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.
Check the blog each Friday for a new “That’s Distinctive!” post. I created the series because I genuinely believe there is something in our collections for everyone, whether you’re writing a paper or just want to have a look. “That’s Distinctive!” will provide a more lighthearted glimpse into the diverse and unique materials at Spencer – including items that many people may not realize the library holds. If you have suggested topics for a future item feature or questions about the collections, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this page.
“Women’s History Month had its origins as a national celebration in 1981 when Congress passed Pub. L. 97-28 which authorized and requested the President to proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982, as ‘Women’s History Week’…Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women’s History Month. Since 1995, presidents have issued a series of annual proclamations designating the month of March as ‘Women’s History Month.’ These proclamations celebrate the contributions women have made to the United States and recognize the specific achievements women have made over the course of American history in a variety of fields.”
The National Women’s History Alliance designates a yearly theme for Women’s History Month. The 2023 theme is “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories.”
The item I chose to highlight this week is the Constitution of the Woman Suffrage Association of New Jersey. The constitution is believed to have been released around 1898. It belongs to the Gerritsen Women’s History Collection of Aletta H. Jacobs, a diverse collection of women’s archival materials and feminist records covering fifteen languages and over 4,700 volumes. Acquired by the John Crerar Library of Chicago in 1903, the Gerritsen Collection was subsequently sold to the University of Kansas in 1954. It has been digitized and is now widely available through libraries’ database subscriptions. The Gerritsen Collection is part of the Howey Collection within Special Collections at Spencer.
Constitution of New Jersey Woman Suffrage Association, 1898?. Call Number: Howey A134. Click images to enlarge.
According to History, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony founded a group called the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) in 1869. They began to fight for a universal-suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The women’s suffrage movement was a “decades-long fight to win the right to vote for women in the United States. It took activists and reformers nearly 100 years to win that right, and the campaign was not easy: Disagreements over strategy threatened to cripple the movement more than once. But on August 18, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified, enfranchising all American women and declaring for the first time that they, like men, deserve all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.” Spencer Research Library houses many other items that document women’s history and their fight for liberation and equality. Items can be found through our finding aids and the KU Libraries online catalog.
Check the blog each Friday for a new “That’s Distinctive!” post. I created the series because I genuinely believe there is something in our collections for everyone, whether you’re writing a paper or just want to have a look. “That’s Distinctive!” will provide a more lighthearted glimpse into the diverse and unique materials at Spencer – including items that many people may not realize the library holds. If you have suggested topics for a future item feature or questions about the collections, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this page.
This week on That’s Distinctive! we are highlighting some animation stills from the John C. Tibbetts collection housed here at the library. The collection – which spans 18 boxes and two oversize folders – contains Hollywood press kits from various movies released between 1978 and 2004. The kits generally consist of production information, biographical information on the actors, story information, and press release information. Most kits contain some form of visual materials, such as stills, slides, or digital press kits; the digital files are on CD-ROM and contain a variety of items including images, video clips, and production information. The collection includes movies like Back to the Future, A Bug’s Life, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, and Jeepers Creepers.
Dr. Tibbets, a now retired professor with KU’s Department of Film and Media Studies, donated the collection to Spencer in 2010. Tibbetts worked as a full-time broadcaster from 1980 to 1996. He hosted his own television show in Kansas City, Missouri, and worked as an Arts and Entertainment Editor and Producer for a variety of radio and television outlets, including KCTV (Kansas City’s CBS affiliate), KMBC Radio, and KXTR-FM Radio. During that time, he also contributed many broadcast stories about musicians, painters, writers, and filmmakers to CBS Television, the Christian Science Monitor Radio Network, Voice of America, and National Public Radio. He has produced two radio series about music, The World of Robert Schumann and Piano Portraits.
While there are a wide range of films in the collection, this week we are sharing stills from the 2000 animated movie Dinosaur. The movie, which was released May 19, 2000, follows Aladar, an iguanodon, and his family of prehistoric lemurs as they join a herd of dinosaurs heading to the safety of the nesting grounds after a meteor strike. The movie portrays the hardship and happiness that comes along through Aladar’s life and teaches that perseverance can go a long way. The collection includes both stills and a press kit with production notes on the film.
