Kenneth Spencer Research Library

During Fall of 2025, my Dean in KU’s School of Social Welfare forwarded an announcement to our faculty from Kenneth Spencer Research Library, calling for submissions to the newly established Bergeron-Souza Exhibit Program. At the time, I had only visited the library once for a special event and had come away with some mild curiosity about what other archival materials one might access there.

I immediately had an idea about using this guest curation opportunity to showcase artwork from a digital archive I had been managing for several years, the Untold Stories of Aging exhibition of aging-focused artwork from intergenerational creators. I was intrigued by the possibility of showing the work in a display setting that would focus not only on the pieces’ artistic merit, but also on their commentary on aging as a universal human experience. By putting contemporary artwork into conversation with archival materials, I envisioned bringing to life a deeper and richer narrative about the ways in which artistic representations of aging motivate us to envision our own futures in more expansive ways and inspire us to action – individual and collective – to realize those futures.

What followed was a loosely guided and ever evolving process of uncovering what the research library had to offer. I, along with my PhD Graduate Research Assistant Zhiqi Yi, perused over 100 boxes worth of material as well as dozens of individual artefacts sourced from various collections. There were the 20 or so boxes documenting the extensive efforts of long-time activist Mildred Harkness, who seemed to have her hands in all things aging within Kansas over the span of several decades. There were the seemingly endless boxes from the Jayhawk Area Agency on Aging. There were dozens of memoirs, artistic works, books, and essays penned and created by older adults that we requested, never really sure where they would lead.  

Some discoveries were more impactful than others. Having viewed the artistic drawings of Elizabeth “Grandma” Layton over the past decade, it was a tremendous joy to find that the library had archived over a dozen boxes of her personal documents, photographs, news clippings, exhibition flyers, and reprinted artwork. I read her memoir alongside her personal documentation, interweaving a rich storyline between the individual artifacts. Having begun drawing at the age of 68, Layton’s drawings document her struggles with and victory over mental illness. She often credited her discovery of blind contour drawing with having healed her life-long depression, illustrating the rich potential of artistic exploration and creation in the lives of older adults.  

Photos of Elizabeth Layton, blind contour drawing in process, undated. Don Lambert Collection of Elizabeth Layton Papers. Call Number: RH MS 1538, Box 12, Folder 6. Click images to enlarge.

Drawings titled “Fear” (left) and “Nike, Winged Victory” (right) in Elizabeth Layton’s memoir Signs Along the Way, 2013. Call Number: RH C12442. Click images to enlarge.

Similarly, I was delighted to stumble across several emeritus faculty who had contributed to KU’s aging-focused curricula over the years. This includes Shirley Patterson, who had her social work students interview older adults in the local community and create poems and brief essays based on their experiences. Additionally, Janet Hamburg of KU’s Department of Theatre and Dance taught “Dance for Seniors” and developed movement-based interventions for individuals living with Parkinson’s disease. These rich discoveries had to somehow be narrowed down to what could fit into a handful of display cases, and choosing amongst artifacts turned into a tall order, indeed. We will have to return to explore new topics another day!

Selected pages from “Aging, Strength, and Creativity Revisited” by Shirley Patterson, 1978. Personal Papers of Shirley L. Patterson. Call Number: PP 607, Box 2, Folder 26. Click images to enlarge.

From this year-long process, the resulting exhibition opened on February 23, 2026, and is organized into six sequential display cases of archival materials. The exhibit also includes 15 contemporary art works, both in display cases and along the exhibition walls, through which the exhibition themes are interwoven and illustrated in vibrant and moving detail.

The overarching narrative of the exhibition explores societal discourses around aging, illustrating that the ways in which we talk about a thing, person, or experience come to shape our ability to imagine and engage with the object of conversation. In this case, audience members are asked to grapple with societal conversations around aging and later life, considering the impact of how we construct and envision this universal, life-long experience and how those constructions shape our hopes and plans for our own aging present and futures. Historical discourses are captured in artifacts dating back to 1780, representing older citizens as making up a vulnerable and needy population. Documents from aging activists, creative essays, portraits, poetry, and much more provide contrasting and nuanced constructions of aging, balancing more varied images of later life based on agency, growing or evolving self-knowledge, hardships and joys brought by new phases of life, and more.

A special event next Tuesday, March 31, 2026 (5:30-7:00pm) will feature a mini-presentation on the making of the exhibition and will be attended by several of the exhibit’s contributing artists, who will mingle with attendees and informally share the meaning of their work. Come and join us to explore your own hopes for the future!

Sarah Jen
Associate Professor and PhD Program Director
KU School of Social Welfare

In 1984, the Union Pacific Railroad (UPR) made the decision to abandon its Union Pacific Depot in Lawrence and announced that they would demolish the building due to potential liabilities. The Depot had once been a shining gateway to Lawrence, with a tall steeple and busy railway line, but in the years prior, the passenger service had been discontinued, and the Depot building itself had fallen into disrepair. 

