William L. Thomas (1846-1918) Collection (KC0124)

William L. Thomas was born December 6, 1846 in St. Louis, Missouri. He received his initial education in the St. Louis public schools and then studied at the Missouri Dental College from which he was the first student to graduate. Thomas remained in St. Louis and entered the publishing business rather than following his dental education. In 1876 he was associated with the St. Louis Commercial Gazette, and had been connected with The St. Louis Miller before that. In 1877 he founded The Weekly Mail in Kirkwood, Missouri, and six years later, in 1883, he founded an education paper, School and Home, which he edited and published for the next sixteen years.

While editor and publisher of School and Home, Thomas gathered and preserved newspaper and other stories about Cuba and the War with Spain in 1898. He used the material he gathered as the background data for a series of articles on the War with Spain which he published in School and Home in 1898. Thomas was active in the Missouri Press Association and the State Historical Society of Missouri. He served as Treasurer of the Press Association for twenty-four years and was a long-time member of the Historical Society’s Board of Trustees. Thomas died in Maplewood, Missouri, on July 19, 1918.

This collection consists of four volumes of newspaper and magazine clippings on Cuba and the War with Spain in 1898. The fourth volume in the series includes a series of eight articles Thomas wrote and published in his School and Home educational paper. 1898-1901.

4 volumes (MICROFILMED).

INVENTORY 

© State Historical Society of Missouri

updated: Monday, February 07, 2011
State Historical Society of Missouri Research Center-Kansas City
(816) 235-1543 WHMCKC@umkc.edu