Movie stills from the film Dinosaur, 2000. John C. Tibbetts’ Collection of Hollywood Press Kits. Call Number: MS 292, Box 15. Click image to enlarge.
The cover of the press kit for the film Dinosaur, 2000. John C. Tibbetts’ Collection of Hollywood Press Kits. Call Number: MS 292, Box 15. Click image to enlarge.
A page of the press kit for the film Dinosaur, 2000. John C. Tibbetts’ Collection of Hollywood Press Kits. Call Number: MS 292, Box 15. Click image to enlarge.
The John C. Tibbetts collection, along with all items in the library, can be viewed in the Reading Room from 10am to 4pm Monday through Friday. The library is open to the public and welcomes researchers of all types.
Check the blog each Friday for a new “That’s Distinctive!” post. I created the series because I genuinely believe there is something in our collections for everyone, whether you’re writing a paper or just want to have a look. “That’s Distinctive!” will provide a more lighthearted glimpse into the diverse and unique materials at Spencer – including items that many people may not realize the library holds. If you have suggested topics for a future item feature or questions about the collections, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this page.
This week we celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s upcoming 214th birthday. In 1861, Lincoln became the 16th president of the United States. Born on February 12, 1809, Lincoln knew a life of struggle before making it into the Illinois legislature. After gaining a national reputation, Lincoln became the Republican nominee in the 1860 presidential race. In 1863 he signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all enslaved individuals in the Confederacy. Lincoln won re-election in 1864, but was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre in Washington on April 14, 1864.
This week in honor of Abraham Lincoln’s 214th birthday on February 12, I am sharing an original document with Lincoln’s signature. The letter is written to George Hoge and is dated October 11, 1860. The contents of the letter were written by Lincoln’s secretary, but the signature is his own. The library houses many books and manuscripts written about Lincoln along with letters addressed to him, all of which can be found in our finding aids and the KU Libraries online catalog.
Letter from Abraham Lincoln to George Hoge, October 11, 1860. Call Number: MS P583. Click image to enlarge.
The letter reads as follows:
Springfield, Ill, Oct 11th 1860.
Geo. Hoge Esq
Dear Sir – Your letter of the 5th inviting me to your grand rally at Paris on the 12th is duly received. Accept my thanks for the invitation, and my regrets at my inability to be with you.
In 1974, the University of Kansas Libraries acquired a remarkable collection of bound business manuscripts from the Orsetti family of Lucca, in present-day Tuscany, Italy. Containing 294 bound volumes; 84 individual, hand-drawn maps; and five boxes of unbound accounting and family records, the Rubinstein Collection, as it is now called, comprises a rich archive of business accounts and legal documents of the Orsetti family’s commercial enterprises of agriculture, real estate, and textiles, as well as personal expenses. The collection of account books, business letters, legal documents, and inventories spans the late 12th century to the early 19th century, with the heaviest concentration dating from the 16th to 18th centuries.
The Orsetti family originated in San Donnino di Marlia, a rural village located near the Tuscan city of Lucca, where they relocated at the beginning of the 15th century. Lucca was a center for silk production and trade. By the mid 17th century Orsetti family members owned the second-largest textile workshop in Lucca, with ninety-five looms. Their companies thrived in Italy, as well as in Germany and Eastern Europe, especially Poland. Their silk trading company, Filippo Orsetti e Compagnia, flourished between 1695 to at least 1744. As the silk market declined in the 18th century, the Orsetti liquidated those assets and focused on their land holdings. Other noble families acted similarly, transforming the ruling class of Lucca in the 18th century from a group of merchants into wealthy landowners.
The Orsetti family crest features a golden eagle in profile wearing a crown on a blue background in the top half, and a shock of wheat flanked by two gold stars on a red background in the lower half. This ink-drawn version adorns the covers of a series of legal books in the Rubinstein Collection. Call number MS E133 v.4 of 6, Special Collections, Spencer Research Library, KU Libraries.
The Orsetti family of merchants used the accepted practices of their time to record their business and personal expenses and revenues. In 1494, Luca Pacioli, a Franciscan friar and mathematician, published his description of the Venetian double-entry accounting system, the treatise “About Accounts and Other Writings,” in Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et proportionalita. Pacioli’s work was translated into many languages, and that the style of bookkeeping became standard practice across Europe. In many ways, his descriptions of double-entry accounting are still used today. Pacioli recommended different types of books for different accounting purposes, and that practice is reflected in the Rubinstein Collection and in this exhibit.