Lawrence residents swiftly jumped into action to campaign for the preservation of the building. Citizens from the recently formed Lawrence Preservation Alliance, fresh of the success of their first project to save a historic home at 947 Louisiana St, jumped into action to preserve this Lawrence landmark. Members from the Lawrence Preservation Alliance, University of Kansas Rowing Club, and other concerned citizens banded together to form the “Save the Depot Task Force.” With the original plan to use the Depot as a headquarters for the rowing team, they were able to negotiate with the UPR to stall the demolition and began coordinating and raising funds for potential restoration. 

There was one sticking point: the UPR was unwilling to permit the Depot to stay in its current location due to the building’s proximity to the railway line. With no other options, the Save the Depot Task Force began its “Move It or Lose It” campaign. The group hired a contractor to conduct a study to see if it would be possible to move the entire building in either one or two pieces on a hydraulic lift to a nearby lot. 

After years of negotiation and much back and forth, in 1990 the UPR agreed to let the Depot stay where it was, with the provision that the City of Lawrence would provide a protective iron fence protecting the building from the railway tracks. In the end, the UPR sold the Depot to the city for $1. 

Renovations began under architect John Lee officially in 1991, with construction happening in three phases & ongoing fundraising assistance from the “Save the Depot” task force. The Union Pacific Depot was officially rededicated as a community center in 1996. 

Learn more about the restoration of Lawrence’s Union Pacific Depot at our short-term exhibit in Spencer’s North Gallery! The exhibit is free and open to the public in the North Gallery through March 31, 2026. 

Centi Newby
Public Services Associate

American author Henry V. Miller (1891-1980) is a divisive literary figure, one who has amassed a dedicated cult following, and yet, whose presence in scholarly discourse has traditionally been somewhat limited. Miller is most widely known for his years in Paris, which resulted in the notorious Tropic of Cancer (1934), famously banned for obscenity in the United States for nearly three decades. Despite his popular characterization as a writer who magnified the obscene and grotesque, it’s not uncommon to find Miller falling into extended, heartfelt reveries covering a profound range of subjects, a contrast that contributes to his reputation as an eclectic writer.

Spencer Library holds a wide range of Henry Miller’s published works, such as an edition of Plexus (1963) limited to two thousand copies. However, the item that might be of most interest to the Miller enthusiast is a small collection of his papers (Call Number: MS P216). This collection primarily consists of typewritten onionskin manuscripts dating from the 1930s, as well as handwritten letters composed during the 1950s. I found the typewritten pieces particularly intriguing; according to the online finding aid, they mostly originate from Miller’s overflowing attempts to write an essay on English novelist D. H. Lawrence.

In her biography of Miller, Mary Dearborn details how the D. H. Lawrence project, or “the Brochure” as it was initially called, developed as Miller was attempting to publish Tropic of Cancer in 1932. The only publisher whose attention he managed to get was Jack Kahane of Obelisk Press, who had misgivings about publishing the controversial contents of Tropic. Thus, Miller was asked to compose an essay on Lawrence in order to assert himself as an intellectual and gain more credibility. [1] The project was eventually published as The World of Lawrence: A Passionate Appreciation, much later in 1980.

I discovered that very little of the Miller manuscripts at Spencer Library actually appear in any published form. The most perplexing was “Self-Portrait,” a four-part piece that is largely devoid of any connection to the D. H. Lawrence essay, especially in its earlier sections. Within it, Miller mentions the “Universe of Death,” a chapter within The World of Lawrence and The Cosmological Eye (1939). Yet, it bears little resemblance to the section as it appears in the book. Similarly, there is a short description of the 1933 film “Extase,” which was likewise detailed in a chapter of the same name in The Cosmological Eye, yet its appearance within “Self-Portrait” is a different piece altogether. The more I read “Self-Portrait,” the more it appeared as a familiar part of Miller rather than a focused reflection on Lawrence (hence the title). The manuscript, framed around a walk through Paris during springtime, bears many hallmarks of Henry Miller’s original style, such as ornate, unconventional prose, descriptions of sordid and lurid elements lurking underneath the quotidian, a personification of Paris, dubious biographical details and nostalgic reminiscences on his earlier days in Brooklyn, musing on favorite authors (Proust and Dostoevsky), and a meandering, abstract form.

The fact that “Self-Portrait” presents itself as creative piece, rather than an analytical one, hints towards its eventual fate. Biographer Jay Martin details that, while Miller “originally regarded ‘Self-Portrait’ as a note to the ‘Universe of Death’ or a coda to ‘The World of Lawrence,’ he always planned it as a personal statement … [taking shape] by looking at himself, or portraying his experience, in a variety of ways.” [2] And Dearborn states that “Miller’s new book, tentatively called ‘Self-Portrait,’ … would eventually appear as Black Spring.” [1] This appears to be the definitive answer: “Self-Portrait,” written as a marginal addition to Miller’s project on D. H. Lawrence, became the premise for a new book entirely, and eventually grew into his collection Black Spring (1936). The process of researching Miller’s “Self-Portrait” emphasized one of the most rewarding aspects of my job here at Spencer Library: being able to uncover little-known parts of literary and cultural history.

