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Inside Spencer: The KSRL Blog

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Welcome to the Kenneth Spencer Research Library blog! As the special collections and archives library at the University of Kansas, Spencer is home to remarkable and diverse collections of rare and unique items. Explore the blog to learn about the work we do and the materials we collect.

New Finding Aids: July-December 2023

January 9th, 2024

Henceforth, it’s 2024, and we’re back at it again! Over the past year, the manuscripts processing team has been hard at work describing and housing one-of-a-kind collections. As a processor, you never quite know what you’ll find when you first open a box of dusty old records, but it’s always sure to delight! (most of the time…) Last year, the processing team worked through collections across Kenneth Spencer Research Library’s four collecting areas: the Kansas Collection, the Wilcox Collection, University Archives, and Special Collections. We even had an opportunity to further showcase a few of our favorite collections, including a Reuter Organ Company exhibit, a remembrance of a former colleague, and an in-depth look at the 1970 police shooting of KU student Nick Rice. This year we’re all excited to continue the process of processing new collections and additions, but first, here’s a list of new finding aids the manuscripts processing team published in the last six months of 2023:

Peggy Harrison papers, 1991-2002 (RH MS 1591)

Wilburn family collection, 1960-2023 (RH MS 1592)

Kij Johnson papers, 1975-2021 (MS 377)

Personal papers of Karen Severud (Pearson) Cook, September 1972-September 2021 (PP 648)

Personal papers of Amy Devitt, 1980-2013 (PP 653)

Personal papers of Dean “Deaner” Nesmith, 1935-1979 (PP 655)

Lorraine Co-Operative Oil Company records, 1930-1948 (RH MS D307)

U.S.-China Peoples Friendship Association ledger, 1975-1977 (RH WL MS P3)

Take Ten, Inc. records, 1976-2013 (RH MS 1596)

This image has text. Black-and-white illustration of a stick-figure person standing at a large chalkboard covered in math equations.
Production notes for a Reading Rainbow episode featuring Math Curse, a children’s book written by Joe Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith. The book was featured in the first episode of season 17 and originally aired on October 5, 1998. Take Ten, Inc. Records, Call Number: RH MS Q512. Click image to enlarge.

Schubert, Funk, Cooper-Warren Mortuaries records, 1904-1966 (RH MS 1597)

Alvin Forrest “Fritz” Grauerholz papers, 1925-2009 (RH MS 1593)

Creed Shepard collection, 1992-2002 (RH MS 1598)

Marvin Voth collection, 1975-2009 (RH MS 1595)

Pamela Johnson Betts collection, 1969-2021 (RH MS 1594)

Courtship of the Ruff watercolor, 1923 (MS Q107)

Illustration of birds in shades of white, black, and brown.
A 1923 watercolor painting created by M.H.A. Staring (1897-1929), a Dutch artist and ornithologist. The painting depicts the courtship display of three male ruffs, or calidris pugnax, towards one female ruff. Call Number: MS Q107. Click image to enlarge.

Wagner family collection (MS P766)

Personal papers of Tom Skrtic, 1972-2020 (PP 651)

Personal papers of Tom Hedrick, 1947-2021 (PP 654)

Personal papers of Ellsworth S. Gray, circa 1930-1955 (PP 656)

Yusuf and Zoleikha = یوسف و زلیخا, Poem originally written 888 A.H. / 1483 CE; this manuscript copy inscribed 17th century CE (MS A9)

Barteldes family tree, [after 1963 and before 2021] (RH MS R542)

Alice Walker photograph, February 1, 2002 (RH PH P2851)

Kaw Valley Living Wage Alliance collection, September 25, 2000-January 17, 2006 (RH MS 1602)

Personal papers of Andrew Tsubaki, 1954-2001 (PP 650)

Color photograph of actors kneeling around a man who is standing with his arms raised in the air.
A photograph of a 1973 production of the popular kabuki play Kanjinchō by Namiki Gohei III. Kanjinchō was adapted from Ataka, a play in the noh theater style, and would later serve as the inspiration for Akira Kurosawa’s film The Men who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail. Personal Papers of Andrew Tsubaki. Call Number: PP 650. Click image to enlarge.

