Kenneth Spencer Research Library

Interested in what’s become recently available for research amongst the archival materials at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library? Then you’ve come to the right place! Below is the listing of finding aids newly published in the past several months.

For those of you of with an artistic or musical bent, here are a few images to whet your appetite:

A thank you poem from Leonard Bernstein in the Joyce Castle collection.
Call Number: RH MS 1441, Box 1, Folder 30. Click image to enlarge.

Still image of Marya Ouspenskaya from an American Laboratory Theatre
production (Three Sisters?). Photographer: Maurice Goldberg.
American Laboratory Theatre Collection. Call Number: MS 338, Box 4, Folder 78.
Click image to enlarge.

First page of sheet music from Laurel Everette Anderson’s “Quartet in C Minor for Strings”
(Fourth Movement, Introduction and Allegro). Personal Papers of Laurel Anderson.
Call Number: PP 587, Box 1, Folder 1. Click image to enlarge.

If that has piqued your interest, here is the full list of new finding aids:

Merrill Ross collection, approximately 1944-1977 (RH MS P558, RH MS-P P558)

University of Kansas publication photographs, 1970-1990 (RH PH 176)

African American World War II oral history collections, 1940s, 2010-2013 (RH MS 1439, RH MS-P 1439, KC AV 26, KC AV 29)

A River Running West literary archive, [before 2001] (RH MS 981, RH MS Q249, RH MS R201)

Denise Low papers, 1970-2013 (MS 334, MS Qa19)

American Laboratory Theatre records, 1923-1982 (bulk 1925-1930) (MS 338, MS Q73, MS Qa20, MS K33, MS E278)

Alexander L. Boyle artworks, 1965-1992 (PP 548)

Personal papers of John Macauley, 1960s-1980s (PP 464)

Community Mercantile oral history transcripts, 1996-2001 (RH MS 570)

Senator Fred Kerr papers, 1976-1992 (bulk 1988-1992) (RH MS 544)

Gordon Parks clippings and obituary materials, 1969, 1991, 2006 (RH MS P884, RH MS R277)

Personal papers of Laurel Anderson, circa 1935-1986 (PP 587)

Polly Lovitt biography, 2012 (PP 584, UA AV 1)

Personal papers of Russell Mesler, 1949-1992 (PP 582)

Personal papers of Glenn Parker, 1902-1955 (PP 586)

Personal papers of Ray J. Stanclift, Jr., 1941-1954, 1990 (PP 585)

J. Collins letter regarding the Pony Express route, September 10, 1951 (RH MS P703)

Ida Mae Newsom collection, 1930s-1980s (RH MS P593, RH MS-P 593)

Miscellaneous Kansas photographers collection, 1886, 1894, undated (RH PH 165)

Portraits and activities of African Americans in Kansas City, KS, approximately 1955-1988 (RH PH 174)

Photographic collection of portraits, landscapes, and buildings and structures, interiors, etc., approximately 1910-1950 (RH PH 11)

John Scoville collection, 1934, 1947, 1960, 1962-2003 (RH WL MS 48, RH WL MS Q6, RH WL MS R4)

William H. Morrison’s letters from the Nebraska Territory, 1864-1865 (RH MS P923)

Ole J. Olsen photographs, approximately 1900-1910? (RH PH 83)

Mrs. Oscar Polk photographs, approximately 1912-1919 (RH PH 102)

Nancy Porter photographs, approximately 1896-1958 (RH PH 62)

Seelander & Swanson Sign Company photographs, approximately 1940s-1960s? (RH PH 138)

David Stout’s ration book, October 1943 (RH MS P924)

Modern homes and other scenes of Lawrence, KS, 1970s? (KC AV 28)

Warner-Johnson Photographic Studio collection, 1893-1987 (RH MS 1440, RH MS-P 1440, RH MS-P 1440(f))

John C. Tibbetts portraits collection, 1981-2016 (MS Q74, MS Qa23)

Natural History Art and Illustration by D. D. Tyler, 1971-2014 (MS 337, MS Q72, MS Qa22, MS R19)

