By AP/KWMU
St. Louis – Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan announced the completion Wednesday of a massive effort to preserve key court archives from the post-Civil War era.
The St. Louis Circuit Court documents date from 1866 through 1868, and give a glimpse of a nation recovering from war.
Among the cases preserved was that of a slave owner who sued a ship captain for transporting a runaway.
There are also records of people who sought divorces over adultery and venereal disease, and even a lawsuit over fire insurance from showman "PT" Barnum.
After more than a century of neglect, the records were restored and digitally scanned. They'll eventually go online.
The post Civil War project was part of a wider effort to preserve and make public court documents dating back to the late 1700s.