The Casey Communications Inc. records are comprised of correspondence, reports, proposals, notes, brochures and advertising, news releases and photographs, newspaper clippings relating to clients, corporate and personal histories, oral history interview transcripts, and historical and biographical research. The records are divided into three series: Biographical Projects, Work Examples, and Clients. The files within the series are arranged alphabetically by title/topic. Documents within the records span from 1887 to 2020. Items dated before 1983 (1887, 1953, 1955, 1960. 1970s) relate to historical projects. The remainder of the records span from 1983 to 2020, with the bulk dating from 1997 to 2014. The Casey Communications, Inc. donations included photographs, audio/video resources and interviews, and books and various publications. Lists of items transferred to other departments are in Appendix A of this finding aid. Please consult the following Missouri Historical Society departments for more records: Library, Moving Image and Sound Collection, and Photos and Prints Collection. The Biographical Projects series encompasses work conducted by Casey Communications for individuals and families and dates from 1983 to 2013. For the Dreifke family, Marie Casey conducted oral history interviews with Donald and Gerald Dreifke regarding Donald’s military service during World War II. He flew a P-47 Thunderbolt and crashed behind enemy lines on December 23, 1944. Donald spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner of war. In the interview, he and his brother discussed growing up in St. Louis, their family and their brothers’ war contributions, and Donald shared his experiences training as a pilot, flying in Europe, and as a POW. Casey Communications produced transcripts and a CD of the interview for the family. In 2008 and 2010, Casey provided obituaries for Donald and Gerald Dreifke, respectively. United States Army veteran James Eisenhart hired Casey Communications to produce a reunion book for the 2nd battalion, 11th Field Artillery Regiment. It included biographies of the officers and a history of the regiment (B1/f.4). In the most comprehensive biographical project in the series, philanthropist Sonia “Sunny” Glassberg (1919-2013) hired Casey Communications to write a book about her life for her family, particularly her grandchildren. Marie Casey conducted six oral history interviews with Glassberg and corresponded with Glassberg’s children about the project. Upon Glassberg’s death in 2013, Casey Communications wrote the obituary and prepared keepsakes for the memorial service that was held at the World’s Fair Pavilion in Forest Park on June 11, 2013. The Work Examples series includes samples of small projects completed for local clients and dates from 1980 to 2020, however most of the records date from 1983-1998. The projects include public relations reports, brochures, company newsletters, news releases, company histories, and newspaper clippings. Files are arranged alphabetically by client name. Most of the companies are based in St. Louis. Highlights include a 1997 media kit for the Borders Group when it purchased the Library Ltd., an independent bookstore in Clayton; the 75th anniversary of Schaeffer Electric; and materials for the political campaigns of Gene Frederic and Wayne Goode. The series also includes materials produced for, and distributed by, Casey Communications including brochures, Christmas cards, and a list of client gifts. The Clients series comprises the largest part of the records and dates from 1887 to 2019. This series includes files from eight Casey Communications, Inc. clients arranged alphabetically by name: DESCO Group; Moneta Group Investments Advisors, LLC; Murphy Company; PayneCrest Electric; PRIDE of St. Louis, Inc.; Sachs Electric; Sachs Properties; Schnuck Markets; and the Sheet Metal Workers SMART Local Union 36. The records of each client are arranged alphabetically by topic. Founded in 1963, the DESCO Group is a retail real estate operating company with an emphasis on neighborhood and grocery-anchored shopping centers. Records relating to anniversaries, marketing, and various projects span from 1994 to 2016. The records include files on two ambitious St. Louis redevelopment projects: Meacham Park (Kirkwood) and the Old Post Office (downtown St. Louis). The Meacham Park redevelopment project involved buying homes, building affordable housing for displaced homeowners, and building a large shopping complex along Lindbergh Boulevard near Interstate 44. A proposal for redeveloping Meacham Park had been put forth before DESCO became involved. Relocating a small, working class, mostly African American residential neighborhood made it controversial in the press and in city hall planning meetings. The project records are arranged chronologically and include memos, agreements, meeting minutes, proposals, and plans. Newsletters relating to