More than 40 boxes full of letters, unfinished manuscripts and dust jackets were packed tightly in the back of Thomas Peters’ van last week as he drove back to Springfield from Warrensburg. The collection of materials belonged to Springfield native and Missouri Poet Laurate David Harrison and will soon be accessible at Missouri State University’s Meyer Duane G. Library.

Peters, dean of Missouri State’s Library Services, made the two-hour drive to Warrensburg last week because up until that point, Harrison’s collection has been stored within the University of Central Missouri’s James C. Kirkpatrick Library. Recently, Harrison decided it was time to bring the collection home.

For 35 years, Harrison participated in Central Missouri University’s Children’s Literature Festival, a multi-day event that recognizes authors and illustrators from across the country. This year, the festival celebrates its 55th anniversary. As one of the festival’s most frequent attendees, Harrison was asked if he would be interested in donating his works — both finished and incomplete — to the James C. Kirkpatrick Library.

For years, Harrison collected letters, draft scribbles and other pieces of written work, piling the paperwork under his desk at home, then transferring the pile — once it got tall enough — to a box in his basement. Once a few boxes were full, he’d send them on their way to Warrensburg.

But more recently, Harrison has been donating his written materials to Meyer Library. The author no longer attends the Children’s Literature Festival and doesn’t have strong connections at Central Missouri University like he used to. A request from Peters, who expressed interested in Harrison’s collection, proved to be the final push he needed to make the move.

To have all of his work in Springfield, his hometown, is “delightful,” Harrison said. He is hopeful that students and members of the community will find use in the collection, whether it be for academic research or learning more about the behind-the-scenes of writing and publishing books.

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Peters, who expressed that the library is “really excited” to have Harrison’s collection, said the materials will survive much longer at the library than they would if they were kept in a “dusty attic.” Moreover, he’s glad to know that the materials will not make their way into landfills, as historical artifacts often do.

When and where will Harrison’s collection be accessible?

Peters told the News-Leader that he transferred about 42 boxes from Warrensburg to Springfield, full of Harrison’s collection. This amount of material will take a while to process. Specifically, library staff will need to establish a finding aid, which will help folks search through the collection, and transfer the materials to acid-neutral containers. Some parts of the collection, like photographs, will be digitized.

The collection, which does not have an official title yet, will be housed within Meyer Library’s Special Collections and Archives, located on the third floor of the library. Peters said he imagines the collection will become accessible in 2025.

Greta Cross is the trending topics reporter for the Springfield News-Leader. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretacrossphoto. Story idea? Email her at gcross@gannett.com.

Candidates for Congress in Missouri don’t have to live in the congressional district they’re running for. That would change under a bill in the Missouri House.

The sponsor, State Rep. Aaron McMullen, R-Independence, told the House Elections Committee on Monday that it makes sense to require in-district residency.

“As you guys all know, to run for a State Representative seat, you have to live in the district,” McMullen said. “To run in a State Senate seat, you have to live in the district.”

McMullen pointed out the “mad rush” that occurred when Blaine Luetkemeyer announced he was not running for reelection to Missouri’s Third District congressional seat. Some of the contenders don’t live in the Third District.

“It made the headlines when I was in a friend’s office on the second floor, and I jokingly said, ‘hey, do you want to run for Congress?’ Because as it is now, you don’t have to live in the congressional district that you’re running for,” he said.

Ron Berry, a lobbyist for a group that supports term limits, testified in favor of the bill during Monday’s public hearing.

“If you can represent any place in the state (of Missouri) in Congress, your ideas may be different than in St. Louis or Kansas City,” Berry said. “They could be different from Kirksville.”

No one testified against the bill, but State Rep. Kevin Windham, D-St. Louis County, questioned Berry over his support of the proposal.

“So, if I lived in the First Congressional District my whole life and then moved to the Second Congressional District because it got too expensive, you’re saying I can’t represent somewhere where I lived my whole life just because I moved across the street?” Windham asked. “No, I’m not saying that,” Berry responded, to which Windham said, “That’s what the bill would say.”

If passed, anyone wanting to run for Congress would have to live in the district they want to represent for at least two years.

A committee vote on the bill hasn’t been scheduled. If it does pass out of the House Elections Committee, it still needs to go through the House Rules Committee, the full Missouri House, and the Missouri Senate in the next four weeks in order to make it to the governor’s desk this year.

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It sounds ominous because it is. A major national publication has announced that they believe St. Louis, Missouri is spiraling down a ‘doom loop’ and there’s no escape in sight. It may mean the St. Louis many of us has grown up with will soon be no more.

I saw this phrase uttered by none other than The Wall St Journal. Many took notice when they described St. Louis and specifically the downtown area as a “real estate nightmare” and few in the big city are disagreeing. Their description of boarded up buildings and lots of theft sounds very familiar for anyone who’s traveled through the inner city lately.

The one stunning example they use of the plummeting real estate values in St. Louis is the former AT&T building. I saw a story by The Sun that says the building was sold for $206 million 18 years ago yet the most recent sale price was a mere $3.6 million and it’s still unoccupied.

I saw KSDK document the fact that this building in St. Louis went up for auction again, but there’s no confirmation if it actually sold. According to Wikipedia, it did sell for $3.6 million to the Goldman Group. It also notes that as of the date of this writing, there’s no stated plan for what they’ll do with the building.

The point of The Wall St Journal article appears to be that what is happening to downtown St. Louis is a view at the fate that awaits many United States metro areas unless “they can reinvent themselves”.

Considering how much crime is prevalent in downtown St. Louis, it’s hard to imagine what the many groups who are trying to save it can actually come up with. Sadly, the ‘doom loop’ sounds like an accurate description of what used to be an iconic Missouri downtown area. Let’s hope some groups and businesses can bring it back from the brink.