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Annie, Crossroads Live

Broadway Tours

Program for the Broadway Tour production of Annie at the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts

Sell, Paul Stuart, Collection, 1887-1981, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

Finding Aids

Dr. Paul Stuart Sell was a longtime dentist, practicing in Independence, Kansas, and an avid musician. This collection of materials includes photographs, sheet music, songs and song books he used to play at events, and miscellaneous artifacts.

The Paul Stuart Sell Collection is divided into three series: Photograph, Music and Miscellaneous.

The Photograph series contains photographs of Paul Sell at various stages of his life, and of his father, John Sell. There are photographs of his store, Cherryvale, and the Girard Fire Department.

The Music series includes eleven pieces of sheet music that he composed. There are sixteen different song …

Lavoo, E. M., Collection, 1922-1923, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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The E. M. LaVoo Collection contains research material on education and public schools mostly in Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa, conducted by an “E. M. LaVoo” of Kansas City, Missouri in the early 1920s.

Tate, James, Collection, 1943-2004, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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James Tate was a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, and an English and literature professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He was an alumnus of the Kansas State College of Pittsburg (now Pittsburg State University). Tate’s poems were published in numerous books, magazines, pamphlets, and as broadsides during his career. The materials of the James Tate Collection were collected by Gene DeGruson, from the early 1960s to 1997, and Randy Roberts, from 1998 to the mid-2000s. Additional materials were donated by Charles Cagle. The contents of this collection consists of biographical and autobiographical material, correspondence, bibliographical information (compiled by Gene DeGruson),Tate’s poetry, …

Mccullah Family Collection, 1986, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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Typescript of an unpublished manuscript for a novel titled “The Eye of the Storm.”

Kenneth John McCullah was born in Kansas around the year 1916. He was married to Maurine Ruth McCullah and together they were avid researchers of the American Civil War. In 1986, they crafted a fictionalized story of a family named Layne and their history through the late 1700s up to the Civil War. This manuscript, titled “The Eye of the Storm” was never published. Kenneth passed away in 1991 and in Maurine in 2011. In 2013, the novel Oaklayne: A Civil War Saga was published, with …

Hollenbeck, E. W., Collection, 1956-1981, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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Military clothing and medals from Mr. Hollenbeck’s career in the Army.

E. W. Hollenbeck was born April 8, 1934 in Goodland, Kansas. After growing up “Bill” Hollenbeck attended Pittsburg State University where he graduated giving him a bachelor of science in education in 1956. After his bachelor’s degree Hollenbeck enlisted in the U.S. Army where he served 25 years. In these years Hollenbeck garnered a reputation for upstanding character and moved up in rank until his promotion of colonel in 1978. During his time in the military Hollenbeck also graduated with a master of science degree in education from Wichita …

Farneti, Millo, Collection, 1913-1995, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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A collection of Millo Farneti’s poetry, writings, correspondence, financial papers, and other personal documents.

Millo (Milo) Farneti was born on July 30, 1921 in Frontenac, Kansas to Ezio and Albina Farneti. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1948, and found work with the Associated Press. Farneti worked for the AP in Kansas City, New York, and Korea-Japan during the Korean War. From 1955 to 1960, Farneti did freelance work in Kansas City until he was hired by McGraw-Hill. Farneti worked in New York and Italy for 20 years for McGraw-Hill, the NY Journal of Commerce, Time-Life, NY Herald …

Woodworth, Fred, Collection, 1972-2012, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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The collection contains various media materials pertaining to The Match!, an anarchist free-thought publication that Fred Woodworth edited and help create. These materials include negatives, paste-ups, plates, and issue cover illustrations of the 110^th Edition of The Match! that was published in Spring 2012. This collection also includes a poster, calendar, and flyers pertaining to the publication as well. Cataloged elsewhere also includes various issues of The Match! also including issues of Mystery and Adventure Series Review, Fred’s Multigraph Letter, as well as various works by Woodworth.

Fred Woodworth is a dedicated self-publisher and editor of …

Teller Family Collection, 1949-2001, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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A collection of science fiction books and magazines.

