Kenneth Spencer Research Library

Recently, this book came into the conservation lab with a detaching spine and separated boards. It is volume 2 of a version of The Headless Horseman: A Strange Tale in Texas by Captain Mayne Reid. The gold-stamped cover caught my eye. It features this curious gentleman, minus head, but with boots and spurs.

Left: The Headless Horseman, before treatment. Right: A detail of the cover.
Call number C3400, Special Collections. Click images to enlarge.

To bring the book back to a usable condition, first I removed the previous paper spine lining with a softener called methylcellulose.

Application of methylcellulose to the spine lining to soften it. Click image to enlarge.

A layer of thick Japanese paper, applied with paste, served as a method for consolidating the spine and reattaching the boards, all at once. The Japanese paper extended onto the boards, under the lifted cloth.

Next I applied a lining that included a tube of paper (called a “hollow”), used to keep the fragile original spine pieces from bending inward when the book is opened. Finally, I dyed some red Moriki Japanese paper to match the cover cloth, and applied that over the tube and under the lifted cloth.

Left: Applying the hollow over the Japanese paper lining. Right: Applying dyed paper over the hollow.
Call number C3400, Special Collections. Click images to enlarge.

The final step was to reattach the loose spine pieces. The spine is still fragile, so I added a polyester dustjacket as a final precaution.

The finished conservation treatment (before the dustjacket).
Call number C3400, Special Collections

The Headless Horseman is ready to ride again!

Whitney Baker
Head, Conservation Services

Charles Scott, a prominent attorney in Topeka, Kansas, was born in 1921. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and later graduated from Washburn Law School. He joined the law firm established by his father, Elisha Scott, Sr., a well-known trial lawyer in the region. During his early years in practice Charles Scott and his father were successful in securing racial integration of elementary schools in South Park, Johnson County, Kansas. With his brother John H. Scott, he represented plaintiffs in several cases that sought to establish the right of access to swimming pools, theaters, and restaurants in Topeka for African Americans.

In 1954 Charles Scott was one of several attorneys who filed and presented the initial case for the plaintiffs in the landmark Supreme Court case Oliver Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka. He also appeared as counselor for the plaintiffs before the United States Supreme Court, whose ruling ended segregation in public schools.

The Scott Collection includes personal and professional papers that reflect Mr. Scott’s lifelong pursuit of civil rights issues.

Telegram to Charles Scott from Thurgood Marshall, April 6, 1955. Charles Scott Papers.
Call Number: RH MS 1145 Box 2, Folder 29. Click image to enlarge.

Among Scott’s papers is the above telegram from Thurgood Marshall. Marshall, then serving as Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, contacted Scott to receive confirmation of a timetable for desegregation of Topeka schools following the 1954 Supreme Court ruling ending school segregation.

This April, the University of Kansas will host a series of events to mark the 60th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education case.  These will include a KU Libraries exhibition opening (Lasting Impact: Brown vs the Board of Education) on the evening of April 11th and a daylong seminar on April 12th. Both events will consider the legacy of the case and its implications.  For additional information, please see the following news release.

Sheryl Williams
Curator of Collections and Kansas Collection Curator

The value of a liberal arts education is – and has long been – a topic of substantial discussion. With Valentine’s Day upon us, we wanted to highlight a perhaps little-known benefit of liberal arts courses and majors: they can help you attract or catch a love interest. Such was the “tongue-in-cheek” argument of a pictorial feature that appeared in the April 1970 edition of Kansas Alumni. Seven photographs told a story that unfolded throughout the publication, accompanied by captions extolling the benefits of a liberal arts education that were taken from “none other than” the Catalog of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Prints of six of the images – the first six pictures below – are held within University Archives as part of its collection of Student Activities records and photographs (Record Group 71).

The introduction to “Pictorial: The Liberal Arts” from Kansas Alumni, April 1970.
University Archives. Call Number: RG UA Ser 64/0/2. Click any image to enlarge.