Records of the Kansas State Geological Survey, 1865-2022 (bulk 1950s-2010s) (RG 37)

Jane van Meter collection, 1923-2020 (MS 383)

Paul Schaefer poster collection, 1970-1985 (RH WL MS R19)

Black-and-white illustration of a woman lying in a field of grass, looking at two nuclear reactors in the distance.
A print of the We All Live in Harrisburg collage created by R. Cenedella in 1979 as a response to the Three Mile Island accident that happened outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on March 28, 1979. The collage used Andrew Wyeth’s painting Christina’s World with permission from the artist. Paul Schaefer Poster Collection. Call Number: RH WL MS R19. Click image to enlarge.

General records from the University of Kansas – Architectural drawings, approximately 1890s-2000s (RG 0 – AD)

Archery: Two Treatises, 1150 A.H. / 1737 C.E. (MS C33)

This image contains handwritten text.
Folios from a 1150 A.H./1737 C.E. treatise containing two texts teaching and promoting the sport of archery. The texts are written in Persian in the Nasta’liq script, and the above folios feature a hand-drawn illustration of two bows with the names of various parts of the bows listed off to the side. Call Number: MS C33. Click image to enlarge.

Marcella Huggard
Manuscripts Processing Coordinator

Charissa Pincock
Manuscripts Processor

Spencer’s November-December Exhibit: “Creating Over a Century of Symphonies: The Reuter Organ Company”

November 14th, 2023

While each year we at Spencer process many new collections, we are also adding to preexisting collections through the continued generosity of our donors. From Pulitzer Prize-winning authors to LGBTQIA2S+ activists, an individual’s history doesn’t end when their collection comes through our doors. Individual and organizational histories continue to evolve past the snapshots their historical records provide, and we at Spencer aim to provide as complete a picture as we can! One collection we’d like to draw particular attention to is an addition to the Reuter Organ Company photograph collection (Call Number: RH PH 68). Through this collection, patrons can follow the construction of uniquely hand-crafted pipe organs before they were built into their new homes in institutions all over the world. And now, with a 2023 addition, patrons can see even more of the grandeur of these massive instruments as well as the incredible skill and historical craftsmanship of this Lawrence-based company!

Black-and-white overhead photograph of a large pipe organ.
Reuter Organ Company’s Opus 2179 at the Elm Park Methodist Church in Scranton, Pennsylvania, 1995. Photo credit: Max Mayse. Reuter Organ Company Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH 68. Click image to enlarge.

The history of the Reuter Organ Company starts in 1917 when Adolph Reuter established the Reuter-Schwarz Organ Company with his business partner Earl Schwarz. After a disastrous tornado blew through the company factory, the company relocated to the Wilder Brothers Shirt Factory on New Hampshire Street in Lawrence, Kansas, after fulfilling a commission for the city’s Masonic Temple in 1919. Schwarz departed from the company shortly afterwards, and the company was renamed the Reuter Organ Company. In less than ten years, the company grew from a six-employee operation to over 50 full-time employees with over 50 commissions a year. However, after lean years during the Great Depression, the Reuter Organ Company faced a manufacturing ban on musical instruments during World War II and stayed afloat by producing government-sanctioned boxes for munitions materials with a skeletal crew. After the war, the company began to flourish again, and Reuter began hiring skilled staff with formal music education and expertise in organ construction. Through the knowledge base of its staff, the company began to experiment and further develop traditional construction techniques with new pipe organ technology to develop a signature “Reuter sound.”

Black-and-white photograph of a pipe organ in the corner of a balcony in an auditorium.
Reuter Organ Company’s Opus 1741 at the Shryock Auditorium at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, 1970. Photo credit: Max Mayse. Reuter Organ Company Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH 68. Click image to enlarge.

