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.
Each week we’ll be posting a photograph from University Archives that shows a scene from KU’s past. We’ve also scanned more than 34,800 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!
KU students walking in the rain, 1976-1977. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 0/24/1 Rain 1976/1977 Prints: Campus: Areas and Objects (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
2018 was an eventful year at Kenneth Spencer Research Library. In addition to the celebration of the building’s 50th anniversary, the Conservation Services department relocated from Watson Library into a newly constructed lab space on the second floor of Spencer. The dedicated space built for Conservation Services allowed the Audiovisual (AV) branch of the team to expand its operations within Spencer by moving into spaces formerly used by Conservation. By expanding the AV footprint within the building, we would be able to add equipment to create a film inspection/video digitization lab separate from the current audio digitization lab (which previously doubled as the film and video lab). Over the course of approximately three months, beginning in September 2018, several meetings took place between Conservation Services staff, the KU architect and KU Facilities to determine how the rooms needed to be adapted for their new uses, as well as what equipment belonged where.
The Audio Preservation Lab in Kenneth Spencer Research Library, prior to renovation. Click image to enlarge.
Another view of the Audio Preservation Lab in Kenneth Spencer Research Library, prior to renovation. Click image to enlarge.
In the audio digitization lab in particular, several changes occurred that completely changed the look of the work space. The room was painted in the building’s original “Spencer Green” hue, and carpeted with its original 1970’s carpet. Ultimately, we all decided that the carpet and paint job had to go, and that new lighting was necessary. Furthermore, we had to decide where the best locations for power outlets would be, and the land-line telephone connections had to be de-commissioned.
In order to replace the carpet and re-paint the room, every single shelf, table and piece of electronic equipment in the room had to be temporarily disassembled and moved to a storage location. My team of student workers and I devised a strategy of labeling all of the cords and ports on our pieces of equipment so that disassembly and re-assembly would go quickly. Once everything was removed from the Audio Lab, Facilities came in and ripped out the carpet. At this time, the electricians started replacing all of the lighting fixtures in both the Audio and Video Labs. They also installed dimmer switches, allowing us to control the levels of light we need depending on the day’s workflow.
The Film and Video Preservation Lab in Kenneth Spencer Research Library, prior to renovation. Click image to enlarge.
Alternate view of the Film and Video Preservation Lab in Kenneth Spencer Research Library, prior to renovation. Click image to enlarge.
In the Video Lab, the renovations to the light fixtures included breaking out the light switches to allow for independent control of lights in the front of the room as well as the back. Additionally, several new electrical outlets were installed in the ceiling and along the north wall of the room. Shelving was removed to allow us to bring in a Steenbeck flatbed motion picture film editing machine. My team and I then set up two film inspection stations and have begun to acquire video digitization and playback equipment.
For the Audio Lab, we chose new paint colors, including for an accent wall, which I think is a really nice bit of the renovation. We also installed new tile flooring, which is ideal for an audiovisual lab such as ours. The tile can be kept much cleaner than carpet, reducing the amount of particulate matter in the lab environment which could be harmful to sensitive media collections. Finally, once the shelving was re-attached to the walls, we were able to quickly re-populate the lab thanks to our labeling strategy.
The renovated Audio Preservation Lab, complete with new tile floor, accent wall, and enhanced lighting. Click image to enlarge.
The renovation of the Film and Video Preservation Lab is nearing completion. New features include enhanced lighting and additional electric outlets. Click image to enlarge.
At this time, the Audio Lab is completely set up and our digitization efforts have re-commenced, and our film inspection stations, including the Steenbeck, are fully operational. The video component of the Film/Video Lab is still under construction; most of the necessary video elements have been purchased and are being built out. I am grateful for the support from KU and the Libraries for this project, which has allowed us to create updated lab spaces to the specifications I requested, and to purchase the equipment my team needs to perform archival quality work on Spencer Library’s audiovisual collections. The enthusiasm of my student workers should also be noted as I truly would not have been able to envision the working conditions within the new work spaces without them. The renovated lab spaces heavily influence and are heavily influenced by the work that the students do on a day-to-day basis and I cannot stress enough how important they are to the digitization and organization efforts we undertake in the department.
Chris Bañuelos Audiovisual Preservation Specialist Conservation Services
Each week we’ll be posting a photograph from University Archives that shows a scene from KU’s past. We’ve also scanned more than 34,800 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!
Good luck, Jayhawks, in today’s tournament game against Northeastern. We hope the fun continues with a second-round game this weekend!
Phog Allen with the KU men’s basketball team, 1935-1936. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 66/13 1935/1936 Team: Athletic Department: Basketball (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
In honor of the centennial of World War I, this is the second series in which we follow the experiences of one American soldier: twenty-five year old Milo H. Main, whose letters are held in Spencer’s Kansas Collection. On Mondays we’ll post a new entry featuring selected letters from Milo to his family from that following week, one hundred years after he wrote them.
