Reference Collection

• Introduction
• Surname Index & Vertical Files
• Card Indexes
• Special Collections

Card Indexes

The Reference Collection contains several card catalogs to assist patrons and staff in accessing the holdings. In addition to the standard Main Card Catalog, the library houses other smaller, unique finding aids. Patrons can use these card catalogs when they visit the Society’s Reference Collection, and staff members routinely use them to answer correspondence and to reply to telephone calls.

• The Main Card Catalog contains cards for authors, titles, and subjects for books, along with pamphlets, periodicals, atlases and vertical files.
• The Missouri Surname Index provides citations to biographies in early Missouri county histories and to selected biographical items in newspapers, periodicals, vertical files and books. Although this index is not an “every name file,” the Missouri Surname Index is a good place for historians to begin their research on an individual.