The Stephen and Nikki Patrick Teller Collection includes over 1600 science fiction novels, mostly mass-market paperbacks, mostly from the 1940s into the 1990s. These have been cataloged and are housed in the Special Collections & University Archives. A listing of these titles can be found by searching “KFPH Teller” in our online catalog. There is also a collection of science fiction magazines, from the 1940s into the 2000s. See below for a listing of these titles within the boxes they are stored. These can also be viewed in the Special Collections & …

Harding, A. H., Correspondence, 1928-1945, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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Correspondence, primarily from World War II, of A. H. Harding, with some letters containing newspaper clippings, photographs, programs, medals, currency and other miscellaneous materials.

Algie Hampton Harding was born on January 9, 1909 in Keytesville, Missouri to Al and Jennie Harding. He graduated from Brunswick, Missouri High School. He received a bachelor’s degree from Central College of Fayette, Missouri, and then attended the University of Missouri. On January 21, 1942 Harding married Mary Frances Hobbs of Independence, Kansas. Harding attended Officers’ Candidate School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma and was commissioned as a first lieutenant. Harding served in the 8th Infantry …

Dittman, Dean, Collection, 1954-1993, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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The Dean Dittman Collection contains playbills, newspaper clippings, photographs, scrapbooks relating to the performing career of Gus Dean Dittmann, donated by Mr. Dittmann’s niece, Diane Vaught.

Gus Dean Dittmann was born in Frontenac, Kansas and had a successful career as an actor on the stage, movies, radio, and television, performing as Dean Dittman (sometimes listed as Dean Dittmann). He was born in 1931 and attended the public schools in Frontenac and in the early 1950s, the Kansas Teachers College of Pittsburg, today’s Pittsburg State University. In 1953 he won the Lauritz Melchior Award which led to his studying at the …

Mirriam-Goldberg, Caryn, Collection, Circa 1975-2022, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1959. Her early years were spent in Brooklyn and Manalapan, New Jersey. As a young adult she traveled west to study journalism at the University of Missouri, earning a degree in labor history. Caryn received her Ph.D. from the University of Kansas, and she has trained in organizational development and group process, grassroots organizing, poetry therapy, and teaching yoga. She is the recipient of Kansas Arts Fellowship in Poetry, the Rocky Mountain National Park artist-in-residency, and other honors.

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg was the Kansas Poet Laureate from 2009-2013, and today is a …

Professor Franklin’S Unannotated Bibliography Of Young Adult Literature, 2021—22, John Franklin

Open Educational Resources - English and Modern Languages

A companion to Professor Franklin’s Annotated Bibliography of Young Adult Literature, 2021—22, this is a list of the 205 books alphabetized by author or editor’s last name.

Professor Franklin’S Annotated Bibliography Of Young Adult Literature, 2021—22, John Franklin

Open Educational Resources - English and Modern Languages

Designed to be a useful, time-saving source of primary reading material, Professor Franklin’s Annotated Bibliography of Young Adult Literature, 2021—22 includes his notes and reading recommendations for 195 authors, editors and illustrators; 205 titles; and 67,454 pages of reading.

Berkey, Vernon A., Collection, Circa 1940-1960, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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A collection of medical equipment of Dr. Vernon A. Berkey, who worked in the medical field from 1943-2000.

Elizabeth Berkey Moore, daughter of Dr. Vernon Atkeson Berkey, donated the collection. Dr. Berkey (1918-2012) studied at Kansas University and graduated from KU Medical School in 1943, joining the US Army Medical Corps shortly after. He worked at a field hospital in the Philippines before being transferred to Fort Devin, Massachusetts as a Hospital Commander. Afterwards, he completed a fellowship in radiology at Washington University, St. Louis. Dr. Berkey then began working at Wadsworth Hospital in Leavenworth, Kansas during which he met …

Simpson, E. Leroy, Playbook, 1954-1956, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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A Pittsburg State University football players’ playbook from the mid-1950s, a football program from 1951, and a newspaper clipping.

