Mary Greer Ross donated her father's papers to the Western Historical Manuscript Collection on February 26, 1984. The donor requested that all family letters be returned along with .two copies of the register. It was decided to return the two scrapbooks as well, although copies of letters, clippings, and other documents in them were xeroxed.
Paul Greer was the editor of the Complete Edition, the out-state paper of the St. Louis Post-DispAtch, from 1924-1953. Under him, this rural edition specialized in covering the news of groups-working for community improvement in Missouri and Illinois. Greer supported such programs as rural electrification, and credit and health cooperatives for farmers. After his retirement in 1953, he continued to write about the cooperative movement and to work for several other causes, most notably consumerism, fair housing, and the interests of senior citizens.
Greer was born in Emporium, Kansas on December 23, 1887. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1910, he became assistant telegram editor of the morning edition of the Kansas City Star. An interest in agricultural reform and liberal journalism led Greer to move to St. Paul,, Minnesota in 1919, where he became associate editor of the Non-Partisan League's Leader. He later moved to Grand Forks, North Dakota to set up and edit a small daily newspaper, The American. The American was financed by contributions from farmers who were members of the Non-Partisan League. The newspaper also -published a weekly, in Norwegian.
With the gradual decline of the northwestern farm moveznent, Greer became financial and agricultural editor of the Omaha Bee and later its managing editor and chief editorial writer. His 1922 series on the improving agricultural condition in Nebraslfa was reprinted in the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times and brought him to the attention of Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the St. Louis Po8t-Dispatch. Pulitzer invited Greer to join the Post-Dispatch as editor of the Complete Edition in June 1924. Greer also edited the First Sunday and Night Sport Special sections. In 1928 he started the Missouri and Illinois Sunday tabloid rotogravure sections which he filled with pictures from rural areas. The tabloids were discontinued in 1937. Between 1936 and 1946, the Complete Edition reached a peak circulation and in effect, became a full scale morning edition. For a time, Greer served as the educational director of the St. Louis Newspaper Guild.
Greer retired from the Post-Dispatch in 1953 after 29 years as editor of the Complete Edition. He spent the next two years researching and writing a book,, Cooperatives: The British Achievement, published by Harper and Brothers in 1955. He also wrote about cooperative ventures in the New Republic, the Nation and Progressive Magazine and, for a time, considered a second book on the American consumer movement. Unfortunately, his first book was not a commercial success and Greer abandoned his second book to write a satiric novel on the space program entitled, "Professor Singlefree's Figleaf," (1963) which was never published. He also wrote the sections on Missouri, St. Louis and Kansas City for the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Greer continued to work for liberal and social causes. He became editor of the Sanitary Milk Bulletin and served on the board of the Liberal Voters' League, the directorate of the Adult Education Council, as president of the Citizens' Council on Housing and Community Planning, on the board of Delmo Housing Project and was a member of Friends of the Land and Cooperative Services. He was also a ruling elder of the First United Kingshighway Presbyterian Church. After retirement, Greer became especially interested in senior citizen concerns, contributing numerous articles on the subject to area newspapers and serving on the boards of the Older Adult Community Action Center in University City and the University City Senior Service Board. He was honored for his work on behalf of senior citizens by the University City Chainber of Commerce and in 1978 the Missouri State Senate passed a resolution praising him for creative community service. Paul Greer died October 101, 1980.
SCOPE AND CONTENT The Greer papers contain correspondence (8 folders); subject files (7 folders); Greer's writing, including drafts of his two books, articles and book reviews (12 folders); articles about Greer (1 folder); and photographs and memorabilia (2 folders). Copies of material from the scrapbooks were integrated into these series.
The collection documents Greer's work in the cooperative movement and with senior citizens, his concern over integration, housing, agricultural conditions, and conservation. His writings are well represented in the collection but there is little documentation of his editorship of the out-state edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. References to his work with other newspapers and to his initial contacts with Joseph Pulitzer exist as do letters from colleagues in journalism, in particular Ollie Fink, who worked for Greer at the Post-Dispatch and was the son-in-law of John Neihardt; Dorothy 0. Moore, editor of the St. Clair Chronicle; L.S. Herron, editor of the Nebraska Co-Operator; Harold Callanderl New York Times journalist; and Bjorn Johannson, editor of New Church Messenger. Other correspondents include: the author John TTeihardt; James Peter Warbasse, Director of the Rochdale Institute of the Cooperative League of the USA; Ordway Tead of Harper and Brothers; Charles E. Lively, of the department of Rural Sociology at UM-Columbia; the author Leonard Hall; Colston E. Warne, president of the Consumers Union Cooperative; and Jerry Voorhis, Executive Director of the Cooperative League. Many of these letters contain rich reflections on politics, literature, and issues of the day, such as civil rights, the Vietnam War, and the problems of youth and old age.
