Coon co-founded the Coon-Sanders Nighthawks orchestra that gained fame during the 1920s. This digital collection includes many photographs of the orchestra and other performers as well as photographs from Fred Edmiston, author of The Coon-Sanders Nighthawks, and the Harvey Rettberg papers. Rettberg and Clyde Hahn established the Coon-Sanders Nighthawk Fan Club in 1959.

Title: Hargrave Photograph Collection
Description: The Judge Elmo M. Hargrave Photograph Collection contains images taken circa 1920s-1940s that were used to document accident sites in the city. They provide a unique perspective on the traditional views of streetscapes, businesses, residences, parks, and other locales.

Title: Journal-Post Photographs
Description: The Kansas City Journal-Post came into existence in 1928 when the Kansas City Journal and the Kansas City Post merged. The paper ceased publication in the 1940s, at which time they apparently sold various items. In 1998 Richard Zeldin donated about 400 glass negatives that he said his grandmother had purchased at that sale. Prints were made from the best negatives courtesy of the Friends of the Library. This digital collection of some of the prints showcase sports figures, numerous celebrities, aerial views, aviation, and the Bennett bridge game murder trial.

Title: Organized Crime Files
Description: This collection contains files relating to organized crime in Kansas City from the 1930s to the 1970s.Contents include records from the Kansas City Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation, reporter’s notes, newspaper clippings, and photographs of local mafia members.

Title: Maps

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