Kenneth Spencer Research Library

Watch the unboxing of our newest medieval manuscript to adorn the shelves of Kenneth Spencer Research Library below!

Every year at Kenneth Spencer Research Library, through classes, tours, and events, hundreds of undergraduates, graduate students, professors, and visitors from the public get to touch, handle, and engage with our single most popular book: the Vosper Book of Hours (Call Number: Pryce MS C1), a manuscript written painstakingly by hand in the last decades of the 15th century, gleaming with gold and vivid illustrations of medieval scenes from the Bible to accompany the hourly prayers contained within, each page crammed with flourishing decorations in the margins.

But the “verso” to those sparkling memories, if you will, is the stress that such high-touch handling can place on the single most-used book in the building. In 2025, we pulled the Vosper Hours from its cozy home in our vault thirty-four times, more than once every two weeks. In total, it was viewed by over 600 people, though directly handled by some fewer. Medieval manuscripts are often shockingly robust, made from parchment that has withstood the test of time, but even the halest of manuscripts will strain from so many hands upon its pages.

And so, with an eye to continuing to preserve the longevity of our most-beloved Vosper Hours, I set about finding it a mate, something that could lighten its burden and share the yolk of labor the way the best spouse might, meeting its standards but not exceeding them, lest it simply replace the Vosper Hours as the more popular manuscript and reintroduce the risk of over-use.

The process of threading such a needle involved meeting and corresponding with various booksellers, domestic and international, who specialize in medieval manuscripts in order to get a full sense of the current market and available options. I discussed with them our goals for such an acquisition, as well as our limitations, explaining how we expected and hoped the manuscript might be used, and why we sought particular qualities. These booksellers then sent us offers of the manuscripts in their catalogs that they felt best fit our goals, and I in turn analyzed and evaluated those offerings, including corresponding with various KU teaching faculty, to gather their thoughts on the potential opportunities for instruction and research use of the manuscript. From those conversations and analyses, one candidate rose to the top.

And so, without further ado, meet our newest manuscript:

The very first moment unboxing the manuscript upon its arrival here at Kenneth Spencer Research Library!

Behold, Pryce MS D1. We’ve given her the rather lengthy title Prima dies mensis et septima truncat vt ensis, using the incipit (or the first line of the text), since most medieval manuscripts lack a formal title. Her catchier nickname will likely be the pithy “Book of Hours, Use of Sarum” to reflect that her contents are structured around the pattern of prayers for the Office of the Virgin Mary in Salisbury (or “Sarum”), England. Despite her English nickname, she hails from Bruges, Belgium, a center of book production in the fifteenth century, where she was almost certainly illuminated in a professional workshop known as the “Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht.” They are best known for their work on a manuscript of theologian Nicolaus de Lyra’s Postilla in Prophetas now held at the University of Utrecht (Ms. 252), but only twenty-six manuscripts survive today that include their art.

She’s more than just a pretty face, too: every unique attribute of the manuscript can reveal different aspects of history, of how we’ve used books and information over time to express ideas and identities, control trade, and more.

For example: this is an unusually hefty volume, especially for a Book of Hours. These books were designed to be easy to keep at hand so that the owner could carry it with them and pray at set hours of the day (hence “Book of Hours”). Most are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, or perhaps a little larger. Books of Hours flourished as a genre among the laity (non-clergy) in the later Middle Ages and often became a status symbol, flaunting opulent consumption and wealth. Nobles and members of the rising merchant classes could purchase luxury Books of Hours custom designed for their personal tastes, with pigments sourced from precious gems like ultramarine, metals such as lead white and copper verdigris, and above all gold leaf.

Books of Hours this large are uncommon, excessive in their opulence and sacrificing any pretense of practicality. In a visiting class, we might ask students why an owner would sacrifice ease of use for the grandiosity of its size, inviting them to reflect on how books are used not only as texts, but as physical objects.

Another example: The manuscript’s international birth and ownership. Dating a manuscript and identifying its place of origin can often present a challenge, and scholars will resort to complex analyses of handwriting and art styles to justify their conclusions. Not so for this manuscript: each miniature is marked by a faint red stamp of “B” that proclaim its origins courtesy of a law implemented in 1427 that required illuminators who sold their artwork to identify it as a local product, in an effort to control the import of luxury illuminations. Meanwhile, the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht likely left Bruges in 1436, and so we can confidently date our new manuscript down to a single decade. Those stamps testify to the vibrant ongoing trade in luxury manuscripts – and the efforts to control the production of books and art not only as information but as economic and cultural products – in the 15th century.

And while the manuscript was made in Bruges, it didn’t remain there for long. Despite its Belgian origins, it was likely made with an English owner in mind, as many of the prayers included in the Book were particularly popular in England. We know that’s where it found its home: a note added in a later hand states it was gifted to John Pullan by his uncle Richard Belasyse in the 16th century, again harkening to how information and art were traded over borders for profit.