While the lower right corner was cropped out of the published picture, the
original print shows that KU Libraries can also help you catch the
object of your affection! University Archives. Call Number: RG 71/0/1969-1970
Prints: Student Activities (Photos). This citation applies to all images in this
post unless otherwise noted.

The caption for the final image in the story – as it appeared in
Kansas Alumni – doesn’t seem to bode well for the guy behind the books!
University Archives. Call Number: RG UA Ser 64/0/2.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

Student Activities Photographs RG 71/0 1969/1970 Prints

It’s been an exiting week or two in Lawrence for scholars and fans of William S. Burroughs.  Wednesday, February 5 was the centenary of the writer’s birth, and around town events and exhibitions have been exploring his writing, art, and deep ties to Lawrence.  Burroughs made Lawrence his home during the last fifteen years of his life, and now, thanks to a gift from James Grauerholz, executor of the Burroughs estate and a KU alumnus, the influential author’s last journals will join the collections of KU Libraries.

Burroughs helped revolutionize the post-WWII literary landscape with novels like Naked Lunch and Nova Express, the latter a part of his cut-up trilogy.  To celebrate the gift, five of the ten journals will be on display in the Kenneth Spencer Research Library’s lobby through February.  These notebooks, which span from November 1996 to Burroughs’ death in August of 1997, were the basis for Last Words: The Final Journals of William S. Burroughs, a volume edited by Grauerholz and published in 2000.  In their pages we see literature, politics, art, and philosophy collide with everyday life.  A reference to speaking with an ailing friend, poet Allen Ginsberg  (“His voice over the phone from Beth Israel Hospital in NYC sounded very weak”), appears alongside a reminder to buy disposable razors.  The final entry (see below) offers a meditation on conflict and love.  To the left Burroughs has written:  “Love? What is it? / Most natural pain / killer what there is. / L O V E.”

William S. Burroughs’ final journal. Image courtesy of Chuck France / KU Office of Public Affairs.  Click here for a larger version.

On display through February in Spencer Research Library’s lobby: five of the ten journals donated by the Burroughs estate.

In addition to the journals, the gift also includes typescripts and draft materials for the edition Grauerholz produced. Once cataloged, these “last words” of William S. Burroughs will be available for researchers and the public to consult at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library.

Elspeth Healey,
Special Collections Librarian

For my class project in GEOG 658, I attempted to find the backdrop of the 1913 photo of the Quantrill raid survivors using GIS (Geographic Information Systems). The only aspect of the photo that is known is that it was taken in Lawrence. Beyond that, the exact location of this photo is unspecified.

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Photograph of survivors of Quantrill’s Raid, Lawrence, KS, August 21, 1913.
Call number RH PH 18 L.8.2ff. Kansas Collection, Kenneth Spencer Research Library.
Click image to enlarge and view.

The photo reveals important information about its location. Judging by the position of the people relative to the central building in the backdrop, the photo was taken at an intersection of two roads. The heights of the adjacent buildings are also visible. Identifying the stories of the adjacent buildings and their sequence from the corner building provides an identifiable skyline to locate using other sources, such as the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps and Google Street View. Sanborn Fire Insurance maps show the relation of the buildings to one another and to the city streets, as well as tell the heights of the buildings. A trolley line is also visible to the left of the buildings.

Detail of Eldridge House plan from the Lawrence, KS Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, 1912.
Massachusetts Street is at the top of the image.
Call number RH Map Sanborn, Lawrence 1912, sheet 4. Kansas Collection, Kenneth Spencer Research Library. Click image to enlarge.

I used GIS software to map the 1910 trolley line onto a modern map of downtown Lawrence and to mark the heights of buildings around each intersection. With this information combined into one map, I was able to narrow down the locations for the photograph.

From this investigation, the most likely location for the 1913 photograph is the Southwest corner of Massachusetts and 7th streets, where the Eldridge stands. This location is at an intersection, was historically located along the trolley tracks, and the building heights of the adjacent buildings appear to match the sequence observed in the historic photo. The 1912 Sanborn Fire Insurance map shows several businesses located on the first floor, including an Express Office, Telegraph Office, and Barbershop. A close look at the 1913 photo shows the advertisements for these businesses.