the project were transferred to the MHS Library (Meacham Park Update, Meacham Park News and Views, and Building Blocks.) Marie Casey was on the development team for The Old Post Office project. The Old Post Office redevelopment files comprise the largest part of the DESCO Group records and include: memos amongst interested parties and partners in the project, plans for mandatory public meetings for the General Service Administration, plans for luncheons and receptions for St. Louis aldermen and Missouri legislators, media plans and interviews, newspaper clippings, photos, and sunshine law requests. There is also information on groups opposed to the project, other downtown projects, efforts for a diverse workforce, the demolition of the Century/Syndicate Trust Building, and the grand reopening of the Old Post Office in 2006. In 2011, Marie Casey wrote a book for the Moneta Group Investments Advisors, LLC, The History of Moneta Group, 1869-2011 (see MHS Library.) The records include the book proposal, committee meetings, and interview transcripts with Moneta personnel. Only one file, relating to brochures and media relations, does not relate to the book project. In 2007, the Murphy Company celebrated its centennial anniversary. It was founded in 1907 by an Irish immigrant and became a mechanical systems company with more than 1,200 employees with offices in Denver and St. Louis. The records date from 1977 to 2009 and include newspaper clippings, news releases, and event planning. Most of the files relate to the centennial and include branding, event planning, a media plan, and oral history interview transcripts with seven family members and company personnel. The Paynecrest Electric files dates from 2002 to 2014 and includes information on Payne Family Homes and the purchase of Crest Electric. There are many newspaper clippings relating to Paynecrest Electric and to its Construction Keystone Awards. Leaders in the St. Louis construction industry launched PRIDE of St. Louis Inc. (Productivity and Responsibility Increase Development and Employment) in 1972. It was the nation’s first voluntary construction labor-management organization. Its website explains that members of PRIDE, which changed its name to St. Louis Construction Cooperative, “voluntarily collaborate to address the needs of consumers, building trades and contractors to champion St. Louis as a great place to build—and most of all, work to create a stronger industry based on a foundation of cooperation” (https://stlouisconstructioncooperative.org/.) In 1981, FORTUNE magazine published a feature article about PRIDE and its impact on the St. Louis construction industry, “The New Work Spirit in St. Louis” (B6/f.39.) The PRIDE files date from 1986 to 2014 and document the array of services performed by Casey Communications for clients. Marie Casey and her staff participated in meetings with the Board of Directors, most notably in relation to strategic planning. They also attended meetings with the Public Relations Committee, managed the public relations budget, and oversaw advertising and media relations. Casey Communications worked with the PRIDE Study Commission on Education, oversaw educational opportunities for elementary and high school students, devised and utilized surveys to learn about local apprenticeship programs, and produced training materials for adults via manuals and videos. Casey Communications also planned many special events related to PRIDE anniversaries and local industry awards. PRIDE presented annual leadership awards from 1986 to 1992, project awards from 1986 to 1988, and hosted job site luncheons from 1990 to 1993 and from 2005 to 2006. Casey Communications also assisted with special events such as the Block Kids Building Contests and Career Awareness Fairs. The records demonstrate that PRIDE was politically involved in issues such as protecting federal prevailing wage law and its consistent enforcement throughout Missouri, gas tax endorsement, opposition to the Hancock II amendment to the Missouri constitution, and promoting St. Louis construction to freshmen state lawmakers. Topics for market research and relevant issues for the construction industry include minority participation and diversity and also training and recruitment for a shrinking workforce. From 2007 to 2010, the State of Missouri embarked upon a major reconstruction project on I-64/U.S.40 through St. Louis. PRIDE secured a grant for cooperative workforce training (B5/f.2-6.) There are many news releases throughout the files which reflect efforts to inform the public about PRIDE and its work to promote St. Louis construction. Photographs accompany many of the news releases. See Appendix B for 1970s and 1980s photographs relating to PRIDE in the Sievers Studio Collection (MHS Photo and Prints Department.) Sachs Electric was founded in St. Louis in 1925, by Samuel C. Sachs, a Lithuanian immigrant, and Herman Spoehrer, as S & S Electric