John Hoover, director of the St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, is featured in the Feb. 10 issue of the St. Louis Business Journal. (Photo by August Jennewein)

John Hoover tends to America’s past with loving devotion. For nearly 30 years that devotion has been concentrated on the vast collections at the St. Louis Mercantile Library, the oldest library west of the Mississippi River. Located on the campus of the University of Missouri–St. Louis since 1998, the library lies within walking distance to Hoover’s home. As the Mercantile’s director, he has turned his dream job into his life.

Hoover was featured in the Feb. 10 issue of the St. Louis Business Journal.

“It’s a trip back in time going to the St. Louis Mercantile Library – anytime within the last 165 years,” writes St. Louis Business Journal reporter Rick Desloge “And it’s John Hoover who makes the library’s dozens of collections, some dating to before the Civil War, come to life.”

A partial version of the story and a slide show of the some of the Mercantile Library’s artifacts can be viewed. The entire story can only be seen with a St. Louis Business Journal subscription.