Marian There is no index for Blacks/slavery for these newspapers that I know of....you have to sift through roll after roll...however, I do have a collection of articles; work completed by another researcher in Columbia named Bob Dyer from the Boonville Advertiser. Mr Dyer is considered somewhat of an expert on the Leonard family at Ravenswood. Mr. Dyer gave me a collection of news articles including some snippets on the "Black History of Boonville." The collection of articles mentions slavery and other african americans in the community... and their owners. I did also cruise through the Bunceton Weekly Eagle from the 1870s-90's -- as well at the newspaper called Columbia World, which was a Black newspaper. The film is very very hard to read. The Reference Library in Columbia also has a collection of articles about slavery in "Little Dixie" -- but most of their resources don't offer today's researcher anything recent..when I was there last year the articles or works for African American researchers ended in the 1970s.. in other words.. they haven't worked hard at providing a current collection of material. There is also a publication called "Boonlick's Heritage produced quarterly by the Boonlick Historical Society... dues are $10 per year... I have a few issues: African American Schools in Rural Cooper Co., Black History Issue -- Howard County's "Little Africa" and a Civil War issue. I will have to contact the editor Bob Dyer at: rldyer@socket.net for an index of their 2000 and 2001 issues. Dyer's mailing address is: 513 High St., Boonville, MO 65233. Dyer told me about an african american research Toni Covington who lives in Boonville, who took a great deal of time to transcribe several surrounding city directories for Black residents. Toni did a smart thing... she transcribed the city directories of Black residents -- and then looked for mentions in the newspapers. For example, there was a Black baseball team named the Boonville Mohwaks, and she found several letters in the newspaper about them. Here are some of the directories you should be able to find at the library in Columbia Beasley's Boonville Directory 1876-77 1916 Farmer's & Merchants Book [Blacks in Boonville] 1869 City Directory of "Colored on Boonville" I have not been able to track Toni down to talk to her... and the transcribed materials belong are her work... I would be happy to look up names to see if anyone's folks might be listed in these directories or among the news abstracts from the Boonville Advertiser. I'll work on getting in touch with her.... For other African American researchers.. I would suggest a careful study of the 1870 census, coupled with cemetery records, and a review of probate and will records... you will have to make sense of the slave owning families which are noted in the slave schedules. My website has a good collection of some of these...Boone Co 1860 slave schedules will be up shortly. traci wilson-kleekamp african americans in missouri http://www.missouri-slave-data.org