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Inside Spencer: The KSRL Blog

Books on a shelf

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.

Meet the KSRL Staff: Kate Stewart

September 23rd, 2025

This is the latest installment in a recurring series of posts introducing readers to the staff of Kenneth Spencer Research Library. Today’s profile features Kate Stewart, who joined Spencer Research Library in August 2025 as the Curator of the Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements.

Headshot photograph of a woman with glasses.
Kate Stewart, Curator the Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements. Click image to enlarge.
Where are you from?

I was born in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and when I was five, we moved to Merriam, Kansas, where I spent the rest of my childhood. Since I left at 18 for Vassar College, I have moved around a lot all over the country. Most recently, I was living in Tucson and before that, Washington, D.C. It is really great to be back in the area that I think of as home! My older brother and a lot of my high school friends went to KU, so I have many fond memories of hanging out in Lawrence in the ‘90s. Fun fact: I went to Day on the Hill for the first time in 1993 when I was in 8th grade! Unfortunately, that was the year after the infamous Pearl Jam show, but I did get to see MU330 and many other bands in Lawrence.

How did you come to work at Spencer Research Library?

I have been working in archives for almost twenty years, mostly in temporary positions that focused on political and oral history collections. When I saw this job posting, I knew it was my dream job. Not only is it exactly the kind of work I want to do, but I also have been wanting to move back to the area for the past few years. I feel incredibly lucky to be here every day.

What does your job at Spencer entail?

I’m the Curator of the Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements, which has a large number of books, ephemera, and manuscript collections related to left- and right-wing movements in the United States. In particular, it is the premier archive for researchers studying right-wing extremism and one of the only ones in the U.S. that collects that kind of material. My primary job duty is to acquire new items and collections in this area, which means I get to shop online for rare books and ephemera and work with people interested in donating their personal and organizational collections to the Spencer Library. I will also be teaching instruction sessions related to the Wilcox collection for KU classes and researching stories about how politics and libraries are interconnected.

How did you come to work in libraries/archives/special collections?

My mom, aunt, and grandfather were all librarians, so I grew up hanging out in libraries quite a bit, especially when I was in college. After getting a master’s in history at the University of Iowa, I decided to get my master’s degree in library and information science there too and join the family business. As a student, I got to work at the Iowa Women’s Archives, which was a terrific first job for me in this field. From there, I have had many different jobs (including five temporary ones) in archives or libraries, including the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, the U.S. Senate, and the Arizona State Museum at the University of Arizona. I have also worked as a freelance writer, ghostwriter, and editor for many years as well, which has been a great joy.

What part of your job do you like best?

Walking through the building, especially the stacks, when I’m alone and it’s dark. I always feel like I’m in the suspenseful part of a horror movie, and it’s quite an adrenaline rush. But when it comes to my actual job duties, I really love working with students. It’s so much fun to blow their minds about what we have at the library and that it’s all here for them.

What do you have on your desk?

I have some duplicate zines from the collection Spencer acquired from the Solidarity Library, including one titled Winning Office Politics Quickly that has been making me laugh. I have a lot of books from Watson Library about the FBI for an article I’m working on about the scandalous publication of Max Lowenthal’s book on the FBI in 1950, which I have been wanting to write for many years. I have also started bringing in ephemera from my own past to decorate my office, and I am glad to get some of it out of my moving boxes and into a good home.

What is one of the most interesting items you’ve come across in Spencer’s collections?

While looking at zines for classes that are coming in this semester, I came across a famous one called Sniffin’ Glue. It was created in 1977 in London by Mark Perry, a punk fan and musician. It has some really great illustrations and photos from that time of bands like the Ramones and the Clash.

This image has text and a collage of black-and-white photographs.
The front cover of Sniffin’ Glue, July 1977. Call Number: RH WL D9321. Click image to enlarge.
What are some of your favorite pastimes outside of work?

A lot of my life outside of work is consumed by reading about politics and participating in political organizations, although I don’t know if I should call that a pastime since it isn’t exactly enjoyable a lot of the time, especially these days. When I really want to relax, I take a long hike or go to a baseball game (I am a Royals and Nationals fan). I am also an obsessive music fan (and musician) and love to play card games.

Kate Stewart
Curator of the Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements

Coffee Cake and Catsup: A Brief Overview and Contextualization of the Fin-de-Siècle Cook Book

September 16th, 2025

This is the first in a short series of posts highlighting students’ projects from Laura Mielke’s Spring 2025 class, “Archives in Scholarship” (ENGL 776). This week’s post was written by Joohye Oh, who graduated from KU in 2025 with a B.A. in English and Spanish. Her research interests include foodways and literacy.

