Most collection information is online
By Amy Geiszler-Jones
 About 80 percent of Ablah Library’s manuscript and rare book collections is cataloged online, including a listing of the correspondence and other papers contained in the manuscript collection of Wichita founder James R.. Mead shown above. |
Information about the items in most of WSU’s manuscript and rare book collections is only a click away.
Mike Kelly, special collections curator, says it’s unique that about 80 percent of the manuscript and rare book collections in Ablah Library is cataloged online.
"Anybody can have a collection, but if no one knows what’s in it, nobody can utilize it," he says.
Before the Internet, those interested in finding material in WSU’s collections usually would have to physically visit the library to determine its holdings. Now users have more convenient access.
If, for example, a researcher is interested in rare books on hypnotism or WSU’s premier collection on the history of printing, the user can see titles in either of those rare book collections through the online catalog, found at http://www.twsu.edu/library/luis.html.
Inventory lists for manuscript collections can be found on the special collections homepage, http://www.twsu.edu/library/specialcollections/sc.html.
WSU’s collection of historic photographs of Kansas towns can also be viewed online, and later this year an extensive collection of pre-1900 regional maps will be digitized for online viewing.
"Folks think we just collect Kansas material and in many ways we do," says Kelly. But he and his staff also look for collections that have broader value, that may have Kansas ties but reflect national movements or issues. For example, Kansas was a battleground state for abolitionists in the 1800s, so the library’s collection of anti-slavery advocate William Lloyd Garrison’s papers have both state and national value. Another example is its manuscript collection of local Wichita minister Gerald Winrod. Winrod was one of only seven people ever tried for sedition in the United States.
Other interesting collections include documentation on the building and flight of airships in the 20th century, U.S. Civil War benevolent activities, and scripts written by a Kansas writer for such TV shows as "Gunsmoke" and "The Waltons.."
