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.
On June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed the bill that designated the first Monday of September as a day to celebrate the workers of America known as Labor Day. Below are photographs selected from the Joseph J. Pennell Collection that feature workers in various occupations.
From the 1890s to the 1920s, Joseph J. Pennell photographed life in Junction City, Kansas, and the nearby Army base, Fort Riley. It is my belief that the strength of the collection is that Pennell wasn’t content to just stay in his studio, taking portrait photography. He went out into the community to photograph its people, businesses, activities, groups, and families. And Pennell was inclusive of community members from diverse groups, revealing a more complete representation of Junction City history. Because of his work, we are provided with a comprehensive view of life in a moderately-sized Midwestern army-post town on the Great Plains at the turn of the century.
A group of people at work in Dixon’s Laundry, 1899. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 468.5, Box 13. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Workers at a water works site, 1911. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 2339, Box 50. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Men and boys working in Counts Shoe Shop, 1915. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 2807, Box 60. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
A group of men working on a road with horse and mule teams as part of the Good Roads Movement, circa 1911. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 2464.16, Box 52. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Bakers in front of Frey’s Bakery, 1900. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 507, Box 14. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Miss Crook and Miss Mickey at a telephone switchboard, 1900. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 632, Box 17. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
A portrait of Alfred Londin and a friend in work clothes, 1916. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 2867, Box 62. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Dog owners love their dogs. This was as true one hundred years ago as it is today. Below are some portraits from the Joseph J. Pennell Collection that feature human subjects who have chosen to include their dog – or dogs – in their photo portrait. If you pay close attention to things like body positions and facial expressions, you will see how these human subjects feel about their pets.
From the 1890s to the 1920s, Joseph J. Pennell photographed life in Junction City, Kansas, and the nearby Army base, Fort Riley. The strength of the collection, in my opinion, is that Pennell wasn’t content to just stay in his studio, taking portrait photography. He went out into the community to photograph its people, businesses, activities, groups, and families. And Pennell was inclusive of community members from diverse groups, revealing a fuller and richer story of Junction City. Because of his work, we are provided with a comprehensive view of life in a moderately-sized Midwestern army-post town on the Great Plains from the 1890s to the early 1920s.
A double portrait of Ellen Marks, 1899. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 466.3, Box 13. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
A portrait of Fred Durand, 1901. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 700, Box 19. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
A portrait of Sgt. Blake (Fourth Cavalry Band), 1901. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 785, Box 20. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
A portrait of the Newman siblings, 1905. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 1539, Box 35. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
A portrait of Lieut. G. L. Morrison’s child, 1908. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 1951, Box 43. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
A portrait of Robert Carr, 1919. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 3039, Box 68. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Sgt. Lynch with his baby, 1898. Just a year later, on October 6, 1899, the Junction City Union reported the death of Sgt. Lynch. He was killed in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 315, Box 10. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
D.N. Hicks with his son, Lieutenant Harold Hicks, 1914. Just a year before this photograph was taken, the Junction City Sentinel carried the obituary of Mrs. Hicks, wife and mother. Lieutenant Hicks went on to be promoted to Colonel. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 2748, Box 59. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
John Orr with two of his sons, 1919. The Orrs had three sons: John E. Orr, Jr., Wilbur and Roy. All three enlisted during World War I, and all three were wounded and gassed on the front in France, but survived the war. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 3074, Box 69. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Lieutenant George S. Patton with his daughter, Beatrice, 1914. Patton was stationed at Fort Riley from 1913 to 1915. He was assigned to the Mounted Service School, and became the school’s first Master of the Sword, teaching a course in swordsmanship while a student. Patton would go on to become a general in command of the U.S. Seventh Army in the Mediterranean theater of World War II and the U.S. Third Army in France and Germany after D-Day. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 2759, Box 59. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
More photographs from the Pennell Collection follow, but unfortunately no other information could be found about the people in them.
The Lopez family, 1920-1921. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 3177.14, Box 72. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Lieutenant Dorsey with his baby, 1902. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 918.1, Box 24. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Lieutenant R.L. Cox with his baby, 1920-1921. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 3257.6, Box 74. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Alex Johnson with members of his family, 1913. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 2645, Box 56. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Captain Kinnington with his daughters, 1909. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 2180, Box 47. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Major Baird with his children, 1920-1921. Joseph Judd Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell, Print 3257.2, Box 74. Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
In this time of pandemic, we are all facing issues of material access and spending inordinate time in the halls of the internet. And if you’ve spent much time in the halls of the internet, then you are well familiar with memes. These pictures taken out of context and often slightly edited or at least with added text deliver small, precise, and often entertaining snippets of thought in an easily digestible, easily shareable format.
I mean, I suppose there are a few considerations. It is important to be aware of copyright concerns when it comes to both making and sharing memes. Is the work transformational? Is the selected image in the public domain? How do I do this meme thing anyway?
This post will deal primarily with finding and using University of Kansas digital collections as a source for memes. As such, I will focus on things that are clearly okay to use. This is going to mean things which clearly state use is possible as well as anything from before 1925. Beyond that, use may be possible but pay close attention to any rights statements and be aware of Fair Use doctrine application. The Kenneth Spencer Research Library addresses much of this in our section “Request Reproductions.”
Many use statements are going to include attribution. One of the easiest ways to do this in a meme format image is that once you have your meme generated, but before you share it, open the file properties. In the file properties you should be able to add author/artist and a note/comment including the attribution statement. Once those have been added to the file, then share!
From the Ground Up: Collection of landscape art with a few other things. Use statement allows use with attribution.
Invertebrate Paleontology: Photographs of invertebrate fossils. Use statement allows use with attribution.
KU Libraries – Digital Collections: Many images prior to 1925, published by a government entity, or otherwise available for use…still important to check the rights information of any image you use!
Once you have selected an image to use in making your meme, you will want to figure out what service you may want to use. There are several free-to-use options out there as well as using software such as Photoshop or Paint. I have used Adobe Spark, KAPWING, and imgflip in making the memes I’ve put on this page. They were all similar in ease-of-use. KAPWING offered a few features that were easy to find but has a more intrusive watermark. Imgflip was straightforward, but maybe not as many features. Adobe Spark required a registration that the others didn’t.
A couple of other articles you may find helpful in your meme-making future: “How to Make a Meme” by Gannon Burgett on Digital Trends and “Copyright for Meme-Makers” by Colleen McCroskey at Public Knowledge.
“When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.”
May is National Bike Month, so this week we’re sharing some photographs from the Kansas Collection that show turn-of-the-century Kansans with their bicycles.
Group of bicyclists participating in a Leavenworth-Kansas City bicycle race, 1896.
Leavenworth Public Library Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH 72.
Click image to enlarge.
Mattie Parrish with a bicycle, Junction City, Kansas, 1897.
Joseph J. Pennell Photograph Collection. Call Number: RH PH Pennell.
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
Samuel Elliott with his children Maude, Jeannette, Sam,
and Louise on a bicycle, circa 1904. Photo by Alfred Lawrence,
734 Massachusetts, Lawrence, Kansas. Elliott Family Papers.
Call Number: RH MS-P 338. Click image to enlarge.
Group sitting on a loading dock with a bicycle, circa 1913.
Kansas Collection Photographs. Call Number: RH PH P1088.
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
