Local and Regional History Research Guide - Longview

Our Mission is to enhance awareness of Clay County's past through preservation and presentation of our community's history.

The Truman Library Institute is the not-for-profit partner of the Truman Library. For more than forty years, the Truman Library and the Truman Library Institute have worked together to fulfill the Truman Library's commitment to research and education.

The Historical Society of Lee's Summit (HSLS) maintains a museum in the 1939 Post Office in downtown Lee's Summit at 220 Southwest Main Street. The museum houses a number of historic artifacts, maps, and photos of early Lee's Summit.

The Jackson County Historical Society is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving the written, oral, and physical legacy of this county. We do this by maintaining physical collections and promoting the study, appreciation, and interpretation of local and regional history.

Explore historical photographs and documents about the people, places and organizations of Johnson County, Kansas, from the 19th century to the present.

A department of Johnson County government, the Johnson County Museum began as an all-volunteer organization in 1967. The original museum was housed in the former 1927 Greenwood School located in Shawnee, Kansas. The museum’s collections and facility grew over time and now include over 1 million photographs, 15,000 3-D artifacts, and 3,000 cu. ft. of archival material. Significant holdings include the Sun Newspapers photographic morgue from the mid-1980s - 1990s, a bound set of Tom Leather's Squire publications from the early 1960s - 2000s, and material from the Sunflower Ammunition Plant near De Soto. The museum has also built a significant collection documenting the suburban experience in Johnson County.

The Kansas City Museum is Kansas City’s first, and most important, museum of local and regional history. The museum is housed at the former urban estate of lumber baron and civic leader Robert A. Long and his family. The 3 acre plot is located atop a bluff overlooking the Missouri River Valley, adjacent to historic Kessler Park and Cliff Drive, a state Scenic By-way.

The Kansas City Research Center, located on the campus of the University of Missouri–Kansas City, collects, preserves, and makes available for study many unique materials related to the history and culture of the Kansas City metropolitan area, western Missouri, and the Midwest.

LaBudde Special Collections is home to millions of primary and secondary source material, including manuscripts and personal papers; sheet music; photographs, postcards and other images; books, including rare and limited edition; historical periodicals; city directories; maps and atlases; historical documents and research files. Subject strengths include the Trans-Mississippi West experience, local and regional history, Indigenous American history, LGBTQIA+ history, music history (especially Jazz Age Kansas City), cultural and social history, local political and civic leaders. Special Collections maintains print material for a number of archival collections shared with the Marr Sound Archives.

A brief look into the history of Lee's Summit found of the City of Lee's Summit website.

The Longview Alliance is a grassroots coalition of individuals that are dedicated to preserving the Longview Farm historical structures and maintaining the integrity of residential and commercial development in New Longview. Our goal is to work with developers and the City of Lee’s Summit, understand their development plans, raise awareness, and provide a unified voice for the community.

The Missouri Valley Special Collections (MVSC), which came into existence in 1960, consist of the non-circulating local history and genealogy resources of the Kansas City Public Library as well as the Library’s archives. Over 11,000 images of archival material such as letters, photographs, postcards, and maps were migrated in 2006-2007 from a former SQL-designed online database to the new CONTENTdm Missouri Valley Special Collections Digital Gallery.

The Native Sons and Daughters of Greater Kansas City, Inc. is dedicated to the historic preservation of the unique and rich heritage of the greater Kansas City metropolitan area, both in Missouri and Kansas, through advocacy, education and restoration. It also seeks to preserve and maintain archives of historical interest relating to the development of the Kansas City region and to recognize individuals who have resided therein and contributed to such development.

Northeast Kansas City Historical Society is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation in Missouri. NEKCHS is operated by an all-volunteer staff for the purpose of collecting and preserving historical material, offering research opportunities and assisting the community with preservation research.

R.A. Long’s City And Country Homes photo album is housed in the LaBudde Special Collections Department of the Miller Nichols Library at the University of Missouri – Kansas City.

Historical society for Robert Alexander and his legacy.

In the 19th century Americans wanted more land, settlement moved west. For countless American Indians, the American thirst for land meant a challenge to a traditional way of life. Shawnee Mission, like many others, was established as a manual training school attended by boys and girls from Shawnee, Delaware, and other Indian nations from 1839 to 1862. Visit this 12-acre National Historic Landmark and learn the stories of those who lived there.

The Historical Society of New Santa Fe is a 501 C3 not-for-profit and volunteer organization and was incorporated in 1977 to preserve and memorialize pioneer history in southwest Kansas City.

The Westport Historical Society (WHS) was established in 1950 to promote and foster public interest in and preserve the significant history of Westport, Missouri and Town of Kansas, Missouri and their founders. The Westport Historical Society was incorporated in 1964 as a tax exempt, non-profit organization.

The Kansas Collection is the regional history division of the University of Kansas Libraries. The Collection provides researchers with primary source materials that document the history of Kansas and the region. In order to support teaching and research, the staff of the Collection acquire, preserve, and make available resources such as manuscripts, photographs, maps, architectural drawings and blueprints, books, newspapers, periodicals, film and videotapes that document the "Kansas Experience." The Kansas Collection is also a depository for publications of the state of Kansas and for Douglas County records.

The Kansas Historical Society is the state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state’s history to facilitate government accountability, economic development, and the education of Kansans. This is accomplished by collecting, preserving, and interpreting materials and information pertaining to state government and Kansas history.

Primary sources online from the Kansas Historical Society

A virtual repository for territorial Kansas History from 1854-1861.

