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Inside Spencer: The KSRL Blog

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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.

Throwback Thursday: Alpha Kappa Alpha Edition

February 5th, 2015

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 1,700 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

This week we’re highlighting photographs of an historic KU organization found within Spencer’s African American Experience Collections. Additional materials about Alpha Kappa Alpha – primarily donated by former members – can be found in Spencer’s Kansas Collection by searching our online finding aids. Records and photographs documenting the Delta’s Chapter’s history at KU can also be found in University Archives at call number RG 67/128

Photograph of the Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Chapter, 1930

Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Chapter, 1930. Dorothy Hodge Johnson Collection.
Call Number: RH MS-P 549. Click image to enlarge.

The Delta Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated celebrates its first 100 years at the University of Kansas during the weekend of February 13-15, 2015. It is the first African American Greek-letter organization chartered at KU.

Their national organization, Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA), which began in 1908 at Howard University, is our nation’s first sorority organized by African American college and university women. Today AKA includes members from diverse racial and ethnic identities.

On Friday, February 13, 2015, from 1p.m. to 3p.m., Spencer Research Library will present a display of the Delta Chapter’s archives at the Oread Hotel. It will include these historical photographs (and the one above) from the Kansas Collection’s African American Experience Collections:

Photograph of the Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Chapter house, circa 1940-1949

AKA Delta Chapter house at 1101 Indiana in Lawrence, circa 1940-1949.
Dorothy Hodge Johnson Collection. Call Number: RH MS-P 549. Click image to enlarge.

Photograph of the Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Chapter Ivy Leaf Pledge Club, 1944

AKA Delta Chapter Ivy Leaf Pledge Club, 1944. Photograph by Duke D’Ambra.
Julia V. (Richards) Harris Collection. Call Number: RH MS-P 1179. Click image to enlarge.

Photograph of the Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Chapter Ivy Leaf Pledge Club, 1945

AKA Delta Chapter Ivy Leaf Pledge Club, 1945. Photograph by Duke D’Ambra.
Julia V. (Richards) Harris Collection. Call Number: RH MS-P 1179. Click image to enlarge.

Deborah Dandridge
Field Archivist and Curator
African American Experience Collections

Share Your Story: Documenting the Double V Campaign in the Kansas Region

June 21st, 2013

Although the nation’s color line continued to systematically exclude African Americans from equal access to employment, education, and housing, this segment of the Greatest Generation refused to give up on pushing for a double victory (“Double V”):  for democracy at home and abroad.

How did African American members of the Greatest Generation experience life on the domestic front and in the military during World War II?  

The University of Kansas Libraries is seeking to provide answers to this question by recording stories from the Kansas region’s African American men and women. These memories of family, community and/or military experiences during World War II are an integral part of the legacy of the Greatest Generation.

Photograph of Charles S. Scott, Sr. with unidentified group of soldiers, circa 1940s

Portrait of Sgt. Thaddeus A. Whayne, circa 1943 Photograph of Anna Woods in uniform, June 1943

Top: Charles S. Scott, Sr. with a group of soldiers, circa 1940s. Charles S. Scott Papers. Call Number: MS P-1145, Box 1, Folder 9. Bottom: Sgt. Thaddeus A. Whayne, circa 1943. Whayne Family Papers. Call number: RH MS-P 905, Box 1, Folder 1; Anna Woods, June 1942. Afro-American Clubwomen Project Collection. Call number: RH MS-P 705, Box 2, Folder 5. Click images to enlarge.

Sponsored in part by the Sandra Gautt KU Endowment Fund, which Professor Gautt established to honor her father, Sgt. Thaddeus A. Whayne (a member of the Tuskegee Airmen unit), this World War II oral history project is part of the ongoing effort of the African American Experience Collections to document life in the Kansas region.

If you would like to have your story recorded for future generations to know and better understand the past, please contact:

Deborah Dandridge

ddandrid@ku.edu

Phone: 785.864.2028

Tuskegee Airmen, Motion Field.

Photograph of Frederick C. Temple

Top: Tuskegee Airmen, Motion Field. Ross Merrill Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH MS-P P588, Box 1, Folders 3-4. Bottom: Frederick C. Temple sitting for his Oral History Interview, October 3, 2010.

Deborah Dandridge
Field Archivist, African American Collections, Kansas Collection

Do You Remember These People and/or Events in Wichita, Kansas?

February 28th, 2013

Do you remember these people and/or events in Wichita, Kansas? The Leon K. Hughes Photography Collection consists of more than 2,000 photographs documenting African American community life in Wichita, Kansas from the 1950s through the 1970s.

Photograph of Unidentified child's birthday party, n.d.

Photograph of Bridesmaid helping bride adjust her veil, n.d.

Photograph of Ted Crochet and unidentified bride and their wedding party, June 14, 1969.

Photograph of Rosie Hughes and unidentified girl surrounded by a variety of camera equipment, n.d.

From top: Unidentified child’s birthday party, n.d. Call number: RH PH 506 Box 1, Folder 5;  [?] Johnson and unidentified bride, n.d. Call number: RH PH 506 Box 3, folder 37;  Ted Crochet and unidentified bride and their wedding party, June 14, 1969. Call number: RH PH 506  Box 2, Folder 20; Rosie Hughes and unidentified girl surrounded by a variety of camera equipment, n.d. Call number: RH PH 506 Box 18, Folder 30. Click images to enlarge.

The University of Kansas Libraries is honored to steward the Leon K. Hughes Photography Collection and make it accessible to viewers worldwide. As you can see when you browse through the amazing photographs found in this collection, many pieces of information are missing. Names, dates and/or events may not be known; some information may be incorrect or misspelled.

The collection is not static – it is intended to grow and it needs to grow!

We need your help to identify the community represented through this comprehensive and timeless collection. If you have additional information about any of the descriptions related to the collection photos, please click on the “Add Comments” link in the “Related Objects” field for any image in the collection and your knowledge about the photo will be sent to us here at KU so we can revise the information. All digitized Hughes photographs can be found at http://luna.ku.edu:8180/luna/servlet/kuluna01kui~16~16.

You may also submit your information by contacting Deborah Dandridge (ddandrid@ku.edu).

Start exploring the collection:

Deborah Dandridge
Field Archivist/Curator, African American Experience Collections