Historical December 1991 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
The Missouri Historical Society Press published its first book Saint Louis: An Informal History of the City and its People, 1764-1865 on November 1, 1991.
The book, written by Charles van Ravenswaay, MHS director from 1946 to 1962, focuses on the people – the French fur traders and Yankee entrepreneurs, the prominent politicians and forgotten frontier families, the saints and sinnerswho settled St. Louis and made it “the Queen of the West.” The 576-page-oversize book is lavishly illustrated with more than 400 images, many in color and most from the collections of the Missouri Historical Society. Saint Louis: An Informal History will be for sale at the Museum Shop in the Jefferson Memorial Building in Forest Park and at area book stores at the special price of $39.95 through January 30, 1992.
The book will sell for $49.95 after that date.
It was printed at Walsworth Publishing Company of Marceline, Missouri, and is being distributed by the University of Illinois Press. Van Ravenswaay’s original typed manuscript, over 900 pages, was edited by Candace O’Connor with assistance from Dina Young.
The book’s design was created by Geoffrey Wyatt, former MHS art director. Mrs. Leicester B. Faust generously offered to provide financial support for the book’s publication. Van Ravenswaay. who died in March. 1990 at his Delaware home, compiled the book over a number of years, using information he had painstakingly gleaned from early newspapers, letters, journals, biographies and various secondary sources found in the Missouri Historical Society’s collections.
His purpose; he explained, was to create “a personal view of a time, a place, and a mixture of peoples and cultures which circumstances brought together. Consciously and unconsciously I sought to avoid producing a conventional academic account and I hope that the material used, and the manner of my telling, make that clear to readers.” Because of its length, the volume remained unpublished until Dr. Robert R. Archibald, MHS president, heard about it during a 1989 visit with van Ravenswaay and expressed an interest in it.
In his introduction to the book, Dr. Archibald writes that it vividly demonstrated “Charles van Ravenswaay’s affection for St. Louis….[He] knew the descendants of St. Louis’s prominent early families, he listened to their oral traditions, and he spent a lifetime studying the physical evidence of the period encompassed by this volume.” Some readers may take exception to what may seem a touch of sentiment at times,’ wrote van Ravenswaay in a 1989 letter to Dr. Archibald. “…but I tried to write an honest account based on an immense amount of research in source material, and to make an honest account as rich with human interest as possible. “I hope that what I have written will help St. Louisans now and in the future, better understand their fascinating city and their heritage.
The book reviews the pageantry of St. Louis’ past beginning with its colonial period, which was dominated by the Chouteau family dynasty and by a succession of Spanish governors. Next the city took on a new role as territorial capital, with its share of growing pains: the intrigues of Governor James Wilkinson, the death of explorer Meriwether Lewis and the bloody duel between Thomas Hart Benton and Charles Lucas. “Flush times” followed until 1850, as St. Louis became the hub of the burgeoning western trade. New saddle, rifle and wagon companies sprang up. Hotels opened to a flood of visitors, including Charles Dickens.
The city’s cultural and educational life blossomed. Yet there were serious problems, such as deadly cholera epidemics, the depression of 1837, growing tension over slavery and the murder of abolitionist Elijah Parish Lovejoy.
Then just before the Civil War, St. Louis became a divided city in a border state, with the Dred Scott case, the Camp Jackson affair and the hundred-day reign of Gen. John C. Fremont. Finally there was the political and social turmoil of the war years, followed by the city’s transformation into a sprawling industrial center.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, December 1991.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1991_12.pdf, printed page(s) 5; PDF page(s) 5.
