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.
This blog may contain archived web content. This blog may link to catalog records which no longer exist as of a software change in 2026.
In honor of the celebrations surrounding the 250th birthday of the United States this week, we’re taking a look back at how KU commemorated the bicentennial fifty years ago.
A full-page advertisement in the University Daily-Kansan for the Sunflower Spectacular bicentennial fireworks show, July 1, 1976. University Archives. Call Number: UA Ser 69/2/1. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
A year of intensive planning, special projects, and varied events at the university culminated in the Sunflower Spectacular fireworks show at Memorial Stadium on July 4, 1976. The show “featured the cooperation of the University Alumni Association with Vince Bilotta as coordinator, the Summer Band Camp under the direction of Robert Foster, and the Lawrence Jaycees with their annual sponsorship of the fireworks display.” Prior to the show were afternoon and evening performances of patriotic music at the Memorial Campanile and Carillon, part of a bicentennial summer concert series. Lawrencians also participated in a broad array of off-campus festivities that weekend, concluding the Douglas County Bicentennial Commission’s similarly busy and productive year.
People at Memorial Stadium for the Sunflower Spectacular show, July 4, 1976. Photo by George Millener for the Lawrence Journal-World. Lawrence Journal-World Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH LJW (negatives). Click image to enlarge.
Fireworks during the Sunflower Spectacular show, July 4, 1976. In the first two images, note the spectators on the hill near the Campanile. Photos by George Millener for the Lawrence Journal-World. Lawrence Journal-World Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH LJW (negatives). Click images to enlarge.
A description of the fireworks show and preceding musical program in the Lawrence Journal-World, July 5, 1976. Article courtesy of the Google News Archive. Click image to enlarge.
A questionnaire attached to the final report of KU’s seventeen-member Bicentennial Committee stated that 1,335 individuals had been “actually involved and participating” in its various commemorative efforts. The Committee also estimated that more than 70,500 people had attended KU’s bicentennial events (“based on estimates where numbers could be determined”). “The philosophy of the University Bicentennial Committee,” noted the document, “was reflected in the nature of the projects and events that were identified and sponsored. The emphasis was upon activities that coordinated closely with the major missions of the University in its academic programs, its research projects, and its responsibility of service to the people of the state of Kansas.”
Reflecting back on the academic year, the editors of the 1976 Jayhawker yearbook wrote (somewhat hyperbolically):
If nothing else, the student of ’76 always will remember this year for the pomp and sure-coin-stance of the American Revolution Bicentennial. Attending an official Bicentennial university, living in an official Bicentennial community, taking a course in the history of the American Revolution from W. Stitt Robinson, professor of history and chairman of the KU Bicentennial Committee, celebrating homecoming with the theme of Jayhawk Rebellion, going to one of the five Humanities Series lectures with a Bicentennial theme, taking in a Saturday afternoon of Bicentennial music at Off-the-Wall-Hall, watching the official Bicentennial flag flutter in the Bicentennial breeze, seeing musical presentations, theater productions and museum exhibits with a Bicentennial flavor, applauding a Bicentennial Rock Chalk Revue, seeing the KU Symphonic Band off for a Bicentennial tour and dancing to Bicentennial banjos in a Bicentennial street dance during a Bicentennial Festival of the Arts were some of the things the Bicentennial student did.
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.
Coming up next week is Independence Day (July 4th). Many Fourth of July celebrations involve family get-togethers for quality time, food, and fireworks. In honor of this family time, we are sharing a cookbook out of our collections: 100 Years (1861-1961): Kansas Official Centennial Cook Book, to be exact. The book, published by the American Association of University Women in Manhattan, Kansas, shares favorite recipes of families throughout Kansas in commemoration of the state’s 100th anniversary. While we are just sharing a small portion of the recipes in the book, there are many more in its 101 pages. No matter how you celebrate the upcoming holiday, we hope it involves some good food and quality time.
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The cover of, and selected pages from, 100 years (1861-1961): Kansas Official Centennial Cook Book, 1961. Call Number: RH AK63. Click image 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 5,300 images from KU’s University Archives andmade them available online; be sure to check them out!
Fourth of July fireworks over the Campanile, 1981.
Gordon Holland, photographer. Look closely and you’ll see
Spencer Research Library in the background, plus people
sitting on the hill and in Memorial Stadium. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 0/24/1 Fireworks 1981 Prints:
Campus: Areas and Objects (Photos). Click image to enlarge.
Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services
Melissa Kleinschmidt, Megan Sims, and Abbey Ulrich
Public Services Student Assistants
To celebrate the Fourth of July, here are a selection of festive photographs from the Kansas Collection at Kenneth Spencer Research Library.
John S. Salmon (1867-1927), owner of Salmon Brothers Photography Studio, took these photographs of the 1898 Fourth of July Parade in Mount Hope, Kansas, located in the south-central part of the state between Wichita and Hutchinson. Operating his studio at the turn of the century, Salmon captured the town just as it was making the shift from horse transportation to the automobile.
Buggies decorated for the Fourth of July, Mount Hope, Kansas, 1898.
Salmon Brothers, Mt. Hope Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH 131.
Click images to enlarge.
Georgetown Band playing on the Fourth of July, Mount Hope, Kansas, 1898.
Salmon Brothers, Mt. Hope Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH 131.
Click image to enlarge.
Fourth of July parade, Mount Hope, Kansas, 1898.
Salmon Brothers, Mt. Hope Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH 131.
Click images to enlarge.
Additional records documenting the activities of the Salmon Brothers Photography Studio can be found at Wichita State University’s Special Collections and University Archives, which has made an inventory of the collection available online.
