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.
The Todd Family Photographs collection consists of thirty-seven photographic reproductions donated by Loretta Estelle Carraher. They depict three generations of her family, the Todds.
After they were freed from enslavement to a family in Platte County, Missouri, Adam and America Todd moved to Kansas with the Payne family, also freed from slavery. They raised six children, settling first in Leavenworth and then moving to Oskaloosa. Adam Todd died at the age of 98. America Todd died in 1920.
Below are a few images from the collection for you to enjoy.
America Todd, undated. Todd Family Photographs. Call Number: RH PH 74, Box 1, Folder 37. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Adam Todd, undated. Todd Family Photographs. Call Number: RH PH 74, Box 1, Folder 36. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Tom Todd (son of Adam and America Todd) and Eliza Walton Todd, undated. Todd Family Photographs. Call Number: RH PH 74, Box 1, Folder 8. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Unknown man in front of farmhouse, undated. Todd Family Photographs. Call Number: RH PH 74, Box 1, Folder 35. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Norman Estelle’s class at Lincoln School in North Lawrence, Kansas, undated. Todd Family Photographs. Call Number: RH PH 74, Box 1, Folder 28. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Soldier Bruce James, undated. Todd Family Photographs. RH PH 74, Box 1, Folder 7. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
From Spencer’s African American Experience Collections,I selected the following visual items to highlight the Black Family in the Kansas Region as representations of Black Love, Pride and Strengthduring the era of Jim Crow.
John Wilson family of La Cygne, Linn County, Kansas, 1907. O’Dell-Wilson Family Photographs Collection. Call Number: RH PH 63, Box 1, Folder 6. Click image to enlarge.
A sod house on the Robert Elliott family homestead near Montezuma in Gray County, Kansas, circa 1890s. Walker Family Papers. Call Number: RH MS-P 587, Box 1, Folder 44. Click image to enlarge.
Wedding party of Squire and Edna (Walker) Buster at Emma Walker’s homestead in Stevens County, Kansas, circa 1920s. Walker Family Papers. Call Number: RH MS-P 587, Box 1, Folder 36. Click image to enlarge.
The family of Clay and Mettie O’Dell in Topeka, Kansas, circa 1910. O’Dell-Wilson Family Photographs Collection. Call Number: RH PH 63, Box 1, Folder 7. Click image to enlarge.
Marriage certificate of Lorenzo Drake and Rosa A. Smith, Kansas City, Kansas, 1918. Lorenzo Drake Family Papers. Call Number: RH MS Q72, Folder 1, Item 1. Click image to enlarge.
Three generations of the John David Barker family in Topeka, Kansas, 1936. John David Barker Family Papers. Call Number: RH MS-P 775, Box 1, Folder 1. Click image to enlarge.
Two poems by John D. Barker in Selected Poems compiled by the Barker family, 1960. Call Number: RH C9072. Click image to enlarge.
Members of the Falls, Moore, Frye, Williams, and Brown families in Lawrence, Kansas, circa 1940s. Alberta Pitcher Papers. Call Number: RH MS-P 736, Box 1, Folder 3. Click image to enlarge.
Deborah Dandridge Field Archivist/Curator, African American Experience Collections Kansas Collection