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Details from photograph of survivors of Quantrill’s Raid, Lawrence, KS, August 21, 1913.
Wells Fargo Express Office, Telegraph Office, and Hodges Bros. Hotel Barber Shop.
Call number RH PH 18 L.8.2ff. Kansas Collection, Kenneth Spencer Research Library.

Jennie Ashton
Conservation Student Assistant
Graduate Student, Museum Studies

Like many people, I suspect, my knowledge of The Wizard of Oz has been limited to the 1939 MGM movie, which turns seventy-five years old this year. However, in recent months I’ve had the opportunity to learn a great deal more about the topic from Jane Albright, an Oz collector in Kansas City, Missouri, with an impressively comprehensive knowledge of all things related to the beloved story.

As a student at KU, Jane Albright won the Snyder Book Collecting Contest
for her Oz collection in 1977. She is shown here with some of her books,
which were then displayed as a year-long exhibit in the Kansas Collection
at Spencer Research Library. From the collection of Jane Albright.

Jane and I have been collaborating to develop Spencer’s current exhibit, “The Magic of Oz: A Collection Celebrating a Classic.” The exhibition features books and other items from Jane’s wonderfully extensive collection of Oz materials and uses them to explore some of the contexts in which The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) was created and enjoyed by readers. Jane and I also hope that visitors will come away from the exhibit excited by the “fantastic host of characters, marvelous adventures, and strong sense of place” found within the Oz stories, much as Jane fell in love with them as a young girl growing up in Topeka, Kansas.

By the Candelabra’s Glare (1898) is a collection of Baum’s
own verse. He printed and bound each of the ninety-nine copies
himself. This copy is marked No. 2 and inscribed to his oldest son.
From the collection of Jane Albright.

Included in the exhibit are early editions and more-recent foreign-language translations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; examples other works written by L. Frank Baum or illustrated by W. W. Denslow, two men who had prolific careers beyond the Oz stories; ephemera from the 1903 stage musical based on the book, which was the greatest Broadway hit of its time; and copies of Oz books written by Baum and other authors. Noteworthy are the several exceptionally rare pieces from Jane’s collection that are included in the exhibit.

This postcard showing a scene from The Wizard of Oz stage musical has been
time-stamped and annotated. It was postmarked in Milwaukee on February 8, 1906,
and sent to a Mrs. Parish in Delavan, Wisconsin. From the collection of Jane Albright.

“The Magic of Oz: A Collection Celebrating a Classic” is free and open to the public in the Exhibit Gallery during Spencer’s regular hours: Monday through Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, and (when KU classes are in session) Saturday, 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. The exhibit will run through Saturday, April 19th. For additional information, please contact Caitlin Donnelly at (785) 864-4456 or cdonnelly@ku.edu.

KU Libraries will host a reception and lecture by Jane Albright later in the spring. The event is scheduled for Thursday, April 17th from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at Spencer Research Library. More information will soon be available at www.lib.ku.edu/events.

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

Last week, the poet, playwright, and critic Amiri Baraka died at the age of 79. Baraka (who was born Everett Leroy Jones and published as LeRoi Jones until the late sixties) was a founder of the Black Arts Movement.  As his New York Times obituary suggests, his career took many turns and was punctuated by both accolades and controversy, but there can be little doubt that he was a significant figure for post-WWII American literary culture.  The Kenneth Spencer Research Library houses over 45 items by or containing contributions from Amiri Baraka, with more than double that amount in the KU Libraries circulating collections. Spencer’s holdings include several scarce or ephemeral items, such as an advance proof of his important study Blues People: Negro Music in White America (1963),  a 1965 fundraising letter for the Black Arts Repertory Theater/school of Harlem, the illustrated broadside A Traffic of Love (1967), and the 13-page mimeograph edition of his play Slave Ship, An Historical Pageant (ca. 1967).

