The collection contains documents and a scrapbook pertaining to Henry Schaab, his descendants, and their business, Schaab Stove and Furniture, that was located on South Broadway in St. Louis for over a century. The collection is arranged alphabetically by topic. Documents date from 1844 to 2006, with the bulk of the items dating from circa 1876 to 1967. There is a gap from 1968 to 2005.

Frank L. Schaab’s descendants prepared a scrapbook of the history of both the Schaab Stove and Furniture Store and the Schaab family, c.1876-1967 (f.11-14). It contains photocopied newspaper clippings, brochures/booklets, and several photographs with captions. The scrapbook is mostly chronological, beginning with Henry Schaab, the first store, and his two wives (Mary Doerr and Catherine Kirtz). There is much information about changes made to the store under Frank L. Schaab, interior and exterior photographs, and the store’s 100th anniversary. There are also smaller sections devoted to the Retailer’s Division of the Victory Loan Drive, the South Broadway Merchants and Manufacturers Association, and the Kosciusko Area Redevelopment, in which Schaab participated.

Other sections of the scrapbook relate to the marriage and family of Frank and Theresa Schaab. Included are obituaries and photographs of the Hepp’s, Theresa’s family, wedding invitation and photograph of Frank and Theresa, and memorials for Frank L. Schaab. There are a few photographs from the couple’s trip to Europe, duplicates of which were removed from the 1928 travel diary (see also f.17). The final pages contain newspaper clippings about Frank L. Schaab’s attendance at the St. Cardinals baseball games, his 60th (1953) and 62nd (1955) consecutive opening games, and an autographed photo of Stan Musial.

The only documents relating to Henry Schaab, not in the scrapbook, are his naturalization certificate (1844) and a record of his Civil War service (1867) (f.8). The largest portion of this small collection pertains to Frank L. Schaab. He and Theresa travelled to Europe twice, in the summers of 1911 and 1928, and kept a diary of each trip (f.15-16). In 1956, the St. Louis Board of Education purchased the Schaab residence and their apartment building on Russell Boulevard. There is correspondence concerning the sale and the property appraisal (f.7).

There are two poem, or autograph, books that belonged to Theresa (Hepp) Schaab (f.10). The larger of the two books is titled, “Golden Floral Album,” and contains entries from 1883 to 1916. The smaller book is not titled and its entries date from 1883 to 1887. The messages are in both German and English.

There is a newspaper clipping about William Pape, a good friend of Frank L. Schaab’s, and his long career at Lammert’s Furniture Company. Dorothy Rinderer, Frank’s granddaughter, wrote a letter to Pape after reading the article.