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Willoughby L. Rowson’s personal financial ledgers

 Collection
Call Number: RH MS 1570

Overview

This collection contains 10 handwritten ledgers kept by Willoughby Rowson recording his personal finances. The volumes include detailed inventories of personal items and use various bookkeeping methods. The ledgers date from 1917-1970, excluding 1945-1963.

Dates

  • Creation: 1917 - 1944; 1964 - 1970

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.

Biography of Willoughby L. Rowson (1895-1970)

Willoughby Lewis Rowson was born in Pennsylvania. His family moved to Illinois and then in 1910 to Ottawa County, Kansas, where they farmed and opened a restaurant in Salina. Rowson worked on the railroad throughout Kansas and married Sophronia Mae Coffey in 1914 in Liberal, Kansas. Their son Stanley “Buster” was born in Plains, Kansas in 1916, with daughter Lorelei Maxine born in 1919 in Dalhart, Texas and son Richard born in 1924 in Kansas City, Missouri, where the family settled.

From the early 1920s until his retirement, W.L. Rowson worked as an accountant for the brokerage firm Harris, Upham in Kansas City. He was a member of the Swope Parkway Baptist Church and served as treasurer of the City Union Mission. A quintessential bookkeeper, he kept meticulous records of his daily expenses throughout his life.

[Text pulled from Everett Rowson’s biographical account of his grandfather and Kansas City Times obituary in accession file.]

Extent

.75 Linear Feet (2 document cases)

Language of Materials

English

Physical Location

RH MS 1570

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift, Everett Rowson, 2021.

Title
Guide to the Willoughby Rowson collection
Subtitle
Willoughby L. Rowson’s personal financial ledgers
Author
Finding aid prepared by eje. Finding aid encoded by eje.
Date
2022-09-27
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Finding aid written in English.
Finding aid permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10407/6616973358
Preferred citation
Willoughby Rowson Collection, RH MS 1570, 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