Special Collections and Archives Finding Aids

Scope and Contents The Missakian Collection was donated by Nadine Missakian, widow of Baron Siroon Missakian. Inclusive dates are circa 1915-1972, with the bulk dates being the 1920s and 1930s. There is some manuscript material and miscellaneous ephemera but the richness of the collection lies within hundreds of magnificent photographs created by Missakian. Some of the photographs are black and white and some are in color, hand tinted by the photographer himself. Included are many famous personalities such as...

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The Catalog Collection is an artificial collection comprised of various catalogs grouped by topic and spans from 1881-2006. The majority of items in this collection deal with film, books, and music. Other types of catalogs include but are not limited to toys, clothing, home furniture, electronics, collectibles, and theatre.

Scope and Contents The Coterie Theatre Collection was gifted to LaBudde Special Collections by the theatre in March 2014. The date range of the contents is from 1978 at its inception until 2013. Materials include production scrapbooks, financial data, various publications, posters, photographs and slides.Scrapbooks contain mostly news clippings with scant correspondence. As the theatre evolved from its inception, the productions become more elaborate and dimensional. Local news reviews observe the...

Scope and Contents The David Morantz Collection contains items relating to Judaic Studies. It has been organized into six series contained in three boxes. Inclusive dates range from 1907 to 1959, with bulk dates being 1934 to 1943. Included are some correspondence, primarily relating to Morantz’s syndicated column, Talmudic Tales. There is much focus on religious studies and Morantz’s involvement with Sunday school education in local synagogues. Of particular interest are the local church newsletters which...

Scope and Contents The Diana Hearne James Collection was a gift of her estate, and is housed in LaBudde Special Collections, UMKC Miller Nichols Library. The collection consists of material related to Diana Hearne James and her husband, noted artist Frederic James. It is divided into five series: Biographical Information, Correspondence, Miscellaneous, Photographs and Music Manuscripts. In addition, books from this collection have been cataloged and are listed in the UMKC Library Catalog using the author...

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The Dorothy Green Dreher Collection dates from 1960 to 1997 and contains primarily material related to her writings, which include short stories, poetry and a novel. A number of her works were published in literary magazines for children and adults. Included are manuscripts, correspondence and various publications. Materials have been divided into seven series.

Scope and Contents The Dorothy Johnson Collection was donated to LaBudde Special Collections in February of 2017 by Tara Johnson. It includes newspapers and clippings, memoranda, correspondence, certificates, photographs, research and reference materials, memorabilia, photographs, and other materials related to Johnson’s life, family history, work, research, political and organization involvement, and activism. Of note are materials related to the 1959 protests for desegregation of Kansas City department...

Scope and Contents The Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Collection was received in 2000 from his estate. Dates range from 1919 to 1999, a year before his death. The bulk of the collection relates to his travels, much of which was in connection with his association with the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH). The Society would conduct an annual meeting that included historical trips or tours throughout the United States and abroad. Aside from the SAH, Dr. LaBudde took several other international trips with...

Scope and Contents The Freda Mendez-Smith Collection was donated to LaBudde Special Collections in October 2015 by Mendez-Smith herself. It contains materials dating from the early 1980s to 2010s and covers the inner workings and proceedings of several organizations and events that Mendez-Smith was involved in. The collection is divided into four series: Organizations and Events, both divided into sub-series by name of the organization or event. These documents reveal a great deal about the specific kind of...

Scope and Contents The Gaylord Marr Collection was a gift of Olga Marr in the summer of 2011. The expansive nature of this collection is a reflection of Professor Marr’s long and prestigious career in academia. A series of personal documents feature Marr’s private diaries and many manuscripts of his own writings, as well as material from his college years and other items related to his day to day life and career. Marr’s teaching life is represented here by many documents and course materials related to his...

Scope and Contents The Joseph K. Redmond, Jr. Collection was donated to the University of Missouri-Kansas City by Redmond's wife, Virginia Redmond, in 1996. Redmond was a theatre manager for the Uptown and Tower theatres in Kansas City, Missouri; he collected material about theatres, both movie and stage, primarily in Kansas City. The collection, housed in the Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections, dates from 1875 to 1996, with the majority of the material being concentrated between 1930 and...

Scope and Contents The Kansas City Repertory Theatre Collection was transferred to LaBudde Special Collections in March 2013. The collection consists of materials related to seasonal productions of the theatre since its inception in 1964, under the original name of Missouri Repertory Theatre. Included in the substantial holdings are Programs; Play Guides; Promotional Ephemera and Memorabilia; News Clippings; Images; Business & Financial Data; Annual Reports; and Audio and Video. The wide range of materials...

Scope and Contents The collection consists of KCUR radio broadcast on analog and digital tapes, dating from 1953 to 2005, as well as CD-Rs and digital files, dating from 2002 to 2017. The materials document the social, cultural, and political history of Kansas City and the Midwest, providing researchers with context and insights into midwesterners’ viewpoints on national issues. The broadcasts contain interviews, recorded events, and news coverage on issues of race, abortion, education standards, crime,...

Scope and Contents The McLean Family Collection was acquired in April 2009 as a gift from Martha McLean Simpson, daughter of Minnie and Lawrence McLean. The collection contains both personal information about the McLean Family as well as material relating to the McLean Band Shop in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. The band shop was patronized by many local and well-known visiting musicians. There are photographs of such celebrities as Benny Goodman, Tex Beneke and Sammy Kaye. Hal McLean, Lawrence McLean’s older...

Scope and Contents The Patricia Huyett Collection was gifted to the LaBudde Special Collections in April 2011 by Pat Huyett. Huyett, an alumnus of and English professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, was a Renaissance woman in the truest sense of the word, and this collection reflects those broad identities. Among the jewels of this collection are her personal journals, which range in emotions from whimsical to compelling. As she documents the experience of a young girl’s journey into womanhood,...

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The collection is made up of oral history recordings from UMKC history professor, Rebecca Davis', 5585 graduate history class. The majority of the oral histories were conducted by Davis' students in the Fall of 2016 and 2019. The recordings are of individuals who were activists and much of the content in the recordings relates to their activism. Activists topics include civil rights, LGBTQ, Native Americans, Latinx, Jews, labor, and health care.

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The Rosemary Nevin/Sidney Tremble Collection was a ift of Barbara Molinaro in July 2020. It consists of letters, telegrams, and other correspondence during World War II primarily between Rosemary Nevin and Sidney Tremble. The collection also includes correspondence from other Nevin and Tremble relatives and friends before and during the War as well as a small number of photographs and military ephemera.

Scope and Contents Photos in UMKC Digital Special CollectionsThe collection comprises 229 Victorian and vintage original photographic prints dating from the mid 19th Century to the early 20th Century. Formats include Cartes-de-Visite, Cabinet Cards and Tintype. The bulk of the collection represents studios in Missouri and Kansas, while the remaining span throughout the United States with a few in Europe. Within the...

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The Zine Collection was established with the first donation to LaBudde Special Collections in December 2015, after the Kansas City Zine Convention 2015. Comprising multiple individually-named series, the Zine Collection contains hundreds of magazines representing local and national underground/DIY culture, dating 1970s-2020s.