MoDOT Transportation Library: MoDOT History Resources

Pre-Commission

• State Highway Engineer Report Excerpts from State Board of Agriculture Annual Reports covering years 1906 (39th 1907)-1912 (45th 1913) from HathiTrust

Commission

• Minutes: Current (2008 to date); All (1921-date; internal use only)
• Biennial Reports
  • 1917/18-1984/86 (print held by MoDOT Library and Missouri State Archives)
  • Digital via HathiTrust (1917/18-1974/76)
    • Only v. 1 (1917/18)-v. 3 (1920/22), v. 7 (1928-1930) and v. 11 (1936-38) are full text.
    • Remaining volumes are searchable but not viewable.

Missouri DOT

• 1977-2002 (print held by MoDOT Library and Missouri State Library)
• 2003-date

• County history books -- search MOBIUS or WorldCAT
  • Example: Search subject Stoddard County (Mo.) – History
  • State Archives has a print list of county histories at their reference desk.
  • County history books (Missouri Digital Heritage collection)
• State history books
  • Missouri Day by Day (Missouri State Historical Society, 1942-43)
    • Full-text in Hathitrust; see also copy in State Library Missouriana collection 977.8 M678d v. 1-2
  • Missouri and Missourians ; land of contrasts and people of achievements (1943)
    • Missouri State Library Missouriana collection 977.8 S559 v. 1-5
  • Index to Historical Features in Missouri Blue Books
• Missouriana Digital Text Collection
• Missouri State Archives catalog
• Automobile Blue Books (see early years 1910s and 1920s)

• HABR/HAER/HALS - has geographic index or search by name of structure
• See also Early Bridge History

• Jefferson City, MO newspapers
  • News-Tribune/Post-Tribune (1927-2006, 2007-date) available on microfilm at Missouri River Regional Library (except for most current issues in hard copy)
  • News-Tribune (1999-date) NewsBank database at Missouri River Regional Library (must have a library card to access); not all articles (like obits) are online
  • News-Tribune archives search (March 1999-date) via Central Missouri Newspapers, Inc. website
    • Limited full-text searching; offer articles for a small fee.
• Columbia, MO papers
  • Columbia-Missourian (1926-date) available on microfilm at Mizzou Library
    • Selected years (1908, 1909, 1929, 1966, and 1966-1985) available online in Missouri Digital Heritage
  • Columbia Daily Tribune
    • Search 2009-date online or 1993-2009 in archives; go to main page; click on search button; select current or archive to search
• Kansas City papers
  • 1966-2005 issues on microfilm (State Library)
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch
  • 1966-2007 issues on microfilm (State Library)
  • Print indexes for 1987-2005 issues (State Library)
  • Online access may be available onsite at area libraries such as University of Missouri (selected coverage back to 1879)
• Newspaper collection (The State Historical Society of Missouri) -- About
  • Digital index to selected 19th century Missouri newspapers (no JC papers)
  • Print indexes to local papers (including coverage from various JC newspapers dating from 1831-1926)
  • Digital Missouri newspapers (title/county index)
  • Catalog of microfilmed papers (search by county or town)
• Digitized Missouri newspapers from Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers website (Library of Congress) covering papers from 1836-1922
• Digitized Missouri newspapers (Missouri Digital Heritage) -- some overlap with SHS but some holdings are unique
• Newspapers.com (must visit, or be a valid library card holder of, a library that subscribes, like Mid-Continent Public Library. Provides online access to many small Missouri newspaper titles from 1700s to 2000s)
• State Library Reference Services clipping files (mostly historical and no longer current; hard copy only; library use only)

• Missouri Highways – sometimes includes features on popular routes
  • Link to print holdings in library catalog and 1968-1973 index
• Missouri Historical Review
  • Online: 1906-2002 issues (Missouri Digital Heritage); can search full text
  • Print: 1906-date issues (State Library Missouriana collection)
  • Print: 1906-1976 indexes (State Library Missouriana collection)
• MoDOT department news & press releases
• MoDOT employee newsletters
• Pathways: a quarterly magazine of the Missouri Department of Transportation
  • Print: 1996-2004

• Aerial maps (see also Aerial images under Still Images/Photographs)
• County plat maps
  • County plat maps via The State Historical Society of Missouri (coverage for counties ranges from 1875-1917)
  • County plat books via Missouri Digital Heritage (coverage for counties ranges from 1875-1930)
  • County plat books via University of Missouri at Columbia (late 1920s-early 1930s)
  • Can also search for individual plat maps in MOBIUS catalog.
• County highway maps (produced by MoDOT)
  • Current maps (online)
  • Older maps
    • DIGITAL: Copies on disk in Missouri State Archives. Check their spreadsheet for holdings, Early MODOT County Highway Maps, 1937-1961.xlsx (internal use only).
    • PRINT: MOSL Reference Services map case (county set from Oct. 1976 and from Jan. 1988)
    • PRINT: Search for city or county highway maps in The State Historical Society of Missouri's library catalog
• Project History Maps (produced by MoDOT; also known as "rag" maps; not updated after 2000)
• Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Missouri Collection (shows the layout of 390 Missouri cities from 1883-1951)
• State Highway Maps (1918; 1926-date; produced by MoDOT)

