The University of Kansas

Inside Spencer: The KSRL Blog

Books on a shelf

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.

Remembering William “Bill” Mitchell (1932–2023)

November 7th, 2023

Kenneth Spencer Research Library has many faces working behind the scenes to maintain its collections and provide patrons with access to these materials. William Lawrence “Bill” Mitchell was one of these many faces, working with the Department of Special Collections. He served in various capacities at KU Libraries from 1967 to 1999. Both William and his wife Virginia Jean Mitchell died in March of this year.

Headshot of an older man with glasses.
Bill Mitchell in 1998, a year before his departure from KU Libraries. University Archives. Call Number: RG 41/ Faculty: Mitchell, William L. (Photos). Click image to enlarge.

William Mitchell was born on June 2, 1932, in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of William M. and Donna L. Mitchell. Before he joined the University of Kansas, Mitchell served in the United States Coast Guard from 1952 to 1956. He received his bachelor’s degree from KU in 1959 and then received his master’s degree in library science from the University of Illinois in 1960.

Mitchell’s work in libraries started before his master’s degree. Joining KU Libraries in 1957 as a student assistant for special collections, Mitchell worked his way through various library positions. He became a cataloger with KU in 1971 and eventually became chief cataloger. Mitchell’s work was well received; he earned membership in Beta Phi Mu, an honor society that recognizes high achievement in library science and librarianship. He was promoted to the rank of Librarian III in 1967, a marker of his distinguished career as a librarian.

Special Collections weren’t Mitchell’s only interest. He often encouraged work with bibliography and advocated for the conservation of unstable library materials. He led several courses on conservation for KU’s Museum Studies program and, on occasion, spoke with history of the book classes. His interests in conservation covered a wide variety of materials, from the proper preservation of textual materials and bindery techniques to film preservation. He often kept interesting paper ephemera he came across – usually from other bookstores or vintage postcards – to preserve the history of his travels and work. Many of these postcards and syllabi can be found in his personal papers collection.

Three postcards in a row: an Asian woman serving tea to three children with the caption "Drink O & O tea!"; the Monument de la Bataille de Nancy (1477), with text; and a naval battle.
Several of Mitchell’s collected postcards. Personal Papers of William (Bill) Mitchell. Call Number: PP 649, Box 1, Folder 1. Click image to enlarge.

Mitchell’s love of preservation extended beyond KU and into surrounding communities. He consulted with several other libraries in the state, including at Kansas State University, Baker University, Saint Mary College, and the Wichita Public Library. He worked with the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library to save a letter from General Dwight Eisenhower that was sent to a family member. Mitchell presented at several library conferences and attended various conservation group meetings to bring further awareness on the necessity of conservation efforts.

This image has text.
Bill Mitchell’s letter to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library discussing a letter that Eisenhower sent to Mitchell’s grandmother, Minnie Brazil (or Brazi). Personal Papers of William (Bill) Mitchell. Call Number: PP 649, Box 2, Folder 31. Click image to enlarge.
This image has text.
A 1944 letter from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Minnie Brazi (or Brazil), Bill Mitchell’s grandmother. D-Day was June 6, three weeks before Eisenhower wrote this document. Personal Papers of William (Bill) Mitchell. Call Number: PP 649, Box 2, Folder 31. Click image to enlarge.

Lawrence, Kansas, also had a special place in Mitchell’s life. He was a vocal historical building advocate, writing many letters to the Lawrence Journal-World with his concerns for historic Lawrence buildings regarding new proposed commercial developments. He wrote to the Lawrence Preservation Alliance and worked alongside the organization to protect a historic livery stable that was threatened by commercial development. But he was perhaps the most interested in preserving the history of West Hills, a neighborhood northwest of the University of Kansas campus. Many of his writings surround this neighborhood, from notes on traffic to rezoning laws allowing commercial enterprises to develop in the West Hills neighborhood.

Mitchell was not the only Mitchell with high accomplishments; his wife Jean was a notable quilter and one of her quilts, “Bill Willie’s Whirlygig Factotum,” documents Mitchell’s work and life. Her quilts were once exhibited at the Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art, and the exhibit was digitally archived

William Mitchell retired from Spencer Research Library in 1999, though the Mitchells remained in Lawrence after retirement. Both Bill and Jean Mitchell supported Kenneth Spencer Research Library and the Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art; William’s papers were donated to the library in 2013, and Jean’s quilts and textiles are housed at the museum. Mitchells’ legacy continues on with The Bibliographical Society of America’s William L. Mitchell Award, given to researchers whose research focuses on eighteenth century English or English colonial periodicals.