Ledger H for the Altopascio estate. The red arrow points to a credit posting for a grain transaction with the Biancalana family of Carraia, Tuscany. Call number MS J15:6, Special Collections, Spencer Research Library, KU Libraries.
Bound book of copies of business letters for Filippo Orsetti e Compagnia, a silk business that operated from 1695 to at least 1744. Call number MS E136 v.3 of 11, Special Collections, Spencer Research Library, KU Libraries.
In addition to serving as an example of accounting practices in early modern Italy, the collection provides a rare opportunity to study bookbinding attributes from one family’s archive over centuries. From January to June 2022, I was awarded sabbatical leave to study the bindings in the Rubinstein Collection. A University of Kansas General Research Fund grant provided funds for raw materials to create bookbinding models to further understand how the books were constructed. Some of the models are also shared in this exhibit.
Parchment account book model made by Whitney Baker, based on MS E145 (Contracts of Goods from the Altopascio Estate), Special Collections, Spencer Research Library, KU Libraries.
The Rubinstein Collection honors Joseph Rubinstein, the first curator of the Department of Special Collections at KU Libraries, from 1953 to 1963. After Rubinstein left KU he entered the rare book trade and was instrumental in helping the University of Kansas acquire the Orsetti family papers. Rubinstein died in 1973, while purchase negotiations were ongoing. When the Orsetti family papers finally came to Spencer Library the following year, the collection was named in honor of KU’s first special collections librarian.
“Joseph Rubinstein examines books, 1956,” call number 41/0, University Archives, Spencer Research Library, KU Libraries.
The Kenneth Spencer Research Library holds a rare 14th century Korean Buddhist sutra (MS D23) titled, Dae Bangwangbul Hwaeomgyeong (The Sutra of Garland Flower of Great Square and Broad World of Buddha). The sutra is the 45th volume of the eightieth version of the Avatamsaka Sutra translated by Siksananda between 695 and 699 in the Tang dynasty (Eung-Chon Choi, 2003). It is mounted in accordion book format, a practice commonly seen in China, Japan, and Korea (Hsin-Chen Tsai, 2017).
Image 1. Frontispiece of the sutra. Call number MS D23. Kenneth Spencer Research Library, The University of Kansas. Click image to enlarge.
The sutra’s structure consists of papers with a width of 101 cm and height of 26.7 cm that are joined by one seam every nine pages with a starch-based adhesive[1]. The sutra has sixty-one pages of text comprising three chapters, and four pages on which is painted the frontispiece. The calligraphy and frontispiece are hand-painted in a metallic media, likely gold, where gold pigment is typically mixed with animal glue as the binding media (Hsin-Chem Tsai, 2017). The outer edges of the text block are also decorated in gold. The heads, chest, and hands of the three Buddhas in the frontispiece are further enhanced with cream, red, blue, and black opaque paint. The verso of the sutra is blank except for inscriptions along the seam of each join labeling each section.
There are four different papers observed throughout the sutra. The text block of the sutra is a double layer of dark blue dyed paper, likely indigo, that is highly burnished. The paper used on the verso of the frontispiece, back cover, and adjacent pages is a different laminated indigo paper. It is not burnished, and the indigo has prominent brush strokes (see Image 2). The paper cover has a white paper core consisting of a few sheets laminated together and is covered with a thin, blue paper. The front cover is decorated with flakes of gold leaf while the back blue paper cover is blank. Fiber identification characterized the furnish (fiber content) of these papers as a paper mulberry or a paper mulberry mixture with either mitsumata or gampi. These fibers are consistent with the known furnish of papers from this period and region.
Image 2. Verso of the first page of text (far left) and the verso of the last three pages of the frontispiece (center and right) showing the difference between the two types of indigo paper. The three pages on the right have prominent brush strokes, whereas the page on the left is darker and heavily burnished. Call number MS D23. Kenneth Spencer Research Library, The University of Kansas. Click image to enlarge.
