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Sue Bradford Edwards

Writer--Reviewer--Teacher--Historian

As curious as I am, being a researcher came naturally, but I didn't learn to do historical research until I worked on my Master's degree in history.

I undertook one of the biggest projects of my life for my thesis -- researching the immigration of Chinese and Taiwanese to St. Louis during the World War II Era. I researched this by collecting oral history interviews from immigrants from that time period. Generously, these people welcomed me into their homes and their lives. Immigration remains one of my primary areas of interest.

 

After completing my degree, I researched the Chinese Commission to the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair--otherwise known as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (LPE). This commission represented the first time in history that the Chinese government sent a delegation to an event outside China. My article based on some of this research, "Imperial East Meets Democratic West: The St. Louis Press and the Fair's Chinese Delegation," in the Fall 1996 Gateway Heritage, the journal of the Missouri Historical Society.

 

At some point, I was bit by the World's Fair bug. Many projects I have undertaken for others involve the Fair. People find me through the Missouri Historical Society because I am one of their recommended researchers.

Some of the LPE projects I have researched include:

  • The role of the Savage Arms Company of Utica, New York.

  • Whether a mineral water company won a LPE silver medal.

  • If a watercolor painting was part of the French exhibit a the Fair.

Louis XV, Statue Commisioned for LPE

Statue of King Louis XV, commisioned for LPE

St. Louis Art Musuem, Built for LPE

St. Louis Art Museum, main building erected for LPE

  • If a fres-nel light house lens was sold from the French exhibit when the Fair closed. (Many items were sold instead of being shipped back to their country of origin.)

  • Whether a man was a Rough Riders and won a saddle.

But the LPE is not the limit of my historical interest. I love studying St. Louis and other local neighborhoods as well as immigration. I have:

  • Conducted oral history interviews with a retired shoe maker concerning his employment at the Brown Shoe Company, St. Louis, Mo. and the state of shoe manufacturing in the Midwest, the United States, and Europe.

  • Search of the Mercantile Library for data on the explosion of steam ship of German immigrants in St. Louis between July 3rd and July 7th, 1847 and the names of immigrants killed in explosion.

  • Searched for information on Gymnast Anton Heida at the 1904 Olympic Games held in conjunction with the LPE.

  • Collected "North Corridor" population data for the Missouri Historical Society's "People and Places of 20th-Century St. Louis" exhibit.

  • Researched Hop Alley (St. Louis's original China Town) and Chinese population in 1904 St. Louis.

  • Searched for information on a murder/suicide in 1930s St. Louis.

If you are looking for someone to dig into St. Louis' past, I may be the person for the job.

Contact Sue.

Content © 2005 Sue Bradford Edwards