While the story of the Campbell house and family is complex, it is also one of the richest and most fascinating looks at the lives of any 19th Century American family. It's a story that details an immigrant's experience, entrepreneurial success, the creation of a showplace residence and the growth of a family and city during one of America's most dynamic periods of history.
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Archival material related to the Robert Campbell and Campbell family is kept at the following four St. Louis area research institutions.
- Campbell House Museum
The Campbell House Museum preserves the Campbell's Lucas Place house and their collection of original furniture, fixtures, paintings, carriages, clothing and other objects. The museum archive contains records of the museum's history (1943 to the present) and material relating to the St. Louis, Lucas Place, the Campbell family and their servants--including more than 1,000 photographs and hundreds of personal letters and documents ranging from the 1820s to the 1930s. Finding aid available. (60 boxes)
- Saint Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri St. Louis
This collection includes primary materials on the activities of Campbell, his friends, associates, business partners, and adversaries. Business correspondence, company ledgers, copy books, financial reports, and family letters form the bulk of the collection, which spans the period from the early 1830s to the 1920s. (35 linear feet of manuscripts and archival records). Microfilm copies (30 reels) available at the Campbell House Museum. Finding aid available.
- Missouri Historical Society Archives and Library
This collection contains letters relating to Robert Campbell's early career as a fur trader including his 1833 Rocky Mountain journal. Personal and business letters and other business records form the bulk of the collection. The collection also contains records for two Campbell family court cases from 1864 and 1938. Campbell business records can also be found in the Sublette papers. This collection is indexed. (22 linear feet of manuscripts and archival records). Finding aid available.
- St. Louis Circuit Court/Missouri State Archives
This collection from the St. Louis Circuit Court contains the records from the Hazlett K. Campbell estate case that began in 1938. The collection contains testimony and evidence from individuals (both legitimate and not legitimate) making claim to the Campbell estate. Primarily consists of genealogical records‹birth, death and marriage certificates in addition to photographs, personal letters and other documents dating from the 1760s to the 1930s. All of these records are meant to prove relation to the grandparents of Hazlett Campbell. (172 volumes). Finding aid available.
The collection is currently being processed (conserved, microfilmed and indexed) by the Missouri State Archives and will be available for research in late 2007.
