View videos of recent Mercantile Library colloquia and special themed tours of the Headlines of History and A Nation, A City, & Its First Library exhibitions.
The Mercantile Library's Curator of Fine Art Collections, Julie Dunn-Morton, discusses the newly revised second edition of the Art Handbook to the collection, with a Q&A at the end.
Purchase your copy of 175 Years of Art at the St. Louis Mercantile Library by visiting the Gift Shop!
St. Louis Mercantile Library Director John Hoover talks about the Library's holdings relating to the Declaration of Independence and showcases an 1818 reprint that the library is working to acquire.
The Titanic. April 15, 1912-The North Atlantic Ocean: The RMS Titanic has struck an iceberg late in the evening of April 14th and sunk in the early hours of April 15th. On the steamer Carpathia, a St. Louis Post -Dispatch reporter is a passenger and becomes a witness to history as the Carpathia and other vessels begin to rescue the survivors. St. Louis Mercantile Library Director John Hoover discusses the issue of the Post- Dispatch, on display in the Headlines of History exhibition, where the news of the sinking is announced to the world.
April 1865 was a month of great joy and sadness for the United States. St. Louis Mercantile Library Director John Hoover talks about the newspaper coverage of the surrender of General Lee, and the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the pursuit of his assassins in this special presentation from Headlines of History, now on display at the St. Louis Mercantile Library.
The Mercantile Library's Executive Director, John Hoover, discusses his favorite items from the newest exhibition catalogue A Nation, A City, & Its First Library: Americana as a Way of Life at the St. Louis Mercantile Library for 175 Years.
This catalogue is available for purchase in the Gift Shop.
Rivers are at the heart of American westward expansion, and although Frederick Oakes Sylvester is best known for his images of the Mississippi River, he also traveled to the American west and to Europe during his career. For this program Julie Dunn-Morton, Curator of Fine Art Collections, will explore the broad creative output of Missouri’s painter poet that reveals his deeply spiritual response to the beauties and mysteries he found in nature.
While much of our collections have been held here since the Mercantile's earliest days, we are continuously acquiring and growing. Aubash Collections Access Librarian Alyssa Persson presents a glimpse into our ever-expanding collections and the evolving definition of "Americana," with particular attention to items of the more personal variety, including scrap books, photographs - even a Civil War surgical kit.
In this final colloquium of the 2021 Curators' Series, the Mercantile's Barriger Curator, Nick Fry, discusses and shows one of the true gems of our railroad collection: the John W. Barriger III Scrapbooks. This collection of 33 volumes of photographs, mainly of railroads, showcases John Barriger’s deep appreciation of the industry and provides a photographic record of North American Railroads from the 1910s to the 1960s. Most images were taken during the 1930s when Barriger was working for the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and out in the field inspecting railroads as they applied for loans from the government. Barriger took copious notes and thousands of photographs that provide documentation about railroads and the communities they served on the eve of the Second World War. This collection forms the nucleus of the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library and serves as a valuable resource for scholars and the general public to this day.
Exhibition Lecture: Nicholas Fry on "Travelers: Journeys on the Railroads" from The Grolier Club on Vimeo.
Originally recorded on May 25, 2022 - Lecture 1 of 3
Barriger Railroad Library Curator Nick Fry gives a review of the journeys along the railroads from the surveys of the Army Engineers and civilians like Asa Gray to modern vacation trips by rail. Offered in connection with the exhibition "Travelers, Tracks and Tycoons: The Railroad in American Legend and Life," curated by the St. Louis Mercantile Library, which runs in the ground-floor exhibition hall through July 30, 2022.
Exhibition Lecture: Nicholas Fry on "Tracks: Images Documenting the Building of the Railroads" from The Grolier Club on Vimeo.
Originally recorded on June 29, 2022 - Lecture 2 of 3
Nicholas Fry, curator of the "Travelers, Tracks and Tycoons" exhibition at the Grolier Club, speaks on "Tracks: Images Documenting the Building of the Railroads." This presentation shows the portrayal of railroad construction and workers in graphics from woodcuts to modern photographs.
As St. Louis’ oldest cultural institution, the Mercantile Library has hosted remarkable women researchers, authors, artists, and activists throughout its history. The library’s diverse collections preserve stories that celebrate the authentic lives and experiences of these women. In this presentation Pott Waterways Curator, Sara Hodge, explores the legacy of women at the Mercantile, how their gender identity influenced their story telling, and how their contributions and achievements re-contextualize our shared past, present, and future.
On September 29, 2021 the Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library and the St. Louis Mercantile Library were honored to present the Captain Donald T. Wright Award to the Honorable Thomas C. Grady for his publication of The Lost St. Louis Riverfront, and the James V. Swift Medal to David Lobbig in recognition of his exhibition Mighty Mississippi; featuring an address by Pott Waterways Curator Sara Hodge, "Rivers and St. Louis: A Tribute to Donald Wright."
On April 6, 2023 the Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library and the St. Louis Mercantile Library were honored to present the Captain Donald T. Wright Award to Melody Golding for her publication Life Between the Levees: America’s Riverboat Pilots (University Press of Mississippi, 2019), and the James V. Swift Medal to Gregg Andrews for his book Shantyboats and Roustabouts: The River Poor of St. Louis, 1875-1930 (Louisiana State University Press, 2023).