Cookbooks – especially historic ones – are fascinating texts. Unlike 21st-century cookbooks that feature pictures of recipes, touching or interesting narrative asides, and use of less commonly found ingredients, older American cookbooks prioritize presenting readers and users with a no-frills approach to cooking. These cookbooks tend to be text-heavy and use ingredients more likely found in a pantry than a gourmet grocer. A wonderful example of an intriguing historical cookbook is the Fin-de-Siècle Cook Book, published in 1894, which showcases a slice of late 19th-century American foodways and the culinary literacy of the organized and ambitious women of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Parsons, Kansas. (“Fin de siècle” is a French term meaning “end of century.”)

  Hard red board with the work's title and author on a white label.         This page has text.

Left: The protective red board cover for the Fin-de-Siècle Cook Book, which is a library-created pamphlet binding. Right: The cookbook’s original cover, slightly deteriorating, with the full title. Call Number: RH B2788. Click images to enlarge.

The Fin-de-Siècle Cook Book consists of two sections. First, there are 58 printed pages that include tipped-in clippings from magazines. Second, in the back, there are 11 pages of faintly lined paper that Whitney Baker, Head of Conservation Services at KU Libraries, believes were bound with the original publication and printed section. Someone, presumably a woman, filled with the blank lined pages with handwritten recipes that she selected and compiled. Instead of being completely different from the printed section, I see the handwritten section as extending the themes of women’s authorship and community while offering contemporary researchers a closer look at earlier American foodways in relation to the genre of the cookbook and literacy practices.

This image has text.
A tipped-in clipping of a cranberry pie recipe in the printed part of the cookbook. Call Number: RH B2788. Click image to enlarge.

Women’s authorship is especially central to this object. Writing this cookbook arguably opened up new avenues for authorship and empowerment for the Parsons women, like the way literary clubs did for middle-class Black women in the 1890s, as African American literature and literary studies scholar Elizabeth McHenry shows (120). Additionally, the place of authorship for both groups reflects the importance of a shared community space: a church for the Parsons women and a literary club member’s home for the Black women. One can imagine how these women – positioned as authors – selected, arranged, edited, and published these recipes (texts). This model of authorship furthers the legacy of women as authors in the cookbook genre. In fact, several of the earliest known American cookbooks – like The Virginia Housewife by Mary Randolph (1824), a text that showcases the elaborate culinary repertoire of the Southern elite (Fisher 19) – are powerful texts by knowledgeable women, two characteristics also found in the handwritten portion of the Fin-de-Siècle cookbook.

Community as an essential part of learning to read and write can also be inferred from the processes related to producing this text; in other words, these “[community] cookbooks function as literate practices of a community, sponsored by the community members who were themselves cooks, contributors, readers, organizers and editors” (Mastrangelo 73). Indeed, physical traces of this can be seen via each recipe’s attribution to a specific woman as well as the broader fact that the women in Parsons were using their social and technical skills to engage in readerly and writerly practices tied to their growing culinary literacy. To write a cohesive cookbook, they would have had to learn the characteristics of the cookbook genre as well as its subgenres like recipes and instructions. The clear grasp of these characteristics and deft culinary knowledge is present in the neat organization of the cookbook and mirrored in the handwritten recipes which give specific unit measurements for ingredients and reflect a strong awareness of effective kitchen habits. The writer of the handwritten portion continues the practice of attributing specific recipes to specific women: for example, the “Tomatoes Pickles” recipe is attributed to Mrs. Dean while the “Coffee Cake” recipe, found a few pages later, is attributed to “Annie.”

This page has handwritten text.
The first recipe on this page is a handwritten recipe for coffee cake attributed to Annie, 1902. Fin-de-Siècle Cook Book, 1894. Call Number: RH B2788. Click image to enlarge.

The diversity of recipes in the second (handwritten) section hints at the importance of homemade food in the 19th century. Specifically, as someone whose culinary practices are greatly influenced by 21st-century food systems (easy availability of ingredients, prepared foods, and new food media) it is a little surprising at times to see recipes like “Good Tomato Catsup” and the instructions for mayonnaise/aioli in a “Salad” because these are two products I associate more closely with Heinz and Hellman’s. The appearance of these two condiments seems to reflect the different food practices for a woman and her household in Parsons before the advent of supermarkets and easy availability of industrial food items.

