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.
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! I am sharing a glimpse into the lives of early pioneer homesteaders in Kansas. Coming from the R.H. Gandivan and R. Hugobook collection are photos (1883-1884) of early pioneers in front of their homes in Kansas. The collection consists of 24 photos from around the state. According to the finding aid, “the photographs depict pioneer families and their homesteads in the following Kansas counties: Clay, Jewell, McPherson, Mitchell, Ottawa, and Saline. Subjects include early pioneer houses and farmsteads, family groups, landscapes, and individual portraits.”
An entry in the Kansas Historical Society’s Kansapedia notes that “after the Civil War and before 1890 the population of Kansas increased by the greatest amount in its history. More than one million people streamed into Kansas seeking a new life on the frontier…Free and cheap land provided by the Homestead Act and the railroads attracted many settlers.” The Homestead Act was passed in 1862. Under its provisions, “settlers could claim 160 acres of public land. They paid a small filing fee and then had two options for getting title to the land…The Homestead Act led to the distribution of 80 million acres of public land by 1900.”
Houses in the late nineteenth century came in many shapes and sizes. The Old House Archives provide an idea of just how vast the design range was (though many have been updated as time goes on). Architectural Observer provides a brief glimpse into an empty late nineteenth century farmhouse.
A pioneer family and their farmstead in Mitchell County, Kansas, 1884. R.H. Gandiven and R. Hugoboom Photographs. Call Number: RH PH 547(f). Click image to enlarge.
A pioneer family and their farmstead in Mitchell County, Kansas, 1884. A note on the back of the photo reads “A little farm well tilled A house well filled A little wife well willed Mitchell ct Kansas, 1884.” R.H. Gandiven and R. Hugoboom Photographs. Call Number: RH PH 547(f). Click image to enlarge.
A family in Ottawa County, Kansas, 1884. R.H. Gandiven and R. Hugoboom Photographs. Call Number: RH PH 547(f). Click image to enlarge.
A common school in McPherson County, Kansas, 1884. R.H. Gandiven and R. Hugoboom Photographs. Call Number: RH PH 547(f). Click image to enlarge.
If you would like a glimpse into the life of a Kansan in the late 1800s, check out our earlier post featuring a Kansas farmer’s diary from 1896 or this post about letters and diaries of Kansas women in the 1860s. The library also houses the diary of Maude Egbert (a Kansas farm wife during the 1940s) and many others from throughout history.
Any red-blooded Kansan holds these truths to be self-evident: the state flower is the sunflower, the state bird is the meadowlark, the state tree is the cottonwood, and Kansas Day is January 29. We celebrate this day as the anniversary of the entrance of the state to the Union in 1861. This year (2024) the state turns 163 years old (though she doesn’t look a day over 130). But as our comrades across the state and beyond observe Kansas Day, some may wonder how to properly celebrate.
The front cover of the Patriotic Manual and Guide for Classroom Observance of Special Days. This guide was published by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1954, though several editions have been published over the years. Call Number: RH C6170. Click image to enlarge.
Unsure of how to appropriately commemorate the anniversary of statehood, we can look to the Patriotic Manual published by the state in 1954. Under the section on Kansas Day, it is said that Kansas Day was born in Paola in 1877, when schoolchildren became so awakened to patriotism that they searched encyclopedias and called upon their parents and community to furnish local history and interesting facts about Kansas. When Kansas Day came, the school blackboard was covered with careful drawings of the state seal and maps, along with songs and poems, with the state motto “Ad astra per aspera” written in crimson and blue chalk.
Along with the fabled history of Kansas Day, the Patriotic Manual contains state laws describing the Great Seal of Kansas and the Capitol building in Topeka as well as a selection of songs and poems that embody the fine and glorious spirit of the state. These poems are reprinted below.
|
|
|
Kansas poems from the Patriotic Manual and Guide for Classroom Observance of Special Days, 1954. Call Number: RH C6170. Click image to enlarge.
This patriotic manual from 1954 and an updated edition from 1973 are housed at Spencer Research Library. For digital access, the guide has been digitized by the Kansas State Library.
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! I am showing something that may not be so relatable today. Below is an image of the first page of a pamphlet titled The Anti-Horse Thief Association: What It Is; What It Is Not. The pamphlet states that the association was founded in Clark County, Missouri, in 1854. According to the finding aid, it “was a grass-roots organization of U.S. citizens that emerged…as a vigilance body for prevention of theft, especially horse stealing.” The “effectiveness of such an organization quickly became apparent,” noted a 1912 history of Kansas, so “the order spread to other states, and in time covered a large expanse of territory. After the [Civil War] was over, when the conditions that called the association into existence no longer existed, its scope was widened to include all kinds of thefts and a national organization was incorporated under the laws of Kansas.” Law-abiding citizens over 21 years old could apply for membership to the AHTA. In 1926, the organization changed its name to the Anti-Thief Association in response to automation replacing horses.
The Anti-Horse Thief Association collection found at Spencer Research Library houses a couple of minute books, the pamphlet shown, a newspaper clipping, and a blank property description form (also imaged below).
The first page of the undated pamphlet The Anti-Horse Thief Association: What It Is; What It Is Not. Call Number: RH MS P860. Click image to enlarge.
An undated Anti-Horse Thief Association blank property description form. Call Number: RH MS P860. Click image to enlarge.