FOLDER LISTING
1: Correspondence, 1918-1950. Correspondents and subjects include:
*O.K. Bovard
*Harold Callander, journalist, New York Times
Cooperatives
*Floyd Dell, managing editor, The Masses
*Robert Hallowell
*Bjorn Johannson, journalist
*W.D. Meng, assistant sgt. at arms, U.S. Senate
John Neihardt
The New Republic
National Tax Equality Association
Non-Partisan League
Omaha Bee
*Joseph Pulitzer
*Ben Reese, managing editor, St. Louis Post- Dispatch
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Socialism
*J.P. Warbasse, director of Rochdale Institute Cooperative League of the USA
*Lee A. White, journalist
Woodrow Wilson
Folder 2: Correspondence, 1953-1955. Correspondents *and topics include:
*F.A. Behymer, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
*Marquis Childs
Cooperative League of the USA
Cooperative Movement - Britain
Cooperative Union of Canada
"Cooperatives, A British Achievement"
Genealogy
L.S. Herron, The Nebraska Co-operator
*Bjorn Johannson
*Charles E. Lively (UMC), department of Rural Sociology
The Progressive Magazine
*Morris H. Rubin, editor of the Progressive Magazine
*Ordway Tead, Harper Brothers
*Jerry Voorhis, executive director, The Cooperative League
*James Peter Warbasse, director, Rochdale Institute
Folder 3: Correspondence, 1956-1960. Correspondents* and topics include:
Blue Ridge, Missouri
Consumerism
Consumers Cooperative Council of Greater St. Louis
The Cooperative League of the USA
Cooperatives
Howard A. Cowden, president, Consumers Cooperative Association of Kansas City
Encyclopedia Britannica
Estes Kefauver, U.S. senator
German Community in St. Louis vs. the Hill *Leonard Hall
*Dorothy Moore
Problems of Youth St. Clair, Missouri
*Ordway Tead, Harper Brothers
*Jerry Voorhis, executive director, Cooperative League of USA
*James Peter Warbasse
*Colton E. Warne, president, Consumers Union Cooperative
Folder 4: Correspondence, 1961-1965. Correspondents*and topics include:
*Curtis A. Betts
Cooperatives
Richard Dudman
Family Genealogy
Harper and Row
Noel Hubbard
Bjorn Johannson, editor, New Church Messenger
Metropolitan Church Federation
Missouri Conservation Commission
Dorothy 0. Moore
Presby,tery of St. Louis
Professor Singlefree's Fig Leaf
Max Putzel
C.B. Ratchford
St. Clair Chronicle
St. Louis Post-DispAtch
Jerry Voorhis, Cooperative League of USA
Folder 5: Correspondence, 1966-1976. Correspondents*and topics include:
Afro-Americans
• David Angevine, administrator, Farmer Cooperative Service, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
Cooperative Movement
Cooperative Union Ltd (Great Britain)
Family
Kinloch, Missouri
• Wayne Leeman, Post-Dispatch
• Dorothy Moore, editor of the St. Clair Chronicle
• Selwyn Pepper, Post-DispAtch
Older Adult Community Action Program - University City
Retirement and Senior Citizens
The St. Clair Chronicle
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
White House Conference on Aging
Harriett Woods
Youth
Folder 6: Ollie Fink Correspondence, 1957-1972. Topics include:
Civil Rights Movement
Delmo Housing
Elmer Ellis
Dick Greer
Enid Neihardt Fink
John Neihardt
Richard Nixon
UMC, includes Campus Protest, 1970
Vietnam War
Earl Weaver
Folder 7: Bob Hunt (Worthington) Correspondence, 1961-1964
Poetry
Springfield, Missouri
Folder 8: John G. Neihardt - 3 letters (1923-1967). Topics include:
Aging
Bureau of Indian Affairs
F-older 9. Consumerism, including prospectus forbook on American consumers
Folder 10. Cooperative Planning Council - St. Louis
Workbook and Brochure