Together, the first and second parts of the Fin-de-Siècle Cook Book offer a small glimpse into the complex and vibrant American foodways of the late 19th century and their broader historical and cultural contexts. The handwritten recipes carefully capture the specialized knowledge, skills, and dedication that the woman compiler most likely possessed while also reinforcing the idea that community and gendered authorship exist in a text often overlooked as simply being a collection of memories or a collection of delightful eating. Cookbooks and recipes, just like the small handwritten portion at the back of the Fin-de-Siècle Cook Book, are masterful representations of how literacy exists in the spaces and places sometimes overlooked because of who we consider to be authors and what we consider to be literature – even if that literature is mostly pickled green tomatoes recipes.

Joohye Oh
ENGL 776 student, Spring 2025

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Elspeth Healey, Phil Cunningham, Caitlin Klepper, Whitney Baker, and Shelby Schellenger at Spencer Research Library; English 776 peers; Professor Laura Mielke; and the ladies of Parsons who compiled this cookbook.

Works Cited

Baker, Whitney. “Re: Parsons cookbook.” Email received by Joohye Oh and Caitlin Klepper, 24 April 2025.

Fisher, Carol. The American Cookbook: A History. McFarland, 2006 (Call Number: X715 .F534 2006).

Mastrangelo, Lisa. “Community Cookbooks: Sponsors of Literacy and Community Identity.” Community Literacy Journal, vol. 10, no. 1, 2015, pp. 73–86.

McHenry, Elizabeth. Forgotten Readers: Recovering the Lost History of African American Literary Societies. Duke University Press, 2002 (Call Number: PS153.N5 M36 2002).

St. John’s Episcopal Church. Fin-de-Siècle Cook Book. Parsons, Kansas, 1894 (Call Number: RH B2788).

Travel, Tourism, and the Transmission of Knowledge in and around Japan

August 26th, 2025

How was knowledge, ranging from the scientific, pious, entrepreneurial, and artistic, to the preposterous, transmitted through the historic movement of print and manuscript material in and around Japan?

Colored manuscript map of Japan, ca. 1800.
Nihon koezu 日本古絵図 (Manuscript map of Japan). Japan, ca. 1800. Call Number: MS R5:3. Click image to enlarge

Setting out to tackle this question in Spring 2025, students in the University of Kansas History of Art Department Japanese art history seminar “Manuscripts, Maps, and Illustrated Books” had the opportunity to curate this exhibition, working with materials from The Kenneth Spencer Research Library collection. Selected works range from 1646 to 1936, including detailed cartography, woodblock-printed imagery, and religious paraphernalia. Journeying from Japan to the West and back again, this exhibition spans three centuries and five intersecting themes.

Opened on July 31, 2025, the exhibition’s five cases follow the themes given below. In addition, a special event in the gallery on Wednesday, September 3, 2025 (3:30-4:45) will feature mini presentations on selected works by each seminar student. The exhibit will remain open through January 9, 2026.

1. Mapping and Conceptions of Space demonstrates that as Japan moved toward the 19th century, its awareness of the world beyond its islands gradually increased. Interactions with foreign visitors fostered an exchange of culture and knowledge that diffused into every area of society, including Japanese cartographic practices.

Nagasaki chizu 長崎地図 (Colored map of Nagasaki with boats shown in the port), 1860
Nagasaki chizu 長崎地図 (Map of Nagasaki). Nagasaki: Bunkindō, 1860. Call Number: Orbis maps 2:75. Click image to enlarge.

Representations of space in both image and text indicate the geographical information deemed most important. From spiritual landmarks and cosmological beliefs to political boundaries and travel logistics, these historical maps and guides reveal how users’ conceptions of East Asia were shaped at the time.

Manpō eitai shin zassho Nihonzu iri 萬寳永代新雜書日本圖入, New Miscellany of Countless Eternal Treasures, with a Map of Japan in black and white.
Manpō eitai shin zassho Nihonzu iri 萬寳永代新雜書日本圖入 (New Miscellany of Countless Eternal Treasures, with a Map of Japan). Edo (Tokyo): Ensendō Tsubameya Yashichi, ca. 1758–1760. Call Number: Q151. Click image to enlarge.

While overseas travel remained restricted throughout the 17th to 19th centuries, these materials demonstrate an expanding awareness of domestic and global geographies, depicted using both traditional Japanese mapmaking and novel observations from Western travelers.  

2. Tourism and Movement of People explores how travel shaped the visual culture and national identity of Japan from the seventeenth century through the turn of the 20th century. The depictions of elaborate 17th-to 19th-century processions of feudal lords evoke an earlier era of ceremonial travel and spectacle, emphasizing traditional routes and social hierarchies.

