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.
A séance with L.E. James (Jim) Helyar, our late fellow librarian, and bibliographer of KU’s foundational Ralph N. Ellis collection of ornithology, is in order.
In our recent attempts to catalog mysterious heretofore unidentified bibliographical puzzlements in our Ellis collection backlog, we nailed the identity of a royal folio without a title page that had stymied Jim: he knew it was related to Alexander Wilson’s American Ornithology, but not how. Even though Jim was closer to solving this who-done-it than he knew, he wrote in notes left behind that “I don’t immediately see anything under Wilson or Bonaparte which corresponds.” “I suspect it’s something that ‘every [ornithological bibliographical] schoolboy knows’, but not me.”
Apparently, Jim was thrown off by the “Wilson/Bonaparte, American Ornithology” notes written at the bottom of the vulture plate shown below, so in fact who-done-it was not exactly who Jim thunk done-it. This messy (both physically and bibliographically) volume turned out to be an imperfect variant of one of our exceedingly rare ornithological tomes: the royal folio edition of Scottish naturalist Captain Thomas Brown’s Illustrations of the American Ornithology of Alexander Wilson and Charles Lucien Bonaparte, published in Edinburgh in 1835 (Call Number: Ellis Aves H76). This volume was created as an atlas to accompany a much earlier text, Alexander Wilson’s AmericanOrnithology, first issued in Philadelphia between 1808 and 1814. In his notes Jim mentions Thomas Brown only as one of the artists credited for the “Wilson derived illustrations.”
A plate in Thomas Brown’s Illustrations of the American Ornithology of Alexander Wilson and Charles Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Musignano. With the addition of numerous recently discovered species, and representations of the whole sylva of North America superbly illustrated with 124 large copper plates engraved by Lizars, Scott, Mitchell and others all beautifully colored by hand. Edinburgh: Frazer & Co., 1835. Call Number: Ellis Aves H161. Click image to enlarge.
Close-up view of the handwritten note at the bottom of the vulture plate in Thomas Brown’s Illustrations. It reads “Wilson, A, & C. L. Bonaparte. American Ornithology. 4 vols. See VIII 90.” Call Number: Ellis Aves H161. Click image to enlarge.
I have created a small exhibition of the two copies, plus my start on what could be an arduous time-taking continent- and/or world-crossing project, to complete a census, not altogether do-able, ideally, entirely on-line or by phone. I was tempted at first to try the on-line and phone route, but same as with Jim perhaps … oh, the press of time …
The exhibit is free and open to the public in the North Gallery through September 16.
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.”
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).
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).
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).
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).
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 a photo collection from the flood of 1951. The photographs were taken by U.S. Naval Air Station Olathe personnel, unit NA87-2098-7-51 (Call Number: RH PH 172). According to Kansapedia, “July 13, 1951, has been called by some Black Friday.” This is the day that historic floods swept through the Kansas River Valley. Flooding began in Manhattan and continued down to Topeka, Lawrence, and Kansas City. The Kansas River crested in Lawrence at 29.90 feet, which was 11.90 feet above flood stage. In the end, 116 towns and cities were affected with 85,000 people evacuating homes and 10,000 farms suffering damage. According to the National Weather Service, damage was estimated to cost $760 million, which would be over $5 billion today.
North Lawrence in the vicinity of the Union Pacific Railway station at the height of the flood, 1951. 1951 Flood – Lawrence and Kansas City, Kansas, Photographs. Call Number: RH PH 172. Click image to enlarge.
The bridge over the Kansas (Kaw) River looking toward North Lawrence at the height of the flood, 1951. 1951 Flood – Lawrence and Kansas City, Kansas, Photographs. Call Number: RH PH 172. Click image to enlarge.
Locust Street in North Lawrence, 1951. 1951 Flood – Lawrence and Kansas City, Kansas, Photographs. Call Number: RH PH 172. Click image to enlarge.
North Lawrence, looking south, at the crest of the flood, 1951. 1951 Flood – Lawrence and Kansas City, Kansas, Photographs. Call Number: RH PH 172. Click image to enlarge.
The library houses many collections that share local history. Search our finding aids to see what we have.
More images of the flood can be found in person within other collections at Spencer or online through the Watkins Museum of History website.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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 the matchbook collection of Richard Olmstead. Born in Lawrence in 1921, Olmstead collected matchbooks from Lawrence and the surrounding areas during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. The images shown today cover Lawrence, Kansas, with notable businesses such as Round Corner Drug, which used to occupy Massachusetts Street.
Why share matchbooks? This collection shows that Spencer houses so much more than books. The collections contain many unique and interesting items from throughout history.
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Selected pages of matchbooks from Lawrence, Kansas, circa 1920-1947. Richard Olmstead Matchbook Collection. Call Number: RH MS D301. Click images to enlarge.