Molly James
Manuscripts Processor

Architecture and the (Digital) Archives

September 25th, 2023

I was first introduced to Kenneth Spencer Research Library through my First-Year Seminar. While I thought it was a cool place, and certainly had a unique variety of materials that could keep me entertained for days, I didn’t think I would ever use it.

I started working at the library a little less than a year later, and I began to see even more of the vast selection of intriguing materials that the library hosts. One day I was working on boxing up some recycling when I came across a little souvenir booklet that had illustrations of various buildings on campus. Since it was in the recycling pile, I was allowed to keep it, and the pictures fascinated me. [Spencer librarians sometimes weed duplicates from the collection. That was the case here; the library’s copy of Miniatures of Lawrence, Kan. can be found in University Archives. The call number is RG 0/24/G 1904 photographs.]

Title and embellishments in gold against a black background.
The front cover of Miniatures of Lawrence, Kan., 1904. Photo by Corrie Bolton. Click image to enlarge.
This image has text. Publication information in gold against a black background.
The back cover of Miniatures of Lawrence, Kan., 1904. Photo by Corrie Bolton. Click image to enlarge.

Fast forward four months when my Theory of Urban Design class assigned a project titled “Now and Then.” As you might expect, the project wanted us to look at how one place had changed over the past 20 years. It was relatively simple; we just had to find an old photograph of a building/urbanized area of Lawrence, recreate it, and write a description of the differences between the photographs.

A few days before this had been assigned, I was walking behind Spooner Hall and found the remains of an old fountain. Thinking it looked cool, I snapped a photo. That fountain got me wondering about the history of the building, and this project gave me the perfect opportunity to explore it.

A fountainhead of an animal on a brick wall covered in ivy.
The fountain behind Weaver Courtyard, on the South side of Spooner Hall. Photo by Corrie Bolton. Click image to enlarge.
Color photograph of Spooner Hall.
Spooner Hall from Jayhawk Boulevard. Photo by Corrie Bolton. Click image to enlarge.

In my little book of miniatures there were two images depicting Spooner Hall.

Black-and-white oval photograph of Spooner Hall.
“Library No. 1” (Spooner Hall) in Miniatures of Lawrence, Kan., 1904. Photo by Corrie Bolton. Click image to enlarge.
Black-and-white oval photograph of Old Blake and Old Fraser halls.
View of the KU campus from the library in Miniatures of Lawrence, Kan., 1904. This photo was taken from Spooner Hall’s front porch, looking slightly to the left. On the right is Old Fraser Hall, which was located where the modern Fraser currently stands. Old Blake Hall is on the left. Photo by Corrie Bolton. Click image to enlarge.

Originally, I was just going to recreate one of those, but just in case I went online to see what other old pictures I could find. One of the first images I came across was from a Spencer blog post that depicted children sledding down the hill behind Spooner. From there I discovered dozens of other images in the University Archives Photographs digital archives that I wanted to incorporate into my project. It quickly turned from a two-page assignment into a ten-page booklet about the history of Spooner Hall.

Black-and-white photograph of children sledding down a tree-lined sidewalk behind two buildings.
A snow scene with Spooner Library, the old chancellor’s residence, and children on a sled, 1900s. University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 0/24/1 Snow 1900s Prints: Campus: Areas and Objects (Photos). Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Colored sketch of the front of Spooner Hall.
A sketch of Spooner Hall by Corrie Bolton. Click image to enlarge.

This project gave me a unique opportunity to explore campus’s past through what I now consider one of the coolest places on campus. If you ever find yourself feeling stuck on a project, come to the library; there is a lot to explore!

Corrie Bolton
Public Services student assistant

That’s Distinctive!: KU’s Potter Lake

July 28th, 2023

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 visit University Archives again and share some photos of Potter Lake at the University of Kansas. In 1910, the Kansas Board of Regents decided to construct a water source for in case of a fire on the north side of campus. That water source became Potter Lake, named after state senator T.M. Potter. Up until Lawrence built the public pool in 1927, the lake served as a swimming hole. According to the Historic Mount Oread Friends website, swimming, skating, and sledding have been prohibited since the 1970s. KU’s online places directory notes that “today, the lake is used as a storm water retention pond, and swimming is prohibited. Some classes and academic research occur at the site, and canoes and non-motorized boats are permitted in those instances. State fishing laws apply.”

