Business History

Special Collections holds materials from several St. Louis-based businesses. The largest collections document 20th century corporations, including:

• St. Louis Car Company, 1887-1977 (a manufacturer of trolleys, buses, commuter trains, and other vehicles for local, nationa,l and international customers)
• Monsanto Company, 1901-2014 (now Bayer – Crop Science)
• Harland Bartholomew and Associates, HBA, 1919-1991 (an urban planning and design firm, later obtained by Parsons Corporation)
• St. Louis Bread Company, 1987-2008 (fast casual restaurant, now named Panera)
• Leif J. Sverdrup, 1928-1976 (founder of Sverdrup and Parcel, a civil engineering firm with a specialty field of bridges)

Smaller collections of area businessmen include:

• Robert A. Barnes Business Ledgers 1831-1911 (St. Louis Railroad Company and others)
• James Tower Sweringen, 1832-1872 (grocery, dry goods, and railways)
• Williamson Pope Howard, 1857 ledger for steamboat transactions
• The Round Table, 1882-1938 (organization for civic and business leaders in St. Louis)
• William A. McDonnell 1916-1989 (banker and finance-related; chair of Chamber of Commerce and Civic Progress)
• John M. Olin Albums of Western Cartridge Company, 1916-1954
• Gardner Advertising Company Scrapbooks, 1904-1989 (digital content available; contact Special Collections for access)

Most business-focused archives were collected in the 1980s and early 1990s. This topic is not a current area of active acquisition for the local history collections.