Folder 11. Delmo Housing Project
Brochures, policy statement, correspondence, and history
Folder 12. Housing, including Citizens Council on Housing and Colpmunity Planning
Folder 13. Older Adult Community Action Program - University City Progress report, project descriptions
Folder 14. University City Senior Service Board Creative retirement Newsletter of University City Senior Service Board, 1973-1975
Folder 15. University City Senior Service Board Minutes, bylaws, 1972-1974
Folder 16. Draft, "Cooperatives: The British Achievement"
Folder 17. 1963 or 1964 typewritten text, "Professor Singlefreels Fig Leaf"
Folder 18. Journal of an Untired Man - articles on aging and retirement
Folder 19. Greer's writings on retirement and old age, including "First Aid to the Age Lorn'
Retirement
Old Age
Job Exchanges
Folder 20. Prospectus, Making the Most of Retirement
Folder 21. Churches and Older Adults articles - some by Greer
Metropolitan Church Federation
Trinity
Folder 22. Writings on Youth
Folder 23. Published articles written by Greer on Cooperatives Consumer Cooperatives
Folder 24. Published newspaper and journal articles by Greer on retirement
Folder 25. Published "Between Book End" - book reviews by Greer
Folder 26. Published axticles by Greer - General
Folder 27. "The Sight of Blood," The Masses - May 1916, by Greer
Folder 28. Greer articles in Encydlopedia Britannica on St. Louis, Kansas City, and Missouri
Folder 29. Newspaper articles about Greer
Folder 30. Photographs of Greer, 5374-5378
Folder 31. Memorabilia,, including war ration book (World War II) and certificates of appreciation
INDEX
Afro-Americans--Civil Rights, f. 5
Aging, f. 5, 6, 8, 13-15, 18-21, 24
Angevine, David, f. 4
Behymer, F.A., f. 2
Bett s , Curt i s A. , f . 4
Blue Ridge (St. Louis), f. 3
Bovard,- O.K., f. 1
Callander,l Harold, f. 1
Childs, Marquis, f. 2
Civil Rights Movement, f. 6
Consumerism'. f. 3, 4, 9, 23
Consumers Cooperative Association of Kansas City, f. 3
Consumers Cooperative Council of Greater St. Louis, f. 3
Cooperative League of the USA, f. 1-4
Cooperative Movement, f. 1-5, lo, 16, 23
Cooperative Planning Council, St. Louis, f. 10
Cooperatives, The British Achievement, f. 2, 16
Cowden, Howard A., f. 3
Delmo Housing Project, f. 6, 11
Dudman, Richard, f. 4
Ellis, Elmer, f. 6
Fink, Ollie, f. 6
Germans in St. Louis, f. 3
Greer, Paul, f. 1-31
The Hill (St. Louis), f. 3
Hall, Leonard,, f. 3
Herron, L.S.,, f. 2
Housing, f. 11, 12
Hubbard,, Noel, f. 4
Kinloch, Missouri, f. 5
Leeman, Wayne, f. 4
Lively, Charles E., f. 2
Metropolitan Church Federation, f. 4, 21
Missouri Conservation Commission, f. 4
Moore, Dorothy, f. 3-5
Native Americans,, f. 8
Neihardt, John,, f . 1, 61) 8
Non-partisan League, f. 1
Older Adult Community Action Program (University City), f. 5, 13
Pepper, Selwyn, f. 4
Pulitzer, Joseph, f. 1
Putzel, Max,, f. 4
Ratchford,, C. Bryce, f. 4
Reese, Ben, f. 1
Ret irement,, f. 5, 6
Rubin, Morris H.,, f. 2
.St. Clait Chronicle, f. 3-5
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, f . 1, 2, 4, 5
Senior Citizens, f. 5
Socialism, f. 1
University of Missouri-Columbia, f. 6
University City Senior Service Board, f. 14-15
Voorhis, Jerry, f. 2, 3, 4
Warbasse,l James Peter, f. 1-3
Warne, Colton E.,, f. 3
Weaver, Earl, f. 6
White House Conference on Aging, f. 5
STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI RESEARCH CENTER-ST. LOUIS
222 THOMAS JEFFERSON LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS
ONE UNIVERSITY BOULEVARD
ST. LOUIS, MO 63121
(314) 516-5143
whmc@umsl.edu