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! we share a book from Spencer’s Children’s Book Collection, which is housed within Special Collections. The book, East of the Sun and West of the Moon: Old Tales from the North, was published in 1914. The book shares folklore from Norway and is illustrated by Kay Nielsen. Nielsen contributed twenty-five color and monotone plates to the book along with other printed images.
According to Wikipedia, Kay Nielsen (1886-1957) was a popular Danish illustrator in the early twentieth century. Nielsen illustrated works such as Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen, Other Stories by the Brothers Grimm, and Red Magic. In addition to these works, Nielsen contributed his artwork to Disney in works such as Fantasia. Unfortunately, Nielsen spent his final years in poverty. His last works were for local schools and churches in Los Angeles, California.
Why this item? It gives a unique look into a children’s book with more than simple illustrations. The detail in the artwork alone is enough to draw a reader in. I recently brought my family in to Spencer for a tour and to show them several items from the collections. This book was one of those items and it really drew their attention.
The front cover of East of the Sun and West of the Moon: Old Tales from the North, illustrated by Kay Nielsen, 1914. Call Number: Children D230. Click image to enlarge.
An endpaper in East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Call Number: Children D230. Click image to enlarge.
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Selected illustrations from the folktale “East of the Sun and West of the Moon,” the first one in the book of the same name. Call Number: Children D230. 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.
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.
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 in honor of Pride Month we share the Pride Guide from the 1990 Kansas Pride celebrations in Wichita. The guide is a part of the Bruce McKinney papers here at the library. Bruce McKinney began his journey as an LGBT activist during the 1960s. The collection reflects his involvement in the community as an activist and an archivist. He began collecting items related to the LGBT community in his youth and continued through the 1980s. Donated in 2008, the collection holds 142 boxes, 147 oversize boxes, 21 card files, and 13 oversize folders. For those who have never been to the library, that is a massive collection!
Selected pages from the 1990 Wichita, Kansas, Pride Guide: the cover, an event schedule, and a parade map. Papers of Bruce McKinney. Call Number: RH MS 1164, Box 28, Folder 41. 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! we highlight a book from Special Collections titled Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction by Hallie Q. Brown. The book, published in 1926, highlights notable African American women of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by, in the words of a Google Books summary, telling the stories of “[enslaved people] and social workers, artists and activists, cake makers and homemakers.” In so doing, it offers “unusual insight into female networks, patterns of voluntary association, work, religion, family life, and Black women’s culture.” The book highlights many notable figures such as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Dinah Cox, Matilda J. Dunbar, and Martha Payne (mother of Daniel Alexander Payne).
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The front cover of – and selected pages from – Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction by Hallie Q. Brown, 1926. Call Number: Howey C6221. Click image to enlarge.
According to Britannica, author Hallie Q. Brown was an
“American educator and elocutionist who pioneered in the movement for African American women’s clubs in the United States. In 1893 Brown was a principal promoter of the organization of the Colored Woman’s League of Washington, D.C., which the next year joined other groups to form the National Association of Colored Women. In 1893 she was appointed professor of elocution at Wilberforce University, but her teaching duties were limited by her frequent and extensive lecture tours, notably in Europe in 1894–99. Her lectures on African American life in the United States and on temperance were especially popular in Great Britain, where she appeared twice before Queen Victoria. She was a speaker at the 1895 convention of the World’s Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in London and a representative of the United States at the International Congress of Women there in 1899. Browns other works include Bits and Odds: A Choice Selection of Recitations (1880) and First Lessons in Public Speaking (1920).”
The title page of Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction with a picture of author Hallie Q. Brown. Call Number: Howey C6221. Click image to enlarge.
Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction is a part of the Howey Collection within Special Collections at Spencer Research Library. The Howey Collection houses many books that originate from the Gerritsen Collection. Spencer’s copy of this volume originally came from the library of physician and women’s activist Aletta Jacobs (1854-1929) and her husband C. V. Gerritsen, who collected books, pamphlets, and other materials on women’s issues. Acquired by the John Crerar Library of Chicago in 1903, the Gerritsen collection was purchased with other Crerar Library materials by the University of Kansas in 1954. The collection was microfilmed and is now available digitally through subscription to libraries worldwide.
The John Crerar Library bookplate in Spencer’s copy of Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction. Call Number: Howey C6221. Click image to enlarge.
A digital copy of the book can be found at Documenting the American South, or the library’s physical copy can be viewed in the Reading Room, Monday through Friday between 10am and 4pm.
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! we are sharing miniature (tiny) Bibles. We have many tiny books within Special Collections, including the Bibles shown below. The three Bibles range in size from 1 ¼” to 2 ¾” wide. Though the text is quite small, they can be read like regular sized books. However, some other tiny books within the collections are not readable by the naked eye.
So why miniature books? They’re pocket sized! According to the Oxford Companion to the Book, which is available at Spencer Research Library and (for KU users) online, “miniature books, with the exception of micro-miniatures, are normally produced to be read without the aid of magnification, and rarely exceed 3in. in height. The earliest miniature books were MSS [manuscripts] made from papyrus or parchment in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD.” Miniature books have been of high interest throughout time. From Bibles, to Greek and Latin classics, to the works of Shakespeare and Robert Burns, books of all kinds have been converted to miniature formats. There have even been instances of miniature books being produced to supply libraries within doll houses. “Over the last century, miniature books have featured as specialist areas of both fine press printing and fine bookbinding.”
Within Spencer Research Library, Special Collections holds over 250 miniature books. Their call numbers generally include the size designation “t” (for “tiny”) or “tk” (for oblong miniature books). To qualify for a “t” call number in Spencer’s Special Collections, books must be between zero and ten centimeters in size. Some books such as Children 3957 (below) have yet to be cataloged at a designated “t” call number.
The front cover of The Bible in Miniuture [sic], or, A Concise History of the Old and New Testaments, 1780. Call Number: t170. Click image to enlarge.
The front cover of a miniature Bible, 1816. Call Number: Children 3957 [no online catalog record]. Click image to enlarge.
The front cover of Novum Testamentum domini nostri Jesu Christi, vulgatae editionis (i.e. the New Testament of the Bible), 1844. Call Number: t40. Click image to enlarge.
The three miniature Bibles in a horizontal row. Call Numbers, from left to right: t170, t40, and Children 3957. Click image to enlarge.
