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.
Each week we’ll be posting a photograph from University Archives that shows a scene from KU’s past. We’ve also scanned more than 34,800 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!
September 15th through October 15th is National Hispanic Heritage Month! To help celebrate, this week’s post offers a peak into the history of the Latin American Student Union.
The KU student organization has been known as LASU since 2017, and the group describes itself as “a non exclusive social space for Latinx students at KU to find community.” According to a 2008 KU news release, LASU was “formed in 1971 as the Association of Mexican American Students.” The group “changed its name in 1974 to Movimiento Estuadiantil Chicano de Aztlan. In 1986, it became known as HALO [Hispanic American Leadership Organization] to better reflect the diversity of Hispanic representation. The group’s mission [was] to meet the academic, social and cultural needs of the Hispanic student population at KU.”
A performance showcasing Hispanic music and dance sponsored by HALO in front of the Kansas Memorial Union, October 17, 1997. Photographs by Scott Harper. University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 67/593 1997 Negatives: Student Organizations: Hispanic American Leadership Organization (Photos). Click images to enlarge.
Each week we’ll be posting a photograph from University Archives that shows a scene from KU’s past. We’ve also scanned more than 34,800 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!
We are celebrating KU’s 108th Homecoming this week with a look at a piece of ephemera from the 1939 event.
A KU Homecoming brochure, 1939. Shown are the front and back covers (top) and the inside illustration (bottom). University Archives. Call Number: RG 71/1 1939/1940: Student Activities: Homecoming. Click images to enlarge.
Each week we’ll be posting a photograph from University Archives that shows a scene from KU’s past. We’ve also scanned more than 34,800 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!
Portrait of Gale Sayers as a KU student, circa 1962-1965. Photograph by Duke D’Ambra. University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 66/14 Gale Sayers: Athletic Department: Football: Players (Photos). Click image to enlarge.
Gale Sayers training, circa 1962-1965. Photograph by Duke D’Ambra. University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 66/14 Gale Sayers: Athletic Department: Football: Players (Photos). Click image to enlarge.
Gale Sayers (No. 48) prepares to throw the ball during a KU football game, 1965. University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 66/14 Gale Sayers: Athletic Department: Football: Players (Photos). Click image to enlarge.
Gale Sayers signs autographs for Eric Pence and brothers Wayne and John Walker, November 30, 1974. Lawrence Journal-World Photo Collection, University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG LJW 66/14 Gale Sayers: Athletic Department: Football: Players (Photos). Click image to enlarge.
Gale Sayers – with Athletic Director Bob Frederick (left) and Chancellor Gene Budig (right) – holds up his jersey as his number is retired during a halftime ceremony during the KU-Oklahoma football game, September 30, 1989. Photograph by Gary Mook. University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 66/14 Gale Sayers: Athletic Department: Football: Players (Photos). Click image to enlarge.
Gale Sayers signs Patrick Golden’s football card during a card show at the Topeka Holidome, October 1990. Photograph by Staton Breidenthal. Lawrence Journal-World Photo Collection, University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG LJW 66/14 Gale Sayers: Athletic Department: Football: Players (Photos). Click image to enlarge.
Since the 1980s, librarians and readers have marked the last week in September as Banned Books Week – an effort to bring attention to banned or challenged books, celebrate the freedom to read, and promote discussions about the problem of censorship. While Banned Books Week has only been around since the late 20th century, the attitudes and actions that sparked the week’s inception are far from new. For centuries, people have sought to limit access to materials they deemed problematic.
In honor of Banned Books Week (this year September 27-October 3), I wanted to highlight a centuries-old list of banned books: the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (List of Prohibited Books). The Index Librorum Prohibitorum was a list of banned titles and authors published by the Catholic Church, starting in the 16th century. Here at Spencer Research Library, we have several early editions of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.
The cover (top) and title page (bottom) of the Index librorum prohibitorum, 1564. Call Number: Summerfield B1548. Click images to enlarge.
The cover (top) and title page (bottom) of the Index librorum prohibitorum, 1596. Call Number: Summerfield A793. Click images to enlarge.
Works included on the list were considered heretical or immoral by the Church with additions and changes continually being added throughout the years. The final edition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum was published in 1948; Pope Paul VI abolished the list entirely in 1966.
The Index included works by a variety of philosophers, scientists, and authors. Some notable people who appeared on the list (and whose work can be found at Spencer Research Library) include:
As times and ideas changed, titles and authors could also be removed from the list as they were no longer considered inappropriate by the Church. This was the case for Dante Alighieri, Nicolaus Copernicus, and Victor Hugo – all of whom were included on the list for a time.
Each week we’ll be posting a photograph from University Archives that shows a scene from KU’s past. We’ve also scanned more than 34,800 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!
This week’s post features an 1866 newspaper advertisement that announced the opening of the University of Kansas and the very first day of classes. According to one online resource, the $30 annual tuition for college-level courses would cost about $490 in 2020.
An advertisement in the Junction City Union newspaper, September 1, 1866. University Archives. This image appears in On the Hill: A Photographic History of the University of Kansas. Call Number: LD2688 .O5 1993. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
When KU opened in 1866, it consisted of the following:
Zero on-campus housing options for students. According to the KU History website, “during KU’s early years, housing was catch-as-catch-can, with many of the students in attendance usually hailing from the surrounding area. As such, many lived at home, or with faculty, or in other private residences.”
One building: the newly-constructed North College. The structure was fifty feet square with ten rooms and no central heating. Located where Corbin Hall now stands, North College was demolished in 1919.
Three faculty members: Elial J. Rice, David H. Robinson, and Francis Huntington Snow.
Fifty-five students: twenty-six women and twenty-nine men. KU was open to African Americans and women from the beginning. While co-education of women and men was becoming more common by the 1860s, it was still notable enough that a newspaper reporter traveling through the state in 1867 observed that “Kansas is sufficiently civilized to mingle the sexes in the higher schools without danger of folly or impropriety.”
Kansas did not yet have high schools in the 1860s, so the state’s handful of colleges provided that level of education. At KU, the Preparatory Department taught students who were not ready for college work.