More than 9 million records can be accessed through Missouri Digital Heritage, including the collections of the Missouri State Archives, the Missouri State Library and other institutions from across the state.

Focused on merging meaningful historic content with innovative modern technology, the State Historical Society of Missouri employs the highest national digitization standards: newspapers in our collection are digitized to National Digital Newspaper Program specifications. Many of Missouri’s digital newspapers are also available through the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America site, which ultimately aims to include newspaper pages from all states and U.S. territories in its collection.

The Missouri History Museum seeks to deepen the understanding of past choices, present circumstances, and future possibilities; strengthen the bonds of the community; and facilitate solutions to common problems.

This is a collection of 114 Missouri County plat books published by W.W. Hixson & Co. Although the exact year of publication is unclear, the volumes are estimated to be from the late 1920s to early 1930s.

Founded in 1898 by the Missouri Press Association and a trustee of the state since 1899, The State Historical Society of Missouri is the premier research center for the study of Missouri state and local history. The Society preserves and provides access to reference materials and historical collections through research centers located in Cape Girardeau, Columbia, Kansas City, Rolla, St. Louis, and Springfield. The Columbia research center also houses a significant art collection with ongoing and varied exhibitions and serves as the administrative headquarters for the Society.

There are many historical and genealogical societies throughout the state that work to document the history of a particular town or region. Often the resources held by local and regional institutions are not available anywhere else making these institutions a valuable source for research. This directory provides researchers the opportunity to locate or search the online resources of these institutions.

A research guide in the history of Native Americans including select articles, biographies, manuscripts, and outside resources.

The Missouri State Archives' African American History Initiative began in October 2001. The initiative aims to create a broad public awareness of the rich contributions of African Americans to the state, as well as offer new resources to historians and others studying Missouri's black history.

The Black Archives of Mid-America, located in Kansas City, Missouri, is a center for learning and research into the African American experience in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma and the Midwest at large.

Discover the Civil War's legacy in the Greater Kansas City region.

Events that happened in the 29 eastern Kansas and 12 western Missouri counties of Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area led to the Civil War and an enduring struggle for freedom. Conflict over slavery and other issues drew those on both sides into a violent Border War. Missouri heroes were Kansas villains. Kansas victories were Missouri tragedies. Now Freedom’s Frontier bridges the border. Explore Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area and experience from many viewpoints the strong freedom story that runs along the Missouri Kansas border.

The Midwest Genealogy Center (MGC) is one of the nation's preeminent resources for family history, providing access to almost three-quarter of a million on-site materials. The Genealogy Center features 52,000 square feet of space to house all the resources and technology genealogists need to research.

The National Frontier Trails Museum is a museum, interpretive center, and research library dedicated to telling the rich history of America’s principle western trails.

The Santa Fe Trail Association is composed of people of all ages and walks of life who are bound together by an interest in the fascinating saga of the Trail, and an interest in preserving its many physical traces and landmarks that still exist upon the face of the American West. While many of them live in the immediate vicinity of the Trail, the SFTA is proud to claim members from all over the United States.

From its inception, the Association has been committed to the collection, preservation, and dissemination of historical documents. In keeping with that tradition, the AHA staff digitizes and posts essays, reports, and other materials from the Association’s past. As the principal umbrella organization for the profession, the AHA’s history reflects that of the profession as a whole.

The American Indian Records Repository (AIRR) is under the directorship of the Records Officer and the Deputy Special Trustee of Program Management. AIRR staff and staff from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) are working together to preserve Indian Affairs records. AIRR is a product of a partnership between NARA and the Department of the Interior. It is the first such partnership in history.
AIRR provides authorized researchers, federal employees who are conducting the historical trust accounting, tribes, and contractors secure access to inactive records for research. Records are stored in strict compliance with NARA standards.

With its close proximity to Haskell Indian Nations University, OTR employees at AIRR teach courses on records management.

Chronicling America is a Website providing access to information about historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages, and is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). NDNP, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress (LC), is a long-term effort to develop an Internet-based, searchable database of U.S. newspapers with descriptive information and select digitization of historic pages. Supported by NEH, this rich digital resource will be developed and permanently maintained at the Library of Congress. An NEH award program will fund the contribution of content from, eventually, all U.S. states and territories.

The vision of a national digital library has been circulating among librarians, scholars, educators, and private industry representatives since the early 1990s. Efforts led by a range of organizations, including the Library of Congress, HathiTrust, and the Internet Archive, have successfully built resources that provide books, images, historic records, and audiovisual materials to anyone with Internet access. Many universities, public libraries, and other public-spirited organizations have digitized materials, but these digital collections often exist in silos. The DPLA brings these different viewpoints, experiences, and collections together in a single platform and portal, providing open and coherent access to our society’s digitized cultural heritage.

The Internet Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that was founded to build an Internet library. Its purposes include offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format.

Founded in 1996 and located in San Francisco, the Archive has been receiving data donations from Alexa Internet and others. In late 1999, the organization started to grow to include more well-rounded collections. Now the Internet Archive includes: texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages in our collections, and provides specialized services for adaptive reading and information access for the blind and other persons with disabilities.

Founded in 1907, the Organization of American Historians (OAH) is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. The mission of the organization is to promote excellence in the scholarship, teaching, and presentation of American history, and to encourage wide discussion of historical questions and the equitable treatment of all practitioners of history.

Founded in 1961, the Western History Association exists to promote the study of the North American West in its varied aspects and broadest sense.

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