Kenneth Spencer Research Library Archival Collections

Overview

Biographical account of Samuel N. Simpson, an early resident of territorial Kansas, by an unknown author. The sketch includes genealogical information about Simpson's ancestors as well as information about Simpson's personal and business life throughout the 19th century. The bulk of the account is allegedly a history of the Border Wars between Kansas and Missouri written by Simpson himself.

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This collection consists of news clippings collected by Sara Robinson, Charles Robinson's wife, and compiled into scrapbooks. The clippings treat the lives of Charles Robinson, John Brown, James H. Lane, and numerous others prominent in Kansas history. There is biographical information about Lawrence residents, local and regional history.

Overview Biography of George Ellis written in 1953 by Howard C. Raynesford titled George Ellis, First Lieutenant, Company I, 12th Kansas Infantry. Ellis served as Lieutenant in the Kansas Infantry during the Civil War and was killed in battle. Ellis County and the town of Ellis in Kansas was named in his honor. Also included is a genealogy of the Ellis family, a photograph, and a photocopy of his military commission. Raynesford also gives a brief account of the...

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The collection contains 34 letters written by Marcus Junius Parrott to his Dayton, Ohio family members. The letters date from April 7, 1851 to April 28, 1862, and are arranged chronologically. Also included in the collection are a brief handwritten statement by [Laurette?] Parrott [Irvin?] regarding the collection content, and an offprint of a published 1865 sermon by Phillips Brooks, delivered at the time of Abraham Lincoln's death.

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The Douglas County Historical Society was organized in 1933 by a group headed by Professor F. N. Raymond of the University of Kansas. This collection consists of manuscript and printed materials from a variety of individuals, businesses, and organizations associated with the history of Douglas County, Kansas, from its territorial settlment period of the 1850s through much of the 20th century, deposited by the Douglas County Historical Society with the Spencer Research Library.

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Correspondence, documents relating to Lawrence property and Pike's Peak gold mines, steamship freight bills, papers, etc.

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This collection consists of letters describing incidents of the border raids during the Kansas Territory-Missouri border wars just before the United States' Civil War in detail, including references to John Brown, William Quantrill, Jim Montgomery, and Fort Scott. The collection also includes a deed to land in McLean County, Illinois owned by Vansickle.

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This collection contains the papers of Kansas free state activist Josiah Miller, dating from 1854-1870 and those of various members of his family, dating from 1840-1912.

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Eldridge was active in the efforts to make Kansas Territory a free state. Formerly a Democrat, Eldridge joined the Kansas delegation at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. Memoir of early days in Kansas, miscellaneous stock certificates, and account sheets, 1859-1898.

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These volumes are compilations by members of the Watson Library staff of newspaper clippings dated 1861-1959 about James Lane and his descendants.

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This collection consists of a single, three-page typescript reminiscence by Caroline Updegraff Parker, relating the experiences of her brother William W. Updegraff and her own family in Osawatomie, Kansas from 1855 to 1869, as well as a photograph of her brother William later in his life.

Overview This collection includes letters from William Clarke Quantrill to his mother, Caroline Clarke Quantrill, preceding and up to the raid of Lawrence, Kansas in 1863. Also included in the collection is the correspondence of William W. Scott, editor of the Iron Valley Reporter and friend of Mrs. Quantrill, who attempted to help Mrs. Quantrill obtain the truth about her son. This correspondence consists of letters between Scott and people who allegedly had known...