According to Goryeo dynasty: Korea’s age of enlightenment, 918-1392, the following volumes from this set of Avatamsaka Sutra are extant and share the same style of calligraphy, treatment of the frontispiece, and cover design: Vol. 1 (private collection in Japan), Vol. 4 (Tokugawa Art Museum), Vols. 35 and 36 (Yamato Bunkakan), Vol. 42 (Tsaian-ji, Kobe), and Vol. 78 (The Cleveland Museum of Art).
The sutra had several structural issues (weak folds, insect damage, old mends that were detaching) and was a priority for examination and treatment to stabilize it for future use. With great thanks to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and its support of a Collaborative Conservation Initiative at KU, there was allocated funding to host a visiting conservator to complete a special week-long project during the grant period. We reached out to Minah Song, a conservator in private practice in the Washington D.C. area, to advise on the development of a treatment plan for this rare object. Read more about Minah’s entire Visiting Conservator Project in the blog post written by Special Collections Conservator, Angela Andres.
Image 3. The image on the left shows where adhesive was failing at the join between sections and the presences of white accretions that correlates with the location of the calligraphy on the recto. The image on the right shows insect holes that were once covered by square paper mends. The mends have detached, and adhesive residue remains. Call number MS D23. Kenneth Spencer Research Library, The University of Kansas. Click image to enlarge.
Image 4. Minah Song pointing to old mends along the top edge of the fold crease. The paper was weak in many places, easy to detach, and the color of the mend did not match the sutra’s paper. Many of the mends were detaching. Call number MS D23. Kenneth Spencer Research Library, The University of Kansas. Click image to enlarge.
After the sutra was examined and the condition issues prioritized, we shared our observations and treatment plan with Elspeth Healey, special collections librarian, who authorized the treatment. Our plan included addressing all necessary mending needs first. If we could tone a good matching paper, then we would also address the most visually distracting mends and overlays to reintegrate the paper margins of the sutra. We toned handmade Korean paper (hanji) using High Flow Golden acrylic paint (indigo/anthraquinone) and Dr. Ph. Martin’s Synchromatic Transparent watercolor (black) diluted with deionized water to mix various blue tones and achieve a good match with the sutra’s burnished indigo paper. The mixture was brush-applied to the hanji and the paper was hung to dry completely.
Image 5. Testing various mixtures and application methods to tone handmade Korean paper (hanji) to match the indigo paper in the sutra. Kenneth Spencer Research Library, The University of Kansas. Click image to enlarge.
Once the paper was toned, we removed old mends across worm holes that were loose and detaching. We used the new mending paper to reinforce weak fold creases and replace old mends, as needed, and reattached the seams that were coming loose. The treatment overall was kept as minimal as possible with the primary goal of stabilization so that the sutra could be safely handled. Once the new mends and infills were attached with wheat starch paste, some were locally inpainted with Schminke watercolors to match the sutra’s paper tone more closely.
Image 6. Attaching a new mend along a fold crease (pictured left). Jacinta Johnson inpainting a mend and overlay with watercolors. Kenneth Spencer Research Library, The University of Kansas. Click image to enlarge.
The conservation treatment of the sutra is now complete. The new mends have better visual integration with the object and allow for the sutra to be safely handled. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Minah Song for her guidance and expertise on this important project. We would also like to thank Dr. Brian Atkinson, Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Curator of the Division of Paleobotany at the Biodiversity Institute for the use of his microscope to complete fiber identification. Finally, we would like to thank the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for enabling this collaboration.
Image 7. Detail image of one of the pages of the sutra during treatment (left) and after treatment (right) with the addition of the new mends and overlays. Kenneth Spencer Research Library, The University of Kansas. Click image to enlarge.
[1] The final section is only five pages long, including the cover, and is 55.8 cm wide. Adhesive was tested with an iodine indicator. The adhesive is likely wheat or rice starch paste.
Baker, Whitney. June 18, 2003. Condition Examination. The Kenneth Spencer Research Library. The University of Kansas Libraries.
Choi, Eung-Chon, and Kumja Paik Kim. 2003. Goryeo dynasty: Korea’s age of enlightenment, 918-1392 ; [in conjunction with the Exhibition Goryeo Dynasty: Korea’s Age of Enlightenment, 918-1392, which was organized by the Asian Art Museum – Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture, San Francisco, October 18, 2003 through January 11, 2004]. San Francisco, Calif: Asian Art Museum: 126-7.
