Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association Records, c. 1930-1975
Finding Aid by Suellyn Lathrop and Laura Mills
1990
Revised May 1997
INTRODUCTION TO THE COLLECTION
During the early 1930s, Luther Ely Smith, a St. Louis lawyer, championed a movement to build a memorial to St. Louis' role in Westward Expansion on the riverfront. Smith gained the support of Mayor Bernard Dickmann, who, on December 15, 1933, called a group of civic and business leaders into his office to discuss Smith's plan. The group liked the idea and formed a temporary committee to look further into the matter. A civic committee was formed to work for the establishment of a federal memorial to commemorate the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and to honor President Thomas Jefferson and those who explored and occupied the American West. In the next few months this group planned to raise money and generate public interest.
In April 1934, the committee obtained a state charter as Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association and acquired a nonprofit designation. The group intended to arouse public interest, adopt suitable plans, solicit money and property, and improve a site for ...a suitable and permanent public memorial to the men who made possible the western territorial expansion of the United States, particularly President Jefferson, his aides Livingston and Monroe, the great explorers, Lewis and Clark, and the hardy hunters, trappers, frontiersmen and pioneers who contributed to the territorial expansion and development of these United States, and thereby to bring before the public of this and future generations the history of our development and induce familiarity with the patriotic accomplishments of these great builders of our country.
Over the course of the next 30 years, the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association, or "Jenny Mae," laid the groundwork for what was to become Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. Most significantly, JNEMA conducted the competition which resulted in the choice of Eero Saarinen's arch design as the central commemorative feature of the park. JNEMA worked with the United States Territorial Expansion Memorial Commission (USTEMC), the National Park Service, and several members of Congress in their efforts to establish a national park on the St. Louis riverfront.
Information obtained from this collection must be properly cited, whether used in publication or in other formats. The proper citation for this collection is:
National Park Service
Gateway Arch National Park
JNEMA Records
JEFF-9017
Box__, Folder__
and image number where applicable
Researchers are advised that before records, photographs, or any other unpublished materials from this collection can be published or exhibited, permission from the National Park Service must be obtained in writing.
