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.
We couldn’t resist sharing an extra – and especially cute – entry this week in honor of Valentine’s Day. Enjoy!
Valentine from Buster Brown to Barbara Lauter, 1955.
Lawrence Journal-World Photo Collection.
Call Number: RH PH LJW. Click image to enlarge.
Kathy Lafferty
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 21,700 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!
Some of my favorites items in University Archives are scrapbooks created by former KU students. Most date from the early twentieth century and include items like photographs, programs for concerts and other events, tickets, dance cards, newspaper clippings, and holiday cards. A scrapbook created by KU alumna Mayrea Noyes contains the very clever valentine shown below.
KU senior Mayrea Noyes received this valentine from an
unknown admirer in 1911. It’s a series of nested envelopes, displayed here
in two columns, the last one opening to reveal a tiny red paper heart.
Mayrea Noyes Scrapbook, University Archives.
Call number: SB 71/99 Noyes. Click image to enlarge.
Mayrea Noyes was born in New York on May 4, 1889 to parents Ellis Bradford (1848-1924) and Elsie Jefferis (1859-1922) Noyes. She had two sisters, Elmira Elsie (1882-1961) and Aline (1892-1956). Mayrea’s father, a long-time civil engineer, graduated from KU in 1874, one of three students in the university’s second graduating class. Thus, even though Mayrea grew up in Portsmouth, Virginia, she attended the University of Kansas, graduating with a bachelor’s degree from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 1911. She returned to KU the following year and earned a university teacher’s diploma. Mayrea later attended summer classes at Columbia University (1913) and Virginia Polytechnic Institute (1921).
Mayrea’s senior picture in the 1911 Jayhawker. University Archives.
Call Number: LD 2697 .J3 1911. Click image to enlarge.
Mayrea had a long career as a teacher at Maury High School in Norfolk, Virginia. After she died suddenly of a heart attack on December 2, 1954, the school’s yearbook printed a memorial to her: “Coming to Maury in 1914 she was one of its first home economics teachers and did much to build up that department, serving there until her retirement in 1949. In addition to her teaching she spent many hours counseling students with their personal problems and is remembered by many for her sympathetic attention and sound advice” (85).
Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services
Melissa Kleinschmidt, Megan Sims, and Abbey Ulrich
Public Services Student Assistants
Among the vast holdings of Kenneth Spencer Research Library’s Kansas Collection is an assortment of printed music, all produced by publishers based in the Sunflower State (RH E165). Song topics include patriotism, candidate promotion, parental affection, Kansas themes, waltzes, and love songs.
The publication of sheet music in the United States and Europe hit its stride during the Victorian era. An increase in the disposable income and leisure time of middle-class households meant that they could purchase pianos and other musical instruments, along with music lessons. The songs came to be known as “parlor music,” and many were composed especially for this type of use. Music in the home became a popular means of entertainment. Open the lid of the piano bench in any home that owned a piano and you would find a collection of sheet music. Phonograph records and radio would eventually replace parlor music as both a means of distributing music and home entertainment.
Since Valentine’s Day is here, this blog entry will focus on some of the love songs in the collection. Enjoy!
Sheet music cover, “I Never Knew.” Words and music by Marcus J. Lehman.
Wichita, Kansas: Mid-Continent Co. Publishers, 1920.
Kansas Sheet Music Collection. Call Number: RH E165. Click image to enlarge.
“I Never Knew”
A youthful suitor loved a maid,
How much he never knew.
He with her heart at baseball played,
Until she weary grew.
The more he teased this maiden fair
The more she did despair,
Until one day she went away,
And then I heard him say:
Chorus:
I never knew how much I’d miss you
Till you went away.
But now I want so much to kiss you,
Since you’ve gone to stay.
Your smile,
Your lips,
Your eyes so blue,
Your curls, I miss them, too.
The wealth of love you gave so true,
But most I just miss you.
