Lincoln University was founded in 1866 for the education of freed blacks after the Civil War. This book focuses on the years between 1920 and 1970, a span of time during which many of the university's most signifi cant developments occurred. During this period, Lincoln Institute was elevated to university status, and graduate programs were added to the curriculum. A court-ordered law school was established and graduated many accomplished and respected African American attorneys before disbanding in the 1950s. During this era, the university was often referred to as "the Harvard of the Midwest" due to the acclaimed reputation of its faculty. Many alumni have made outstanding contributions at local, state, and national levels. After the 1954 United States Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision, the university integrated its student body. As a result, student enrollment changed dramatically from all black to a signifi cantly white clientele. Today the university retains its designation as a historically black college/university.

"The St. Louis Street Department in 1900-1930 took thousands of photos to document municipal challenges and improvements, inadvertently capturing detailed scenes of everyday life. The images reveal the national trend among cities to use the camera as a documentary tool, and they showcase the city of St. Louis at the turn of the century"--

Lawyer and journalist, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Louis Houck is often called the “Father of Southeast Missouri” because he brought the railroad to the region and opened this backwater area to industrialization and modernization. Although Houck’s name is little known today outside Missouri, Joel Rhodes shows how his story has relevance for both the state and the nation. Rhodes presents a more complete picture of Houck than has ever been available: reviewing his life from his German immigrant roots, considering his career from both social and political perspectives, and grounding the story in both state and national history. He especially tells how, from 1880 to the 1920s, this self-taught railroader constructed a network of five hundred miles of track through the wilderness of wetlands known as “Swampeast Missouri”—and how these “Houck Roads” provided a boost for population, agriculture, lumbering, and commerce that transformed Cape Girardeau and the surrounding area. Rhodes discusses how Houck fits into the era of economic individualism—a time when men with little formal training shaped modern industry—and also gives voice to Houck’s critics and shows that he was not always an easy man to work with. In telling the story of his railroading enterprise, Rhodes chronicles Houck’s battle with the Jay Gould railroad empire and offers key insight into the development of America’s railway system, from the cutthroat practices of ruthless entrepreneurs to the often-comic ineptness of start-up rail lines. More than simply a biography of a business entrepreneur, the book tells how Houck not only developed the region economically but also followed the lead of Andrew Carnegie by making art, culture, and formal education available to all social classes. Houck also served for thirty-six years as president of the Board of Regents of Southeast Missouri State Teacher’s College, and as a self-taught historian he wrote the first comprehensive accounts of Missouri’s territorial period. A Missouri Railroad Pioneer chronicles a multifaceted career that transformed a region. Solidly researched, this lively narrative also offers an entertaining read for anyone interested in Missouri history.

The first complete catalog of work by Missouri's earliest female artist provides a singular look at territorial life in the early nineteenth century. Anna Maria von Phul (1786-1823) was the earliest-known female artist working in what was then called the Missouri Territory. Born in Philadelphia and raised largely in Kentucky, she spent her last half-decade in and around St. Louis. Though von Phul never considered herself a professional artist, her sketches and watercolors provide a singular window into the early-nineteenth-century lower Midwest. Von Phul's art depicts not only the landscape and natural world of the St. Louis area, but also its architecture, fashions, and social life, with a notable focus on the local Creole population. Hattie Felton's More than Ordinary is the first complete catalog of von Phul's existing work, all of which is part of the collections of the Missouri Historical Society. The book offers a valuable source of research for anyone interested in the histories of Missouri or Kentucky. More than that, it expands the story of American vernacular art and the role of women in that story. Felton's opening essay examines von Phul's education and artistic influences and explores her time in St. Louis and neighboring Edwardsville, Illinois, alongside letters, newspaper clippings, and other materials from her life. Following the essay, a detailed catalog highlights examples of her watercolors, silhouettes, and copywork. Looking closely at von Phul's life and work provides a firsthand perspective on the challenges that faced female artists in the early nineteenth century while simultaneously offering a rare look at Missouri on the cusp of statehood.

Momentous events from the civil rights movement and the President Kennedy assassination to 9/11 are distilled into elemental images in the work of Tom Engelhardt, longtime political cartoonist with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. A selection of Engelhardt's evocative drawings from the State Historical Society's collection is accompanied by narratives from art historian Joan Stack that add context and reveal artistic influences and techniques. A commentary by Engelhardt and his friend Jules Feiffer, author, playwright, and Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist, gives further insight into Engelhardt's career and the field of newspaper cartoons in the twentieth century.