Co. The Washington University graduates began operation in a one-room office in downtown St. Louis with two electricians. Mr. Spoehrer was with the company a short time and Samuel Sachs renamed it S.C. Sachs Company. One of its early jobs was the electrical construction for the United Hebrew Temple at 225 S. Skinker. Casey Communications assisted in planning Sachs Electric’s 75th anniversary in 2000, collecting photographs from the 1950s and 1960s and performing general historical research. The company celebrated its anniversary by providing lighting near the Art Museum in Forest Park. There is also information on the employee buyout that occurred in 1994 and a strategic plan draft for the change. Louis S. Sachs (1928-2011), son of Samuel Sachs of Sachs Electric, founded Sachs Properties, Inc. in 1961. In 1967, Sachs purchased a 56-acre tract of land divided by Highway 40/Interstate 64 near Olive Boulevard which he developed into Chesterfield Village. In 1988, the City of Chesterfield was incorporated and Chesterfield Village, which had expanded from the original 56 acres, became its business center. Sachs Properties became a client of Casey Communications, Inc. in May 1984 and remained a client through August 2013. The files date from 1971 to 2011 and relate primarily to Chesterfield Village, its construction and tenants, and its anniversaries. The files include over 30 years of newspaper and magazine clippings, advertising, media relations, news releases and photos, special events planning, interview transcripts, and research on both the company and Louis Sachs. Files about Chesterfield include historical research, parks, and the arts. The Sachs Properties plan for Chesterfield Village addressed residential areas, parks, and the arts to create a fulfilling place to live and to work. Chesterfield Arts, Inc. and other civic organizations worked to enhance the city’s cultural landscape. Outdoor sculptures such as “The Awakening,” a large sculpture by J. Seward Johnson, Jr., were installed and received much media attention. Records relating to Schnuck Markets (Schnucks) date from 1966 to 2013. There are notes, plans, and historical resources for a book that was to be produced for the company’s 75th anniversary in 2014. Unfortunately, a technology security breach redirected funds from the book budget. However, Marie Casey previously wrote Schnucks: 60 Years of Commitment to Our Customers, Associates and Communities, 1939-1999 (see MHS Library.) There is also biographical information on Don and Doris Schnuck and family notes about Don Schnuck used in a tribute published in the employee newsletter, Salute (see MHS Library.) The Schnucks files also include a 1966 business conduct policy, memos and proposals regarding negotiations with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 655; proposals for reinventing the employee newsletter, which Casey Communications produced; and the purchase of Logli Supermarkets in 1998. There are photos of the groundbreaking for the City Plaza store, the first new grocery store built in decades. The final client in the Client series is the Sheet Metal Workers SMART Local Union #36 (Local 36.) The records relate primarily to Casey Communications’ work with Local 36 during the construction and opening of its new headquarters and training facility at 2319 Chouteau Avenue in 2012. The series dates from 1887 (research) to 2012 and includes meeting notes, correspondence and memos, reports, various planning documents, exhibition and video scripts, oral history interview transcripts and interview notes, photographs, and brochures and newspaper clippings. Starting in 2010, Casey Communications conducted extensive research into the union’s history and its signatory contractors, independent contractors who have officially agreed to run their business in accordance with union guidelines. It utilized historical records housed at Local 36, providing an inventory for the union (B10/f.10), and interviewed past and current officers such as David and Jules Zimmerman. Casey Communications also contacted retired sheet metal workers with questionnaires, solicited photographs, and conducted in-person interviews. For example, Jim Murphy contributed his recollections of constructing the Gateway Arch in the 1960s. This research and outreach culminated in the production of two exhibitions, five short videos used in the exhibitions, and a photographic display wall at the new facility. There are public relations materials explaining that the new facility served as a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) construction demonstration center and to the Local 36 training program. Files also cover challenges and misunderstandings related to the union’s multiemployer defined benefit pension plans. There are also files from Local 36’s management association counterpart, the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors National Association (SMACNA).