Skip to main content

Meade, Kansas glass plate negatives

 Collection
Call Number: RH PH 544

Overview

This collection contains 38 glass plate negatives taken around Meade, Meade County, Kansas. One negative is of a photo overlooking buildings in Meade. The rest of the collection includes portraits of people possibly residing in Meade, or related to George and Iva Backe, who donated these negatives originally as part of a larger collection of glass plates to the Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott, Arizona. There are also class photos and team photos of students and faculty from Meade High School taken in the 1920s; the rest of the negatives are undated.

Dates

  • Creation: approximately 1920s

Conditions Governing Access

Glass plate and flexible negative originals are only issued if the curator or head of Public Services gives permission.

Conditions Governing Use

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

History of Meade, Kansas

Meade, Kansas is a small town in the southwestern part of Kansas. The county was established in 1873 and was named for Union General George G. Meade (1815-1872), the victor at the Battle of Gettysburg; Meade is the county seat. In the 1920s, emphasis was placed on music and sports at Meade High School.

Biography of George F. Backe

George F. Backe was born in Seymour, Indiana. He graduated from Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas and earned both bachelors and masters degrees in voice and public school music at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, Illinois.

Backe moved from Ashland, Kansas, about 37 miles from Meade, to Prescott, Arizona in 1927. While teaching in Prescott, he became the president of the Arizona State Music Educators Association, and won the Ardrey Commemorative Presidental Award for the years 1946-1948. Backe taught in the Prescott school system and was supervisor of the music program until 1956. He died in May 1970.

Extent

.5 Linear Feet (2 document cases)

Language of Materials

English

Physical Location

RH PH 544

Custodial History

Iva Backe donated these glass plate negatives to the Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott, Arizona, in 1984, as part of a larger photograph collection. The museum deaccessioned these negatives and transferred them to the Kansas Collection at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library in the 1990s, retaining the rest of the collection that was pertinent to the Prescott, AZ area.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift, Sharlot Hall Museum, 1999.

Title
Guide to the George Backe Collection
Subtitle
Meade, Kansas glass plate negatives
Author
Finding aid prepared by anm. Finding aid encoded by anm.
Date
2019-04-24
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Finding aid written in English.
Finding aid permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/10407/5767918132
Preferred citation
Meade, Kansas glass plate negatives, RH PH 544, 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