Edward LeRoy Simpson was born in Miami, Oklahoma in 1934, to Eddie and Ada Simpson. From 1952-1956 LeRoy attended the Kansas State Teachers College (now Pittsburg State University). He played several positions on the football team, including quarterback, and lettered all four years. He went on to receive a master’s degree from the Kansas State Teachers College in 1961. After earning a doctorate, Dr. Simpson joined Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska in 1968 as an associate professor of human performance/leisure …

Cundiff, Roy, Collection, 1941-1945, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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The Roy Cundiff Collection contains two items from Nazi Germany, acquired by Mr. Cundiff while he was stationed in Germany during World War II. These are a German-language edition of Mein Kampf, by Adolph Hitler, and a Nazi flag. These items were donated by Mr. Cundiff’s widow after his death in 1978.

Roy Cundiff was born in Kansas City, Kansas in 1911. He grew up in Osawatomie, Kansas, and graduated from high school there in 1931. In the 1930s Mr. Cundiff worked as a salesman. In 1939 he married Inez Grace Miner, in Fort Scott, Kansas. They had one …

Brady Family Collection, Circa 1900-1975, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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Correspondence, clippings, recordings, programs, and photograph about Eva Jessye collected by Karen and Kenneth Brady.

Born in Coffeyville, Kansas, on January 20, 1895, Eva Alberta Jessye started her academic career in the public schools of Coffeyville and Iola, Kansas. At age 13 she attended Western University in Quindaro, Kansas. She graduated from Western University in 1914 and went on to Langston University in Oklahoma where she received a lifetime certificate in teaching.

Jessye taught in elementary schools in Taft, Haskell, and Muskogee, Oklahoma before she became a reporter and columnist for the Baltimore (Maryland) Afro-American in 1925. In 1926 she …

Black Jack, Kansas Scrapbook, 1930-1974, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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The Black Jack, Kansas Scrapbook includes newspaper clippings telling the account of the battle and town of Black Jack, as well as some history of Black Jack-area families including O’Neil, Von Tries, Black, and Pearson. Most clippings are from the Wellsville Globe and the Ottawa Herald. Photographs are included.

The Battle of Black Jack was the first armed conflict between proslavery and antislavery forces in the United States. The battle near Baldwin City on June 2, 1856, had implications far beyond Kansas Territory. Some call it the first battle of the Civil War. The Kansas-Nebraska Act had opened Kansas …

Black, Bob, Photographs, 1978, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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The Bob Black Photographs are polaroid photographs showing the immediate aftermath of the July 1978 fire in Girard, Kansas which destroyed the former Haldeman-Julius Publishing Company building.

Bob Black was born in 1943 in Nashville, Tennessee, to John and Mary (Collins) Black. Bob graduated from Ottawa High School (Kansas) in 1961 and went on to earn a Computer Science degree from Kansas State University in 1972. In 1972 he began his career at Missouri Pacific as a programmer analyst. Shortly after this, he moved to Pittsburg, Kansas to start the first ServiceMaster franchise in Pittsburg. He later formed Alternate Systems, …

Martin, Bill, Collection, 1920-2019, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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A ring binder with reproductions of newspaper clippings about Eva Jessye and her career, and correspondence, printed programs, and photographs compiled by Bill Martin.

Born in Coffeyville, Kansas, on January 20, 1895, Eva Alberta Jessye started her academic career in the public schools of Coffeyville and Iola, Kansas. At age 13 she attended Western University in Quindaro, Kansas. She graduated from Western University in 1914 and went on to Langston University in Oklahoma where she received a lifetime certificate in teaching.

Jessye taught in elementary schools in Taft, Haskell, and Muskogee, Oklahoma before she became a reporter and columnist for …

Davidson, Lallah S., Manuscript, 1939, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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Typed manuscript of “Children of Lead,” published in 1939 as South of Joplin: Story of a Tri-State Diggin’s (W.W. Norton). This manuscript was donated by Lallah Davidson Blanpied to Pittsburg State University in 1975. This copy belonged to famous literary agent, Marion Saunders, who was also Margaret Mitchell’s agent for Gone With the Wind. This copy does show some changes from the published version, notably in the Introduction, and the original title.

