The collection contains primarily oral history interview transcripts, memoirs, and various planning and research materials related to Victory Without Violence: The First Ten Years of the St. Louis Committee of Racial Equality, a history of the St. Louis Committee of Racial Equality (CORE). There are also materials relating to Teneau’s involvement in national CORE, several publications relating to segregation in St. Louis, and to events about civil rights history in which Teneau participated. The files are arranged alphabetically by title and/or topic dating from 1947 to 2006. In July 1994, Maggie Dagen and Billie (Ames) Teneau mailed an appeal to former St. Louis CORE members to send information about their involvement in its activities with the goal of writing a history of the early years of CORE (B1/f.4). Dagen and Teneau sent a list of suggested topics such as why they became involved with CORE; memories of activities (humorous, frightening, e.g.); and any challenges encountered in following CORE’s nonviolent philosophy. There are many interview transcripts and memoirs from former St. Louis CORE members which were used in Victory Without Violence. The memoirs submitted vary from brief one-page recollections to robust biographies including childhood memories and professional activities after leaving St. Louis and CORE. Transcripts for interviews conducted with St. Louis CORE members from March and May 1995 are not complete; they include only the words of the people being interviewed. Transcripts for interviews held from July 1995 to June 1996 have full transcripts that document the full conversations between interviewer(s) and interviewee (B1/f.16-30 and B2/f.1-14). Anita Hayes, daughter of Walter Hayes, assisted with the project by transcribing interviews (Seay, Dreer, Parnas, and the Bests) and by writing her father’s memories of CORE. Photographs, which were taken either during interviews or at small gatherings of CORE members, accompany several transcripts (the Bests, Maggie Dagen, Walter Hayes, Henry Hodge, Marian Oldham, and Norman Seay). Other materials found with the memoirs and transcripts include obituaries, newspaper clippings, and some correspondence. Please note that the transcripts for Marian Oldham and Wanda Penny are about the two women; they both died before being interviewed. No consent forms accompany any of the interviews. Much of the remaining material in the collection relates to the process of managing the project and to the research for Victory Without Violence. Correspondence from 1990 to 2000 includes memos with Maggie Dagen, notes on planning meetings, and also letters with former CORE members who lived out of town (B1/f.4-5). The University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) assisted with the book project, recommended Mary Kimbrough to the group as co-author, and held a reception to celebrate its publication by the University of Missouri Press (B2/f.27). There are drafts of the book’s contents, two original photographs printed in the book, and undated snapshots of the St. Louis CORE delegation to the national convention (B1/f.9). CORE is the subject of two research papers provided to Teneau (B1/f.14, B2/18). Several of the newspaper clippings and publications are either reproduced or quoted in the book. In 1995, Billie Teneau prepared an index to 24 issues of Up to Date with CORE, the St. Louis CORE newsletter, dating from March 1951 to January 1955 located in the Congress of Racial Equality Records (State Historical Society of Wisconsin) and in the George Winston Cloyd Papers (Missouri Historical Society Archives). The index provided dates for activities and their results at business establishments, noted attendance at national CORE conventions, meetings with businesses about their policies, and CORE’s work on a school integration plan. On a list of CORE activities, various businesses are arranged according to type of establishment (e.g. department stores, theatres). Dates are not included on the list, but it can be used with the index to determine actions taken by St. Louis CORE (B1/f.11). Several publications from CORE, both national and St. Louis, are in the collection (B1/f.12). The CORE Organization Manual, a booklet from the national office, focused on new CORE groups and strengthening existing chapters. In 1954, Billie Ames wrote It Happened in Missouri, a pamphlet which was distributed by the national office. There is a brief St. Louis report entitled CORE’s Contribution to Intergroup Relations, written in approximately 1955. It provides updates from 1948 to 1954 regarding the integration of retail and dining establishments, theatres, the Muny League (athletics), and a school plan. A Plan for Establishing Equal Restaurant Service in St. Louis Department Stores, sent by St. Louis CORE in April 1952 to departments stores and civic leaders, is reproduced in its entirety in the book. The flyer Where Can You Eat?, compiled in May 1955, lists St. Louis eating establishments, theatres, and other venues that were open to everyone and is also included in Victory Without Violence. More publications concerning civil rights issues include Free and Equal by Martin Stein. It is a script for the New World A’Coming radio program on station WMCA in New York about the first Freedom Riders (Journey of Reconciliation) in 1947. CORE tested the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Morgan v. Virginia (1946) in which it declared segregation in interstate travel was unconstitutional. [For more scripts from New World A’Coming, consult the Radio Scripts Collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division of the New York Public Library.] St. Louis reports and studies concerning segregation include Racial Discrimination in St. Louis Hotels 1951 by George Kessler, Chairman of State Human Rights Committee, Missouri Association for Social Welfare(B2/f.21). This report focuses on the loss of revenue when organizations avoided using St. Louis for conventions and meetings due to discrimination to members. It is in two parts: letters from religious and civil groups opposed to hotel segregation (including St. Louis CORE); and letters/excerpts from national organizations with policies against hotel discrimination. Another publication is Prospects for Voluntary Integration at Igoe by Martin Quigley for Fleishman Hillard Inc. Public Relations dated June 7, 1955 (B2/f.19). This report explains how the policy for voluntary integration of the Igoe project evolved from the original intention for Igoe to house white families. It includes procedures for integration when the apartments were ready for tenants. A handwritten note on the back of the last page of the report recounts an interview between Billie Ames and an African American woman regarding her housing preference. Billie lived at Igoe with her two young children from 1955 to 1957 following her divorce. The September 1957 issue of the White American News Service, the newsletter of the National Citizens Protective Association, reported that Billie Coil Ames moved from Igoe to Ferguson, Missouri. There are also pro-segregation leaflets and brochures from the St. Louis Citizens Protective Association and the St. Louis Racial Purity Committee of the Christian Nationalist Party (B2/f.20). In 1965, Elliott Rudwick interviewed Billie Teneau about her years with CORE. Along with August Meier, Rudwick published several articles about CORE before publishing a book in 1973, CORE: A Study in the Civil Rights Movement, 1942-1968. Correspondence with Rudwick, three articles, and a portion of the book relating to St. Louis CORE are in the collection (B2/f.26). There is also correspondence and notes about interviews in which Billie Teneau participated about the civil rights movement with the Missouri Historical Society in 1996 and 1999.