Information Sheet

 

 

R         Meador, Lewis Elbern, 1881-1975.

674                  Papers, 1904-1982.

                                    47 folders.

 

THIS COLLECTION IS IN OFF-SITE STORAGE. AT LEAST TWO DAYS' ADVANCE NOTICE IS REQUIRED FOR ITS USE BY RESEARCHERS.

 

 

These are papers of L. E. Meador, an economist, political scientist, and civic leader in Springfield, Missouri.  Included are materials concerning Springfield’s Charter Commission (1952), Missouri state government, and Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield.

 

Lewis Elbern Meador was born near Cassville, Missouri, on 9 September 1881.  He was a graduate of the University of Chicago (B.A., 1910) and Columbia University (M.A., 1912).  In 1913 he began a 43-year teaching career at Drury College (now Drury University) in Springfield, Missouri, where he became a professor of economics and political science.

 

The papers in this collection deal mostly with Meador’s activities as a civic leader in Spring­field and the state of Missouri.  In 1943-1944 he was an “at large” (non-partisan) delegate to the Missouri constitutional convention.  Although there are a few items in this collection concerning that event, the great bulk (82 folders) of his papers from that service have been cataloged as col­lection C895 at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia.

 

Probably the most significant items in this collection deal with Meador’s chairmanship of the Springfield Carter Commission in 1952-1953.  This body wrote Springfield’s first “home-rule” city charter, which was approved by the city’s voters in 1953.  There are also materials concerning Meador’s service on the Springfield Public Library Board, the city’s “Charter Revision Commit­tee” in 1959, and his support of the establishment of Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield.  For these and other efforts a large public park in Springfield was named for Meador, and he was des­ignated “Springfieldian of the Century” in 1973.

 

A folder of correspondence (1904-1976) is general in nature, including family and genea­logical letters.  The latter are supplemented by a folder of genealogical data.  Correspondents in­clude United State Representatives O. K. Armstrong, Durward G. Hall, Josh Lee, and Joe J. Man­love.

 

L. E. Meador died in Springfield on 14 November 1975.  He is buried in Sunset Hill Ceme­tery at Warrensburg, Missouri.

 

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