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Title: Local Clothes Expert Dies
Description: Ruth Nan, a clothing buyer who influenced the wardrobes of many Kansas City civic and social leaders, died Saturday [September 30, 2006] at St. Luke's Hospital. She was 87. She worked for 35 years for Swansons and Halls on the Country Club Plaza. She was valued by her local customers for her great taste in clothes and her pleasing personality. She traveled and brought well known designer clothes to the Midwest.
Date: 2006-10-01
Object Type: Newspaper Article

Title: Kansas City People: Helen of Joy
Description: Biography of Helen Schaefer and her clothing store, Swansons, on the Plaza, starting in 1917 and sold in 1966, with photos.
Date: 1999-10-20
Object Type: Newspaper Article

Title: Giralda Tower Construction
Description: View looking southwest of the Giralda Tower at the Swanson's clothing store under construction at the intersection of Mill Creek Parkway and 47th Street in the Country Club Plaza shopping district. Pedestrians and cars can be seen. A sign for the Winn-Senter Construction Company is in view.
Date: 1967-06
Object Type: Photograph

Title: Chandler Court
Description: Photograph of the Chandler Courtyard, at the southeast corner of 47th and Wyandotte Streets, circa 1980. The courtyard features a large fountain, alternately known as the Pan or Bacchus Fountain. The building adjacent to the courtyard was home to clothing store Swanson's.
Date: 1980~
Object Type: Photograph

Title: Giralda Tower and J. C. Nichols Fountain
Description: Photograph of the Plaza near the intersection of Main and 47th Streets circa 1980. Looking southwest from Mill Creek Park, the J. C. Nichols Memorial Fountain is pictured in the foreground, and the Giralda Tower is pictured at left. Swanson's Department store is also pictured on the southwest corner of 47th and J. C. Nichols Parkway.
Date: 1980~
Object Type: Photograph

Title: Giralda Tower
Description: Photograph of the Giralda Tower, on the southwest corner of Baltimore Avenue and 47th Street circa 1987. The Giralda Tower was built by J. C. Nichols in a smaller imitation of La Giralda tower in Seville, Spain, and Swanson's clothing store is also photographed to the tower's west.
Date: 1987~
Object Type: Photograph

Title: Chandler Court
Description: Photograph of the Chandler Courtyard, at the southeast corner of 47th and Wyandotte Streets, in the late 1970s. The courtyard features a large fountain, alternately known as the Pan or Bacchus Fountain. The building adjacent to the courtyard was home to clothing store Swanson's.
Date: 1970~/1979~
Object Type: Photograph

Title: Chandler Court
Description: Photograph of the Chandler Courtyard, at the southeast corner of 47th and Wyandotte Streets, in the late 1970s. The courtyard features a large fountain, alternately known as the Pan or Bacchus Fountain. The building adjacent to the courtyard was home to clothing store Swanson's.
Date: 1980~/1989~
Object Type: Photograph

Title: Kansas City's Retailing Revived (After a Fashion)
Description: Article about the vigorous competition among retail clothing store chains and their executives, including Swanson's on the Plaza and Jack Kaiser.
Date: 1979-06
Object Type: Magazine Article

Title: Map of the Country Club Plaza
Description: Tour and store directory map for the Country Club Plaza shopping center. A note records that the illustration is based on an original 1947 map and revised of January 1967. Significant Plaza buildings, shops and amenities are shown. The reverse side provides a directory of retail and service shops with addresses and telephone exchange numbers. A text description of the Country Club Plaza is also included.
Date: 1967
Object Type: Map

Title: Interview with Mary Agnes Alderman
Description: Interview with Mary Agnes Alderman in which she discusses her career in the garment industry, including working as a buyer for a department store in Springfield, Missouri in the 1950s. She recalls modeling and managing fashion shows, traveling to New York to buy women's sportwear, and her knowledge of Kansas City garment manufacturers and stores. She discusses the changes in shopping habits and department stores, working as a teacher after moving to Kansas City, and serving Ramfis Trujillo, son of president of the Dominican Republic Rafael Trujillo, while working at Swanson's clothing store on the Plaza. She also discusses the change in fashion to more casual dress, and expresses support and enthusiasm for the preservation of Kansas City's garment industry history.
Date: 2011-05-03
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Inge Silverman
Description: Interview with Inge Silverman about her life and experience working at Harzfeld's department store. She recounts the story of her and her family's immigration from Germany in 1936, escaping antisemitism ahead of World War II, and joining other family; her mother being hired at Harzfeld's, and later working for Cricket West. She discusses going to work at Harzfeld's herself as a teenager, working in sales and modeling clothes for customers, owner Siegmund Harzfeld's reputation for generosity and kindness with his employees, and later working for City National Bank and Beth Shalom Synagogue. She describes moving to Dallas in 1960, returning to Kansas City in 1970, and finding the retail landscape different and less high end due to market changes; and discusses the change from full service sales model to customers shopping on their own, noting what modern stores still provide additional service. She also recalls her mother's friendship with painter Thomas Hart Benton and his wife Rita.
Date: 2011-01-05
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Marianne Young
Description: Interview with Marianne Young about her life and her experience in Kansas City's garment industry. Born and raised in Germany, she discusses getting her taste for nice things from her mother and her early interest in fashion, coming to the United States on a scholarship to Northeast Missouri State University, meeting her husband, and following his job to Kansas City. She recalls her job at upscale women's clothing store Swanson's in the 1970s, working as a salesperson and helping assemble wardrobes for customers, declining offers to work as a model, and working as a buyer for DuVall's until the store closed. She discusses the fate of the various DuVall's locations in the area, and going to work at Saks on the Plaza as a personal shopper until that store closed circa 2005. She shares her opinions about the state of Kansas City clothing retailers, the change in fashion to focus on younger women, and making her wardrobe work over time.
Date: 2011-04-03
Object Type: Video Recording

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