After Adolph Reuter’s retirement in 1961, the company continued to evolve under the direction of longtime employee Franklin Mitchell. Mitchell, with then newly appointed production manager Albert Neutel, purchased the company in the early 1980s. Together, the two continued to refine the Reuter technical craft, particularly with the mechanical aspects of organ construction and the tonal sound of the company’s organs. After Mitchell’s retirement in 1997, Albert Neutel was joined in management by his son, Albert “J.R.” Neutel, a former longtime employee of the company. Under the Neutel family’s direction, the Reuter Organ Company moved operations from New Hampshire Street to a newly constructed and specially designed factory and administrative facility in northwest Lawrence in 2001. Sixteen years later, the company celebrated its 100th anniversary by holding a public open house in their newer facility and inviting old and new customers alike. By this time, the company had constructed over 2,200 pipe organs for public and private institutions around the world. The company had also built a respected name in organ rehabilitation within the pipe organ community. In 2022, amid the retirement of several longtime key staff members, J.R. Neutel, the company’s current president, decided to sell Reuter’s factory and administrative facility. A major selling point of the Reuter Organ Company is the institutional and craft knowledge of its staff. There is a strong tradition of old staff mentoring new staff and passing down historic pipe organ construction techniques. Operating at the same scale without that same level of institutional knowledge was deemed impossible. And in the beginning of 2023, the Reuter Organ Company further scaled back operations to only fulfilling the customary 11-year warranties offered to their past clients with special consideration for smaller projects.

Black-and-white photograph of a pipe organ in a balcony at the back of the church's sanctuary.
Reuter Organ Company’s Opus 2044, 1982 in St. John’s Episcopal Church in Clearwater, Florida, 1982. Photo credit: Max Mayse. Reuter Organ Company Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH 68. Click image to enlarge.

To honor this historic company and to showcase a new addition to the Reuter Organ Company photograph collection, we here at Spencer have created a temporary exhibit to display images of a few of the beautiful pipe organs Reuter’s has constructed over the years and to dip into some pipe organ terminology. Have you ever wondered were the phrase “pulling out all stops” comes from or just how big the biggest musical instrument in the world can get? Come on by to learn more about this incredible company and the incredible instruments it made! The exhibit opened free to the public in Spencer’s North Gallery on November 1st and will continue to be on display until early January 2024. We hope you “stop” by!

Charissa Pincock
Manuscripts Processor

New Finding Aids, January-June 2023

July 3rd, 2023

Have you figured out how call numbers at the Spencer Research Library work yet?

Here are a couple of clues for manuscript collections; see if you can apply them when you review this listing of the front half of 2023’s new finding aids!

  • PP = Personal Papers, which are typically collected by the University Archives
  • RH = Regional History (the Kansas Collection’s name has gone back and forth over the years)
  • MS = manuscript (can be found in call numbers for textual materials in both the Kansas Collection and Special Collections)
  • PH = photograph (you will only see this call number designation in the Kansas Collection)
  • WL = Wilcox (historically, the Wilcox Collection has been associated with the Kansas Collection, so you’ll typically see “RH WL” together)

It’s a bit like a mathematical formula, if you combine parts of these call numbers. For example, “RH WL MS” means it’s a Wilcox manuscript collection.

Spencer Research Library also typically houses material by size, most often by height for volume call numbers. “A” volumes will be some of the smallest (typically measuring between ten and 15 cm tall), while “H” volumes are frequently stored flat because they are so large (usually over 45 cm tall).

Spencer also uses letters to designate other sizes of materials. A “P” in a call number means that it’s so thin and/or such a small amount of material it’s stored in a single folder or small number of folders, not enough to fill a box or stand upright on a shelf by itself.

So, for another call number formula example: “MS P” means it’s a Special Collections manuscript collection in a single or small number of folders.

Armed with this information, do you think you can figure out which collections belong to which collecting areas and what kind of housing they might have from our listing of newly processed collections?

Oak Ridge Birthday Club collection, 1923-2006 (RH MS 1577)

Winfield Lodge No. 101 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows record book, June 11, 1891-March 31, 1898 (RH MS G89)

“The Kansas Primer,” 1889 (RH MS B79)

George W. Johnson letter, May 3, 1891; postmarked May 24, 1891 (RH MS P999)

Henry Schilb land grant, February 1, 1848 (RH MS Q499)

Kansas glass plate negatives, approximately 1890-1932 (RH PH 568)

Mike Rundle papers, 1981-2010 (RH MS 1571, RH MS Q496, RH MS R512, RH MS R514, RH MS S79, KC AV 127)

Pinckney School scrapbooks, 1947-2014 (bulk 1990-2014) (RH MS Q500)

Wooden red apple on top of and affixed to a black scrapbook cover.
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Black pages in the shape of an apple. On the left is white handwritten text detailing highlights from the school year. On the right are clippings.
The cover of (above) and two pages in (below) a Pinckney School Parent Teacher Association (PTA) scrapbook, 1947-1948. School librarian Janet Reeder re-compiled the scrapbook at a later point, adding to it with reminiscences and other documents sent in from students who had attended Pinckney that year. Pinckney School Scrapbooks. Call Number: RH MS Q500. Click images to enlarge.