Black-and-white photograph of two pairs rows in canoes, with spectators on the grassy hill beyond.
People participating in boat races on Potter Lake, 1911. University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 0/24/1 Potter Lake 1911 Prints: Campus: Areas and Objects (Photos). Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Black-and-white photograph of a grassy field with a stone bridge in the background.
Potter Lake drained, 1958. University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 0/24/1 Potter Lake 1958 Prints: Campus: Areas and Objects (Photos). Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Black-and-white photograph of a boy in a shirt and overalls kneeling on the ground near the lake with his rod and tackle box.
A boy fishing at Potter Lake, 1970-1979. University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 0/24/1 Potter Lake 1970s Prints: Campus: Areas and Objects (Photos). Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Color image of the lake and bridge with cattail plants in the foreground.
Potter Lake, 1985. University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 0/24/1 Potter Lake 1985 Slides: Campus: Areas and Objects (Photos). Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

Be sure to check out all of the library’s digital collections, including University Archives photos. Not all photos are currently digitized, and collections can be viewed in person in the Reading Room.

Tiffany McIntosh
Public Services

Recent Acquisition: The Facts Behind the 1970 Police Shooting of a KU Student

July 19th, 2023

In 1970, the United States was deeply divided along social, racial, economic, generational, and political lines. Young people across the country were protesting in favor of civil rights action and against the Vietnam War and military recruiting on college campuses. That spring the National Guard killed four student protesters at Kent State University. While the incident at Kent State holds a place in the national consciousness, many are unaware that there were two shootings near the University of Kansas (KU) that summer.

Later dubbed the Days of Rage, pipe bombs, dumpster fires, and sniper fire were not uncommon in Lawrence, Kansas, during the summer of 1970. Arsonists burned the KU Union in the spring. The lethal violence began when Lawrence Police Officer William Garrett killed former KU student and Black Student Union activist Rick “Tiger” Dowdell on July 16, 1970. During protests in response to the police shooting, police shot and killed KU student Nick Rice on July 20.

Black-and-white head and shoulders portrait.
Photograph of Harry Nicholas “Nick” Rice, undated. Esther Christianson Rice Papers. Call Number: RH MS P617. Click image to enlarge.

According to a newspaper interview of a fellow member of the Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity, Nick Rice supported civil rights and was against the war, but he was not a protestor. He was one of the students who helped to put out the fire in the Union and received a commendation from the city of Lawrence for his bravery.

The night that a city officer shot him, Rice was with his girlfriend and friends playing pinball at the Rock Chalk Cafe while protesters gathered outside. Officers were throwing teargas as Rice and his friends were leaving. One protester tried to start a car on fire but was unsuccessful. Police fired at the short, long-haired, would-be arsonist and hit tall, clean-cut Rice in the back of the head. Officers continued to throw teargas as bystanders attempted first aid.

No one was ever charged for killing Nick Rice or Tiger Dowdell. An all-white coroner’s inquest found that Lawrence Police Officer William Garrett did not have felonious intent when he killed Tiger Dowdell. The official statements released by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and at Rice’s inquest claimed “insufficient evidence” of wrongdoing in the shooting of Nick Rice. However, the KBI files in the newly-processed Personal Papers of Harry Nicholas Rice (Call Number: PP 647) tell a different story.

The Lawrence Times had access to the lightly redacted KBI Nick Rice case files before they were donated to Spencer. In 2021, they published a series of articles on the Nick Rice case based on these files, suggesting an intentional cover up of the evidence.

The KBI summary of the incident, submitted in August 1970, makes it clear that Officer Jimmy Joe Stroud thought he shot someone and Lawrence Police Officer Virgil Foust found a bullet from Officer Stroud’s gun near the site where Nick Rice fell. Foust gave the bullet to Police Captain Merle McClure, who put the evidence in his pocket and took it home, breaking the legal chain of custody and causing the “insufficient evidence” of wrongdoing. Captain McClure did not turn over the evidence until the KBI investigators asked him specifically if he had the bullet. Neither the KBI nor the Lawrence Police Department shared this information with the public or with Rice’s family.

Nick’s mother, Esther Rice, was a supporter of President Richard Nixon. She wrote to the President, asking him to end the kind of violence that caused the death of her son, an innocent bystander at a protest.

This image has text. Esther Rice argues that her son Nick was not protesting the day he was killed.
Esther Rice’s letter to President Nixon, August 4, 1970. Personal Papers of Harry Nicholas Rice. Call Number: PP 647. Click image to enlarge.

Nixon responded to the national situation with the President’s Commission on Campus Unrest. Mrs. Rice wrote to the head of the Commission, former Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton. She describes the inquest that seemed to implicate her son rather than the police and her hope that the Commission’s report would set the record straight.

