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 this series to provide a lighthearted glimpse into the diverse and unique items at Spencer. “That’s Distinctive!” is meant to show that the library has something for everyone regardless of interest. If you have suggested topics for a future item feature or questions about the collections, you can leave a comment at the bottom of this page. All collections, including those highlighted on the blog, are available for members of the public to explore in the Reading Room during regular hours.
This week on That’s Distinctive! I am sharing a few items from the Katie Armitage papers. Per the finding aid, “Katie Hart Armitage is a Lawrence, Kansas-based independent historian. [She] has worked both in a voluntary and in an official capacity at the Watkins Museum of History in Lawrence and the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka, as a researcher, consultant, educator, and tour guide.” The collection, which consists of eight boxes and three oversize folders, “has been arranged into three series: Programs and special projects, Correspondence and Lawrence community materials, and Research materials.”
The items shared today are recipes from the Great Depression era, plus a later article from the Lawrence Journal-World titled “Depression Memories.” In the United States, the Great Depression was a severe economic downturn that spanned the 1930s. The stock market crash of 1929 marked the beginning of a decade of poverty, deflation, and lost opportunities. As noted in the Journal-World article, families had little money to get by. They could only afford the essentials, which meant they had to get creative with their recipes.
I found these documents interesting because it can be surreal to think about living through an event such as the Great Depression. We often don’t think about how those times affected people and the memories they left behind. As you look at the recipes, think about whether you would want to try them. Being a picky eater, they don’t sound too appetizing to me. But, I am sure that I would do whatever was needed to get by.
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Recipes for Depression cake and wheat nut homemade cereal, plus a 1998 Lawrence Journal-World article of local residents’ recollections of the Great Depression, with accompanying recipes. Katie Armitage Papers. Call Number: RH MS 1479. Click images to enlarge.
Check the blog each Friday for a new “That’s Distinctive!” post. I created this series to provide a lighthearted glimpse into the diverse and unique items at Spencer. “That’s Distinctive!” is meant to show that the library has something for everyone regardless of interest. If you have suggested topics for a future item feature or questions about the collections, you can leave a comment at the bottom of this page. All collections, including those highlighted on the blog, are available for members of the public to explore in the Reading Room during regular hours.
This week on That’s Distinctive! I am sharing an item from our collection of Lawrence Public Schools (USD 497) records. The collection spans 1858 to 2022 and contains a myriad of items including records, reports, newsletters, yearbooks, and photographs. The collection consists of 144 boxes, 33 oversize boxes, 24 oversize folders, 143 video tapes, 18 audio tapes, and seven CDs. According to the collection’s finding aid, “the State of Kansas unified Lawrence schools in 1965, creating Lawrence Unified School District #497, or the Lawrence Public Schools. This was during an era when schools were consolidating across the state in part due to better transportation options.”
The pages shared below are from “Charlsia’s Cordley [Elementary School] Recipe Book.” The document is undated, although other items in the box range from 1962 to 2012. The recipe book contains various recipe entries for date cake, applesauce salad, refrigerator rolls, and more. I assume the recipes were submitted by students.
Before finding this item, I did not know that the USD 497 collection existed. I was digging through the finding aids looking for old recipes when I found this folder. I thought it would be fun to share given the school district is here in Lawrence.
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Selected pages from “Charlsia’s Cordley Recipe Book,” undated. Unified School District 497 Records. Call Number: RH MS 1255. Click images 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 the tastiest collection I have ever found. It houses 62 recipes from central and southern Mexico dating to the early nineteenth century. Most of the recipes are undated, though one is dated 1817. The recipes are written in Spanish and Castilian with no authors indicated, though a few – like the recipe for “marmones” – include a name that appears to be a recipient (in this case Doña Maria Rafaela Vazquez). The recipes (both loose leaf and bound) were housed in a leather wrapper when they arrived at the library. For their preservation, the recipes have been re-housed in folders, and the leather wrapper kept with the collection. Just a little fun fact: the collection was processed by our former Spanish and Portuguese Preservation and Processing student, Indira Garcia Varela, back in 2019.
The original leather wrapper in which Spencer Research Library received the recipes. Call Number: MS 346. Click image to enlarge.
A conservation document showing the condition of the recipes before treatment. Call Number: MS 346. Click image to enlarge.
Examples of recipes within the collection include directions for making “enpanadas” (as it is spelled in the manuscript), tamales, tortas, and buñuelos. I am sharing three recipes below with a translation for bodin provided by Whitney Baker, Head of Conversation Services at KU Libraries, and Dr. Milton Machuca-Galvez, Assistant Librarian for Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American and Caribbean Studies. The recipes shown below are titled Bodin, Reseta de las Enpanadas, and Leche de Piña.
So why this collection? Having Mexican heritage myself, stumbling upon this collection in the finding aid really tugged at my heartstrings. The more I learned about the collection, the more fascinated I became. Sifting through the recipes, there were many items and words I recognized, and it can be interesting to see how the spelling of words has changed with time. The recipes are handwritten, which helps call to mind the person who wrote down the recipe roughly two hundred years ago. I was hesitant to share items in a language other than English given much of our audience is English speaking, but the collection is too fun to not to highlight.
The recipe for reseta de las enpanadas. Call Number: MS 346. Click images to enlarge.
The recipe for leche de piña, undated. Call Number: MS 346. Click image to enlarge.
The recipe for bodin, undated. Call Number: MS 346. Click image to enlarge.
Bodin = a 1 taza de leche 2/1 de pan frances, 6 huebos, una mantequilla, pasas y almendras. Todo esto se revuelbe muy bien, y se unta el sartén con mantequilla para que no se pegue hasta que esté de punto de Xericaya
Pudding = Add to 1 cup of milk, (half a?) French bread, six eggs, butter, raisins and almonds. Mix all of this well, and rub a frying pan with butter so that it doesn’t stick until it’s at the point of [consistency of] a jericalla [a Mexican custard dessert].
The gist of the last sentence, better worded, might be, “rub a frying pan with butter so it doesn’t stick, and mix all of this well until it’s at the consistency of a jericalla [Mexican custard dessert].”
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.
In case the
summer heat and humidity is getting to you, here are the finding aids newly
published to the Kenneth Spencer Research Library website in the last six
months. Come do some research in the cool air conditioning!
A flight attendant student at the TWA Training School practicing with a fire extinguisher. Trans World Airlines’ Hostess School Photographs. Call Number: RH PH 541. Click image to enlarge.
A recipe for “enpanadas” from an early nineteenth-century set of recipes from Mexico. These recipes – in various hands and on differently-sized pieces of paper – were originally placed together in a leather wrapper. Conservation staff recently disassembled the pages and placed them in folders. Staff included Shelley Miller Memorial Fund student Indira Garcia, who also inventoried the collection. Mexican Recipes. Call Number: MS 346. Click image to enlarge.