Elizabeth Szabronski-Carrie A. Hall quilt block research, approximately 1920s-1974 (RH MS 1578)

Personal papers of Mary K. Zimmerman, October 1976-April 2021 (PP 641)

Larry K. Laird papers, 1935-2006 (bulk 1980s-2000s) (RH MS 1579, RH MS Q502, RH MS R517)

Judge Earl E. O’Connor papers, 1941-1998 (RH MS 1581, RH MS Q504, RH MS R519, KC AV 128)

Penny L. Clark papers, 1971-2022 (RH MS 1553, RH MS Q487, KC AV 116)

Personal papers of Don and Del Fambrough, July 4, 1933-September 4, 2011 (PP 644)

Personal papers of Charles Himmelberg, 1895-2005 (bulk 1965-2005) (PP 643)

Personal papers of Harry Nicholas Rice, January 22, 1970-March 4, 2009 (bulk July 1970) (PP 647)

Green Thumb Garden Club records, 1961-2009 (RH MS 1585, RH MS Q506, RH MS R523)

Spencer Chemical Company photographs, 1940s-1950s; 2012 (RH PH 570)

S.D. Jeffers letter, approximately 1860s (RH MS P1000)

William L. Scheirman papers, approximately 1880s-1930s; 1991 (RH MS P1001)

Rolling Prairie Grange No. 1628 photographs, approximately 1916-1919; 2020 (RH PH P2948)

Arthur Moore collection, 1503-1857 not inclusive (bulk 1680s-1730s) (MS 143, MS Q32, MS Q96, MS C245, MS Qa39, MS R30)

Manuscript fragments removed from book bindings, approximately 12th-16th, 19th centuries (MS 20, MS Q103)

Page with lettering and figures in red, purple, and (mostly) black ink. The corners of the page have been cut out, and there are noticeable lines where it was folded.
One of several binding fragments removed from some of Spencer’s earliest published volumes, in this case Giovanni Sfortunati’s sixteenth-century Nuovo lume libro de arithmetica at Summerfield C990. Call Number: MS Q103. Click image to enlarge.

Personal papers of Stuart Levine, 1932-2016 (bulk 1958-1986) (PP 646)

Personal papers of Mary Evelyn Nichols Lee, 1949-July 29, 1967 (PP 645)

Watercolor illustration of a boy sitting under a tree with a gingerbread man.
One of a small number of illustrations signed “Nicky Nichols.” They were presumably sketched and painted by Mary Evelyn Nichols Lee, a former University of Kansas student who later operated the Savoy Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri. Personal Papers of Mary Evelyn Nichols Lee. Call Number: PP 645. Click image to enlarge.

Eustace Mullins, 1962-1990 (RH WL MS P2)

Robinson-Cofield Commission Company letter, May 9, 1911 (RH MS P1002)

Kansas historical clippings, 1946-1950 (RH MS Q507)

Historical Geography of Lawrence Area tour records, fall 1998 (RH MS P1003)

Charles A. Smith glass plate negatives, approximately 1888-1904 (RH PH 569)

Evan Wright family, 1875-2003, 2022 (bulk 1940-1999) (RH MS 1587, RH MS Q508, RH MS R524, RH MS S82)

Melvin and Maxine Patterson family, March 21, 1952-January 31, 2016 (bulk 1985-2008) (RH MS 1588, RH MS R526, RH MS S82)

Ernst Moritz Arndt collection, 1843-1913; 1948-1961; 2002-2005 (MS 378, MS Q102)

Leslie Carson Wolfe collection, 1937-2023 (RH MS 1590, RH MS R527)

Kansas postcards collection, 1903-2001 not inclusive, mostly undated (RH PH 571)

Judge Julie A. Robinson papers, 1992-2014 (RH MS 1557)