Lallah Sherman Davidson Blanpied was born in 1897and grew up in Southeast Kansas and Southwest Missouri. She attended the Kansas State Teachers’ College in Pittsburg, Kansas (today’s Pittsburg …

Bender Crimes Photographs, 1873, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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Three photographs taken in rural Labette County, Kansas in 1873 at the Bender family house and property shortly after the discovery of the murders of approximately 12 individuals.

Roger O’Connor (1941-2006) ran a bookstore, Mostly Books, in Pittsburg, Kansas, selling books, papers, and photographs. He previously had bookstores in Lawrence, Kansas and Omaha, Nebraska before coming to Pittsburg. He previously had attended Pittsburg State University, where he received a master’s degree. The Bender Family crimes occurred in 1872-1873 where a mysterious family going by the name of Bender (aka “Bloody Benders”) murdered, apparently for their money, approximately a dozen travelers …

Barnard, Gerald, Photographs, 1936-1938, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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Five photographs of the football team of the Kansas Teachers College of Pittsburg (now Pittsburg State University) from the 1930s, taken by student photographer Gerald Barnard.

Gerald W. (Jerry) Barnard was born in Oswego, Kansas in 1918. Barnard attended the Kansas Teachers College of Pittsburg (now Pittsburg State University) from 1936-1940 and after graduation, worked as an accountant. He worked with the Deming Investment Company and then the First National Bank of Oswego. He also served as the president of Oswego Industries, chairman of Mid-America, Inc., vice-president of the Kansas Bankers Association, chairman of the Kansas Development Credit Corporation, and …

The Kanza 2023, Pittsburg State University

The Kanza, 1910-2023

The Kanza 2023 is Published by Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kansas.

Hart, Robert W., Papers, 1924-1966, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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Personal documents, correspondence, and financial records of Robert W. Hart, former professor at Pittsburg State University.

Robert William Hart was born in 1896 to William and Sarah Hart and grew up in Crawford County, Kansas. In 1916 he graduated from the State Manual Training Normal School (now Pittsburg State University), and found early work as an engineer. Robert served as an ensign in the navy during World War I. He taught in the public schools in Fort Scott and Pittsburg from 1916-1918; 1921-1923. In 1920 he married Retta Statler and they had two children. In 1923 he was hired as …

Student With Twice-Exceptionalities Iep Meeting Assignment Description, David Wolff

Open Educational Resources - Teaching and Learning

General education teachers should remember that all students are general education students, first. We need to be prepared to work with students of all abilities in our classrooms. As general education teachers, we have an active role on a child’s IEP team and an active role during the IEP meeting. This assignment asked preservice teachers to develop a script of what they would say at an IEP meeting of one character from four different novels that would be considered a child with twice-exceptionalities.

Creating A Gifted-Friendly Classroom, David Wolff

Open Educational Resources - Teaching and Learning

The goal of undergraduate teacher preparation programs is to equip future teachers to work with all learners. Gifted and talented learners are likely found in every classroom regardless of where they reside. According to Rinn et al. (2022), Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Nebraska do not require undergraduate teacher candidates to take university coursework on gifted education. The goal of this presentation is to provide a general overview of gifted education specific to Kansas. This presentation aims to address myths and misconceptions about gifted education and gifted learners, characteristics of gifted learners, a basic overview of a general identification process, …

Journey “Box” Assignment Description, David Wolff

Open Educational Resources - Teaching and Learning

The Journey “Box” allows preservice teachers to explore and share their own historical narrative as they different aspects of their own family’s journey to America. The Journey “Box” first asks preservice teachers to explore themes by reading children’s literature and then positions preservice teachers as interviewers as they seek out different facets of their family’s historical narrative from members of their family. Preservice teachers then use their experience with a Journey “Box” to design an inquiry that could be used in their field experience. The Journey “Box” integrates social studies standards and best practices with ELA standards.

The Journey Box: Promoting Language Development While Exploring One’S Identity, David Wolff

Open Educational Resources - Teaching and Learning

A Journey Box allows students to explore and share their family’s historical narrative using primary sources like interviews and artifacts. Students explore different facets of their own family’s history and journey to America while engaging in a larger shared experience among classmates to understand different perspectives. The Journey Box develops oral and written language skills while supporting individual’s exploration of their culture and identity.