Hiroshige Toyokuni meiga hyakushu daimyō dōchū 広重豊国名画百種大名道中
(One Hundred Famous Views of a Daimyo’s Journey by Hiroshige and Toyokuni). Tokyo: Tōkōen, 1918. Call Number: E3579. Click image to enlarge.

By the early 20th century, Japan’s interest in travel shifted toward promoting tourism as a tool for modernization and imperial expansion into regions such as Manchuria (Northeast China), Hokkaido and Korea. Postcards, travel guidebooks, and government-issued pamphlets offered carefully curated images and structured itineraries for both foreign and domestic travelers.

Postcard showing an open book, Chōsen no fujin seikatsu no pēji 朝鮮の婦人生活のページ (Pages of Korean Women’s Lives)
Chōsen no fujin seikatsu no pēji 朝鮮の婦人生活のページ (Pages of Korean Women’s Lives). Wakayama, Japan: Taishō Shashin Kōgeisho, 1925–1936. Personal Papers of Kate Hansen, PP 19, Box 14, postcard. Click image to enlarge.

Together, these materials illustrate changing conceptions of travel, from symbolic displays of authority to strategic assertions of national identity.

3. Pilgrimage and Movement of Religions reflects upon the spread of foreign faiths to Japan, as well as the pivotal role of bodily and spiritual journeys within religious beliefs and practices. Originating in India, Buddhism spread to Japan in the sixth century and since developed into a major religion with a profound influence on daily life. Buddhist practitioners frequently visit temples and undertake pilgrimages along designated routes, seeking face-to-face encounters with deities through their icons.

Image of Sanjūsansho Kannon narabini Yanagidani Nigatsudō Asakusa 三十三所観音 并二 柳谷二月堂浅草 (Thirty-three Kannon Pilgrimage Sites with Yanagidani, Nigatsudō, and Asakusa)
Attributed to Suiindō Takonoya 水引堂蛸室, a.k.a. Mizuhikidō Shōshitsu
Sanjūsansho Kannon narabini Yanagidani Nigatsudō Asakusa 三十三所観音 并二 柳谷二月堂浅草 (Thirty-three Kannon Pilgrimage Sites with Yanagidani, Nigatsudō, and Asakusa). Japan, ca. 1860–1868. Call Number: P363. Click image to enlarge.


In many legends, sacred Buddhist icons demonstrate miraculous power and compassion by journeying across land and sea. Movement occurs not only across geographical spaces, but also between the earthly realm and Buddhist paradises.

Image of “The White Path between Two Rivers,” featuring a figure standing in a river with a Buddha in the sky in Senchaku hongan nenbutsu shū 選択本願念仏集
“The White Path between Two Rivers,” in Senchaku hongan nenbutsu shū 選択本願念仏集 (Passages on the Nenbutsu Selected in the Original Vow), Vol. 2, Kyoto: Akai Chōbei, late 18th–early 19th century, based on the 1744 edition. Personal Papers of Kate Hansen, PP 19, Box 11, Folder 13. Click image to enlarge.

However, not all foreign religions were warmly received in Japan. A few decades after its introduction by Jesuit missionaries, Christianity faced severe persecutions in the late 16th and 17th centuries, reflecting state and local resistance to beliefs imported from distant shores.

Two images of a man tied up with a floating sword to his neck (left) and a man being burned at the stake (right) from Fasciculus e Iapponicis floribus suo adhuc madentibus sanguine (A Wreath of Japanese Flowers, Still Dripping in their Own Blood)
Antonio Francisco Cardim (1596–1659). Fasciculus e Iapponicis floribus suo adhuc madentibus sanguine (A Wreath of Japanese Flowers, Still Dripping in their Own Blood). Rome: Typis Heredum Corbelletti, 1646. Call Number: Summerfield C1234. Click image to enlarge.

4. Trade and Movement of Goods offers a window into the commercial world of Japan and the global trade networks that developed from the movement of goods. Print culture in Japan served not only to document commodities but also to shape how goods were seen, valued, and consumed. From tea catalogs to textile pattern books and beer advertisements, the objects in this case reveal how trade goods were embedded in shifting notions of taste, identity, and national power.

Page with text and pictures of tea bowls/cups in Kogetsu 湖月 (active 19th century). “Foreign Wares,” in Chake suikozatsu 茶家醉古襍 (Repertory of Tea Masters’ Intoxication with Antiques)
Kogetsu 湖月 (active 19th century). “Foreign Wares,” in Chake suikozatsu 茶家醉古襍 (Repertory of Tea Masters’ Intoxication with Antiques), Vol. 3. Kyoto: Ōmiya Satarō, 1843. Call Number: tK53. Click image to enlarge.
Advertisement for Sapporo Beer, showing a bottle with beer shooting out of it like a cannon in Nipponchi 日ポンチ (The Land of Japan)
“Advertisement for Sapporo Beer,” in Nipponchi 日ポンチ (The Land of Japan), Vol. 14. Tokyo: Tōyōdō, 1905. Call Number: C22350. Click image to enlarge.

