Collection contains correspondence and newsclippings concerning police matters; mementoes of the Maxwell-Preller murder case which shocked St. Louis in the 1880s; copies of reports and stories of police cases; a series of clippings and letters concerning Missouri governor Joseph W. Folk (1904-1908), a longtime friend of Bellairs. The biographical folder (folder 1) contains clippings of obituaries, news articles about members of the Bellairs family, Masonic membership certificates, and Kenneth G. Bellairs’ naturalization record dated 1892. The correspondence is divided into three folders: letters from Kenneth G. Bellairs to his wife, Ollie, 1902-1933 (folder 2); miscellaneous correspondence, 1904-1937 (folder 3); and letters of condolences received by Mrs. Bellairs, 1941-1942 (folder 4). The majority of the letters that Kenneth sent to Ollie during the course of their marriage are simply expressions of his affection for her, but some letters mention subjects such as David R. Francis, Forest Park, and Joseph Folk (folder 2). The miscellaneous correspondence includes letters sent by Bellairs’ friends and associates on such topics as politics, criminal cases, Bellairs’ writing, and St. Louis Police Department history (folder 3). Among the miscellaneous correspondence is a series of letters dated 1918 dealing with the court martial of John M. Bayless, U.S. Navy, who was tried for leaving the U.S.S. Arizona without permission (folder 3). Bellairs assisted Bayless in his efforts to get an acquittal. The correspondents include U.S. Representatives J.J. Cochran, Jacob E. Meeker, and L.C. Dyer and Secretary of the Navy Joseph McDainel. In 1922, Charles Bieger wrote to Bellairs offering him a story regarding the discovery of the trunk containing the remains of Charles Arthur Preller who had been murdered by Walter H. Lennox Maxwell at the Southern Hotel. Bieger was a trunk maker and responsible for opening the locked trunk after the remains were discovered. Further details of the murder can be found in the Maxwell-Preller Murder Collection (collection number A0998). The miscellaneous correspondence (folder 3) also includes four letters that tell of old St. Louis crimes. A letter from attorney George A. Davis of St. Louis, dated 1923, discusses the 1894 “Fire Gangsters” affair in which a team of arsonists was caught in conjunction with an insurance fraud case. A later letter from Davis contains details of a case in 1899 of a St. Louis merchant named Miller who attempted to fake his own death to collect death benefits. Leo Scherrer wrote to Bellairs in October 1923 about the Joseph Glenn murder in 1883. Another letter by T.J. McCormack, dated December 15, 1923, describes the several violent crimes in St. Louis and the police officers associated with the cases. The St. Louis police folder (folder 5) contains a memorandum providing details of the activities of the police department in the aftermath of the tornado of September 1927 that badly damaged a portion of the city; a booklet written by St. Louis Chief of Detectives Samuel Allen on how to successfully obtain a confession from criminals; and two police reports and a transcript of the interview conducted by officers on a witness associated with a hit-and-run incident in August 1934. There is a folder containing newspaper clippings, biographical information, and other material relating to the life of Missouri's Progressive-era governor Joseph W. Folk. Bellairs wrote a number of articles about Folk. The two men were close friends for many years and Governor Folk appointed Bellairs to the position of state factory inspector. Articles written by Kenneth Bellairs (folder 7) include: "The Legal Side of Joseph W. Folk" published by the legal journal The Green Bag (published copy and proof, 1905), a typed draft of an outdoor sports newspaper column that Bellairs wrote under the pen name Verdino, and fragments of miscellaneous articles. The miscellaneous articles (folder 8), not written by Bellairs, cover topics such as crimes in Missouri; an article by Theodore Dreiser, a former St. Louis newspaper protégé of Bellairs, concerning an incident that occurred while he was working as a reporter in St. Louis in 1893; an article in Time magazine about Kenneth Bellairs; and various other subjects. The ephemera folder (folder 9) contains three passes to witness executions at the St. Louis City Jail; calling cards of Capt. Clement Bellairs, Royal Horse Artillery; a menu from a meeting of the St. Louis Press Club, April 7, 1903; a program from the dedication ceremony of the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair; and a program for a memorial held in St. Louis to mourn the death of King Edward VII of Great Britain, May 15, 1910.