Sheet music cover, “A Lover’s Quarrel.” Words and music by Rene F. Hartley.
Topeka, Kansas: Rene F. Hartley Music Publishing Co., 1922.
Kansas Sheet Music Collection. Call Number: RH E165. Click image to enlarge.
“A Lover’s Quarrel”
Often you’ll find, Sweethearts so fine,
True to each other but quarreling
When some things gone wrong.
Yes in their love play,
and just then you’ll hear one of them saying…..
Chorus:
It’s just a lover’s quarrel, yes just a lover’s quarrel,
Like all lovers have, but some so many more.
Hush now don’t you cry,
Dear now don’t you sigh,
‘Cause you know for you I’d die.
Long live the day, yes while at work and play,
For you and your winning way,
Right from the start you won my heart,
Now we must never part
Just over a lover’s quarrel.
Don’t say you’re through, that makes me blue,
When I love you and you only.
Still I know you’re mad,
And I’m feeling sad,
Now please gladden my heart dear by saying…..
Sheet music cover, “You Have Always Been the Same to Me.”
Words and music by Louis Weber, for his parents on their 64th wedding anniversary.
Kansas City, Kansas: Weber Brothers, 1912. Kansas Sheet Music Collection.
Call Number: RH E165. Click image to enlarge.
“You Have Always Been the Same to Me”
Many years ago my darling,
I remember well the day,
When I first began to love you,
Sixty years have passed away.
We have been so happy darling,
Now our locks are white, you see,
But our loves been growing stronger.
You have always been the same to me
Chorus:
You have always been the same to me.
You have always been the same to me.
When we reach the golden city
You will always be the same to me.
Many sorrows crossed our pathway,
But our lives were one sweet strain.
We have borne our lot together,
Sharing one another’s pain.
Soon we’ll close life’s pleasant journey,
Soon that city we shall see.
In that home of endless pleasure
You will always be the same to me.
Where the mocking birds are singing,
And the stars their vigils keep,
There beneath the sod my darling,
We shall sweetly sleep.
In the dawning of the morning
We shall ever happy be,
And through all the endless ages
You will always be the same to me.
Kathy Lafferty
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 1,700 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!
We’re sharing a bonus set of photographs this week, in honor of tomorrow’s holiday. Happy Valentine’s Day to all our readers, researchers, visitors, and friends!
Giving a Valentine’s Day heart, 1950s. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 71/0 1950s Prints: Student Activities (Photos).
Click images to enlarge.
Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services
Melissa Kleinschmidt, Megan Sims, and Abbey Ulrich
Public Services Student Assistants
The value of a liberal arts education is – and has long been – a topic of substantial discussion. With Valentine’s Day upon us, we wanted to highlight a perhaps little-known benefit of liberal arts courses and majors: they can help you attract or catch a love interest. Such was the “tongue-and-cheek” argument of a pictorial feature that appeared in the April 1970 edition of Kansas Alumni. Seven photographs told a story that unfolded throughout the publication, accompanied by captions extolling the benefits of a liberal arts education that were taken from “none other than” the Catalog of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Prints of six of the images – the first six pictures below – are held within University Archives as part of its collection of Student Activities records and photographs (Record Group 71).
The introduction to “Pictorial: The Liberal Arts” from Kansas Alumni, April 1970.
University Archives. Call Number: RG UA Ser 64/0/2. Click any image to enlarge.
While the lower right corner was cropped out of the published picture, the
original print shows that KU Libraries can also help you catch the
object of your affection! University Archives. Call Number: RG 71/0/1969-1970
Prints: Student Activities (Photos). This citation applies to all images in this
post unless otherwise noted.
The caption for the final image in the story – as it appeared in
Kansas Alumni – doesn’t seem to bode well for the guy behind the books!
University Archives. Call Number: RG UA Ser 64/0/2.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services
Student Activities Photographs RG 71/0 1969/1970 Prints