Kenneth Spencer Research Library

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 5,000 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

Celebrate Arbor Day tomorrow by enjoying this week’s images of some lovely trees in Marvin Grove.

Marvin Grove (Lovers Lane), 1920s. Note the corner of the football stadium in the background.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 0/24/1 Marvin Grove 1920s Prints: Campus:
Areas and Objects (Photos). Click on image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

Marvin Grove, 1940s. KU News Bureau. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 0/24/1 Marvin Grove 1940s Prints: Campus: Areas and Objects (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

Marvin Grove, 1977. Photo by Rob Johnson. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 0/24/1 Marvin Grove 1977 Prints: Campus: Areas and Objects (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

Melissa Kleinschmidt, Megan Sims, and Abbey Ulrich
Public Services Student Assistants

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 5,000 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

Spring General Elections for KU’s Student Senate are currently under way, characterized by computers and electronic ballots instead of paper forms and ballot boxes.

KU student election in Strong Hall, early 1950s.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 3/11 1950s Prints:
Student Government (Photos). Click image to enlarge.

Student Senate voting in Strong Hall, 1986-1987.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 3/11 1986/1987:
Student Government (Photos). Click image to enlarge
(redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

Melissa Kleinschmidt, Megan Sims, and Abbey Ulrich
Public Services Student Assistants

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 5,000 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

Next week (April 12-18) is National Library Week! First sponsored in 1958, this national observance is sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. As noted on the ALA website, “it is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support.”

In honor of this event, we’re getting a glimpse of how past generations of users, working in the pre-Internet age of the not-too-distant past, conducted research and found materials at KU Libraries.

A researcher using a microform reader, 1970s. You can still visit the
Spencer Reading Room to get some firsthand experience using a more modern version
of this tool. University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 32/0 1970s Prints:
University of Kansas Libraries (Photos). Click image to enlarge.

Patrons using the card catalog at Watson Library, 1981. Be sure to
take a peek at the Spencer card catalog the next time you visit our Reading Room.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 32/0 1981 Prints:
University of Kansas Libraries (Photos). Click image to enlarge.

A view of an early version of the KU Libraries electronic public catalog, 1987-1988.
Converting the old paper cards into this format was a big deal for staff and patrons,
but by today’s standards the catalog was still quite cumbersome: it could only be accessed
at designated terminals at the library, search and indexing capabilities were limited,
and graphical user interface did not exist. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 32/0 1987/1988 Prints: University of Kansas Libraries (Photos).
Click image to enlarge.

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

Melissa Kleinschmidt, Megan Sims, and Abbey Ulrich
Public Services Student Assistants

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 3,900 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

We selected this week’s picture because, in addition to Easter being this Sunday, the Kansas Relays will be taking place in Lawrence in a couple of weeks.

People dressed as rabbits on a float in the Kansas Relays parade, 1953.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 71/2 1953: Student Activities:
Kansas Relays (Photos). Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

Melissa Kleinschmidt, Megan Sims, and Abbey Ulrich
Public Services Student Assistants

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 3,900 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

This week’s image is a fun 1942 aerial photograph of KU and the surrounding area, looking northeast from Alabama and Sunnyside.

Aerial photograph of the KU campus, 1942. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 0/24/A 1942 Prints: University General: Campus: Aerials (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

Melissa Kleinschmidt, Megan Sims, and Abbey Ulrich
Public Services Student Assistants