English & French Literature and Languages

Special Collections has particular strengths in early editions of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century fiction, serials, and pamphlets. The collection has a complete run of the Gentleman’s Magazine (1731-1922) and long runs of the Annual Register, the Monthly Review, and the London Magazine. Significant holdings of French periodicals include long runs of the Journal des sçavans, the Journal de Verdun, and the Mercure de France. There are also strengths in materials related to individual authors, especially Rudyard Kipling in first editions and Mark Twain, and in popular literature.

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.

Finding Aids for English & French Literature and Languages

Center for the Literary Arts Collection

Scope and Contents These materials were donated to the University of Missouri Libraries by the Center for the Literary Arts in 2006. The materials…

Dime Novels

Dime novels were published from the middle nineteenth century through the early twentieth century and were largely pulp fiction aimed at a…

Frank Luther Mott Collection of American Best Sellers, 1662-1945

In 1965, shortly after Frank Luther Mott’s death, his family presented his personal library to the University. The private papers, manuscripts, and…

Helen Montgomery Jenkins Collection

Helen Montgomery Jenkins (1913-2013) was born in Topeka, Kansas, and graduated from the University of Missouri with a B.A. in Journalism in 1935. She…

Historic Textbook Collection

The Education Library of the University Libraries began collecting textbooks in 1968. Donations were solicited and members of the Friends of the…

Mary Lago Collection

Biographical Sketch Mary McClelland Lago (1919-2001) was on the University of Missouri Department of English faculty from 1977 to 1991. From 1989…

Modern Manuscripts and Correspondence, ca. 1700-1992

Special Collections holds modern manuscript materials in the form of books, correspondence, and personal papers. These materials were collected at…

Rare Book Collection

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

Walter Williams Library

History Walter Williams (1864-1935) was President of the University of Missouri from 1930 – 1935 and served as Dean of the School of Journalism…

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…

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