Indeed, quite a few owners took their hand to this manuscript, tweaking, correcting, fixing, and editing it to suit their tastes and preferences over the centuries. The earliest patron who originally commissioned the manuscript, most likely, went so far as to amend the miniature of Saint Mary Magdalene shown below, painting over her ointment pot and adding in a scroll that labels her instead as “Saint Anne,” hinting that the patron may have intended to give it as a gift to someone named Anne and decided to fit her patron saint into the prayers. This, in turn, reflects the popularity of Books of Hours among women in the later Middle Ages, revealing the reading habits, literacy and book ownership of women that is otherwise often hidden.

Someone, perhaps that same Anne or her own child, added a note of the birth of Thomas Bentham on October 24, 1477, reflecting how the calendars of Saints’ Days in Books of Hours were often used to track family births since the book would be passed from parent to child over generations.

And the mark of the English Protestant Reformation is revealed through another, later owner who crossed out the names of English Catholic Saint Thomas Becket and the Pope, adding the note “vacat” (“empty” or “blank”) next to feast days. The owner either converted (or wished to appear that they had converted), or the manuscript fell into Protestant hands.

More than one hand has tried to repair damage to its pages, suggesting that the manuscript had at least one rough owner. Some holes in the vellum have been sewn together carefully with thread, but another, likely later, owner seems to have fixed cuts to some pages with an adhesive, though why or how the pages were cut is unclear. At some point the book was rebound into a lush and ostentatious velvet binding, into which William Alfred Westropp Foyle (1885-1963) added his bookplate.

All those changes and adaptations demonstrate how books rarely remain static as they’re handed down from parent to child or bought and sold and shipped this way and that. People change their books the way they change their information, adapting it to their needs, aesthetic preferences, religious devotions, and even idle whims.

Now it makes another home here on the shelves of Kenneth Spencer Research Library, and we’ve already added a touch of our own: a custom-fit box built to the best standards of conservation care. Here, it will make another life for itself and touch the hearts and imaginations of hundreds of students, visitors, and researchers while giving our Vosper Hours much-needed relief for its own use. Like all the books on our shelves, it is available for any and all to come and see in tours and showcases, in classes and instruction, and above all in our Reading Room.

Eve Wolynes
Special Collections Curator

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 artifacts 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

Zines are self-published writing and art, often made by collage with illustration, photos, and clippings from other publications, and printed like a pamphlet or small book. Zine production began the 1930s with sci-fi fanzines, but in the 1980s and ‘90s, the widespread availability of the copy machine and Kinko’s 24-hour stores spurred many disaffected young people to express their personal and political opinions, often anonymously, in zines that were distributed locally and nationally via word of mouth and the postal service. Although the internet later replaced much of the ways young people previously communicated with each other, zine production has continued and has been made easier with new digital tools and home printers.

In 2016, Kenneth Spencer Research Library received a large donation of about a thousand left-wing, radical zines from the Lawrence-based Solidarity Revolutionary Center Library. The books remaining in the library are now housed at the Ecumenical Campus Ministries building near campus. Before they were donated to Spencer, many of these zines were scanned and made available on the Internet Archive.

Since adding the Solidarity Library zines to the Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements in 2016, interest in the collection has grown among KU students, KU faculty, and community members. Several classes come to Spencer each semester to learn about the collection, view a selection of zines, and complete a primary source analysis activity with one zine. These class visits help prepare students to tackle a creative, unique assignment to make their own zines. Students also tour the Makerspace at Anschutz Library, where they can utilize the tools and materials needed to write, illustrate, assemble, and print copies of their zines for classes and/or for fun. Additionally, Spencer also hosted attendees of Lawrence’s annual Paper Plains Zine Festival last September for a tour of the library and to view some of our zines up close. Library staff were thrilled to see this group of zine creators and collectors show so much excitement and joy for our zine collection.

Due to the popularity of the zine collection, it seemed like a good idea to acquire more recently published zines that address current topics students might be interested in. Last fall, we purchased about a hundred new zines (many of them created in 2025 and purchased on Etsy). While some of the zines are reprints of older publications, the more recent ones address topics such as political attacks on transgender people, resistance to fascism and state violence, the labor movement, the war in Gaza, the American tech oligarchy, artificial intelligence, the COVID-19 pandemic, and mutual aid. The zines are in the process of being cataloged; when that work is completed, information about them will be available via the KU Libraries online catalog, and the zines themselves will be available for classes and for research in our Reading Room.

Throughout this post is a sample of ten covers from our most recent purchase of zines. If you have suggestions for further purchases or donations of zines for the Wilcox Collection or if you would like to view these in our reading room, get in touch with Spencer staff!

Kate Stewart
Curator of the Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements

Maureen Tuohey and Theo McKay
Public Services Student Assistants

Spencer Research Library will be closed from December 22nd through January 2nd and will reopen on January 5th. We look forward to seeing you in 2026 and sharing more stories about our collections, staff, and services.

Visit the KU Libraries website for more information on winter recess across the libraries.

Caitlin Klepper
Head of Public Services

Wishing you and yours a very merry holiday season!

Spencer Research Library will be closed from December 23rd through January 1st and will reopen on January 2nd. We look forward to seeing you in 2024 and sharing more stories about our collections, staff, and services.

Visit the KU Libraries website for more information on winter recess across the libraries, including hours and options for accessing to online resources services available when buildings are closed.

Caitlin Klepper
Head of Public Services