The St. Louis Mercantile Library, founded in 1846 and now located on the campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, is the oldest general library in continuous existence west of the Mississippi River.
Established by civic leaders and philanthropists wishing the citizens of frontier St. Louis to have a fine library even in the city’s earliest days, the Mercantile, as it has now been known by generations of Missourians, exists today as a vibrant, active community asset, celebrating its heritage while making great collections accessible to new scholars.
The Mercantile Library continues to build collections that concentrate on Westward Expansion, American rail and river transportation history as well as the history, development, and growth of the St. Louis region, including its fine art and cultural history, and broadly developed subjects related to the humanities, with a core collection numbering over 250,000 books. The special collections of the library consist of over 400 individual collections with archival materials numbering in the millions, including over 100 historic newspaper titles, early travel diaries and civil war era letters, presidential letters, fur trade records and the newspaper and printing morgue of the St. Louis Globe Democrat.
As a research library, our mission is to make these book, manuscript, and art collections available to the widest number of local, national, and international users through physical and online opportunities. The library’s location in the heart of the campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis makes it readily accessible to thousands of students, faculty, and researchers who benefit enormously from the richness of its remarkable collections.
Choose the gift plan that matches your goal
| Your gift | Your goal | How you make the gift | Your benefits |
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| Bequest in Will | Defer a gift until after your lifetime. | Name the St. Louis Mercantile Library in your will (designate a specific amount, a percentage, or a share of the residue). |
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| Revocable Living Trust | Make a revocable gift during your lifetime. | Name the St. Louis Mercantile Library the beneficiary of assets in a living trust |
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| Outright Gift of Securities | Eliminate tax on capital gains. | Contribute long-term appreciated stock or other securities. |
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| Gift of Life Insurance | Make a large gift with little cost to yourself. | Contribute a life insurance policy you no longer need. |
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| Gift of Retirement Assets | Eliminate the twofold taxation on IRAs or other qualified retirement plans. | Name the St. Louis Mercantile Library as the beneficiary of the balance left after your lifetime using the plan’s beneficiary form. |
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| Gift of Real Estate | Make a gift of an asset no longer needed and generate an income tax deduction. | Donate the property to the St. Louis Mercantile Library, or sell it to us at a bargain price. |
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| Charitable Remainder Unitrust | Create a hedge against inflation over the long term and supplement your retirement income. | Create a trust that pays a fixed percentage of trust’s assets as revalued annually. |
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| Charitable Gift Annuity | Supplement income with steady payments that are partially tax-free. | Enter a charitable gift annuity contract with the St. Louis Mercantile Library that pays a set amount for one or two lives. |
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| Charitable Lead Trust | Reduce gift and estate taxes on assets you pass to children or grandchildren. | Create a charitable trust that pays fixed or variable income to us for a specific term of years; thereafter the balance is given to loved ones. |
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If you have any questions about planning a future gift, please contact Lisa Capone, Vice Chancellor of Advancement at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, by phone at (314) 516-4151 or by email at lcapone@umsl.edu. We would be happy to work with you and your financial advisors to help you find the gift option that best fits your needs and ours.
