Kenneth Spencer Research Library

Spring has finally, truly arrived on Mount Oread, which has meant the eagerly-awaited return of warmer weather and the not-so-eagerly-awaited return of final exams. The Student Activities record group in University Archives contains a number of photographs showing the bowed heads of generations of anxious KU students poring over their work.

While it’s unclear, in almost all cases, whether these pictures were taken during final exams, this time of year seems like the most appropriate time to feature some of these fun images here at “Inside Spencer.”

Good luck to all KU students on their final exams!

Group of students studying, 1950s. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 71/0/1950s Prints: Student Activities (Photos).
Click image to enlarge.

Student with typewriter, 1950s. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 71/0/1950s Prints: Student Activities (Photos).
Click image to enlarge.

Bare feet, 1950s. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 71/0/1950s Prints: Student Activities (Photos).
Click image to enlarge.

Asleep while highlighting, 1967-1968. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 71/0/1967-1968 Prints: Student Activities (Photos).
Click image to enlarge.

Studying in the shade, 1969-1970. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 71/0/1969-1970 Prints: Student Activities (Photos).
Click image to enlarge.

“I’m too nervous to sleep in my room,” 1970s. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 71/0/1970s Prints: Student Activities (Photos).
Click image to enlarge.

Studying on a stump, 1975-1976. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 71/0/1975-1976 Prints: Student Activities (Photos).
Click image to enlarge.

Backpack as table, 1976-1977. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 71/0/1976-1977 Prints: Student Activities (Photos).
Click image to enlarge.

Panic, October 1978. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 71/0/”A Day in the Life of KU, October 13, 1978″
Prints: Student Activities (Photos). Click image to enlarge.

Calculator and computer printouts, 1979-1980. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 71/0/1979-1980 Prints: Student Activities (Photos).
Click image to enlarge.

Creative (and uncomfortable?) study location, 1979-1980. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 71/0/1979-1980 Prints: Student Activities (Photos).
Click image to enlarge.

Studying on stairs, 1980-1981. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 71/0/1980-1981 Prints: Student Activities (Photos).
Click image to enlarge.

Sprawled out, 1981-1982. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 71/0/1981-1982 Prints: Student Activities (Photos).
Click image to enlarge.

Student working in his room, 1982-1983. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 71/0/1982-1983 Prints: Student Activities (Photos).
Click image to enlarge.

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

John Fraser, KU’s second Chancellor, served as a general in the Union Army during the Civil War.  Displayed here are his dress saber and saber belt.  The saber was an 1862 gift from “the ladies of Canonsburg,” Pennsylvania, in appreciation of his service.

Saber belonging to John Fraser. Records of  the Office of the Chancellor: John Fraser. Call Number: RG 2/2: Saber

For additional images, please click to enlarge:

Becky Schulte
University Archivist

The value of a liberal arts education is – and has long been – a topic of substantial discussion. With Valentine’s Day upon us, we wanted to highlight a perhaps little-known benefit of liberal arts courses and majors: they can help you attract or catch a love interest. Such was the “tongue-and-cheek” argument of a pictorial feature that appeared in the April 1970 edition of Kansas Alumni. Seven photographs told a story that unfolded throughout the publication, accompanied by captions extolling the benefits of a liberal arts education that were taken from “none other than” the Catalog of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Prints of six of the images – the first six pictures below – are held within University Archives as part of its collection of Student Activities records and photographs (Record Group 71).

The introduction to “Pictorial: The Liberal Arts” from Kansas Alumni, April 1970.
University Archives. Call Number: RG UA Ser 64/0/2. Click any image to enlarge.

While the lower right corner was cropped out of the published picture, the
original print shows that KU Libraries can also help you catch the
object of your affection! University Archives. Call Number: RG 71/0/1969-1970
Prints: Student Activities (Photos). This citation applies to all images in this
post unless otherwise noted.

The caption for the final image in the story – as it appeared in
Kansas Alumni – doesn’t seem to bode well for the guy behind the books!
University Archives. Call Number: RG UA Ser 64/0/2.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

Student Activities Photographs RG 71/0 1969/1970 Prints

***Reminder: The Kenneth Spencer Research Library will be closed December 21-December 29, 2013 and January 1, 2014. ***

The 2013 holiday season is underway, and many of us are preparing to send (or have sent) cards to friends and family. With this in mind, we share some cards and postcards of Christmas Past (1900s-1920s).