Personal papers of Roger Martin, 1980-2015 (PP 588, UA AV 2, UA AV 3)

Personal papers of Charles Stansifer, 1963-2012 (PP 589)

Personal papers of Jack Brooking (Beach), 1956-1974 (PP 590)

Warren Corman architectural drawings, bulk 1950s-1960s (PP 592)

Personal papers of Morton Green, 1939-2003 (PP 591)

John Lee papers, 1989-1996 (RH MS 1428, RH AD 11, RH MS R425)

O’Dell-Wilson family photographs, circa 1890-1930 (RH PH 63)

George Pollock photograph collection, approximately 1890s (RH PH P2821, RH PH 101)

Savage-Alford families photographs, approximately 1860-1916 (RH PH 59)

Geraldine Slater photograph collection, 1920s (RH PH P2830, RH PH 52)

Argentine River Improvement stock certificate, 1887 (RH MS P952)

Joyce Castle collection, 1843, 1903, 1953-2014 (RH MS 1441, RH MS Q434, KC AV 35)

Jane Wofford Malin collection, 1860s, 1890s-2016 (bulk 1926-2016) (RH MS 1444, RH MS R429, RH MS-P 1444, RH MS-P 1444(f), KC AV 44)

Jesse T. Roberts land certificate, 1854 (RH MS Q436)

David Samuels postcards collection, approximately 1900-1950s (RH PH 65, RH MS DK2)

Unidentified couple carte de visite, approximately 1880-1900 (RH PH P2829)

Moseley & Company photographs of Kansas City buildings, approximately 1920s-1969 (RH PH 135, RH PH 135(f))

H. Mulch collection, approximately 1908-1982 (RH PH 117, RH Cassette Tape 5)

Nebraska State Penitentiary photographs, approximately 1870 and 1910 (RH PH 129, RH PH 129(f))

Willard G. Ransom photographs, approximately 1900-1940 (RH PH 54)

Reuter Organ Company photographs, approximately 1917-1940s (RH PH 68)

Kenison family photographs, approximately 1890-1905 (RH PH 97)

Stanley Schmidt papers, 1976-2013 (MS 341)

Stanley, Kansas photograph album, approximately 1920s (RH PH 123)

Personal papers of Marlin D. Harmony, 1960-1998 (PP 593)

Personal papers of Roger L. Kaesler, 1961-2003 (PP 594)

Personal papers of Robert W. Wilson, 1937-2003 (PP 596)

Robert Hess collection, 1945-2013 (RH AD 10, RH MS 1415, RH MS R413)

Kansas State Seals collection, [not before 1867 – approximately 1900?] (RH MS Q428, RH MS R430)

Elizabeth Stephens collection, 1942-2002 (RH MS 1448, RH MS Q438, KC AV 47)

Vogel family collection, 1952-2015 (RH MS 1446, KC AV 46)

Hornbooks collection, 17 and 18^th centuries (MS C315)

Melvin Landsberg papers: Correspondence with and about John Dos Passos, 1956-1970 (MS 342)

Marcella Huggard
Archives and Manuscripts Processing Coordinator

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!

Bibliophiles rejoice! It’s that time of year when KU students have the opportunity to translate their passion for collecting books into cold hard cash by entering the Snyder Book Collecting Contest.

Elizabeth M. Snyder (left) and Betty Ann Bush (right)
examining Bush’s winning collection, 1969.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 32/40 1969 Negatives:
University of Kansas Libraries: Book Contests (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

This week’s photo looks back to the 1969 competition and features Betty Ann Bush (right) with her winning collection, “Writings from the Black Revolution.” Also pictured is Elizabeth M. Snyder, who founded in the contest in 1957 to recognize and cultivate student interest in books and book collecting. At the time of the 1969 contest, first place garnered $100.

Earn your place in KU history by entering your collection in this year’s competition! Winners of the 2018 (62nd Annual) Snyder Book Collecting Contest will be selected in both graduate and undergraduate divisions, with the following awards:

If you’ve ever seen an item at Spencer Research Library or on the blog and thought, “it would be fun to color a copy of this” – you’re in luck!