Milo Hugh Main was born in or near Pittsfield, Illinois, on November 21, 1892 to William and Rose Ella Henry Main. The family moved to Argonia, Sumner County, Kansas, in 1901. After his mother died in 1906, Milo remained in Argonia with his father and his two sisters Gladys (b. 1890) and June (b. 1899). His youngest sister Fern (b. 1905) was sent to live with relatives in Illinois.
As Milo reported to the Kansas State Historical Society in 1919, after graduating from high school he worked as a store clerk. He resigned in July 1917 and took a position at Standard Oil Company, possibly co-managing a gas station in Argonia.
Milo entered into military service on September 21, 1917. He served as a wagoner – a person who drives a wagon or transports goods by wagon – in Battery F, 130th Field Artillery. He was stationed at Camp Funston (September-October 1917) and Camp Doniphan (October 1917-May 1918). On May 19, 1918, he boarded the ship Ceramic in New York City and departed for Europe.
In his letter of March 16th, Milo writes about having “a light touch of the” flu, driving across France to his new post, and “renting a furnished room with two big feather beds and a stove.”
Have recieved four letters from you during the past week.
Well, we are here in southern France, but have not gone thru the classification camp at Le Mons yet. It will probably be our next move as it is only 40 kilometers from here.
Will be at least 30 days before we get out of this Frog eating Land of France.
Yes, I had a light touch of the “Flu” but, I took the champagne in time to prevent any serious illness. Sure am feeling fine now. Have seen all the boys here recently and all are well.
I was quite fortunate in my trip from Ernecourt to Bonnetable. Came overland in the 130 F.A. Auto Convoy. Four days in making the trip. Sure saw all the best wheat and wine districts of France. We ate and slept in good hotels thru-out the journey. Four days making the trip, always stopped in a good city for the nite. Saw more keen women those four days than ever before except in Paris.
Have the Col.’s mess, (10 officers, staff) in a French home here. The madam is cooking. The best mess ever. I am a there on putting away this real food. I even serve it Frog style now. Sure a fine home we have mess in. Also a fair daughter of 22 yrs.
Will enclose a card of one of the better lookers.
Three of we O.M. boys rented a furnished room with two big feather beds and a stove in it. Gas light too. Col. ordered all men in Bat. [Battalion] not to room out like this. But we are not under the direct command of anyone so are keeping it quiet. The officers wanted me to wait table everyday, but no, I convinced them that I would not be able to care for everything properly alone so they retained my side pal from Texas who takes it day about yet with me. Not much to do in dining room for 10, but I don’t like to work any more. My day off, I lie in the feathers, (not hay), until 10:A.M.
Will close by assuring you not to take any stock in Gov. Allen, nor any of his newspapers,
With St. Patrick’s Day falling on Sunday, this week we highlight some original artwork in Spencer’s collections by a notable Irish artist, Frederic William Burton (1816-1900).
Portrait of Frederic William Burton inlaid in Madonna Pia volume. Sir Theodore Martin Collection. Call Number: MS E184. Click image to see full volume page.
That painting, housed at the National Gallery of Ireland, draws its theme from a medieval Danish ballad. As the museum’s label explains, the ballad tells the story of “Hellelil, who fell in love with her personal guard Hildebrand, Prince of Engelland. Her father disapproved of the relationship and ordered her seven brothers to kill the young prince.” Burton’s painting captures a moment of longing: a final fleeting meeting between the ill-fated couple.
One of the more astonishing aspects of the painting is that it is a watercolor (Burton always worked in watercolors rather than oils). To protect the painting from light damage, the National Gallery of Ireland has it on display for just two hours a week, keeping it behind protective panels the remainder of the time.
A more modest example of Burton’s artistry in watercolors resides at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library in a series of costume designs he made for a play by the writer Theodore Martin (more on this soon).
A native of Co. Clare, Frederic William Burton was born to a wealthy land-owning family. He moved to Dublin at ten and by sixteen had exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy. His early career was as a miniaturist and portraitist, always working in watercolors.
Through his friendship with the Irish antiquarian, George Petrie, Burton was inspired to turn to the Irish landscape and consider Irish subjects in his paintings, as in his 1841 watercolor The Aran Fisherman’s Drowned Child.