“The Migrations of John B. Kelso,” September 1853-October 1877 (transcribed 2003) (RH MS P1004)

Leslie W. Nesmith scrapbook, 1957-1999 (RH MS 1589)

Kay Jay Laessig photographs, 1941-1945 (RH PH P2849)

A.C. Edwards’ Irish literary correspondence, 1928-1936, 1959-1972 (MS 379, MS Qa48)

Tom Clarke biographies by Seán McGarry, approximately 1943 and 1950 (MS P764)

James A. Healy collection of Irish-related printed materials, approximately 1895-1960s (bulk 1960s) 9MS 380, MS Qa49, MS R31)

George Watters papers, 1922-1924 (MS P765, MS A64)

Personal papers of William (Bill) Mitchell, 1919-2013 (PP 649)

Personal papers of Sandy Mason, 1931-2007 (PP 640)

Marcella Huggard
Manuscripts Processing Coordinator

Student Spotlight: Jenna Bellemere

March 28th, 2023

This is the latest installment in a series of posts introducing readers to student employees who make important contributions to the work of Spencer Research Library. Today’s profile features student assistant Jenna Bellemere, who is the Cataloging and Archival Processing Department’s G. Baley Price Fellow this year. This is a student assistant position for undergraduate or graduate students interested in pursuing a career in archives and special collections or a career in which research in archives and special collections will play a prominent role. The fellowship is designed to give students hands-on experience organizing, cataloging, and preserving Kenneth Spencer Research Library’s materials and making them accessible to others. Jenna answered a few questions about the projects she works on at Spencer. Some editorial or clarifying comments from Spencer staff are [in brackets].

Young woman standing next to a map case and behind an open drawer, revealing a large beige folder.
Jenna Bellemere inspects some of the many architectural drawings in University Archives for buildings that have been and still are on campus. These drawings will be added to the General record group (RG 0) finding aid soon; check back later to find out more! Click image to enlarge.

Please provide some brief biographical information about yourself.

I’m a junior at KU, majoring in Anthropology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. I started working at Spencer in February 2022.

What does your job at Spencer entail?

I’m working on updating our inventory of the University Archives, which means I spend a lot of time going through the documents we have in storage here and making sure that they’re all accounted for in our database [ArchivesSpace, our collection management system]. It’s been several years since the last update, which means there are a lot of new records in the archives that haven’t been fully catalogued yet. It’s my job to go through those records and write down all the important information about them so that researchers and the public can come to the Spencer and access them. I also write parts of the historical notes and finding aids summarizing our collections’ history and their contents.

Why did you want to work at Spencer Research Library?

In fall of 2021, I knew I wanted to get a job somewhere on campus, but I wasn’t sure where. I was looking for a job in one of the libraries on campus because I love to read and I wanted to work around books, and I stumbled across the posting from the Spencer. It wasn’t exactly what I had started out looking for, but I thought it looked interesting, so I applied. I’m interested in history, and the idea of getting to work directly with primary sources was interesting to me, so I felt confident it would be a good fit if I got the job.

What has been most interesting to you about your work?

When I have to explain to my friends why I think my job is so interesting, there’s one story I always tell them. It might be a little morbid, but it’s also a great demonstration of why I find archival work rewarding.

I was sorting through a fairly big series of faculty records [probably a series in the Faculty and Staff record group] and looking at some of the documents in more detail to get a better idea of what types of records researchers might expect to find there. Because I hadn’t been working at the archives for very long at that point, I was taking it pretty slow, and I remember pulling out one folder of records that had been kept by a professor during her time at KU. The first document was a typewritten rough draft of a speech she was planning to give, with revisions in notes scribbled in the margins in pencil. The second document was a handwritten note from her friends thanking her for helping them move into their new house. The third document was her obituary. Each paper was presented the same way: loose in the folder, with no extraneous labels or documentation. Completely matter of fact.

I think this memory epitomizes why I love places like the Spencer. The documents I found that day originated years apart from each other – decades of someone’s life, captured in the notes and paper scraps that she may have completely forgotten she had. We tend to talk about history on the biggest scale possible, focusing on the rousing speeches and the achievements of great leaders, but getting to see those stories in such a personal way, through the insignificant, interstitial moments of a subject’s life – worrying over their word choice in a speech, helping friends move into their new home – is a much rarer and more special experience. It may seem banal, but I don’t think I have ever experienced history in a way more unadulteratedly human than that moment.

