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.
This blog may contain archived web content. This blog may link to catalog records which no longer exist as of a software change in 2026.
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Remembering Dr. King today with an image from the University Archives in the Spencer Research Library, home to some of the most precious materials in the world—-and to gems like this one–that capture remarkable moments in our rich KU history.
Trying to decide what you would like to do over the winter holidays? Why not get a head start on your research? Here is a list of the newest finding aids and additions to finding aids available at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library. Please scroll down for images from three of these collections.
Top: “Free the KU Twelve” buttons. Gail J. Hamilton Collection. Call Number: PP 497: Box 1, Folder 26; Left: Letter from Jennie Johnson to Will Johnson, January 26, 1886. Jennie Johnson Collection. Call Number: RH MS P909: Folder 1; Right: Letter from Ernest Boyd to Kenneth Reddin, October, 14, 1936. Kenneth Reddin Collection. Call Number: MS 14: Box 3, Item C1. Click images to enlarge.
Have you ever wondered what steps are involved in mounting an exhibit? We recently completed installation of “100 Years of Jayhawks: 1912-2012,” curated by University Archivist Becky Schulte, with assistance from Letha Johnson and Sherry Williams. The exhibit celebrates the evolution of the Jayhawk, the mascot of the University of Kansas, from the first, long-legged version drawn by Hank Maloy to the present design. This is the first exhibit to be mounted in a newly renovated space in Spencer, in the former location of the Special Collections reception area.
Becky Schulte retrieved many items from the stacks and determined the theme of each of the five cases. Assistant Conservator Roberta Woodrick and I covered the exhibit case bases with the cloth Becky had selected. Once the cases were ready, Becky laid out objects in the cases in rough configurations, determining the best location for each item while considering the flow of the exhibition “story.”
Initial layout of materials in the case. Click image to enlarge.
After items were placed in the cases, we constructed mounts for materials in order to elevate, highlight, and soundly support them during the course of the exhibit. For this exhibition we selected archival matboard and Volara polyethylene foam as mount materials, both of which are inert and will not chemically or physically damage objects on display.
University Archivist Becky Schulte positioning an item on matboard within the case.
Click image to enlarge.
Once the labels and mounts were finished, the Jayhawks were placed in the cases. We measured and determined safe lighting levels for the exhibition space to limit light exposure to objects on display.
Finished Product! The final version of one of the exhibition’s five display cases.
Click image to enlarge.
The exhibit will be on open through March and may be viewed during regular Kenneth Spencer Research Library Hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm, and (when regular classes are in session) Saturday 12:00pm-4:00pm . Please visit and let us know what you think!
For images from the exhibition’s opening celebration on Wednesday, December 5, please click on the thumbnails below.
Whitney Baker
Head, Conservation Services
Former conservation student assistant Haley Trezise reports on how she met the challenge of safely housing a group of metal Jayhawks.
I could hear the individual metal pieces sliding around inside before I even opened the box containing the metal Jayhawk paraphernalia. There was a small metal pendant set aside in an envelope; however, the rest of the items in the collection were awkwardly arranged at the bottom of a tall, slender box. Projects like this challenged me to find or make appropriate housing for Spencer items.
The challenge: A note to the archivist and two of several metal Jayhawk items all to be housed together.
Spencer Library Call Number: RG 0/25
I worked as a conservation student employee and Museum Studies intern during my last two semesters at KU. For one of my projects as an intern, I was asked to upgrade the housing for some metal Jayhawk paraphernalia. The parameters: all material should stay together in one box, including the accompanying written documents. I was provided a rather small, off-the-shelf box and told that all items should fit within that enclosure.
A new nest for metal Jayhawks. Spencer Library Call Number: RG 0/25
After considering various arrangements for best placement, I used plastazote foam, an inert (non-damaging) material that is easily shaped, to cut indentions for each object. I took a picture of the proper place for each item and placed it, along with the written information, in a sleeve inside the lid of the box. The image of what is stored in the box was also attached to the outside of the box so that the archivists can see what is inside without opening the lid.
Photos affixed to the exterior of the housing reveal at a glance the Jayhawk paraphernalia contained inside.
Spencer Library Call Number: RG 0/25. Click image to enlarge.
Haley Trezise
Former Conservation Student Assistant
I find the KU yearbooks to be one of the most informative and entertaining resources in the University Archives. When you open the covers you are transported back to the 1930s, 1960s, or even the 1900s. The yearbooks span from 1873 to the present and depict student life, campus growth, and university history as it was happening. By 1901 the University’s yearbook was given the name “The Jayhawker.” The name was chosen by a committee of student representatives from each class with the hope that “The Jayhawker” would become the permanent name of the Annuals of Kansas University. Their wish came true and the yearbook retains that title today.
The covers on display below have been chosen because they are indicative of the years they represent and are just plain fun – Enjoy!
Becky Schulte
University Archivist
Jayhawker: A Record of Events of the University of Kansas for the Year…
Spencer Library Call Numbers: LD2697 .J3 (Reading Room Reference Collection copy);
UA Ser 69/1 (University Archives copy). Click images to enlarge.
Above: 1902 Above: 1926-1927
Below: 1927-28 Below: 1930-31
Above: 1933-34 Above: 1934-35
Below: 1935-36 Below: 1949
Above: 1958 Above: 1959
Below: 1969 Below: 1985
Want to browse more yearbooks in person? Copies of all of KU’s yearbooks are housed with the reference collection in the Kenneth Spencer Research Library Reading Room (you don’t even have to fill out a paging request). Come in and travel back in time with a KU yearbook!