Kenneth Spencer Research Library Archival Collections

This collection includes three group photographs of teachers in Allen County, Kansas, taken around 1900. Lists identifying the teachers in the photographs are included in the collection.

Alpha Delta Kappa is an honorary teacher's sorority. The collection consists of correspondence, chapter meeting reports, rosters, convention programs and other miscellaneous papers, and scrapbooks that include photographs of members, newspaper clippings, programs, and other memorabilia.

The Alvah and Mary Shelden Collection contains their 1879 to 1885 journal of activities as residents of El Dorado, Kansas, as well as autobiographical and biographical accounts of their lives as early settlers and teachers in Butler County, Kansas. A typescript of their journal is included.

An autobiography by Minnie Mischke Peterson about her teaching experiences in Kansas from 1903 through 1948. The collection also contains a photograph of Minnie with two other teachers in Russell Springs, Kansas, and a negative of Russell Springs teachers at the Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Two photographs of Donna Webb and her first grade class at Baldwin Elementary School in Baldwin City, Kansas. The photographs were taken by Sharon England in April 1982.

The Blair family collection contains the papers of Amanda Meeker Blair and her daughter, Kate Blair Evans.

The Brydie R. Alsbrook papers are those of a native Kansas City, Kansan who worked as an educator for many years and was active in the community, especially at Church of the Ascension.

This collection contains Teacher's Certificates for Douglas County, Kansas, 1880-1895; Teacher's contracts, 1883-1890; letters of recommendation, 1885-1891; 2 personal letters, 1884, 1915; 7 poems; and 3 printed examinations.

This collection includes a history of the Stegeman family beginning with the arrival of William C. Stegeman in America in 1869, as written by Dorothy Springer. Stegeman was Springer's maternal grandfather. The collection also includes Springer's collected photographs of family, friends, and teachers in Abilene and Salina, Kansas.

The Elliott family papers consist of correspondence, printed materials, photographs, and memorabilia from a family that settled in Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas soon after it opened for Euro-American settlement in 1854.

Copies of photographs of Emma Berg's teaching experiences at the Vinland School District 49 in Douglas County, Kansas from 1928 to 1931 and in the 1950s, including photographs of the 75th anniversary celebration in Lawrence in 1929, other teachers and administrative staff at education conferences and district meetings circa 1950-1954, and the Douglas County Youth Orchestra circa 1955.

The papers of Esther Buhler Paxton, a graduate of the University of Kansas and long-time Lawrence, Kansas resident and piano teacher, consist chiefly of her membership records from the church and the masonic, social, and professional music organizations with which she was affiliated.

These records of the First United Methodist Church of Lawrence, Kansas, which date from 1877 to 1971, also include records generated under the church's earlier name, the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Lawrence. Included are records of church finances, members, marriages, funerals, baptisms, conferences, activities of the church's Loyal Ladies Class, its Epworth League of junior members, and special events in the church's history.

Florence Akin was born in Franklin County, Kansas, where she taught for many years and served as County Superintendent of Schools. This collection contains her published obituary and a photograph of her, as well as Miss Akin's written thoughts on county school supervision, composed soon after her election as County Superintendent.

These papers of Grace R. Clark, an Arkansas City, Kansas piano teacher, church organist, and choir director, include clippings, photographs, and other mementos from her life and from the lives of her Clark family members.

"Family puff book," created in Lawrence, Kansas? This scrapbook was compiled by Mrs. Grace Reynolds Cook, one of Samuel's children and a music teacher in Lawrence, who called it her "Family Puff Book." It contains newspaper clippings, photographs, and mementos of the Reynolds family.

The Harvey Family Papers are those of a long time Kansas farming family headed by David and Rebecca Harvey. The papers focus on the Harvey's three sons, Sherman (a lawyer), Grant (a doctor), and Edward (a farmer), all of whom graduated from the University of Kansas.

The Henry M. Rudesill Papers are letters of a Hutchinson, Kansas musician and music teacher, mostly from Rudesill's mother, Henrietta "Nettie" (Daykin) Rudesill.

This collection includes correspondence, newsletters, financial and membership records, program/event documents, meeting minutes and other administrative documentation, and convention materials from the Kansas Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (KAHPERD).

This collection includes a photograph of Kansas teachers and Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) presidents at the National Teacher Education and Professional Standards Convention in 1961, and a photograph of the Kansas National Education Association (KNEA) State Representatives Assembly in 1981. KNEA is a state-level affiliate of the National Education Association, a labor union representing public school teachers and other educational professionals.

This collection contains minutes, scrapbooks, and directories of the Lawrence, Kansas chapters (the Nu Conclave and the Rho Conclave) of Kappa Kappa Iota, a national sorority for women teachers. Also included are directories issued by Kappa Kappa Iota's Kansas Conclave (Gamma State), listing all Kansas chapters of the sorority.

Kate (Warthen) Searcy was an early homesteader in western Kansas, in addition to being a schoolteacher, author, and newspaper editor. This collection includes her family correspondence and some records related to her career, as well as photographs and other personal materials.

Lilly Harner Caldwell attended and taught in schools in Kingman, Kingman County, Kansas. These papers include some of her grade cards as a child and teacher contracts and certificates from the late 1890s as well as a photograph album.

Maggie Herrington's journal of her experiences during the year 1867 as part of a school assignment and two pieces of correspondence between the Watkins Community Museum of Lawrence, Kansas, and Lida Mattman, Maggie Herrington's granddaughter, dated 1979.