Although trade across East Asia dates back millennia, commercial exchange between Japan and the West began to grow from the 17th century and intensified at the turn of the 20th century. With objects and knowledge flowing between Japan, broader Asia, and the West, print media itself became a commodity, as demand for Japanese goods expanded. These publications offer a window into the commercial world of Japan, its transnational material culture, and the global trade networks that developed from the movement of goods.

5. Virtual Travel and Fantasies of Asia examines printed materials from the 17th to the 20th century that depicted Japan’s culture and shaped Western fantasies of Asia, constructing descriptions that blurred fact and fiction.

Image of a plantlike figure representing the Buddhist deity Avalokiteshvara in Gedenkwaerdige gesantschappen der Oost-Indische maatschappy in’t Vereenigde Nederland, aan de kaisaren van Japan (Atlas Japannensis [Japanese Atlas]).
Arnoldus Montanus (ca. 1625–1683). “Buddhist deity Avalokiteshvara (J. Kannon),” in Gedenkwaerdige gesantschappen der Oost-Indische maatschappy in’t Vereenigde Nederland, aan de kaisaren van Japan (Atlas Japannensis [Japanese Atlas]). Amsterdam, Netherlands: J. Meurs, 1669. Call Number: Summerfield E238. Click image to enlarge.

Through these objects, virtual travel, the concept of journeying to another place through imagination, was made possible for Europeans and Americans alike.

Colored front cover of Urashima, The Fisher-Boy
Hasegawa Takejirō (1835–1915); Sensai Eitaku (1843–1890). Urashima, The Fisher-Boy; Tokyo: Hasegawa Takejirō, 1886. Call Number: B17050. Click image to enlarge.

Japan also capitalized on print media, seeking to reconstruct its self-image as modern and legitimize its global relevance in the 20th century. These books, fashion plates, and inventive illustrations reveal the breadth of cultural dialogue between East and West, offering visions of Japan in which curiosity, exoticization, and national identity came together.

These treasures that traveled out of The Kenneth Spencer Research Library stacks into this exhibition represent but a fraction of the library’s holdings of Asian material, which are all available upon patron request. Notably, several of the items included were collected by Kate Hansen (18791968), a Kansan who lived in Japan as a missionary and music teacher during 19071941 and 19471951.

Image of the cover of How to See Hokkaido, a Japanese tourist booklet.
How to See Hokkaido. Tokyo: Japan Tourist Bureau, circa 1936. Tourist guide booklet owned by Kate Hansen and used by US Naval Intelligence during WWII. Personal Papers of Kate Hansen, PP 19, Box 5, Folder 10. Click image to enlarge.

After finalizing the exhibition details, a new acquisition was made to the library’s collection that fit the exhibition theme so well we decided to add it to a bonus case. Please come look for this wonderful mystery item. Hint: polar bears!

We hope that these displays will move viewers to appreciate how people of the past sought creative strategies that blended image with text to excite and inspire the transmission of knowledge in and around Japan.

Sherry Fowler (drawing from collaborative exhibition text)
Professor of Japanese Art History, History of Art
University of Kansas

*****

Faculty advisor: Sherry Fowler, Professor of Japanese Art History, History of Art, University of Kansas

Student curators: Yuan-Hsi Chao, Brady Cullen, Aria Diao, Shangyi Lyu, Olivia Song, Emma Smith, Rebekah Staton, Heeryun Suh, Eli Troen, and Morgan Williamson

Library advisor: Eve Wolynes, Special Collections Curator, University of Kansas Libraries

*****

Meet the KSRL Staff: Jason W. Dean

August 22nd, 2025

This is the latest installment in a recurring series of posts introducing readers to the staff of Kenneth Spencer Research Library. Today’s profile features Jason W. Dean, who joined Spencer Research Library in June 2025 as a Rare Materials Cataloging Librarian.

Headshot photograph of a man with glasses.
Rare Materials Cataloging Librarian Jason W. Dean. Click image to enlarge.
Where are you from?

I was born in Lubbock, Texas, and raised in Midland – both in what I call far West Texas. I went to college in Abilene at a small liberal arts university there, where much of my family went to college. I then taught and lived in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for a few years before starting my library career. My work has taken me several places: Arkansas, central Texas, Kansas City, and now Lawrence. I appreciate Lawrence and how it feels like it’s just in The West, which reminds me of the big skies of my youth.

