Guide to the Archival Collections.pdf - Missouri History Museum

Finding aid available.
Cite as: Rice Family Papers, Missouri History Museum Archives, St. Louis.
A1292
Rice Family.
Charles M. and May Goldman Rice Family Papers, 1843-1978. 34 boxes; 1 flat storage box;
6 volumes
The Rice family of St. Louis was a prominent Jewish family of German origin. Initially
named Reuss, the family anglicized their name upon immigration. They became prominent in the
St. Louis area in the person of Jonathan Rice (died 1903), who immigrated from Germany during
the 1850s. He was the first vice-president of the Rice-Stix Dry Goods Company, begun in 1862.
He married Aurelia Stix, the daughter of his business partner William Stix. They had three
children: Erna, Henry, and Charles. Erna and Henry died in 1895. Thus their only child to
survive to adulthood was Charles Marcus Rice (1882-1950). Charles married May (Margaret)
Nanette Goldman (1882-1960) in September 1908, after concluding his legal studies at
Washington University in 1907. May was the daughter of German immigrant Jacob D. Goldman
(1845-1925) and Sarah Hirsch (died 1890). Jacob had developed a dry goods business in
Arkansas after the Civil War, but moved to St. Louis in 1875 where he co-founded the dry goods
firm of Adler, Goldman and Company. He also co-founded the Lesser-Goldman Cotton
Company with Julius Lesser in 1892. Jacob and Sarah Goldman had four children: May, Alvin
G., Florence, and Hortense. Jacob Goldman was also the developer of Hortense Place in St.
Louis, which he named after his daughter, who died in infancy. Charles and May Rice similarly
had a significant impact on St. Louis history, both in terms of Charles' professional life and both
of their philanthropic activities. In 1909, Charles joined with Joseph W. Lewis in a legal
partnership, which lasted the remainder of their professional lives and formed the basis of one of
the most prominent law firms in St. Louis. In that same year, May and Charles moved into their
first home at 51 Kingsbury Terrace, which Charles' mother had built for them as a wedding gift.
They remained there until 1914, when they moved to Oak Knoll where they spent most of their
married lives. Charles and May Rice had three children: Jay G., Erna S. and Jonathan C. Rice.
Jay married Bonnie Dell Lafferty, and worked as a buyer for the book department for Famous-
Barr. Erna Sarah Rice married William N. Eisendrath. She was a biology professor at
Washington University and he was director of the Washington University Art Museum.
The collection consists of biographical information on family members and associates,
personal correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks and newsclippings, and printed matter from or
about organizations with which family members were involved or in which they held an interest.
In particular, this collection includes a few business records of Jonathan Rice, 1895-1896, and a
bound memorial resolution adopted by the Jewish Federation on the occasion of his death in
1903. The bulk of the collection consists of the records and papers of Charles M. and May
Goldman Rice, 1899-1960, which include records of Buckeye Plantation, 1936-1948, a
sharecropping operation near Sikeston, Missouri; records of the Boy Scouts of America in St.
Louis, 1911-1914, of which Charles Rice was treasurer; records of the Kingsbury Place and
Kingsbury Terrace Associations, in which Charles Rice served as a trustee and treasurer, 1911-
1914; records of the Crawford County Caverns Company, which the Rices owned and which
operated Onondaga Cave, 1946-1973; May Goldman Rice's travel diaries, 1901, 1903, and 1909,
wedding books, 1908, family and philanthropic correspondence and memorabilia, 1899-1960.
The collection also includes correspondence of Erna Sarah Rice Eisendrath, consisting primarily
of condolence letters she received upon the death of her parents in 1950 and 1960; and papers of
Jay G. and Bonnie L. Rice, 1927-1978, which include Jay's retirement scrapbook, 1970, and