Government Documents
The premier sources for World War II government documents in St. Louis are the three federal depository libraries that were established as depositories before 1941, the St. Louis Public Library, Pius Library at St. Louis University, and Olin Library at Washington University (pre-1976 documents are stored at the West Campus facility). The most helpful sources for tracking down World War II documents are the government documents librarians at these locations, the U.S. Government Publications Monthly Catalog: Decennial Cumulative Indexes, 1941-1950 (SuDoc: GP 3.8/3:941-950), and the CIS U.S. Serial Set Index.
The variety of World War II documents available can be gleaned from Southern Methodist University's World War II digital library. The Army's Center for Military History web site has a number of on-line World War II books. These are secondary sources but many of the bibliographies include government documents distributed during the war.
Newspapers
The Central Library of St. Louis Public Library and the Headquarters of St. Louis County Library are both equipped with many microform readers and long runs of St. Louis newspapers on microfilm.
There are no general indexes to St. Louis newspapers, but St. Louis Public Library has a casualty index for World War II.Without an index, perhaps the best way to access newspaper reports by subject is through clippings files. The most comprehensive sources for historical clippings of St. Louis newspapers are the Missouri Historical Society Library and the St. Louis Mercantile Library. These two locations also have the largest collections of newspapers in the area, more than just the major dailies that have been put on microfilm.
Archives
The Association of St. Louis Archivists maintains a directory of repositories. The following libraries and archives have particular interest to the World War II researcher:
- The Missouri Historical Society Library will send the Guide to the Archival Collections at the Missouri Historical Society upon request to archives@mohistory.org. It will arrive as a very large Microsoft Word attachment. Searching that document for the terms "World War II" yields a variety of items including letters, ephemera, and the records of the civilian defense of some St. Louis neighborhoods.
- The University of Missouri--St. Louis houses two archival collections:
- The St. Louis Mercantile Library is well-known for its transportation collections but has other material as well.
- The Western Historical Manuscript Collection includes correspondence, manuscripts, and the results of a survey of World War II veterans.
- Jefferson Barracks County Park has archival material although this is not evident from the web site. Researchers, by appointment, can access the unit histories on 32 reels of microfilm or look at the files of records kept during World War II.
- The Washington University Archives includes the Arthur Holly Compton papers with atomic bomb and cosmic ray research records.
- The National Personnel Records Center, a facility of the National Archives Records Administration, is in St. Louis. Due to the private nature of personnel records, researchers are expected to pre-arrange visits.
- The Sporting News Research Center houses a huge collection of historical material including clippings, photos, and periodicals.
- The Archdiocesan Archives contain World War II records in seven subseries including information on chaplaincy, prisoners of war, and displaced persons. These are available to researchers by appointment with the archivist.
- The Concordia Historical Institute, the archives of the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, has a collectively searchable database of finding aids on the web site and houses material on military chaplaincy.
- The Missouri Botanical Garden Archives include material on Victory Gardens in bound volumes of The Missouri Botanical Garden Bulletin and in scrapbooks. Andrew Colligan, the archivist, compiled this list of the clippings in the scrapbooks.