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 6,700 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

We’re excited that Homecoming is right around the corner, so this week’s photograph shows 1938 Homecoming Queen Dorothy “Denny” Lemoine (center) and her court, Helen Johnson (left) and Elizabeth Kemp (right). Lemoine was chosen by the football team.

The KU Homecoming Queen and her attendants with campus officials on the field at
Memorial Stadium, November 1938. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 71/1 1938 Prints: Student Activities: Homecoming (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

According to an article on the KU History website, the first Homecoming Queen was crowned at KU in 1925. The “ceremony did not become a tradition until 1933. A new queen was crowned each year until 1969, when anti-war demonstrations and stormy race relations led to the committee’s decision that it was ‘more appropriate to recognize those who embody the academic spirit for which this community was established.'”

From left to right in the photograph are:

• Colonel Karl F. Baldwin: A career Army officer, Baldwin (1885-1967) was a Professor of Military Science and Tactics and the ROTC commandant at KU from 1936 to 1941. Born in Iowa, Baldwin spent part of his childhood in Kansas. He received a B.S. in civil engineering (1908) and an M.A. (1918) from Norwich University, then The Military College of the State of Vermont.

• Chancellor Ernest H. Lindley: A native of Indiana, Lindley received his B.A. (1893) and M.A. (1894) degrees in psychology from Indiana University before obtaining his Ph.D. in psychology from Clark University in 1897. He spent over twenty years as professor of psychology and philosophy at Indiana before becoming the president of the University of Idaho in 1917. Lindley (1869-1940) served as the Chancellor of KU from 1920 to 1939.

• Attendant Helen Virginia Johnson: Hailing from Kansas City, Missouri, Helen graduated from KU in 1941 with a major in English. While at the university she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma and the Young Women’s Christian Association (Y.W.C.A.). She also served on the Women’s Student Government Association (W.S.G.A.) and was the Vice President of her junior class. Helen was also a Kansas Relay Queen and a Jayhawker Queen.

• Homecoming Queen Dorothy Deneise Lemoine: Dorothy graduated from KU in 1940 with a degree from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Also from Kansas City, Missouri, she was an intramural manager and a Hobo Queen, plus a member of Pi Beta Phi, Sociology Club, the Women’s Athletic Association (W.A.A.), and French Club. She became engaged to star KU halfback Dick Amerine about a month after this photo was taken.

• Attendant Elizabeth Ellinor Kemp: A member of the Class of 1939, Elizabeth majored in Spanish. The Kansas City, Missouri, native was also a member of Spanish Club and Alpha Delta Pi.

• Ralph T. O’Neil, Chairman of the Kansas Board of Regents: O’Neil (1888-1940) was born in Osage City, Kansas. He obtained an A.B. from Baker (1909) and a Bachelor of Laws degree from Harvard (1913). A World War I veteran, O’Neil was a long-time attorney in Topeka who also served as the national commander of the American Legion (1930-1931) and the president of the Kansas Bar Association (1939-1940).

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

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

The 1895 KU yearbook – called Annus Mirabilis (Wonderful Year) – includes a fun senior quiz, shown below. It’s unclear whether the answers listed were actually provided by members of the Class of 1895 or whether they were jokes written by the yearbook staff and attributed to their classmates. Especially humorous are the responses to the question “what does Miss Watson [the first and longest-serving professional librarian at KU] say when you whisper in library?”

A senior quiz in the 1895 KU yearbook, Annus Mirabilis.
University Archives. Call Number: LD 2697 .J3 1895.
Click images to enlarge.

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

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 6,700 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

Pumpkins decorate the porch at the Chancellor’s residence, 1986.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 0/22/11 1986 Negatives:
University General: Buildings: Chancellor’s Residence (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 6,700 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

Some of the images of campus in our photograph collection are actually postcards. The one shown below includes a message from KU student Frank Joste to his mother. If you’ve ever arrived at school for a new semester and realized that you forgot something at home, you can appreciate Frank’s predicament!

Postcard showing the North Entrance to KU, 1910.
The buildings, from left to right, are Spooner Library, old Blake Hall,
old Fraser Hall (mostly obscured) and Dyche Hall. We highlighted a
photograph with a similar view, from 1896, last December. Click image to enlarge.

 On the back of the postcard is student Frank Joste’s message
to his mother, mostly pertaining to a razor strap left at home.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 0/24/P 1910 Prints:
University General: Campus Panoramas (Photos). Click image to enlarge.

Campus aerial, probably taken in 1923 or 1924.
The red line, from right to left, roughly shows the view featured
on the postcard. The four buildings that can be seen are indicated, too.
Watson Library and Strong Hall had not yet been built in 1910,
but they are also marked on the photograph, as points of reference.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 0/24/A 1920s Prints:
University General: Campus Aerials (Photos). Click image to enlarge.

Frank Lewis Joste (1884/5-1964) was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, to Martin (circa 1847-1916) and Miranda Caldwell (circa 1848-1938) Joske. Frank’s father was a German immigrant, army veteran, and long-time guard at the Leavenworth federal penitentiary. Frank studied engineering at KU from 1907 to 1911. Although he never graduated, he put his education to good use, apparently spending his entire career working as an engineer for Southwestern Bell, first in St. Louis and then in Fort Worth. Frank married Bertha May Martin (1889-1985) around 1917; the couple had one son, Martin William Joste (1917-1978).

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 6,000 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

Members of the KU Marching Band (Marching Jayhawks) on the sidelines
at a football game, 1924-1925. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 22/1/m 1924/1925 Prints: Fine Arts:
University Bands: Marching Band (Photos). Click image to enlarge.

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

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