Kenneth Spencer Research Library

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.

• Acton, Harold, 1904-1994. Letters to Geoffrey Elborn, 1978. (MS P736)
• Arkansas River Coalition. Corporate Records of the Arkansas River Coalition, 1997-2010. (RH MS 1268, RH Video 38)
• Condon, Edwyna Forsyth. Personal Papers of Edwyna Gilbert, 1955-2011. (PP 519)
• Creeley, Robert, 1926-2005. Letters by Robert Creeley, 1959-1965. (MS 15CR)
• Devin, Dorothy Barto, 1897-1987. Dorothy Barto Devin Diary, 1915-1916. (PP 500)
• Dyche, Lewis Lindsay, 1857-1915. Personal Papers of Lewis Lindsay Dyche, 1882-1914. (PP 66)
• Finlay, Ian Hamilton. Poetry and Correspondence, 1964-1967. (MS 48, MS Q49)
• Goff, Charles W. Manuscript letter of Charles W. Goff, 1918. (MS P734)
• Griffin, Dorr C. Manuscript journal of Dorr C. Griffin, 1914. (MS B174)
• Hall, E. Raymond (Eugene Raymond), 1902-1986. Personal Papers of E. Raymond Hall, 1890-1983. (PP 167, PP 513)
• Hamilton, Gail J. KU Twelve Incident, 1980-1983. (PP 497)
• Haydon, Benjamin Robert, 1786-1846. Clipping Book, 1813-1846. (MS 305)
• Hazard, Ebenezer, 1744-1817. Ebenezer Hazard letter to Jedidiah Morse, New York, 1789. (MS P737).
• Inge, William. Peter Stansky’s William Inge Collection, 1968-1972. (RH MS 1249)
• Jackson, Elmer C. (Elmer Carter), 1912-. Elmer C. Jackson papers, 1896-1999. (RH MS 410, RH MS 760, and additional call numbers)
• Johnson, Jennie. Correspondence of Jennie and Will Johnson, 1885-1888. (RH MS P909)
• Kaw Valley Quilters Guild. Kaw Valley Quilters Guild records, 1977-2011. (RH MS 695, RH MS 1248, and additional call numbers)
• Lawrence Association for Innovative Education. Alternative Schools in Lawrence Kansas, 1970-1980. (RH MS 1225, RH MS Q360, RH MS R324)
• Levertov, Denise, 1923-1997. Letter by Denise Levertov, 1964. (MS 15L)
• Pitney, Jerome. Letters of Jerome Pitney, 1882?-1888. (RH MS P908)
• Purdy, James. Letters to Geoffrey Elborn, 1976-1981. (MS 302)
• Reddin, Kenneth, 1895-1967. Writings and correspondence of Kenneth Reddin, 1914-1958. (MS 14)
• Rhodes, Richard, 1937-. Richard Rhodes papers, 1938-2011. (RH MS 1134  and additional call numbers)
• Sauer, Gordon C. (Gordon Chenoweth), 1921-. Personal papers of Gordon C. Sauer, 1947-1991. (PP 349)
• Shenk, Henry A., 1906-1989. Personal Papers of Henry A. Shenk, 1933-1971.  (PP 211)
• Sullivan, Anna C., 1848-. Collection of Anna C. Sullivan, 1914-1920. (MS B175, MS R11)

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.

Here at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, we take for granted that when you say “Sandy,” people know who you mean. Alexandra (Sandy) Mason (1931-2011) was a distinguished librarian who served the University of Kansas from 1957 until her retirement in 1998. She built special collections of extraordinary research value, guided generations of scholars and librarians, was a leader in the Rare Books and Manuscript Section of the American Library Association, and received numerous awards for her lifetime of accomplishments. More information about her is available here.

In May, 1999, many of her colleagues and friends gathered in Lawrence to mark Sandy’s retirement with a series of tributes appropriately titled Vivat Liber (“Long live the book!”). Upon Sandy’s death, the idea of publishing these tributes again came to mind as a way to honor her memory. It is with great joy and pride that I announce the publication of Vivat Liber: Reflections Marking the Occasion of Alexandra Mason’s Retirement from the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, which was made possible with the assistance of Stuart Roberts, Courtney Foat, Marianne Reed, and Brian Rosenblum.

Left: Vivat Liber: Reflections Marking the Occasion of Alexandra Mason’s Retirement from the Kenneth Spencer Research Library. Editor: Beth Whittaker. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Libraries, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1808/10486. Right: Sandy Mason. 8/14/1998. University Archives. Call Number: RG 41/0: Mason, Alexandra.

Click here to read Vivat Liber through KU Scholarworks.

Beth Whittaker
Head of Spencer Research Library

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

How better to end November than with a manuscript leaf depicting swineherds knocking acorns off trees for pigs to eat, a typical November activity in late medieval France? The leaf is from a calendar of feast days that was formerly part of a book of hours (a volume of devotional readings). The Latin text was copied onto vellum (treated calfskin) by a scribe and then richly decorated with colored and gold pigments. This particular leaf dates from approximately 1520. It demonstrates the persistence of manuscript book production more than half a century after the Gutenberg Bible was printed using moveable type (circa 1455) in neighboring Germany.

Leaf from Calendar for November (likely from a Book of Hours). France, vellum, ca. 1520?
Call number: MS A28. Click image to enlarge!

Karen S. Cook
Special Collections Librarian

Happy Thanksgiving from the Kenneth Spencer Research Library! As you eat your turkey (or tofurky) and pumpkin pie this holiday, enjoy a taste of Thanksgivings past from the Kansas Collection.

Above: Humphrey, Lyman Underwood (Kansas Governor 1889-1893). Thanksgiving Proclamation.
Topeka, KS: [State Printer?], 1889. Call Number: RH P872. Click image to enlarge.

Above: Pennell, Joseph Judd (photographer). Football Team Thanksgiving Day, Fort Riley.  1896.
Pennell Photography Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell: print 64.2: box 3: Pennell number 9401.
Click image to enlarge.

Above:  Pennell, Joseph Judd (photographer). Men Gathered in 20th Battery Dining Hall, Fort Riley, for Thanksgiving
Dinner.  1904. Pennell Photography Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell: print 64.2: box 3: Pennell number 9401.
Click image to enlarge.

Above:  Hughes, Leon K. (photographer). Graves-Williams-Dandridge Family at Thanksgiving.  Wichita, Kansas. 1953.
L. K. Hughes Photography Collection.  Call Number: RH PH506, box 12, folder 8. Click image to enlarge.

Want to see more?  Visit the newly launched Leon K. Hughes: African American Life in Wichita Kansas online exhibition (and contribute identifications and additional information through its interactive comment feature).  Browse photographs from the Kenneth Spencer Research Library in the University of Kansas Luna Insight Image Collections.