Kenneth Spencer Research Library

Check the blog each Friday for a new “That’s Distinctive!” post. I created this series to provide a lighthearted glimpse into the diverse and unique items at Spencer. “That’s Distinctive!” is meant to show that the library has something for everyone regardless of interest. If you have suggested topics for a future item feature or questions about the collections, you can leave a comment at the bottom of this page. All collections, including those highlighted on the blog, are available for members of the public to explore in the Reading Room during regular hours.

This week on That’s Distinctive! I am sharing some letters from the James B. English papers. The letters are from 1968-1969 when James was stationed at Di An and Long Binh, Vietnam, during the Vietnam War. James wrote the letters to his family, and the ones highlighted today were to his mother. Within the collection, the letters have been arranged chronologically. The letters shared here are also transcribed below.

According to History.com, “the Vietnam War [1955-1975] was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The conflict was intensified by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. More than three million people (including over 58,000 Americans) were killed in the Vietnam War, and more than half of the dead were Vietnamese civilians.”

I decided to highlight this collection because I find the letters super fascinating, especially since they’re from a significant time in history. Similar to old diaries, they give a glimpse of what life was like years ago.

June 29 [1968]

Dear Mom:
Just a quick note to tell
you that I have arrived safely
and all is well. Don’t know
the address yet, if in fact,
I don’t know much of anything
yet. I was going to call you the
morning we left but the[y] wouldn’t
let us use the phones. Will write
more in a few days when I know
more.

Love, Jim

P.S. Should have got stationery in Dodge!

March 19 [1969]

Mom:
Just got back from Hong Kong.
Got a lot of the cobwebs cleared out
and really had quite a blast. Had forgotten
what so many things were like. [Hard]
to adjust back to living as homo sapiens
and [hard] to adjust when I got back here.
100 days today and it’s all downhill
from now on. Am confident than [sic] the
one night I got mortared in Long Binh
will be the only time in my life
I got shot at.

Can put up with any thing for 100 days.
Don’t worry about me any more.

Will wait a few days to write a
longer letter – just wanted you to get
a few cheerful, light words in the
mail.

Jim

March 25 [1969]

Dear Mom & Scott:

Waited a few days to write becuz of
the address change I was fairly sure was
coming up:

SP/4 James B English
RA 68000280
class # 68-8
Co “W” ([Stu Enl?]) 2nd Bn, QMSB
Fort Lee, Va. 23801

“SP/4” means “specialist 4”, equivalent to a
corporal and I make about $175.00 a month.
If everything goes right, I should make SP/5 in
about 5 weeks, about $211.00 per month. So,
at least things are looking a little better.

This Post-graduate course is called Air-
craft Repair Parts and is about the supply
system behind the distribution of them. 5 weeks
long. After this God knows what. Just now
figured out where everyone from the last class
went (you might be interested): 18 came here to this
class, 4 straight to Viet Nam with 3 weeks leave
and 1 week P.O.R.* and 2 weeks in limbo, 13
to Korea, to two to Fort Campbell for a helicopter …

*I’ll explain that later

Tiffany McIntosh
Public Services

The Todd Family Photographs collection consists of thirty-seven photographic reproductions donated by Loretta Estelle Carraher. They depict three generations of her family, the Todds.

After they were freed from enslavement to a family in Platte County, Missouri, Adam and America Todd moved to Kansas with the Payne family, also freed from slavery. They raised six children, settling first in Leavenworth and then moving to Oskaloosa. Adam Todd died at the age of 98. America Todd died in 1920.

Below are a few images from the collection for you to enjoy.

Kathy Lafferty
Public Services

Check the blog each Friday for a new “That’s Distinctive!” post. I created the series because I genuinely believe there is something in our collections for everyone, whether you’re writing a paper or just want to have a look. “That’s Distinctive!” will provide a more lighthearted glimpse into the diverse and unique materials at Spencer – including items that many people may not realize the library holds. If you have suggested topics for a future item feature or questions about the collections, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this page.

This week on That’s Distinctive! I am sharing a glimpse into the activities of a Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, school in the early twentieth century via a 1918 scrapbook of photographs. Although the scrapbook is titled “eighth-grade class snapshots,” some images include other grades such as fifth and seventh. Other photos show the inside of the classrooms. There are also class portraits throughout the scrapbook. In the back of the book is a May 1918 copy of the City School Monitor, which was “edited and published by the pupils of the City School.” The one included in the book is volume 2, number 3, and it includes “local school news.” Some topics covered are student illnesses, teacher departures, and new students. One notable topic is the small comment that “Willie Ellis, who was a member of the fourth grade, was struck by lightning while fishing near Buck Creek May 4th.”

Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, is nestled in the heart of the Flint Hills in Chase County. With a population of approximately 850 people, Cottonwood Falls is the largest “city” in Chase County. Though small, the town boasts art galleries, antique shops, a historical museum, and many dining experiences. It is also home to “the oldest consecutively utilized courthouse west of the Mississippi.”

Tiffany McIntosh
Public Services

Check the blog each Friday for a new “That’s Distinctive!” post. I created the series because I genuinely believe there is something in our collections for everyone, whether you’re writing a paper or just want to have a look. “That’s Distinctive!” will provide a more lighthearted glimpse into the diverse and unique materials at Spencer – including items that many people may not realize the library holds. If you have suggested topics for a future item feature or questions about the collections, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this page.

This week on That’s Distinctive! I am sharing some early twentieth-century postcards from our Kansas Towns Photograph Collection. The town shown are Burlington (1910), Clyde (1907), Eudora (1908), and Hays (1910). As seen, stamps at that time were one cent and featured Benjamin Franklin.

The back of the Hays postcard is labelled “J. BOWERS Photographic Co., London.” According to the Flint Hills Special Digital Magazine, John Bowers was born in 1865 and took up the trade of photography in 1896 after returning from a two-year world tour. Around 1906, Bowers and his family moved to Long Beach, California, where he opened a photography studio. During this time, he frequently visited Topeka, Kansas, by train where he “engaged in photographic excursions…Between 1907 and 1910, Bowers produced a large volume of postcard photographic views from Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska.” Bowers’ postcards from Kansas are described as “numerous and noteworthy.” In 1908, there was an explosion of interest in collecting real photo postcards, which only fueled Bowers’ business. There is no evidence that he ever operated a studio in London. More on Bowers’ life and adventures, along with more images of his postcards, can be found via the Flint Hills Special.

Here is a transcription of the postcard from Clyde:

7-31st
Weather here is cooler
since our nice rain
Sat. night & Sun. morn.
Will help corn & pastures
Am better since it
is cooler. It’s the heat
gets away with me.
All the rest are well.
Am going to Clyde tomorrow
As Lizzie [L?] & [Jeremia?] are both
home on a visit.
Sister Jennie

Tiffany McIntosh
Public Services

Check the blog each Friday for a new “That’s Distinctive!” post. I created the series because I genuinely believe there is something in our collections for everyone, whether you’re writing a paper or just want to have a look. “That’s Distinctive!” will provide a more lighthearted glimpse into the diverse and unique materials at Spencer – including items that many people may not realize the library holds. If you have suggested topics for a future item feature or questions about the collections, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this page.

This week on That’s Distinctive! I am sharing some scans of the New Women’s Times, a feminist newspaper from Rochester, New York, circa 1975-1984. I found this item last year while looking for Women’s History Month items. While it didn’t make the cut in 2023, I knew I wanted to share it eventually because the idea behind this paper really interested me. My preliminary research has turned up limited information. The paper appears to have first been published in 1975, and it apparently ended in 1984 after a call for feedback and donations went unanswered. According to the paper itself, it was published on a monthly basis except in August. A basic one-year subscription was $15. The pages shared today are from issues from 1983. As seen from the table of contents, the paper covered topics including women’s health issues, women’s rights, and so much more.

The New Women’s Times is housed within the library’s Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements. Established in 1965, the collection “is one of the largest assemblages of U.S. left- and right-wing political literature in the country.” Primarily covering the 1960s to the present, the collection comprises of more than 100,000 items such as books, serials, audio tapes, ephemera, and archival materials. The Wilcox Collection came to the library by way of Laird Wilcox, a researcher of political fringe movements. According to the finding aid for Spencer’s collection of Wilcox’s papers, “in 1964, Wilcox’s collection of political ephemera earned first prize in KU’s student book collecting contest. Emerging from that nucleus, the Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements was established at the University of Kansas in 1965, with Wilcox as its founder.”

Many copies of the New Women’s Times are available online via JSTOR.

Tiffany McIntosh
Public Services