Kenneth Spencer Research Library

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.

There will be no That’s Distinctive! post next Friday, May 19. Posts will resume on May 26.

This week on That’s Distinctive! we offer a glimpse into a day in the life of Maude Egbert (1878-1955). The library houses a diary of hers that documents an entry a day for five years. This five-year diary kept by Maude Egbert of Clyde, Cloud County, Kansas, provides a regular accounting of her life as a farm wife during World War II. Activities or events she noted include sewing, entertaining and visiting friends and family, cooking, house cleaning, canning, personal health, farm activities like threshing, acquiring a swarm of bees, creek and river flooding, and the weather. Throughout the diary she calls her husband “Dad.”

The diary Maude used is called Five-Year Horoscope Diary: Your Destiny Day by Day. It was written by Samuel Nisenson and published in 1936 by World Syndicate Publishing. Maude used her diary from 1943 to 1948, although there are some large gaps where she did not fill it out. There are also some pages where the years are written out of order.

April 7, 1943 got my chickens
Thrashed the alfalfa & [kaiffer?]

19[44] Ruth Martha & Teddy [Maude’s daughter and granddaughters] came for
Easter vacation

19[45] Went to Concordia

1948 Esther & Emma [Mayson?]
Went to Mile Society I visited Mrs
Crouse Orville [Maude’s son] made garden
to day

19[47] Doris [Maude’s granddaughter] took my washing
to do Dad was sick yesterday
& to day Roy ate dinner with us

April 8, 1943 Mary [Maude’s granddaughter] & I went fishing cought
a nice mess. Dad went to [illegible]. bought
a disk had a light [rain?] the first since
[illegible] second

19[44] Ruth Esther & Doris [Maude’s daughter, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter] went to Concordia
the little girls stayed with me
Orville finished planting the oats
Dad and Cliff fixed the wind mill. Planted some potatoes

19[45] Dad and I spent the day with
Roy and Jessie Billy has the
Penmonia [pneumonia] but is better
Spent the evening with [illegible]

1948 Orville & Esther made garden
& we went to
spent the day croceting [crocheting]

1947 Cleaned the brooder house
& Dad cleaned the big
Chicken house

May 27, 1943 Washed to day. Dad
planted corn.
Marys [Maude’s granddaughter] birthday to day.

1944 Marys [Maude’s granddaughter] birthday to day
rained all day Dad was
sick all day

19[45] We all went to church. ate dinner
with Mary [Maude’s granddaughter] as it is her. birthday
Teddy [Maude’s granddaughter] stayed with Betty Lou at A
[Hats]. for a few days

1946 Ruth Ted & Martha [Maude’s daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter] came
for a few days

19[47] Dear Diary I am
still sick

May 28, 19[43] Martha [Maude’s granddaughter] spent the day
at Orvilles [Maude’s son]. Sewed on my dress
Dad finished planting corn on.
this place

19[44] Cleaned the brooder house &
put in roost. Had our. first fried
chicken. Roy Jessie and Billy Bob
spent the afternoon with us.

19[45] Did general house work & put
up my clean curtains

1946. Gene and Elizabeth came.
Ruth Ted [Maude’s daughter and son-in-law] Doris [Maudes’ granddaughter] Cliff & I all went
fishing. Esther and Genes came in the
afternoon. Gene and Elizabeth stayed all [illegible] at [illegible]

19[47] Dear, Diary
no change

Tiffany McIntosh
Public Services

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 another collection belonging to John C. Tibbetts that is housed at the library. The collection consists of film stills and photographs for a variety of motion pictures; Tibbetts received the photographs as part of his work as a film reviewer. There are also various issues of the magazine American Classic Screen, of which Tibbetts was the editor. The movie stills in the collection range from 1895-1998. Movies included in the collection range from The Birds (1963) to Dracula (1979) to Saving Private Ryan (1998) and even Snow White (1937).

This time around we are sharing movie stills from the movies The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Return to Oz (1985). More information on the films and the trailers to The Wizard of Oz and Return to Oz can be found on IMDB.

More information on Dr. Tibbetts and a peek at another one of his collections can be found in the That’s Distinctive! blog on the animated film Dinosaur. The John C. Tibbetts collection, along with all items in the library, can be viewed in the Reading Room from 10am to 4pm Monday through Friday. The library is open to the public and welcomes researchers of all types.

Tiffany McIntosh
Public Services

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.

Happy Arbor Day! Today, April 28, is Arbor Day. According to Almanac, Arbor Day is largely celebrated on the last Friday of April, although some states celebrate on days that better coincide with tree planting times. Much like Earth Day, Arbor Day is a holiday that celebrates nature. Its purpose is to encourage people to plant trees, and many communities traditionally take the opportunity to organize tree-planting and litter-collecting events on or around the holiday.

The first Arbor Day occurred on April 10, 1872, in Nebraska City, Nebraska. It’s estimated that nearly one million trees were planted on this day. Within twenty years of its creation, the holiday was celebrated in every American state except Delaware, who eventually joined in participation. Many other countries also observe the holiday but often on a different day and under a different name.

This week we share selected pages from the Hand-Book of Tree-Planting by N.H. Egleston. Published in 1884, the book covers “why to plant, where to plant, what to plant, and how to plant.”

Tiffany McIntosh
Public Services

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 items from our collection of Kansas Postcard Company postcards. The postcards date from around 1990-1991. The Kansas Postcard Company was based in Lawrence, Kansas, in the early 1990s and was involved in an effort to send card to soldiers oversees. The collection houses an array of postcards with photos of scenery from all over the state. The captions below include the text on the back of each postcard.

Tiffany McIntosh
Public Services

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.

In remembrance of Black Sunday, this week we share items from the personal papers of former KU history professor Lloyd Sponholtz. According to History.com, April 14, 1935, also known as Black Sunday, was the date of the worst dust storm documented during the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl, also known as the “dirty thirties,” was a period of severe drought in the Midwest and southern Great Plains. It began around 1930 and lasted for about a decade.  By 1934, an estimated 35 million acres of formerly cultivated land had been rendered useless for farming, while another 125 million acres – an area roughly three-quarters the size of Texas – was rapidly losing its topsoil. Regular rainfall returned to the region by the end of 1939, bringing the Dust Bowl years to a close.

Black Sunday was the worst of the severe dust storms that were known as Black Blizzards. These storms included billowing clouds of dust that darkened the sky, sometimes for days at a time. In many places, the dust drifted like snow and residents had to clear it with shovels. Dust worked its way through the cracks of even well-sealed homes, leaving a coating on food, skin, and furniture. The storm of Black Sunday started in the Oklahoma Panhandle and moved east, with an estimated three million tons of topsoil blowing off the Great Plains.

Tiffany McIntosh
Public Services