What part of your job do you like best?

See my answer to the above question. Also, sometimes they have free snacks in the break room.

What advice would you offer other students thinking about working at Spencer Research Library?

Go for it! I wasn’t really thinking about the Spencer when I started applying for jobs at KU, but I’m so glad I applied here. I really only work in one small part of the archives – there’s so much more here, like the Kansas Collection [as well as Special Collections and the Wilcox Collection], that I haven’t even touched on. If you’re at all interested in history or museum studies – or if anything you’ve seen here just seems cool to you – I definitely recommend looking for a chance to work here.

Jenna Bellemere
Cataloging and Archival Processing student assistant and G. Baley Price Fellow

New Finding Aids, July-December 2022

January 25th, 2023

It was a busy back half of 2022 for the manuscripts processing team at Kenneth Spencer Research Library. We hired two new full-time staff members, which has helped us a great deal in getting more collections processed and finding aids produced!

See below a listing for the finding aids newly produced between July and December 2022, with a selection of images from some of these newly processed collections.

Preliminary Report on the Geology and Oil Potential of the Snyder Lease, Linn County, Kansas, approximately 1964 (RH MS P989)

Evacuation of Wounded in Modern Wars, 1912, 1917 (RH MS D303)

Walt Mason Rhymes, 1943-1944 (RH MS D304)

Origin of Names of Army and Air Corps Posts, Camps and Stations in WWII in Kansas, approximately 1953 (RH MS P990)

A.A.B. Cavaness Poems, December 9, 1901 (RH MS P991)

Student articles on [Native American] Personalities, March 1-23, 1964 (RH MS 1559)

Passing of the Eldridge House: The Birthplace of Kansas, February 24, 1924 (RH MS P992)

Right Reverend Thomas Hubbard Vail and the Right Reverend Elisha Smith Thomas, January 6, 1890 and April 14, 1895 (RH MS Q490)

Edna Worthley Underwood collection, 1919-1947 (bulk 1924) (RH MS E213, RH MS P993)

Kansas Pre-War Army, September 1939 (RH MS P994)

Hopefield Presbyterian Mission, March 30, 1951 (RH MS P995)

Discussions by Thomas Ewing, August 11, 1871-October 31, 1887 (RH MS C94)

Four Centuries in Kansas, January 20-February 23, 1930 (RH MS E214)

Michael Shaw papers, 1978-2018 (RH MS 1560)

First Twenty Years of the M.E. Church, 1865-1978 (bulk 1865-1885) (RH MS P996)

Personal papers of John Dardess, 1919-2016 (bulk 1966-2016) (PP 635)

American Indian Movement protest photograph collection, July 6, 1976 (RH WL MS Q13)

Black-and-white photograph of a man standing with his hand over his mouth.
An Indigenous person looks on during a protest at the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C., July 1976. Police attacked and arrested American Indian Movement protestors. American Indian Movement Protest Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH WL MS Q13, Box 1, Folder 7. Click image to enlarge.

Martha “Matt” Mueller collection, 1851-2010 (RH MS P997)

Gene Burnett papers, December 4, 1919-October 3, 2013 (RH MS 1561)

Joyce Fent papers, 1928-August 28, 2002 (RH MS 1562)

Theatre Guild Picnic production records, March 1, 1949-November 8, 1972 (bulk 1950s) (RH MS 1563)

Michael A. Smith papers, 1966-December 2, 2019 (RH MS 1564, RH MS Q493, RH MS R502, RH MS R503)

Pamphlets on Cherokee Neutral Lands, 1868-1872 (RH MS 1565)

Dirk Shears-Klocke family correspondence, June 1975-March 30, 2008 (RH MS 1566, RH MS R504)

Richard “Dick” Gunn photographic collection, February 8, 1991-March 8, 1998 (RH PH 565, RH PH 565(f))

Ernest Manheim papers, 1900-2015 (MS 373, MS Qa42, SC AV 42)

Records from the University of Kansas Center for Research, 1953-2018 (RG 49)

Personal papers of Michael Swann, 1968-2020 (PP 636)

Document with black typed text plus handwritten notes and a sketch in blue ink.
Agenda from a Quindaro Town Preservation Society meeting, May 28, 1994. KU School of Architecture and Design Professor and Assistant Dean Michael Swann sketched out (the Quindaro?) town site and took notes from the meeting. Personal Papers of Michael Swann. Call Number: PP 636, Box 8, Folder 56. Click image to enlarge.

