The Dead End Kids of St. Louis: Homeless Boys and the People Who Tried to Save Them

Acknowledgment

oWE A DEBT oF GRATITUDE To the Friends of the Missouri State Archives for awarding me a William E. Foley Research Fellowship in support of this project. Mike Everman, Pat Barge, and Sharon Kenny of the Missouri State Archives–St. Louis went out of their way to search for court records pertaining to the cases of George William Thornton, Michael Mark Pretto, and others. Librarians and archivists at the Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis steered me to records of the St. Louis House of Refuge. William M. Fischetti and Susan Beattie of the Western Historical Manuscripts Collection at the University of Missouri–St. Louis directed me to the Bureau for Men Collection and helped me find photographs. Seth Smith of the Newspaper Library at the State Historical Society of Missouri in Columbia located illustrations and found copies of articles from the Missouri Republican and other newspapers. Christine Montgomery of the State Historical Society kindly provided scanned illustrations. Southeast Missouri State University provided funding for travel and other research expenses. The microfilmed newspapers on file at the University’s Kent Library kept me busy for hours and days on end. I made far too many demands on the interlibrary-loan staff, and I am grateful for their assistance. Sharon Kinney Hanson generously shared with me her memories of her father, Raymond Kinney. The staff of Father Dunne’s Newsboys’ Home (sometimes given as “Father Dunne’s News Boys’ Home”), recently located in Florissant but now closed, allowed me to look at historical files. Gloria Thomas and John Brenner of the University of Missouri Press were perceptive editors whose careful work improved the manuscript immensely. As always, I depended on my husband, Jerry, for moral support, company on research trips, and many laughs. The birth of my grandson, Syd, made this work even more meaningful and closer to my heart. Chapter 6 was published in slightly different form in the April 2010 issue of the Missouri Historical Review. Acknowledgments I The Dead End Kids of St.Louis ...