This year, KU Libraries is among the 149 libraries, archives, and cultural institutions from around the world participating in a week-long coloring fest sponsored by The New York Academy of Medicine. Staff members across the libraries collaborated to create a booklet containing nine coloring pages based on Spencer’s collections. You can download and print the book via the Color Our Collections website, and be sure to also check out the submissions from our colleagues at other institutions.

As a preview, here are three pages from the book.

Enjoy, and happy coloring!

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

 

Is the cold weather encouraging you to stay indoors? Why not dive into a new research project using one of the recently processed collections at Spencer Research Library? Today we share with you a list of finding aids published between May 2017 and November 2017. Finding aids are inventories or guide documents that assist researchers in navigating collections of manuscripts, organizational records, personal papers, photographs, and audio visual materials. You can learn more about finding aids in an earlier Finding Aids 101 post, and you can search the library’s finding aids here. As you begin your research, remember that Spencer Library will be closed for the holidays from December 23-January 1. However, if your New Year’s resolution is to conduct more archival research, you’re in luck since Spencer Library re-opens on January 2nd!

Enjoy a few images from three of these recently processed collections, and then scroll down for the full list of new finding aids.

Selected pages from a jazz scrapbook from the Chesterman C. Linley Scrapbooks.
Left page: Chesterman C. Linley with Count Basie at the at the Panhandle Christmas Party,
with Count Basie’s signature below. Right: Bobby Brookmeyer, Clark Terry, and Carmell Jones (top),
and Marilyn Maye (bottom). Call Number: RH MS EK5, Vol. 1. Click image to enlarge.

A volume containing two literary manuscripts by Mademoiselle de Lubert, “Les événements comiques conte” (above) and “Chélidonide histoire grecque,” approximately 1740-1760. Call Number: MS B182. Click images to enlarge.

University of Kansas postcards showing Frazier (i.e. Fraser) Hall (1909)
and a general view of campus (1910), from the Miller Family Postcard Collection.
Call Number: PP 581. Click image to enlarge.

