The Kansas Council for Children and Youth was founded in 1942 in response to recommendations of the 1940 White House Conference on Children in a Democracy. This collection includes administrative materials, extensive subject files, meeting minutes and newsletters.

Cowgill grew up within sight of Mount Oread and the University of Kansas and attended KU for one year. This collection consists of a manuscript, "Never Forgotten, memories of a Kansas childhood," news clippings, and correspondence from the 1960s.