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Russell Mosser collection

 Collection
Call Number: RH MS 1429

Overview

Russell Mosser was a prominent citizen of Lawerence, Kansas, having helped establish the Centron Corporation to create educational films for various agencies and businesses. This collection contains documents relating to the construction of his house in 1953 and the renovation of the house in the 1980s, along with materials from his work at Boeing Airplane Company and his support for the right to work political movement. The collection also includes scrapbooks and photographs from his father Lloyd Mosser's education, starting in grade school through his graduation from the University of Kansas and his first years of teaching.

Dates

  • Creation: 1902-1917, 1943-1992

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

No access restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Spencer Library staff may determine use restrictions dependent on the physical condition of manuscript materials.

Biographies of Lloyd (1887-1962) and Russell (1917-2011) Mosser

Lloyd Mosser was born in 1887 in Maryland. His family moved to Kansas when he was five years old and he began attending school in Sabetha, northeastern Kansas. Lloyd attended Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin for a year after graduating from high school. He then spent a year away from school in Iowa before returning to Kansas to attend the University of Kansas, graduating in 1912. Mosser worked as a high school teacher, first in Newton and then in Winfield, Kansas. Shortly after moving to Winfield, Lloyd married Emma Pyle, a fellow teacher. Their first child, Russell, was born in 1917. Lloyd Mosser died in 1962.

Russell Mosser was born on November 9, 1917. After graduating valedictorian from Blue Rapids High School, he attended the University of Kansas and graduated with an AB in Economics in 1940 and a MA in 1944. During World War II, he worked in Wichita at Boeing Airplane Company as its Director of Education and Training.

After the war, Russell Mosser worked in several positions at KU. In 1947 he co-founded Centron Coroporation, Inc. with his friend, Arthur Wolf, a film production company that produced motion pictures and other media for government, education, and industry until 1981. In 1953 Mosser constructed a home in Lawrence, Kansas and became an active member of the community, including serving as a city commissioner and being active in the First United Methodist Church and on the Lawrence Presbyterian Manor Advisory Committee.

Russell Mosser married Lorene Nightengale in 1945. They had three daughters, Patricia, Janet, and Kathryn. Mosser died on April 29, 2011.

[Information from collection materials and from Russell Mosser obituary, https://warrenmcelwain.com/obituary/Russell-A-Mosser/.]

Extent

.75 Linear Feet (2 document cases + 2 oversize boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Physical Location

RH MS 1429

Physical Location

RH MS-P 1429(f)

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gifts, Russell Mosser, 2011; Patricia Mosser Wolf, 2019.

Related Materials

Centron Corporation records, RH MS 541, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas

Title
Guide to the Russell Mosser Collection
Subtitle
Russell Mosser collection
Author
Finding aid prepared by bd, 2017. Finding aid encoded by bd, 2017. Finding aid revised by eje, 2022.
Date
2017-09-14
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Finding aid written in English.
Finding aid permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/10407/1843003437
Preferred citation
Russell Mosser collection, RH MS 1429, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas.

Repository Details

Part of the University of Kansas. Kenneth Spencer Research Library Repository

Contact:
1450 Poplar Lane
Lawrence KS 66045-7616 United States
785-864-4334