Featured Article
The Glasgow Missourian · June 11, 2026
Unearthing History: The Search for Lewis Library’s Lost Cornerstone
Read the full newspaper article →Benjamin W. Lewis
A silver pitcher, an elaborate inscription, and an unexpected connection to Spottswood Rice.
What inspired this research?
A colleague had a silver pitcher and wondered whether I could make sense of its elaborate inscription. The trail led to Benjamin W. Lewis of Glasgow, Missouri—the very man from whom Spottswood Rice negotiated his freedom.
Lewis was a tobacco businessman in nineteenth-century Missouri. He was a slaveowner who saw the light, freed his slaves, and ultimately died for his staunch support of the Union.
The pitcher is more than a handsome artifact. It is the unlikely beginning of a much wider historical inquiry.
In the News
From the nineteenth-century cornerstone ceremony to a twenty-first-century archaeological search, the Lewis Library is still making headlines.
From the Archives · September 28, 1866
Lewis Library Corner Stone Ceremony — an account of the original cornerstone laying. A total surprise to the town of Glasgow, Missouri.
Read the historical clipping (PDF) →