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— Credits and Sources —


After Dallas Bartley's death in 1979, his collection of photographs, sheet music, scrapbooks and other memorabilia was donated to the Katherine G. Lederer Ozarks African-American History Collection. This exhibit uses a small portion of that material and was curated by Anne M. Baker, Archivist.

Lederer receives MAC awardFor over twenty years, Professor Katherine G. Lederer documented and preserved this region's African-American heritage. Dr. Lederer's passion for black history, her close connection to Springfield's black community, and her tireless efforts to document a neglected chapter of Ozarks history were the forces behind this collection.

Today the collection consists of over 7,500 documents dating as far back as the Civil War. The collection includes over 2,600 photographs, many of which provided the foundation for her book, Many Thousand Gone: Springfield's Lost Black History (1986). The archive documents the before-and-after story of the region's African-American community and history. The photographs, along with the collection's family, military, and church records, provide the only known links to many families who fled Springfield following a lynching in 1906.

Until her death in 2005, Dr. Lederer actively promoted the collection's message by working closely with students, scholars, and the general public. Her archiving efforts justified numerous grants and won her the Missouri Humanities Council Governor's Award in 1999, as well as the 2003 Midwest Archives Conference (MAC) President's Award for her collecting efforts and supporting the archival mission. Dr. Lederer donated her collection to Missouri State University and it is now housed in Meyer Library.

Learn more about the Katherine G. Lederer African-American History Collection.

Shown in photo above: David Richards (Head of Missouri State University's Special Collections and Archives), Dr. Lederer, and Mark Greene (Chair of the MAC President's Award Committee).


This online exhibit is from the
Special Collections and Archives Department,
Missouri State University
Springfield, Missouri.
Visit the department's website.

No part of this site may be reproduced
without written permission from the Archives.

This exhibit was last updated on August 29, 2006 .