Yugen, edited by LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka) and Hettie Cohen. Nos. 1-8 (1958-1962). Call Number: Ser C170. Click image to enlarge.

 Among our earliest holdings for Baraka is a complete run of the journal Yugen (1958-1962), which he edited with his first wife, Hettie Cohen.  Only eight issues of the magazine were published, and it included contributions from writers such as William Burroughs, Robert Creeley, Diane DiPrima, Allen Ginsberg, and Gary Snyder. Spencer’s holdings are strongest for the first decade and a half of Baraka’s career, from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, during which time he was associated first with the Beats and then the Black Arts Movement.

Elspeth Healey
Special Collections Librarian

The statue of The Bronze Horseman (= Peter the Great, the inspired hero, rash, speedy, proud, majestic, handsome, and yes, six and a half feet tall in real life!) symbolized a powerful upsurge in Russian energy (and the horse and his rider are pointed westward). Indeed it is the subject of many a frontispiece in our holdings of St. Petersburg travel literature, and is immortalized in Pushkin’s poem, “The Bronze Horseman.”

Statue of Peter the Great: Frontispiece from Augustus Bozzi Granville’s St. Petersburg.
A Journal of Travels to and from that Capital. 2nd ed., carefully revised and with considerable
additions. London: H. Colburn 1829. 2 vols. Call Number: C9755, v.1. Click image to enlarge.

French sculptor Étienne-Maurice Falconet was commissioned by Catherine II on recommendation of Diderot to erect a memorial to Peter I. Falconet apparently had only unhappy experiences during his Russian years and never came back to see his masterpiece in place and ready to leap into the no longer frozen future. Falconet knew that Catherine abhorred allegory, and he himself did not want a “Peter in Roman armor.” On this matter he locked horns with Ivan Betskoi of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. In the end he had his way artistically, but we have seen no images amongst our holdings that do it justice for display. Obviously this is one statue that must be seen “in the flesh.”

The story of the hauling from Finland of the granite block on which this saddle-sore Peter and his horse are erected is as dramatic as the story of obtaining the rock and wooden underpinnings of St. P., the city, in 1703. Both were the death of many a good Russian.

The biography of Granville, from whose travel journal the above frontispiece illustration is taken, reads like Candide: his Cornish mother’s death-bed wish was that he take a British last name, but in fact he was an Italian patriot and political rabble-rouser, journalist, actor, and eventually physician. He first visited Petersburg in 1827, a second time in 1829 as physician, when he predicted Nicholas would die before July 1855.

Sally Haines
Rare Books Cataloger

Adapted from her Spencer Research Library exhibit, Frosted Windows: 300 Years of St. Petersburg Through Western Eyes.

Recently, conservation student assistant, Jordan Key, constructed a series of scroll boxes from scrap materials we had on hand: corrugated board, cord, and posts for post bindings. The directions for these scroll boxes were provided by KU’s Japanese Studies Librarian, who received them in a workshop in Japan. Although we could not read the text in the scroll housing directions, the diagrams were easy to follow.

Box closed (L) and opened (R). Great Britain. Court of Chancery. Decree rolls. 1726-1728.
Call number: MS Roll 1. Special Collections.

Jordan added foam inserts on the ends for scrolls wound on wooden dowels to prevent these scrolls from being crushed. I was pleased by the final results–quick to make, elegant in appearance, and easy to use. This is a wonderful solution for materials that are too long to store flattened.

Previously, Spencer Library’s scrolls were either stored with many rolled items to a box, or not boxed at all. Now that they are each in their own box, paging these scrolls for patrons will be easier and safer.

Whitney Baker
Head, Conservation Services

***Reminder: The Kenneth Spencer Research Library will be closed December 21-December 29, 2013 and January 1, 2014. ***

The 2013 holiday season is underway, and many of us are preparing to send (or have sent) cards to friends and family.  With this in mind, we share some cards and postcards of Christmas Past (1900s-1920s).

