Halvorson, H.H. Papers

Kansas City, Missouri realtor and business associate of Harry S. Truman in the Community Savings and Loan Association

The papers of H. H. Halvorson primarily relate to his career as vice-president and director of the Community Savings and Loan Association of Missouri (of which Harry S. Truman was president), a founding shareholder in the Rural Investment Company of Missouri, and a realtor involved in industrial and economic development in the Kansas City area. The bulk of the documents consist of correspondence to and from H. H. Halvorson and others regarding the businesses in which he was involved. The collection also includes newspaper clippings, financial records, advertisements, printed material, and a small number of blueprints, maps, and legal documents.

Size: Less than one-half of one linear foot (approximately 600 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: The Truman Library has received no donation of copyright from H. H. Halvorson or his heirs. The copyright to documents in this collection presumably belongs to the creators of the documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Erwin J. Mueller (1975).
Updated by: Darla Hostetler (2004) as part of the Truman Library Internship Program.
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and Amy Williams.

The papers of H. H. Halvorson mostly relate to his career as an officer and director of the Community Savings and Loan Association of Missouri and several affiliated institutions, and as a realtor involved in industrial and economic development in the Kansas City, Missouri area. The bulk of the documents consist of correspondence to and from H. H. Halvorson and others regarding businesses ventures in which he was involved. The collection also contains newspaper clippings, financial records, printed material, advertisements, and a small number of blueprints, maps, and legal documents.

Most of the documents pertain to Community Savings and such affiliated enterprises as Citizens Security Bank, Harry S. Truman and Company, Community Investment Company, and Rural Investment Company. Truman, Halvorson and Spencer Salisbury were partners in several of these enterprises during the late 1920's, with Truman serving as president of Community Savings and Loan, Halvorson as vice-president, and Salisbury as treasurer. The collection includes general correspondence with Halvorson regarding the day-to-day operations of the businesses, financial statements, partnership agreements, articles of association, contracts, and balance sheets. A few documents refer to Lou E. Holland, a Kansas City business leader who was vice-president and a member of the board of directors of Citizens Security Bank; to an investigation of the Farm and Home Savings and Loan Association; and to the St. Louis - Kansas City Short Line Railroad Company.

An asset of the collection is a file of newspaper clippings devoted to the different stages of industrial and economic development in the Kansas City area from 1934 to 1937. The articles track real estate development, economic growth, and highway construction including the Kansas City-St. Louis Turnpike project.

A file of miscellaneous printed material, newspaper clippings, charts, legal documents, and maps dating from 1927 to 1968 is also of particular interest. Scattered throughout the file are many newspaper articles documenting the arrest, guilty plea, and sentencing of Spencer Salisbury for bank fraud. Halvorson's former business partner was responsible for the eventual failure of Community Savings and Loan. The correspondence does not indicate how Halvorson reacted to this situation.

Other relevant materials at the Truman Library include Halvorson's oral history interview and the Lou E. Holland Papers.