The Snyder Collection began as the private collection of Robert M. Snyder, Jr., a prominent Kansas City businessman in the early part of the 20th century. The collection was purchased by William Volker after the death of Snyder in 1937. That same year, Volker anonymously donated the entire collection, then equaling some 14,000 titles, to the University of Kansas City (now University of Missouri at Kansas City). The collection was moved from Ha Ha Tonka Castle, the Ozark home of Snyder, by Clarence R. Decker of the University's English department and future president of the University, who made the 300-mile trip five times. (Ha Ha Tonka Castle was destroyed by fire in 1942. The ruins now serve as a historical focal point of Ha Ha Tonka State Park in Missouri.)

The collection, which includes rare books and manuscript material, is now housed in LaBudde Special Collections.

The rare book portion of the collection -- Snyder Collection of Americana -- focuses on Western Americana and local history and is the foundation book collection of LaBudde Special Collections. The Snyder name continues to serve as a designation for many of the department's broader library of cataloged material in this subject area, as documented in the UMKC Library Catalog. To date, this comprises roughly 30,000 titles, including books, periodicals, theses/dissertations, and other published material.

The manuscripts portion of the collection -- Robert M. Snyder, Jr. Collection -- includes an assortment of archival material made available through a department-created finding aid. It includes autograph books, handwritten poetry/verse books, political ephemera and memorabilia,miscellaneous broadsides, and British studies material.