• Local County Historical Society -- call, email or visit
  • See also their newsletters
• The State Historical Society of Missouri -- call, email or visit
• Missouri Department of Transportation (District office) -- may have to submit a Sunshine request

• Aerial images (MoDOT)
  • State Archives has the original negatives in canisters. However, State Archives is unable to search for, identify and view map images from negatives.
  • MoDOT retains copies of the digitized images (no direct access; on internal MoDOT network).
    • The public must contact George Kipp or Steve Atkinson in Design/CADD Division to make requests and will need to provide specific location information, dates, etc.
  • State Archives and the MoDOT Librarian have access to an aerial image inventory spreadsheet (internal use only) which lists images that have been digitized (but this may not match how MoDOT has categorized the images).
• Aerial Photographs of Missouri, 1938-1979 (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service)
  • Collection description from the State Historical Society of Missouri at Columbia
  • There should be an index map at the beginning of each county in the collection. Land coordinates would be needed to find a specific feature. To view the photos, you would need to visit the SHS-Columbia in person.
• Where to Find Aerial Maps (University of Missouri-Columbia Library LibGuide)
• MoDOT Flickrstream
  • Archive Photo Album
  • Centennial Photo Album
• MoDOT Historical Photo Gallery
• Missouri State Archives' collection of 25,000 MoDOT photographs from 1916-1965
  • Only about 3700 negatives have been digitized. They can be searched using a MoDOT-produced Access database (search by title/topic, date, county, route; internal use only) or a State Archives-produced spreadsheet. The image files are only viewable on disc onsite at the Missouri State Archives.
  • Sample MoDOT album
  • Missouri River Bridge album
  • Missouri Railroads album
• Flood of 1993: booklet and individual photos
• Local historical photos - try local historical societies or museums
  • Digital collections may be available in Missouri Digital Heritage
  • 97 Missouri cities or counties featured in Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series

16 mm film collection (owned by State Archives)

• View list (internal only)
• Historical research footage for testing guardrails (digitized 16mm film from 1934)
• Jefferson City Missouri River Bridge construction (1955)

Route/Highway historical societies or websites (like Route 66 Association of Missouri)

Department/Commission

• A History of the Missouri State Highway Department (2008)
• The Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission: Serving Missouri's Transportation Needs for 75 Years (1996)
• The Highway ABCs: Your Missouri Highway System and How It Works (1986)
• Missouri State Highway Department: History, Organization, Needs, Future (1979)
• Roads & Their Builders (1971)
  • A compilation of specially themed MoDOT annual reports for 1966 The First 200 Years, 1967 The Years Between and 1968 The Modern Years
• Evolution of Missouri State Highway Department (1967)
• History of Missouri Highway Department (1941)
• Missouri--A Guide to the "Show Me" State (1941)
  • See transportation chapter. Also has section on individual cities. Later editions are not available digitally.

Divisions/Sections

• History of the Central Laboratory

Centennial

• Celebrating a Century: Web page (includes event timeline) | Video

• Testimonials on Missouri Roads (Missouri St. Bd. of Agriculture Hwy. Dept. 1909
• A Century of Transportation in Missouri (Missouri Historical Review October 1920, p. 126-162)
• The Road History of Missouri (Chapter 25 of Williams & Shoemaker, Missouri Mother of the West, 1930)
• Early Roads in Missouri (1936)
• Modern Highway Development (Chapter 62 of Shoemaker, Missouri and Missourians, 1943)
• Missouri--A Guide to the "Show Me" State (Works Progress Administration, 1941)
  • Transportation chapter
  • Missouri chronology
• Missouri Highways (Diel, 1941)
• Yesteryears: A Study of Missouri's First Roads and Transportation Systems in Central Missouri (McVey, 1973)
• The Story of Transportation in Missouri (Shoemaker, 1976)
• Out of the Mud (TEAM, 2010)

• MoDOT Historic Bridges page
  • Historic Bridges and Transportation Projects in Missouri (MoDOT brochure)
• Missouri Historic Bridge Inventory (Fraser, 1996) - internal use only, contact MoDOT Librarian
• Bridge Hunter website - Missouri coverage map

Traffic Engineering Conference Proceedings (1st 1948 to date)
Available in print only. Early on, the series was sponsored by the University of Missouri College of Engineering. Currently known as TEAM conference (sponsored by MoDOT).

Project-Level Information

• Chief Engineer Monthly Reports 1967-1984 (incomplete) -- hard copy available in Missouri State Archives
• Patron may need to file a Sunshine request with the Commission

Route-Level Information

• Patron may need to file a Sunshine request with the Commission