New Finding aids

• African American Photograph Album, between 1880-1900. (RH PH 531)
• Reverend Lewis Allen Alderson Letters, March, April 1875. (RH MS P953)
• Phog Allen Papers in the Basketball Coach Records, 1933-1955. (RG 66/13/3)
• Sam Anderson World War II Ration Books, 1942-1945. (RH MS P957)
• Personal Papers of Brian Beatty, between 1996 and 2005. (PP 579)
• Bethel College, Newton, Kansas Negatives, between 1945 and 1955. (RH PH 528).
• Arden Booth State Senate Papers, 1964 to 1990 (bulk 1971 to 1976).  (RH MS 1404, RH MS R405)
• Brenna Buchanan’s Research on La Yarda Collection, 1999-2009. (RH MS 1431)
• Personal Papers of John A. Burzle, 1920-1002. (PP 547)
• Confucian Culture in Korea: Woodblocks for printing books, 1867, circa 1910. (MS Q10)
• Creek Nation School Catalogue Page, 1871. (RH MS P954)
• Charles and Julia Dandridge Family Papers, 1901-1995.  (RH MS 1153, RH MS 1306, RH MS-P 1306, RH MS-P 1306 (f), RH MS R350, RH Video 45, RH Cassette Tape 67,  RH MS R257)
• William Dickerson Lithograph, 1934. (RH PH P2828 (f))
• Records of the Douglas County Home Economics Association, 1974-2014. (RH MS 1419, RH MS R416)
• Douglas County, Kansas Soil Conservation Practices Photographs, 1930-1979. (RH PH 532)
• Louis Drogey Collection, “Ice Gorge” of Lawrence, Kansas postcard, [between 1900 and 1920].  (RH PH P2820)
• Barbara Duke photographs, 1915, 1934. (RH PH P2827, RH PH P2827 (f))
• Early Telephone Service in Kansas Collection, 1879.  (RH MS P951)
• Quentin James Eklund Studio Negatives and Photographs, 1946-1983. (RH PH 530
• English Poetical Miscellanies First-line Index, compiled 196-?. (MS 333, MS P746)
• Dr. H. M. Floersch Collection, between 1920 and 1946. (RH MS P950, RH MS-P P950).
• Fort Riley, Kansas Counseling Project Records, 1970s. (RH MS 1019)
• Great Armour Packing Factory Stereocard, 1890. (RH PH P2816)
• Edward Everett Hale carte de visite, circa 1870. (RH PH 2817)
• Hillcrest School Student Photographs, 1961-1962. (RH PH P2818)
• Lillie Holliday Papers, 1876-1932. (RH MS 1244, RH MS A42)
• Howard Family Collection, between 1850 and 1990. (RH MS 1410, RH MS-P 1410, RH MS R412, RH MS Q424)
• Judge William L. Huggins Photographs, 1870-1910. (RH PH 525)
• Hungate Family Papers, circa 1860-1965 (bulk 1920s-1948). (RH MS 1420, RH MS-P 1420)
• Diaries of Anna Johnson, 1910, 1920-1924, 1928-1950, 1956-1970, 1986, 1988.  (RH MS 1421)
• Ronald Johnson Holograph Books, bulk 1963-1967. (MS D214, vols. 1-2)
• Ronald Johnson Collection (Literary Estate Papers), 1950-2007. (MS 336, MS Qa21, MS R18, SC AV 15, SC AV 16, SC AV 17)
• Kansas City Red Cross Photograph, July 17, 1951 (RH PH 2814)
• Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma Postcard Sets, 1944[?]. (RH PH P2822)
• Kansas Women Schoolteachers Project Records, 1981-1982. (RH MS 872)
• Kaw Valley Older Women’s League (O.W.L.) Records, 1983, 1991-2016 (bulk 1992-2008). (RH MS 1423, RH MS Q47, KC AV2)
• Lawrence Art Guild Collection, 1992-2013. (RH MS 1430, RH MS Q431, RH MS R422)
• Lawrence Kansas Downtown Historical Survey, 1983-1984. (RH MS 403, RH MS-P 403)
• Lawrence, Kansas 75th Anniversary Collection, 1920-1929. (RH MS P777, RH MS R44, RH MS E142)
• Postcards of Lawrence, Kansas, 1912. (RH PH P2819)
• Chesterman C. Linley Scrapbooks, 1950-1979. (RH MS EK5)
• Little Bighorn Prints by William Nelson, 1976 (RH PH P2826(ff))
• Locomotive Finished Material Company of Atchison, Kansas Collection, approximately 1925. (RH PH P2821)
• Two Literary Manuscripts by Mademoiselle de Lubert, approximately 1740-1760. (MS B182)
• D. D. McCleery photographs, 1964, 1996-1997. (RH PH 524)
• Jim McCrary Papers, 1972-1995. (MS 332, MS Q69)
• Personal Papers of Ross E. McKinney, 1962. (PP 580)
• Henry Messenger Photographs, between 1910 and 1950. (RH PH 526)
• Miller Family Postcard Collection, 1909, 1910, [1915?].  (PP 581)
• Tim Miller Papers, 1970-1984, 2000. (RH WL MS 44, RH WL-P PH 5)
• E. Jennifer Monaghan Papers, 1974-2011. (MS 308, MS 335)
• Russell Mosser Collection, 1902-1917, 1949-1992.  (RH MS 1429, RH MS-P 1429 (f))
• Group Photograph by Murray Studio, between 1940 and 1960. (RH PH P2825)
• Northwestern Missouri Photographic Prints, [1890-1900?]. (RH PH P2824)
• Penn House Collection, 1970s-1981. (RS MS 1432)
• Pride Week of Lawrence, Kansas Collection, 2002. (RH MS P955)
• Personal Papers of Amber Reagan-Kendrick, 1995-1997. (PP 578)
• William C. Rein Papers, 1985-1993, circa 2007. (RH MS 1181, RH Cassette Tape 50)
• Robert  B. Riss  Collection, approximately 1400-1949. (MS 331, MS Qa18, MS Q68, MS R17)
• Personal Papers of Edward L. Ruhe, 1951-1989. (PP 510)
• Gertrude Leona Sailors‘ Daughters of the American Revolution Records, 1917-1930s. (RH MS P948)
• Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War Photograph, 1929. (RH PH P2823)
• Stewart Family Photographs, between 1850 and 1939. (RH PH 529)
• Howard N. Stoner Audio Recordings, approximately 1970s-1980s[?]. (KC AV 3)
• Street Parade Photograph, between 1890-1910. (RH PH 2815)
• Lois Swaney Collection, 1929-1940s. (RH MS P949, RH MS-P P949, RH MS R410)
• Helen Thomas Papers, 1975. (RH MS P956)
• Virgil Thomson Collection, 1952-1954. (RH MS P947)
• Personal Papers of Rud Turnbull, 1967-2010. (PP 511, 545)
• Unified School District 497 Records, 1867-2013. (RH MS 1255, RH MS 1334, RH MS H21, RH MS Q353, RH MS R318, RH MS R319, RH Video 32, RH Cassette Tape 56, RH CD 31)
• John Palmer Usher Correspondence, 1861-1865 (RH MS P565)
• Views of Western Kansas Photographs, 1911, 1927, undated. (RH PH P2813)
• William and Lula White Family Papers, 1867-1990.  (RH MS 1310, RH MS-P 1310, RH MS Q382)
• William B. Young Journal, April 19, 1865 – June 30, 1865. (RH MS P958)