Christmas Postcards: 1903 – 1907

Left to right:  Postmarked 1903, from Cleveland, Ohio to Leona Baumgartner in Lawrence, Kansas;
Addressed to Leona Baumgartner, undated; Postmarked 1907, from Chicago, IL
to Leona Baumgartner in Lawrence, Kansas.  Anna Olinger Papers. PP 113, Box 1. Click images to enlarge.

These three Christmas postcards were sent to a very young Leona Baumgartner (1902-1991). Baumgartner was a prominent doctor who served as the first female Commissioner of New York City’s Department of Health. This national figure was also a Jayhawk; earning a BA in Bacteriology and MA in Immunology at KU. Explore Leona Baumgartner’s life through several of Spencer’s other collections: the Personal Papers of Leona Baumgartner (PP 52) and J. W. Miller Collection (RH MS 960) and the Kansas Newspaper Clippings Collection (RH MS 828).

Christmas Cards and Postcards: 1913 – 1918

Holiday cards from the Robert L. Gilbert Papers.
Top: Holiday card from “Robert,” undated. Center: “Christmas Greeting” postcard,
postmarked December 22, 1913 and addressed to Mrs. R. L. Gilbert, Lawrence, Kansas.
Bottom left: Card postmarked December 24, 1913, addressed to Mr. & Mrs. R. L. Gilbert,
Lawrence, Kansas, and sent from Meridian, Mississippi. Bottom right: Card postmarked
December 24, 1918, addressed to Mrs. R. L. Gilbert, Lawrence, Kansas. Sent from
Lawrence, Kansas. Robert L. Gilbert Papers. RH MS P764, Folder 1. Click images to enlarge.

Robert L Gilbert (1898 – 1987) was born in Lawrence, KS. He joined the Navy in 1917 and served during World War I as an airplane mechanic, deployed in France.  He returned to Lawrence to attend KU (1919-1923), graduating with a degree in Journalism. The cards pictured above come from his family’s collection (RH MS P764), though the card at the top perhaps bears the signature of the young Robert. Learn more about Robert L Gilbert his Personal Papers, (PP 253), which consist primarily of letters from France but which also include a Christmas Dinner menu from 1918.

Christmas Cards and Postcards: 1917 – 1920

To Miss H. Morrison, Glendive, Montana, sent from New York, New York,
postmarked December 23, 1917 (top), from New York, New York, postmarked
December 24, 1917 (bottom left), and to Harriet in Bloomfield, New Jersey,
sent from New York, New York, postmarked December 22, 1920.
Lionel A. Anderson Collection. RH MS 624, Folder 16.

Harriet M. Kemper Morrison was a nurse at the Northern Pacific Railway Hospital in Glendive, Montana, where she met Dr. Lionel Anderson. The collection consists primarily of letters (1917 – 1920) from Lionel  to Harriet, his fiance; however it also includes holiday cards from a variety of senders. The beige card featuring a candle dates from 1917 and contains the following message:

There are miles and miles
Between us and it is days
And days since we’ve met. But
This little Christmas Greeting
Will prove. I haven’t forgotten you yet.
Signed:  With Best Wishes, Lovingly, Frances

Christmas Cards and Postcards: 1925 – 1927

Cards sent to the Reichert family. Undated card from “Shorty” (top left);
Card from Frankie to Mr. Carroll Reichert, Seneca, Kansas, postmarked
December 21, 1925 and sent from Topeka, Kansas (top right).
Card postmarked December 20, 1927 to Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Riechert, Seneca, Kansas,
and sent from Leavenworth, Kansas (bottom).
Albert. A. Reichert papers. RH MS 1028, Folder 7. Click to enlarge.

Albert A. Reichert lived for many years in Seneca, KS, with his wife Myrtle and son Carroll.  He was a veteran of the Spanish-American War, serving with the 22^nd Kansas Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

Meredith Huff
Building Operations and Stacks Manager, Public Services Student Assistant Co-Supervisor

“The President is Dead” was the oversize headline on the front page of the University Daily Kansan on Friday, November 22, 1963. As the nation and world commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, here is a glimpse at how the KU campus community reacted to news of the event.

Single-page Special Edition of the University Daily Kansan, published on November 23, 1963.
University Archives. Call Number: UA Ser 69/2/1. Click image to enlarge.

 Two speeches given at the convocation for President Kennedy – those by John Stuckey,
Chairman of the All-Student Council, and Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe – were reprinted in the
Winter 1964 volume of the Jayhawker Magazine Yearbook. University Archives.
Call Number: LD2697 .J3 1964. Click images to enlarge.

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services