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Travel and Exploration

Special Collections has a number of materials related to travel and exploration.  The three largest holdings consist of around 400 travelogues and other published accounts of travel throughout Europe, approximately 100 of which focus on travel within Great Britain; around 150 titles related to travel in North and South America, including emigrants’ guides, sea expeditions, and published accounts of western expansion; and a collection of maps and atlases dating from the 16th century to the present.

How to Use the Collection

With a few exceptions, the collections can be accessed and requested through the library catalog. Finding aids for individual collections are linked on this website. Materials are available for use in the Special Collections Reading Room (room 401) during regular hours. Materials do not circulate. 

MU Library Catalog

Finding Aids for Travel and Exploration

Gary E. and Janet J. Venable Antiquarian Atlas & Map Collection

The Venable Collection documents the history of cartography, geography, and exploration from the sixteenth through the early twentieth century.…

John G. Neihardt Collection.

Biographical Sketch John Gneisenau Neihardt (1881-1973) accepted a position at the University of Missouri-Columbia's Department of English in 1949…

Martin and Margaret Hiller Collection of Audiovisual Materials on China, 1945-1948.

Color photo of two people operating a small boat in a river

Scope and Contents The Hiller Collection documents cities, industries, farming, and everyday life in China during the second phase of the Chinese…

Rare Books

Thick book with an engraved wooden cover and exposed binding

The Rare Books Collection is the default designation for materials in Special Collections that are acquired as individual items. Like Special…

War Poster Collection.

Scope and Contents The collection consists of posters from both World War I and World War II with tourist and other miscellaneous posters from the…

William Least Heat-Moon Papers.

Scope and Contents Material by Wililam Least Heat-Moon (b. 1939). Manuscripts and additional materials from the following books: PrairyErth (A…

Related Exhibits

Hiller Collection

Photograph of a man with sunglasses sitting on a curved tree trunk in a field in Soochow.

The Hiller Collection documents cities, industries, farming, and everyday life in China during the second phase of the Chinese Civil...

Leaders and Heroes 2: The Arts

This exhibit was born out of a desire to showcase materials within Special Collections at the University of Missouri that...

Places in the World: Treasures from the Venable Collection

1600s map of the world shown in two large circles and human figures representing earth, water, fire and air with other figures and symbols

Maps tell us where we are. The most obvious way they do this is geographical, but there is also a...

Selected Items

Hiller 09-047 : Linggu Pagoda in Nanking

People walking on street with tower in background with rings and  pointed top

Photograph of the Linggu pagoda of Linggu Temple. Linggu Pagoda was built in 1930 to 1932 to commemorate the soldiers who lost their lives during the…

Hiller 09-080: Farmers working in a field in Nanking 2

Man with hat bending over with  farm tool next to him and other workers in field

Photograph of farmers working in a field in Nanking.

Digitized from glass slide. Quality of original is good. Scan: Creo iQsmart3. Image is 600…

Hiller 09-087 : Jeep stuck in country road

Jeep stuck in road with people watching and some trying to help

Photograph of one of the jeeps stuck on a dilapidated bridge in Soochow. Some people are trying to get it loose as others watch.

Digitized from…

Hiller 09-040: Overlooking Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum

Four people looking down at large space with other people and building

Photograph of overlooking the Sun Yatsen Mausoleum. Not too many people and looks like they are leaving right now. The photo looks…

Map of the Middle States engraved to illustrate Mitchell’s New Intermediate Geography.

Shows railroads, cities, and towns for the states of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware./ Prime merdians: Washington and Greenwich.

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