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!
The KU women’s basketball team, 1902-1903. University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 66/20/13 1902/1903: Athletic Department: Women’s Basketball (Photos). Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
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 Max Falkenstien, the “Voice of the Jayhawks” who broadcast University of Kansas football and men’s basketball games for sixty years. He died on Monday at age ninety-five.
Max Falkenstien with Big Jay during a halftime ceremony at Allen Fieldhouse, February 4, 1996. The event celebrated Falkenstien’s induction into the KU Athletics Hall of Fame; he was the first member of the media to receive this honor. University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG P/ Max Falkenstien (Photos). Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
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!
Good luck, Jayhawks, in today’s tournament game against Northeastern. We hope the fun continues with a second-round game this weekend!
Phog Allen with the KU men’s basketball team, 1935-1936. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 66/13 1935/1936 Team: Athletic Department: Basketball (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
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 andmade them available online; be sure to check them out!
Good luck on Saturday, Jayhawks! Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams play Iowa State.
A game between the KU men’s basketball team and Iowa State in Hoch Auditorium, 1933/1934.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 71/66/13 1933/1934: Student Activities:
Sports: Basketball (Photos). Click images to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
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 andmade them available online; be sure to check them out!
Did you know that KU basketball coach Phog Allen invented a new game called Goal-Hi in the 1930s?
Members of the KU basketball team playing Goal-Hi on campus, 1939. Bailey Hall and Jayhawk Boulevard are visible in the background.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 66/22 Forrest C. Allen
1939 Negatives: Athletic Department: Coaches and Staff (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
In his book Phog: The Most Influential Man in Basketball, author Scott Morrow Johnson writes that Allen’s personal finances suffered during the Great Depression of the 1930s. “By the end of the decade, he was making only about five thousand dollars annually, one of the lowest coaching salaries in the conference.” Goal-Hi was one of several “creative ways” in which Allen sought to increase his income. Although there was some initial interest in the game, it “never really caught on” (110).