How did you come to work at Spencer Research Library?

I’ve had the good fortune to know Spencer Director Beth Whitaker and Special Collections Curator Elspeth Healey for a while. Maybe I met them at the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) conference in Las Vegas in 2014? I learned about Spencer through Beth and Elspeth, but really got to know Spencer when I visited several years ago on a day trip from the Linda Hall Library. Of course, the outstanding collection and staff were well-known to me. I wanted to return to focus on the material, and the faculty position here was the right fit at the right time with the right people.

What does your job at Spencer entail?

I am responsible (along with my colleagues in processing) for the description of printed items acquired by or added to the Spencer collections. In my time here already, I’ve cataloged a number of modern paperback science fiction books from the collection of William F. Wu, some bound manuscripts, and some new acquisitions. My bread and butter are early modern books that I catalog with Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Books) – or DCRM(B) – but I am branching out (and dusting off my Resource Description and Access (RDA) cobwebs) with the help of my colleagues.

How did you come to work in libraries/archives/special collections?

I started my post-college working life teaching history to high school students in north Dallas, which I discovered was not for me. I really wanted a career that would allow me to learn and be curious as a part of my work, and librarianship really seemed the best fit. My introduction to rare books began at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art and was cemented at Crystal Bridges, where I worked to catalog Bill Reese’s American color plate book collection. I came to bibliography later in my career, when my former colleague Jamie Cumby taught me the fundamentals of collation.

What part of your job do you like best?

Conceptually I like the professional norms we have around access, privacy, and our broad commitment to, well, sharing. Special collections libraries take things that are expensive and precious and make them accessible and (almost) free.

On the micro level, using bibliographical and other tools to help folks learn more about the physical aspects of the items in Spencer’s collections and either use those descriptions in their own work or decide to come and use the item in person.

I also really enjoy writing. There’s some great stuff in the works for publication, and I am so pleased that I can do that as a normal part of my job.

What do you have on your desk?

There are some things I keep at my desk I feel like are worthy of sharing here. First, this broadside printed at Firefly Press – an adaptation of Beatrice Warde’s famous lines about a printing office.

This image has text.
Jason’s office broadside. Click image to enlarge.

I also have this retablo of St. Jerome at my desk. A retablo is a two dimensional image of a saint painted by a santero, a maker of this uniquely New Mexican form of folk art. My friend Dr. Charles M. Carrillo made this image of Saint Jerome (a patron saint of librarians and archivists) to watch over me while I work, which he does!

Colorful image of a bearded man sitting and writing with a lion and an angel.
Jason’s retablo of St. Jerome. Click image to enlarge.

I also keep a book snake on my desk that’s been with me for 15 years. One of my colleagues at the Carter, Maryjane Harbison, made this book snake for me. It’s here with mementos from other workplaces and such: a piece of the Kimbell’s travertine, the box “original staff” at Crystal Bridges were given at opening, and medallions from the Linda Hall Library and Southwestern University.

Photograph of a wooden box and mementos.
Items from Jason’s desk. Click image to enlarge.
What is one of the most interesting items you’ve come across in Spencer’s collections?

Below is the title page of the Spencer copy of Newton’s Principia Mathematica, which was a focus of some of my scholarship a few years ago. When I look closely at the book, two things are interesting to me: it has the “two line” imprint statement on the title page, not mentioning a distributor, which is the first state of the title page, and uncancelled.

This image has text.
The title page of Spencer’s copy of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica, 1687. Call Number: Pryce D4. Click image to enlarge.

There’s another item which tells us more about this copy: the diagram on page 112 is printed upside down. Other copies of the book have this corrected with a cancel leaf. We can surmise that the Spencer copy is perhaps an early state of the S issue of the book, especially given the rarity of the uncancelled page 112, as noted by Henry Macomber in his census!

This image has text.
Page 112 in Spencer’s copy of Newton’s Principia, 1687. Note the upside down diagram. Call Number: Pryce D4. Click image to enlarge.
What are some of your favorite pastimes outside of work?

As I mentioned above, I collect art (and books, but isn’t that cliché?) – specifically the santero art I talked about, but also katsinas and photography. Photography is my hobby; my grandfather taught me photography as a teenager and it’s a passion we share with my youngest brother.

My reading interests are varied, but there are three mystery series I adore: Tony and Anne Hillerman’s Chee and Leaphorn novels, the Inspector Montalbano books by Andrea Camilleri, and the Bernie Gunter books by Philip Kerr.