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! I am sharing a collection of Lawrence Bank banknotes. According to the finding aid, “the collection contains four Lawrence Bank notes of three and five dollar denominations. These notes are imprinted with ‘The Lawrence Bank, Lawrence, Kansas’ but were probably issued by the Lawrence National Bank, which was established in the 1860s.”
Incorporated by the territorial legislature in 1858 and located on the east side of Massachusetts street in downtown Lawrence, the Lawrence Bank opened for business in 1860. According to an article in the Lawrence Business Magazine, “the Lawrence Bank issued currency in various denominations, but only bills for $1, $2, $3 and $5 are known to survive.” The existence of the Lawrence Bank was short-lived, as “Quantrill’s raiders robbed and burned the bank. It never reopened after the raid but continued to redeem currency presented for payment until it closed for good in January 1864.”
As seen in the images, the banknotes came into the library’s possession as fragments. They were pieced together and preserved by the Libraries’ conservation department. It’s not often that fragmented items are adhered to a secondary layer, but at times it is deemed necessary by our conservators and curators.
|
Fragments of four undated Lawrence (Kansas) Bank banknotes, circa 1860s. Call Number: RH MS P433. Click images to enlarge.
The letters of Guy Hatfield are a collection of 50 letters written by a traveling salesman to his wife, Nell, living in Kansas City, Missouri. He made his living traveling throughout the Midwestern United States. His letters document his travels between Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma Territory, Colorado, Missouri, and Illinois, all in the hopes of making a quick buck. Though little is known about Guy Hatfield’s life outside of the collection of letters here at Spencer Library, he is associated as a contemporary of the better-known George B. McClellan, a traveling medicine man and Wild West showman. [i]
Guy’s letters to his wife, Nell, give a window into his business life as a traveling salesman. Rarely was business good. Inclement weather would keep the townspeople in their homes and slow business. Sometimes “biz” (as Guy called it) in company towns was centered around payday; setting up shop at the right time was key. Risk of illness and outbreak of the “grip” (also written as grippe, an old-fashioned term for the flu) could also be a detriment to business.
In a letter written from Davenport, Iowa, in September 1891, Guy’s typically neat handwriting is shaky and the message short. Is Guy in the grips of the Grippe? Letters of Guy Hatfield. Call Number: RH MS 1371. Click image to enlarge.
The letters give a wealth of information beyond Guy’s correspondence to his wife. His travels, most often by train, show the rail network in the Midwest and Great Plains around 1890. The stationery and envelopes, bearing the names and proprietors of the hotels Guy stayed at, give us a list of the hotels and innkeepers that served travelers as they crisscrossed the country.
Guy Hatfield’s travels in winter 1889/1890 outlined on a Kansas railroad map. Based on the order of his letters, he traveled to Wymore and Beatrice (Neb.) and south to Manhattan and Salina (Kan.). He then headed up to Red Cloud (Neb.) before going to Wichita and Winfield (Kan.). From there, he ventured into Oklahoma Territory. He returned, stopping in Emporia and Osage City (Kan.) before returning to Kansas City. Call Number: RH Map R452. Click image to enlarge.
The back of an envelope for the St. James Hotel in Manhattan (Kan.) features a verbose ad for Merchant’s Gargling Oil Liniment, November 1889. Letters of Guy Hatfield. Call Number: RH MS 1371. Click image to enlarge.
So what exactly did Guy Hatfield sell? His letters mention glasses and figurines (mislaid and broken by the railroad company), wigs, a mummy, a gorilla, a skeleton (in one letter, a gorilla skeleton), and medicine (though he does not say if it is for resale or personal use). In one of his letters, he mentions his attempts to sell his whole museum to one or more interested parties in Wichita, but bad luck seemed to prevent the sale from going through. He blames an associate named Converse, who he calls a “dead rank Jonah.”
Whatever it was Hatfield was trying to sell, few were interested in buying. With a few exceptions, the common thread through the letters are complaints of low revenue, high expenses, and excuses for why he cannot yet come home. The letters begin in October 1889 in Sioux City, Iowa, where Guy complains about losing lots of money. In the last letter, dated February 25, 1892, he is staying in Pittsburg, Kansas, a couple days longer with hopes of making a few dollars. As to his association with the famous George McClellan, a letter from January 22, 1891, suggests the nature of their friendship: “George has not answered any of my letters at all nor sent me a cent[.]”
Beyond these three years of flourishing (if we can call it that), little is known about Guy Hatfield or his wife Nell. The Kansas City addresses on the envelopes no longer exist. A search of digitized newspapers reveals two stories of a Guy Hatfield, who may or may not be the same as our ambitious and unlucky letter-writer. A newspaper report in the Kansas City Journal from January 1898 tells the story of a salesman of the same name attempting suicide in a saloon; a report from the Topeka State Journal from July of the same year reports on the impending execution of a soldier bearing the same name, who, “in a drunken row soon after pay day,” stabbed another soldier to death.
When we think of archival collections, we often give too much credit to the movers and shakers of history. It makes sense that the Kansas Collection at KU’s Spencer Library would hold the personal and professional papers of governors, senators, and other pillars of the civic community. But there is much to learn about the world of the past in collections like the letters of Guy Hatfield. He lived during an era we like to call the Gilded Age. But through his own words, we are reminded that to many, it may not have been so gilded.
