Guide to the Archival Collections.pdf - Missouri History Museum

A0543
Gaebler, Adolph Nelson (1863-1954).
Gaebler-Knight family papers, 1883-1954. 12 boxes
Adolph Nelson Gaebler was born in St. Louis in 1863, the son of Ernest Gaebler, a native of
Saxony, Germany. At the age of 15, Adolph Gaebler left public school and went to work for the
Haydock Brothers Carriage Co. as a bookkeeper. In 1883, he became the assistant bookkeeper at
Todds & Stanley Mill Furnishing Co. and began his own stenography correspondence school.
Soon thereafter he took up the study of medicine and graduated from the American Medical
College in St. Louis in 1890, after which he set up in medical practice. In 1900, he engaged in
the chemical business, especially the manufacture of cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. He
launched his first chemical business, the Hall Chemical Co., in that year. In 1906, he expanded
this business, forming the King Manufacturing Co., a more diversified mail-order firm. In 1921,
Gaebler took over another chemical company, R.H. Hunstock Chemical Co. In addition to the
chemical business, he invested heavily in real estate in St. Louis and in California, purchasing his
first St. Louis property as early as 1895. Gaebler married twice, first to Clara Converse of
Vermont in 1886. She died in 1887. He married his second wife, May Borngesser of St. Louis, in
1890. Their only child, Anita, was born in 1892. May Gaebler died in 1940. Adolph Gaebler
remained active in business until his retirement in 1950 at the age of 87. He died four years later
in 1954. His daughter Anita, who authored several historical plays, married Walter J. Knight
(1881-1951), an engineer and native of Evergreen, Alabama, in 1914. Anita Gaebler Knight died
in 1977. The Knights made their home in St. Louis, and had three children.
Collection contains papers of Adolph Nelson Gaebler, his daughter Anita Gaebler, and her
husband, Walter J. Knight. Adolph Gaebler's papers are predominantly business records and
correspondence, and real estate papers. His business papers record a long series of
entrepreneurial ventures that he launched and companies that he headed. They include the
records of his stenography correspondence school, 1883-1888; an order book from A.N. Gaebler
& Co., which distributed "Independent" stylographic and fountain pens, 1887-1888; minute
books, two catalogues, an order book, and an accounts ledger of King Manufacturing Company,
1943-1954. His business papers also include eight formula books, dating from 1890, for the
manufacture of his cosmetic and pharmaceutical products; applications, permits, and
correspondence with the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of the Treasury
regarding the regulation of his manufactures; correspondence and canceled stock certificates
from the R.H. Hunstock Chemical Company; and papers relating to his personal and business
property investments in St. Louis. The papers of Anita Gaebler and Walter J. Knight comprise
personal correspondence, mostly between the two of them before their marriage in 1914.
Includes a series of correspondence to each of them from their friends, dating back to 1904, and
a series of letters to Walter from his father between 1912 and 1916, as well as their courtship
correspondence prior to 1914. An addition to the collection contains papers of Anita Gaebler
Knight, which include clippings and memorabilia regarding the 100th anniversary (1930) of the
Oregon Trail and the St. Louis connection; clippings and pamphlets regarding St. Louis social
scene in the 1930s; family newsclippings; and some personal correspondence.
Finding aid available.
Cite as: Gaebler-Knight Family Papers, Missouri History Museum Archives, St. Louis.
A0544
Gaines Family.
Papers, 1850-1878. 1 box
Original and typescripts of Gaines family letters, 1850-1878, particularly letters of William