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 sketchbook from the Papers of Lady Pauline Trevelyan. As noted in the finding aid, Lady Pauline Trevelyan (1816-1866) was a “writer, traveler, etcher, and painter of watercolors. She was also known as a naturalist and scientist.” Her collection here at the library holds mostly journals, notebooks, and sketchbooks. The collection consists of 69 volumes and one document case.
I actually first came across this collection when we had a researcher viewing it in the Reading Room. Otherwise, I am not sure I ever would have stumbled upon it. While I have not viewed the journals, the sketchbooks fascinated me because they are quite thin and all different sizes. Due to age, some of them are quite fragile. The sketchbook shared today is from Paris in 1863. This particular sketchbook is quite small (similar to a small spiral notepad) which makes the paintings that much more impressive.
To get a “taste” of Pauline Trevelyan’s journals, see the 2012 blog post “An Easter Pizza in Umbria, Italy in 1842” by former Special Collections Librarian Karen S. Cook.
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Selected pages from a sketchbook by Lady Pauline Trevelyan in Paris, 1863. Trevelyan Collection. Call Number: MS K1, volume 9. 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 some scans of the New Women’s Times, a feminist newspaper from Rochester, New York, circa 1975-1984. I found this item last year while looking for Women’s History Month items. While it didn’t make the cut in 2023, I knew I wanted to share it eventually because the idea behind this paper really interested me. My preliminary research has turned up limited information. The paper appears to have first been published in 1975, and it apparently ended in 1984 after a call for feedback and donations went unanswered. According to the paper itself, it was published on a monthly basis except in August. A basic one-year subscription was $15. The pages shared today are from issues from 1983. As seen from the table of contents, the paper covered topics including women’s health issues, women’s rights, and so much more.
The New Women’s Times is housed within the library’s Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements. Established in 1965, the collection “is one of the largest assemblages of U.S. left- and right-wing political literature in the country.” Primarily covering the 1960s to the present, the collection comprises of more than 100,000 items such as books, serials, audio tapes, ephemera, and archival materials. The Wilcox Collection came to the library by way of Laird Wilcox, a researcher of political fringe movements. According to the finding aid for Spencer’s collection of Wilcox’s papers, “in 1964, Wilcox’s collection of political ephemera earned first prize in KU’s student book collecting contest. Emerging from that nucleus, the Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements was established at the University of Kansas in 1965, with Wilcox as its founder.”
Many copies of the New Women’s Times are available online via JSTOR.
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The front page of New Women’s Times from March (top), June (middle), and September (bottom) 1983. Call Number: RH WL G561. 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 Uncle Henry’s Letters to the Farm Boy (1897) by Henry Wallace. Wallace (1836-1916) was born and raised on a farm in Pennsylvania. He spent much of his life on the farm before becoming a writer. By the time of his death, Wallace had written a total of six books. The University of Iowa Special Collections Department houses a collection of Henry Wallace’s papers including some diaries.
Each chapter of Uncle Henry’s Letters to the Farm Boy addresses a different thing a farm boy might encounter throughout his life. The chapters include “the farm boy and his father,” “the farm boy and his future business,” and “the farm boy and his education” (all shown below). The book at Spencer is a second edition printing and is signed by Henry Wallace himself.
I found this book merely by coincidence. I stumbled upon it one day while walking through the stacks. I was curious to see if the title was as literal as it seemed, and it was. I always find books like this fascinating because it shows a glimpse into what life was like back then.
The front cover of – and selected pages from – Uncle Henry’s Letters to the Farm Boy by Henry Wallace, 1897. Call Number: RH B2381. 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 share a scrapbook of Kansas news items. Originally a copy of Tommy Trot’s Visit to Santa Claus by Thomas Nelson Page (1908), the book is pasted with various news articles from the early 1900s. Created by Margaret Thomas Henderson, the 91-page scrapbook houses news clippings about topics such as the University of Kansas, the Lawrence community, the history of Kansas, and notable people from the time.
Margaret Thomas Henderson was born in Parsons, Kansas, in 1880. According to the finding aid for the scrapbook, she “enrolled at the University of Kansas in 1898, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with a liberal arts degree in 1905.” Margaret gifted the book to the library in 1952, just two years before she passed.
The front cover of – and selected pages from – Margaret Thompson Henderson’s Kansas scrapbook, circa 1908-1924. Call Number: RH MS C90. Click image to enlarges.
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.
