Special Collections
"Cactus" Charlie Menees Collection

In 1994, the family of "Cactus" Charlie Menees donated his extensive collection of records, audio tapes, books, sheet music, periodicals, videos, photos and memorabilia to the Miller Nichols Library, UMKC. Menees was internationally recognized as a critic, radio producer, and jazz educator. He was the first jazz critic for the St. Louis Post Dispatch. His radio programs, featuring big band and jazz, aired in St. Louis for more than 50 years. Menees also taught courses on jazz for 20 years at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and other colleges in the St. Louis area.

The Collection includes 25,000 sound recordings, 1,000 books on music, 2,000 periodicals and several linear feet of newspaper clippings. The focus of the Menees Collection is big band and traditional jazz recorded between 1917 and 1980. The Collection also features an extensive collection of recordings by Duke Ellington. There are approximately 31,000 items in the Menees Collection. Sound recordings from this collection are housed in the Marr Sound Archives on the ground floor of the Miller Nichols Library.

The Marr Special Projects Cataloging Team is in the process of cataloging the Charlie Menees Collection, which now includes over 8710 sound recordings cataloged and accessible in MERLIN (search subject = Charlie Menees Collection), or 67 percent of the total Menees Collection. Wendy Sistrunk is the Special Music Projects Cataloger.

Special Collections is a non-circulating and non-browsing resource center. The Special Collections Reading Room is open to researchers Monday through Friday during the academic year. Public service hours for the current semester are listed at http://library.umkc.edu/spec-col/index.html#hours but researchers are encouraged to call ahead for verification of hours due to University intersessions and other events. Special Collections is located on the fourth floor of the Miller Nichols Library at 5100 Rockhill Road in Kansas City, Missouri. All inquiries concerning access to the collections should be addressed to Special Collections Library Information Specialists Teresa Gipson or Kelly McEniry.

For sound recordings from this collection, contact Chuck Haddix, Marr Sound Archives, Miller Nichols Library, University of Missouri-Kansas City. (816-235-2798) or email.