I adore classical music, specifically of Bach and Philip Glass. I also serve on the board of Summerfest, so classical music is one of my favorite things.

I also do some very informal bookish writing with my good friend Rhiannon Knol. We write a bibliography and books focused newsletter called Half Sheets to the Wind.

Tadalafilo – principio activo

El medicamento original es “Cialis” (Eli Lilly).

Fue desarrollado por los estadounidenses, y lo inventaron en primer lugar para competir con el único rival existente en ese momento: el sildenafilo, la conocida Viagra de la compañía Pfizer.

Sí, el tadalafilo nació en una lucha competitiva por el mercado. Su principal diferencia para el paciente común respecto al sildenafilo consiste en que el tadalafilo tiene una duración de acción más prolongada —de veinticuatro a cuarenta horas— y además comienza a actuar más rápido, ya a los quince minutos después de la toma. A diferencia del sildenafilo, que empieza a actuar, en el mejor de los casos, a la media hora.

¿Por qué entonces no pasarse todos al tadalafilo y dejar al sildenafilo fuera del mercado, si “no es tan bueno”? Pues porque, en igualdad de condiciones, el tadalafilo resulta bastante más caro. Así que haga su elección según las posibilidades de su bolsillo y las tareas que quiera resolver: una acción romántica puntual o un tratamiento prolongado.

Eficacia del tadalafilo

El tadalafilo es uno de los medicamentos más eficaces para el tratamiento de los trastornos de la erección, es decir, la incapacidad repetida o persistente de lograr y mantener una erección suficiente para una relación sexual satisfactoria.

Así que, si una sola vez “no funcionó” o “se perdió”, no es motivo para correr a la farmacia a comprar tadalafilo, sino más bien para descansar o tomarse unas vacaciones.

Causas de la disfunción eréctil

Las causas de la disfunción eréctil pueden ser variadas:

  • Problemas vasculares u hormonales
  • Efectos de medicamentos
  • Traumatismos (incluso deportivos)
  • Factores psicológicos

Pero sepa que todo esto se puede superar y tratar.

En cualquier caso, recuerde: los eficaces son los medicamentos, no los complementos alimenticios. Los suplementos (BAA) no se recomiendan para tratar la disfunción eréctil. Aunque el tadalafilo sea un medicamento de prescripción, en la práctica casi nunca se exige receta. Esto fomenta la automedicación y, debido a su alto precio, la venta del medicamento genera buenas ganancias a las farmacias. Por eso, como alternativa más económica, muchos compran el genérico del Cialis

Tadalafilo con comida y alcohol

Si su objetivo no es el tratamiento de la disfunción eréctil, sino simplemente una velada romántica, tome tadalafilo no más tarde de 15 minutos antes del acto sexual en dosis de 5 mg, o 20 mg si planea toda la noche.

El tadalafilo se toma por vía oral independientemente de las comidas, con medio vaso de agua a temperatura ambiente. La comida grasa no reduce su eficacia. En cambio, el zumo de pomelo aumenta la concentración del fármaco en la sangre, así que un vaso de zumo recién exprimido viene muy bien.

El tadalafilo se puede tomar junto con alcohol —esto no interfiere en su acción—, pero no se recomienda tragar la pastilla con alcohol, té o café.

El tadalafilo no causa dependencia

Ni en tratamientos cortos ni en tratamientos largos el tadalafilo provoca adicción.

Si se toma para tratar la disfunción eréctil con actividad sexual frecuente (2–3 veces por semana), se recomienda 5 mg una vez al día, siempre a la misma hora.

Si la actividad sexual es poco frecuente (menos de 2 veces por semana), se recomienda 20 mg unos 15 minutos antes del acto sexual.

No se debe tomar más de 20 mg, y la edad no influye —incluso después de los 65 años no se requiere ajustar la dosis.

Duración del tratamiento

La duración del tratamiento debe determinarla el médico. Puede ser de un mes o de varios años.

Interacciones con otros medicamentos

  • Con antibióticos (Claritromicina, Eritromicina), el tadalafilo no presenta conflicto, incluso aumenta la concentración del fármaco.
  • Con antiácidos (Rennie, Almagel, Maalox), la absorción es más lenta, y el efecto aparece más tarde (hasta una hora).
  • ¡Con nitratos (Nitroglicerina y otros) está estrictamente prohibido! La combinación puede provocar una caída crítica de la presión arterial.
  • Con anticoagulantes (Warfarina, Xarelto, Aspirina) —se puede.
  • Con medicamentos para la próstata: con Tamsulosina —se puede; con Doxazosina —no (causa una caída brusca de la presión).

