SLP2001011508 - 15 JANUARY 2001 - ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, USA: Missouri Secretary of State Matt Blunt talks about the new partnership, January 15, 2001, between the St. Louis Circuit Court and Washington University that makes valuable historical information, like the Dred Scott papers, available on the internet, January 8. The vast majority of these records, which date from 1796, have not been accessible to the public for up to two hundred years. The records also contain material related to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the early fur trade, Senator Thomas Hart Benton and the rise of the steamboat trade. rlw/bg/Bill Greenblatt UPI