“The Tall Four,” 1861-October 1880 (RH MS D305)

Edgar and Elizabeth Begole’s Santo Tomas Internment Camp collection, November 1940-October 1996 (bulk 1942-1944) (RH MS 1567, RH MS R507)

Thomas Woodson Poor papers, 1904-July 10, 2021 (RH MS 1568)

Brown cover with handwritten text and glued-on printed letters.
Front cover of Tom Poor’s “A High Jumper’s [Sporting] Scrapbook,” in which he kept materials related to the 1925 Kansas Relays. Poor won the high jump category in the first Kansas Relays of 1923. Thomas Woodson Poor Papers. Call Number: RH MS 1568, Box 1, Volume 1. Click image to enlarge.

Kenneth Crockett’s research material on Kenneth and Helen Spencer, 2010-2014 (RH MS 1569)

Willioughby L. Rowson’s personal financial ledgers, 1917-1944; 1964-1970 (RH MS 1570)

Benjamin LeRoy “Roy” Love collection, January 26, 1982-October 31, 2020 (RH MS 1572, KC AV 125)

“Depiction of the Nine Phases” scroll, approximately 1800-1865 (MS Roll 16)

Thomas Bewick wood engravings printed by Robert Middleton, 1970-1971 (MS E285, MS P762)

Black-and-white drawing of an otter with rocks and plants in the background.
Otter print created by Robert Middleton from one of Thomas Bewick’s wood blocks at the Newberry Library, Chicago. Part of a limited edition set, this print was donated by Harry Tyler, husband of D.D. Tyler, whose papers are also housed at Spencer Research Library. Thomas Bewick Wood Engravings Printed by Robert Middleton. Call Number: MS E285. Click image to enlarge.

Robert M. Mengel bird paintings, 1952, 1954 (MS Q99)

Preliminary sketch of “Le tarsier podge,” [between 1797-1800] (MS Qa43)

Palm leaf book extracts, [18th century or before?] (MS Q98)

Charles “Buddy” Rogers papers, approximately 1904-2011 (bulk 1920s-1990s) (MS 372, MS Q97, MS Qa41, SC AV 41, MS E284, MS G57, MS K36)

Barbara Bohm’s Star Trek scripts collection, May 26, 1966-July 23, 1973 (MS 374)

Jessica Mae Watts Elliott scrapbooks, 1909, undated (MS 376)

“Dutchman” collection, 1965-1967 (MS P763)

LaSalle Extension University collection, approximately 1927-1934 (MS 375)

Personal papers of Daryle S. Busch, 1946-2015 (PP 637)

Gretchen Cassel Eick collection, 1983-2017 (bulk 1990s) (RH MS 1574, RH MS R515, KC AV 126)

Dennis Enslinger papers, 1924-1996 (bulk 1980-1996) (RH MS 1576, RH MS Q498, RH MS R516)

James Dewey family collection, 1893-2002 (bulk 1910-1960) (RH MS 1575, RH MS Q497, RH PH P2847(ff))

Dine-A-Mite Inn and Borgen family collection, 1943-2007 (bulk 1950-1991) (RH PH 567, RH PH 567(f))

Robert L. Gilbert First Issues collection, 1810, [1855?], 1900s-1983 (bulk 1920s-1970s) (Gilbert)

Hacienda Sondor collection, 1850s-1860s (MS E286)

Madre Dona Juana Maria de la Fuente inventory, 1741 (MS E287)

Personal papers of William Staples, April 7, 1980-September 7, 2019 (PP 638)

Personal papers of Norris Nahman, September 1961-November 24, 2012 (PP 639)

Personal papers of Sheryl Williams, January 5, 1980-October 12, 2017 (PP 642)

Please explore these new finding aids and discover what exciting research opportunities you might find!

Marcella Huggard
Manuscripts Processing Coordinator