This image has text. Esther Rice describes the day her son was killed and her experiences since that date.
|
This image has text. Esther Rice asks for help "revealing what really happened" the day her son was killed.
Esther Rice’s letter to William Scranton, head of the President’s Commission on Campus Unrest, November 11, 1970. Personal Papers of Harry Nicholas Rice. Call Number: PP 647. Click images to enlarge.

While the Commission admonished law enforcement for responding to mostly peaceful protests with violence and advised the U.S. President that ending the war in Vietnam would lead to more peace domestically, it did not go into the details of the Nick Rice shooting. In a social and media environment that blamed their son and the protesters for the violence, the Rice family filed a suit against the city of Lawrence for damages in the wrongful death of their son. After years of litigation, including fighting the KBI for access to their full investigation, the family decided to drop the case.

Esther Rice wrote of the experience in a manuscript called “Who Killed Our Son? An Account of the Circumstances and Subsequent Investigation of the Death of Harry Nicholas Rice” (Call Number: RH MS P617) that is also available at the Spencer Research Library. Over the years she continued to respond to news outlets that reinforced common narratives misrepresenting the case, such as the Kansas Alumni Magazine. While the files don’t include a copy of her letter, the editor’s response to her objection is included, along with the magazine in question.

This image has text. The letter concludes with "I hope you did not get the impression that the University's compassion and sympathy about the tragedy has lessened. It certainly has not."
The Kansas Alumni Magazine response to Esther Rice’s objection, April 17, 1985. Personal Papers of Harry Nicholas Rice. Call Number: PP 647. Click image to enlarge.

In absence of hard evidence, many newspapers reported that the overturned car burned that night, and some suggested that Rice was shot by sniper fire. It is unclear what “eye-witness accounts” the Alumni editor is referring to, but the KBI files include nearly one hundred eyewitness accounts. These files are the basis for this summary of the events, and they make it clear that the Volkswagen was turned over, but never burned. The files also show the statement “no proof existed that (the police) had fired the fatal shots,” to be untrue. The proof existed; it just wasn’t released to the public.

According to The Lawrence Times, Nick’s brother Chris Rice paid thousands in legal and copying fees to gain access to the files from the KBI. More than fifty years after the shooting, Chris finally learned the truth. Rice donated the files to the Spencer Research Library, and they are now ready for viewing in the Reading Room.

The Personal Papers of Harry Nicholas Rice include those photocopies of the KBI investigation, as well as Mrs. Rice’s correspondence with federal officials and personal papers dealing with the case against the city of Lawrence. Also included are magazines, newspaper clippings, and correspondence kept by the family. Spencer Research Library is honored to preserve these papers and to make the facts of the police shooting of Nick Rice available to the public for the first time.

Erika Earles
Manuscripts Processor

That’s Distinctive!: Lewis Lindsay Dyche’s Panorama

June 2nd, 2023

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 share some photos from the KU Natural History Museum’s collection within University Archives. In the library we house many photographs from the museum from throughout their years as well as some of their records. The photos we share this week show early displays of the museum’s panorama from 1893. From the museum’s website:

“The Panorama is an American cultural treasure, a 360-degree-view exhibit that embodies a historic first in the representation of nature for the public. As part of the official Kansas Pavilion in the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, it was unique and revolutionary in depicting, for the first time, mounted groups of North American mammals in their natural surroundings. Lewis Lindsay Dyche created this exhibit on the cusp of growing scientific awareness of ecological systems and the need to conserve natural resources for the better good…the exhibit has grown over the years to include more different environs and species. The Panorama represents the university’s early efforts to document and understand the life of the planet — research that continues today through the KU Biodiversity Institute.”

Sepia-toned photographs of two large animals, probably moose, locking antlers.
Sepia-toned photograph of two large animals (probably moose) locking antlers with a variety of smaller animals in the background.
Sepia-toned photograph of many animals, large and small, in a lightly-wooded environment with a tall rock feature in the background.
Sepia-toned photograph of the entire diorama, taken from across a hallway.
Views of the panorama created by Lewis Lindsay Dyche, 1893. University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 33/0 1893: Museum of Natural History (Photos). Click images to enlarge.

More on the history of the panorama and other exhibits can be found on the Natural History Museum’s website. Spencer Research Library also houses material on Lewis Lindsay Dyche, including his personal papers.

What made me choose the museum for this week? Well, I am a science lover by nature being an Anthropology major. But, the museum is also a great community resource. Not only for learning cool things, but for bonding and making memories.

The KU Natural History Museum offers four floors of exhibits for visitors of all kinds. The museum is open from 9am to 5pm, Tuesday-Sunday for the summer, with suggested donations upon entrance. The museum also offers “Museum from Home” options for those who are unable to visit.

Tiffany McIntosh
Public Services