Conclusiones

¿Vale la pena tomar tadalafilo?

Sí, es un medicamento eficaz, que no provoca dependencia ni siquiera en tratamientos prolongados.

No afecta a la espermatogénesis y tiene un mínimo de efectos secundarios.

En mujeres no tiene utilidad: no potencia el orgasmo femenino, a pesar de los mitos publicitarios.

En hombres, el efecto aparece a los 15 minutos y dura hasta 40 horas.

Los especialistas recomiendan el tadalafilo en casos de prostatitis crónica: mejora la microcirculación y elimina la congestión de la próstata.

La principal ventaja es su acción prolongada, que permite mantener la espontaneidad y el romanticismo en las relaciones sexuales.

Jason W. Dean
Rare Materials Cataloging Librarian

Apparel’s Interdependence with War in Independence, Kansas: Ringle Conservation Internship

August 12th, 2025

I began the Ringle Conservation Internship during the summer of 2025. The position interested me as a Museum Studies graduate student, as a hobbyist medium-format photographer, and as someone interested in conservation/archives as a career. I would not have been able to flourish in this position without the leadership of Whitney Baker and Charissa Pincock, and the support of conservation staff members Angela Andres, Kaitlin McGrath, and the many student workers who shared the laboratory with us. Each one of these persons readily and willingly offered their knowledge throughout the process.

Over the summer of 2025, I rehoused circa 2,500 glass plate negatives from the Hannah Scott Collection in the Kenneth Spencer Research Library Conservation Laboratory. This collection encompasses thousands of negatives taken by Hannah Scott, a photographer most prolific from the 1910s through 1945 who hand-recorded the names associated with the photograph onto the plates themselves. The plates were moved from old, now acidic, slip-sleeve housing into alkaline 4-flap housing to prevent image transfer and physical damage during access. I worked chronologically after my predecessors, beginning with photos taken in early 1939 and ending with those taken in early 1944. During this process, I recorded the variations of Scott’s handwriting to make deciphering her handwriting more streamlined (pictured below).

Handwriting guide created by Richard Godsil III featuring various versions of all of the letters of the alphabet, as written by Hannah Scott. Hannah Scott Studio Collection, Kansas Collection, University of Kansas Libraries.
Handwriting guide showcasing the different examples of each letter found on plates in the Hannah Scott Collection.

Using online records resources such as FamilySearch, FindAGrave, and the Independence Public Library, I was able to match plates to missing names, and to find the first names of married persons. As I worked through the wartime years, seeing the same subjects return to Scott’s studio, I was able to witness firsthand the effect the war had on people’s lives (see below).

Photographic images from plate 6086 (Mrs. Vera Lee Knighten) and plate 6058 (John Mishler). Hannah Scott Studio Collection, Kansas Collection, University of Kansas Libraries.
Portions of plate 6086 (Mrs. Vera Lee Knighten) and plate 6058 (John Mishler). Leftmost subject is sporting a jeweled and winged “V for Victory” lapel pin; rightmost subject is wearing an inverted U.S. military chevron (usually denoting Overseas War Service or Wounded) on civilian clothing worn in their graduation photographs. Hannah Scott Collection. Glass plate negatives, inverted positive images.

Plate 5504 (John Gooldy). A Certificate of Authority issued by the U.S. War Production Board giving the Independence, Kansas Coca-Cola Bottling Company permission to operate during wartime as an emergency vendor for refrigerator/air-conditioning repair. Hannah Scott Studio Collection, Kansas Collection, University of Kansas Libraries.
Plate 5504 (John Gooldy). A Certificate of Authority issued by the U.S. War Production Board giving the Independence, Kansas Coca-Cola Bottling Company permission to operate during wartime as an emergency vendor for refrigerator/air-conditioning repair. Hannah Scott Collection. Glass plate negative, inverted positive image.

Photographic images from plate 6044 (John Briggs) and plate 5519 (Walter McVey), Hannah Scott Studio Collection, Kansas Collection, University of Kansas Libraries.
Portions of plate 6044 (John Briggs) and plate 5519 (Walter McVey Jr.). Leftmost subjects are wearing children’s versions of Royal Air Force uniforms; rightmost subject is wearing a KU uniform in the style of a US Army Officer. Hannah Scott Collection. Glass plate negatives, inverted positive images.

Whether it was business, public, or private, the war seemed to pervade all aspects of these subjects’ life. While this wartime way of life is foreign to me, it can be made familiar through studying the subjects whose lives are preserved in the valuable glass plates of Hannah Scott.

Richard David Godsil III
Summer 2025 Ringle Conservation Intern
Conservation Services