Christmas Postcards: 1903 – 1907

Left to Right:  Postmarked 1903, from Cleveland, Ohio to Leona Baumgartner in Lawrence, Kansas; Addressed to Leona Baumgartner, undated; Postmarked 1907, from Chicago, IL to Leona Baumgartner in Lawrence, Kansas.  Anna Olinger Papers. PP 113 Box 1. Click images to enlarge.

These three Christmas postcards were sent to a very young Leona Baumgartner (1902-1991).  Baumgartner was a prominent doctor who served as the first female Commissioner of New York City’s Department of Health. This national figure was also a Jayhawk; earning a BA in Bacteriology and MA in Immunology at KU.   Explore Leona Baumgartner’s life through several of Spencer’s other collections: the Personal Papers of Leona Baumgartner (PP 52) and J. W. Miller Collection (RH MS 960) and the Kansas Newspaper Clippings Collection (RH MS 828).

Christmas Cards and Postcards: 1913 – 1918

Holiday Cards from the Robert L. Gilbert Papers. Top: Holiday card from “Robert,” undated; Center: “Christmas Greeting” postcard, postmarked December 22, 1913 and addressed to Mrs. R. L. Gilbert, Lawrence, Kansas; Bottom Left: Card postmarked December 24, 1913, addressed to Mr. & Mrs. R. L. Gilbert, Lawrence, Kansas, and sent from Meridian, Mississippi. Bottom Right: Card postmarked December 24, 1918, addressed to Mrs. R. L. Gilbert, Lawrence, Kansas. Sent from Lawrence, Kansas. Robert L. Gilbert Papers. RH MS P764, folder1. Click images to enlarge.

Robert L Gilbert (1898 – 1987) was born in Lawrence, KS. He joined the Navy in 1917 and served during World War I as an airplane mechanic, deployed in France.  He returned to Lawrence to attend KU (1919-1923), graduating with a degree in Journalism. The cards pictured above come from his family’s collection (RH MS P764), though the card at the top perhaps bears the signature of the young Robert. Learn more about Robert L Gilbert his Personal Papers, (PP 223), which consist primarily of letters from France but which also include a Christmas Dinner menu from 1918.

Christmas Cards and Postcards: 1917 – 1920

To Miss H. Morrison, Glendive, Montana, sent from New York, New York, postmarked December 23, 1917 (top),  from New York, New York, postmarked December 24, 1917 (bottom left), and to Harriet in Bloomfield, New Jersey, sent from New York, New York, postmarked December 22, 1920. Lionel A. Anderson Collection. RH MS 624, Folder 16.

Harriet M. Kemper Morrison was a nurse at the Northern Pacific Railway Hospital in Glendive, Montana, where she met Dr. Lionel Anderson. The collection consists primarily of letters (1917 – 1920) from Lionel  to Harriet, his fiance; however it also includes holiday cards from a variety of senders. The beige card featuring a candle dates from 1917 and contains the following message:

There are miles and miles
Between us and it is days
And days since we’ve met. But
This little Christmas Greeting
Will prove. I haven’t forgotten you yet.
Signed:  With Best Wishes, Lovingly, Frances

Christmas Cards and Postcards: 1925 – 1927

Cards sent to the Reichert family: Undated card from “Shorty” (top left); Card from Frankie to Mr. Carroll Reichert, Seneca, Kansas, postmarked December 21, 1925 and sent from Topeka, Kansas (top right), Card postmarked December 20, 1927 to Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Riechert, Seneca, Kansas and sent from Leavenworth, Kansas (bottom). Albert. A. Reichert papers. RH MS 1028, Folder 7. Click to enlarge.

Albert A. Reichert lived for many years in Seneca, KS, with his wife Myrtle and son Carroll.  He was a veteran of the Spanish-American War, serving with the 22^nd Kansas Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

Meredith Huff
Building Operations and Stacks Manager, Public Services Student Assistant Co-Supervisor