In 1851, the patriarch of the Matthews family, Leonard Matthews, arrived in St. Louis, Missouri. He established himself by co-founding a wholesale drug company and later a brokerage firm. In 1861, Leonard married Mary Spotswood Nisbet. Together they produced eight children: Mary Nisbet, Isabel, Nina, William Nisbet, Edmund Orville, Leonard, Jr., Lucy, and Claude Levering. This exhibit provides a picture of what everyday life was like for a prominent St. Louis family at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries through letters, autobiographies, journals, and newspaper articles. Travel back in time and experience the culture, work, social activities, travel, and education of the Matthews family. To begin your tour, click on a selection listed below.