The papers of the Adair family include the correspondence of the Asa and Emma Adair family members with each other and extended family members.

Most of Asa Adair's letters dating from 1884-1915 are to his wife and children during his travels in Colorado and other parts of the West as he handled his concerns in the cattle and mining businesses.

Emma Adair's correspondence includes a series of letters from a boyfriend, J. A. Detrich, whom she left in Pennsylvania, as well as letters from extended family members.

Ruth Adair Dyers' papers include memorabilia from her time at the University of Kansas, her correspondence file that she shared with her husband, Rowland Dyer, and letters she received from political figures of the time. There are also club yearbooks, sorority certificates and documentation from the Daughters of the American Revolution.

The collection also includes correspondence, photographs and personal papers of the other children of Asa and Emma Adair: Hugh Rogers Adair, William (Bill) Wallace Adair, Albert (Bert) Sidney Adair, and Laura Ellen Adair Cox.

Of the extended family members, there is a practice writing and arithmetic book of Henry Kiser from 1848-1861 as well as a copy of a letter he wrote while camping near Washington, D.C. during the Civil War. The Keyser women (Emma's mother and her sisters, Sadie and Laura) correspond with each other. William Adair in Lurich, Virginia, (Asa Adair's brother) wrote often to the Adair family.

The Adair family legal and financial documents include land purchases in the 1880s by Asa and his brother Manelaeus Adair, financial and lawsuit documents of William Adair 1925-1966, family land ownership papers and Emma Adair's will and death certificate.

The printed materials include some cookbook pamphlets, Bowersock and other theater programs, song books and Lawrence High School yearbooks from 1914 and 1919. The oversize material is shelved at RH MS Q253.

The photographs are shelved at RH MS-P 996 and include late nineteenth century images of Susan Keyser, her daughters and her bakery as well as wedding photographs of Asa and Emma Adair and Laura and John Olson. There are some early twentieth century photographs of Lawrence, Kansas, drugstores with their soda fountains. Most of the photographs are snapshots of family groups and individuals. There is a series of photographs showing the damage from an earthquake in Helena, Montana, in October 1935. Many photographs were identified. Those that were not identified are included at the end with an attempt to broadly date them. There are also 3 scrapbooks with friend and family photographs attached. Oversize photographs are shelved at RH MS-P 996 (f).

For further information, see the Series List and the Collection Description below.