Nile Russo
Public Services Student Assistant

[1] Dearborn, Mary V. The Happiest Man Alive: A Biography of Henry Miller. New York: Simon & Schuster, [1992]: 156-163. 

[2] Martin, Jay. Always Merry and Bright: The Life of Henry Miller: An Unauthorized Biography. Santa Barbara, Calif, London: Capra Press ; Sheldon Press, [1979]: 293f.

Special thanks to Special Collections Curator Elspeth Healey for directing me towards the Dearborn and Martin biographies of Henry Miller.

In my ten years working with Spencer collections, it’s been impossible not to notice the name William Stirling Maxwell printed on a wide variety of bookplates in our Special Collections. Maxwell was a Scottish art historian, scholar, art collector, and bibliophile, a portion of whose considerable book collection found its way to Spencer’s stacks in years past.

In a flurry of activity one afternoon last fall, I set out to document as many Stirling Maxwell plates as I could find. I located an impressive 35 unique designs in all, and it’s likely there are others out there, in Spencer’s collection and in the many collections around the world across which Stirling Maxwell’s library is dispersed.

To fit this selection of bookplates into this post, I’ve grouped them together into loose categories and adjusted their sizes. The actual plates range greatly in style and in size, from just a few centimeters long to covering the entire pastedown of a folio volume. I’ve grouped these images based on the more prominently featured design elements, although many of the same motifs are repeated across multiple plates, in particular Stirling Maxwell’s heraldic devices, monograms, and personal or family mottos. Some of the plates bear the name William Stirling, while others include Maxwell, which he added after succeeding the Maxwell Baronetcy in 1865.

It’s clear that Stirling Maxwell took pride in his book collection and derived enjoyment from them; in addition to their personalized bookplates, many of the Stirling Maxwell volumes in Spencer are in fine custom bindings bearing his coat of arms and extensive decoration (another blog post for another day!). I hope you will enjoy perusing this selection (A bevy of bookplates! An excess of ex libris!) as much as I did. Remember that these and all of Spencer’s collections can be viewed in person in our reading room!

Angela Andres
Special Collections Conservator

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 Rebekah Ramos, who joined Spencer Research Library in August 2025 as the Curator of Latina/o Collections.

Where are you from?

I was born and raised in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico but I moved to Texas when I was sixteen. I jumped around the state quite a bit for school, living in cities like Frisco, Lubbock, Sherman, and most recently Austin.

What does your job at Spencer entail?

As curator of Latina/o Collections I’m in charge of collecting materials that document and preserve the history of Latina/o individuals, families, and organizations in Kansas. Latinos have been part of this state’s history for more than a hundred years, and I’m working to build a collection that reflects the many experiences and stories that exist within this community.

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

During undergrad, in the midst of a new semester and trying to stay sane during Zoom classes, I applied for and was hired as a student assistant at the Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive’s Oral History Project. During my time there, I reviewed and cleaned up transcriptions of oral history interviews that were conducted with Vietnam War veterans. Then, while I was completing my degree in Information Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, I worked as a graduate student technician at the LLILAS Benson’s Digital Scholarship Lab, where I had the opportunity to work with Latin American and U.S. Latina/o archival materials.  

What part of your job do you like best?

I love getting to meet new people! As someone who is not originally from here, it’s been interesting getting to learn about the variety of nationalities, backgrounds, and stories that make up the Latino community in Kansas.

What do you have on your desk?

I have a bunch of sticky notes with reminders of things I need to look up or do, and a huge pile of books I’m trying to read, like What Kansas Means to Me, Who Owns Native Culture?, and Catching Stories: A Practical Guide to Oral History. There are also a couple of trinkets to remind me of home, like a Mexican rag doll I keep under my monitor.

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

Some of the most interesting items I’ve come across were two photographs I found in the Bourquin Family Collection. Photographs in this collection were taken by a Swiss family that moved to Horton, Kansas, in the late 1800s. The collection’s finding aid showed that there are a couple of photographs that include the name “Little Mexico” in their title.

I was really surprised to find these photographs, since I hadn’t seen any record or evidence of Mexican immigrants in Horton in any of our other collections or online sources. Digitized newspaper clippings confirmed that during the 1920s there was an area of the town that housed many of the Mexican immigrants that had come to work at the local railroad center.

“High water at railroad dam and Little Mexico, May 8, 1921.” Bourquin Family Collection. Call Number: RH PH 30, Box 14, Folder 623. Click images to enlarge.

What are some of your favorite pastimes outside of work?

I am an avid reader and proud bookworm! But I also love going to the movie theater, getting food or coffee with friends, baking, and watching TV.

Rebekah Ramos
Curator of Latina/o Collections