Burton’s connection to another friend, Thomas Davis, a leader of the nationalist Young Ireland movement, resulted in his contribution of the illustrated title page for The Spirit of the Nation (1845), an anthology of ballads and songs by Davis and other writers associated with periodical The Nation. At the time, however, Burton kept his contribution anonymous, reluctant to enter into the fray of politics. In a memorial tribute, Lady Gregory would recall that Burton had been in favor of Ireland’s union with England and did not share Davis’s nationalist politics, but that he had undertaken the title page to please his friend, “ there was nothing in the world he would not have done for Davis” [1]. Spencer Research Library’s multiple copies of The Spirit of the Nation deserve a St. Patrick’s Day post of their own. The copy pictured below contains two inserted leaves of inscriptions of Young Irelanders Terence Bellew MacManus, Thomas Francis Meagher, Patrick O’Donohoe, and William Smith O’Brien, signed from Clonmel Gaol in Tipperary, following their 1848 attempted nationalist rising. The signature of O’Brien is visible on the leaf tipped in next to Burton’s illustrated title page.
Burton’s illustration design in The Spirit of the Nation (1845), with tipped-in leaf inscribed by young Ireland leader William Smith O’Brien, in Clonmel Gaol, Nov. 1848. Dublin: Published by James Duffy, 23 Anglesea-Street, 1845. Call Number: O’Hegarty C458. Click image to enlarge.
As noted earlier, Spencer Library’s collections also reveal another dimension of Burton’s career as an artist. We hold a copy of a special volume belonging to the attorney and writer Sir Theodore Martin (with his bookplate). It comprises pages of the 1860 privately printed second edition of Martin’s play Madonna Pia: A Tragedy juxtaposed with 11 original watercolors of costume designs. Though the sketches are not signed, Martin included in his special volume a manuscript letter from the artist signed “FWB” alongside a portrait of Burton, signaling his identity as the artist. The letter was sent in November 1855, the date of the first edition of Martin’s play, from Munich, where Burton was serving as curator of the Royal collection for Maximilian II of Bavaria.
Frederic William Burton’s watercolor and gouache painting of the costume for “Giacomo.” [Munich, 1855], bound with the title page of Theodore Martin’s Madonna Pia (1860, second edition). Sir Theodore Martin Collection. Call Number: MS E184. Click image to enlarge.
In the letter, likely addressed to Martin’s wife, the actress Helena Faucit, Burton apologizes for the quality of his watercolors. He self-deprecatingly explains:
These hasty sketches are not indeed what I had intended – but just as I was engaged about them the Fine Arts were under a cloud from weather such as ever you Londoners need not have envied us. They are very scribbly & coarse — & I fear none of them will answer, – but you will gratify me by giving them to any little relatives you may have under five years of age to amuse themselves by sticking pins through them.
Burton’s watercolor and gouache painting and sketch of the costumes for “Madonna Pia / 2d dress” and “Pia 3d dress” and “Count Nello” [Munich, 1855], bound with Theodore Martin’s Madonna Pia (1860, second edition). Sir Theodore Martin Collection. Call Number: MS E184. Click images to enlarge.
Frederic William Burton’s watercolor and gouache painting for the costume of “Nello della Pietra,” bound with Theodore Martin’s Madonna Pia (1860, second edition). Sir Theodore Martin Collection. Call Number: MS E184. Click image to enlarge.
Fortunately for us, Martin preserved the watercolors and bound them together with a later edition of his play. Madonna Pia takes its inspiration from a passage in Dante’s Purgatorio to tell the story of Pia’s imprisonment and poisoning by her jealous husband, Count Nello della Pietra. It was a popular subject during the Victorian era; KU’s Spencer Museum of Art holds a later painting, Pia de’ Tolomei, by pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti that references the same tale from Dante.
Three years after Frederic William Burton executed his “hasty sketches,” he took up residence in London. There, he was part of the circle of Rossetti and other Pre-Raphaelite artists, and it was during this time that he painted “Hellelil and Hildebrand, the Meeting on the Turret Stairs.” In 1874, Burton was made director of London’s National Gallery, and he retired from painting. Though he died in London on the day before St. Patrick’s Day in 1900, Burton returned to Ireland in death. He was buried in Dublin’s Mount Jerome Cemetery, and his work was exhibited at Dublin’s National Gallery later that same year. In her remembrance, Lady Gregory wrote that despite his years spent abroad, which left him “almost forgotten” in Dublin, Burton’s “heart was Irish to the last” [2].
Come examine Frederic William Burton’s watercolor sketches for Madonna Pia at Spencer Research Library, and then continue on to explore other materials in our Irish Collections. Not certain where to start? Take a glance at some past blog posts or explore our Irish Collections LibGuide.
Elspeth Healey Special Collections Librarian
[1] Gregory, Lady Augusta. “Sir Frederic Burton.” The Leader: A Review of Current Affairs, Politics, Literature, Art and Industry. Vol 1, no. 15 (8 December 1900): 231. Call Number: O’Hegarty E98.
Clarke, Frances. “Burton, Sir Frederic William.” Dictionary of Irish Biography. James McGuire, James Quinn, Editors. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2009. http://dib.cambridge.org/viewReadPage.do?articleId=a1216.