Elspeth Healey
Special Collections Librarian
and
Marcella Huggard
Archives and Manuscripts Processing Coordinator

KU Libraries was recently awarded a planning grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, under the Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections program. The purpose of the grant is to work with an environmental consultant, Image Permanence Institute (IPI), to study the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system in Spencer Research Library in order to better preserve our collections while also hopefully finding ways to save energy.

On October 23-25, 2017, we had our first visit from IPI consultants Christopher Cameron and Kelly Krish. The consultants met with the KU team, which consists of representation from Facilities Services, Campus Operations, Center for Sustainability, KU Libraries, Facilities Planning and Development, and the Department of English.

The first visit allowed the consultants to get a lay of the land: listening to participants’ concerns about the building’s environmental systems and collections issues, touring the spaces, and installing dataloggers to collect more information.

One of the first stops was the Spencer Library mechanical room. Facilities staff led the tour, pointing out how the system works, and, in particular, which parts have been most difficult to maintain.

  

Left: Entering Spencer Research Library’s mechanical room.
Right: Kelly Krish and Christopher Cameron in the supply air area, with filters to the left.

Facilities staff share energy data with IPI consultant Christopher Cameron.

The consultants also met separately with collections staff, walking the stacks and taking notes on anomalies in temperature and humidity, light, and other environmental issues. They asked many questions and took copious notes. They also used a handy infrared (IR) attachment to a smart phone in order to record hot and cold spots in the stacks. The IR images confirmed the ancedotal evidence that some of the vents aren’t functioning properly.

Kelly Krish and Christopher Cameron learn about environmental concerns in the stacks.

IPI also used an infrared camera to locate hot and cold spots in the stacks areas.

After discussing problems with collections staff, Christopher, Kelly, and Head of Conservation, Whitney Baker, discussed where additional dataloggers should be placed in order to supplement five years of data from thirteen loggers already in Spencer Library. They added loggers into the air handling unit, vents, and in collections spaces not previously monitored in order to gain a better overall picture in the coming months of the climate in Spencer Library.

Christopher Cameron placing a datalogger in the air stream.

Until they visit us again next spring, we will take monthly data readings for twenty-three loggers in the Spencer stacks, vents, and mechanical systems. We look forward to IPI’s return visit, when we examine the data from the first six months and discuss additional testing that may be undertaken at that time.

Whitney Baker, Head
Conservation Services

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this blog post do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. “Improving the Physical Environment in Spencer Research Library” has been made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections.