Kenneth F. Crockett's research material on Kenneth and Helen Spencer
Overview
This collection consists of photocopies of original documents used in Ken Crockett’s research, his handwritten notes, and two drafts of the complete manuscript of the book he wrote on Kenneth and Helen Spencer, Kenneth and Helen Spencer: Champions of Culture and Commerce in the Sunflower State.
Dates
- Creation: 2010 - 2014
Creator
- Crockett, Ken (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
No access restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Spencer Library staff may determine use restrictions dependent on the physical condition of manuscript materials.
Biography of Kenneth F. Crockett
Kenneth F. Crockett was born in Pittsburg, Kansas and raised in Walker, Missouri where his father mined coal for the Pittsburg and Midway Coal Company. Ken Crockett graduated from Central Missouri State University with his bachelors and Washburn University with his juris doctorate before going on to practice law.
In his retirement, Ken Crockett wrote Missouri Coal Miner’s Strike recounting the nearly seven-year conflict between the United Mine Workers of America, led by John L. Lewis, and the Spencer family’s Pittsburg and Midway Coal Company. In 2014 Crockett released Kenneth and Helen Spencer of Kansas: Champions of Culture and Commerce in the Sunflower State.
Biography of Kenneth and Helen Spencer
Kenneth Spencer (1902-1960) was born into his family’s lucrative extractive mineral business, which he modernized. Spencer changed the name from Pittsburg and Midway Coal Company to Spencer Chemical Company as the business expanded into munitions during World War II and later transitioned to fertilizer and plastics production.
Spencer and his wife Helen (Foresman) Spencer (1902-1982) attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas and settled in Kansas City where they established a charitable foundation. Gifts from the foundation built the Kenneth Spencer Research Library and the Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas in Lawrence and the University of Kansas Medical Center's Kenneth Aldred Spencer Memorial Chapel, as well as enhancing many other cultural and scientific institutions in the Kansas City area.
Extent
1 Linear Feet (2 document cases)
Language of Materials
English
Physical Location
RH MS 1569
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift, Kenneth F. Crockett, 2014.
Processing Information
Ken Crockett’s original file names and alphabetical order have been maintained. Files that contained only a few pages were combined into one folder whose name is [in brackets] (indicating that the title is not original), with the original titles listed in a folder note.
Collection dates regard when Crockett performed his research. Dates for individual files are noted only in file notes because Crockett's material is all photocopies and reference copies, rather than original documents.
Source
- Crockett, Ken (Donor, Person)
Subject
- Spencer, Kenneth Aldred, 1902-1960 (Person)
- Spencer, Helen Foresman, 1902-1982 (Person)
- Title
- Guide to the Kenneth F. Crockett Collection
- Subtitle
- Kenneth F. Crockett's research material on Kenneth and Helen Spencer
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by eje. Finding aid encoded by eje.
- Date
- 2022-09-26
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Finding aid written in English.
- Finding aid permalink
- https://hdl.handle.net/10407/9769027142
- Preferred citation
-
Kenneth F. Crockett collection, RH MS 1569, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas.
Repository Details
Part of the University of Kansas. Kenneth Spencer Research Library Repository