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Chambers, Gene, Collection, 1952-2013, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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The Gene Chambers Collection includes personal and professional papers and documents, including work from his time as a professor at Pittsburg State University and consulting work he did on engineering matters.

Cuendet, Harry, Collection, 1923-1988, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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A collection of documents, papers, publications, and items related to Harry Cuendet, his work, and Pittsburg State University.

Harry B. Cuendet, born in 1944, grew up in Mt. Vernon, Missouri and received his business degree from the Kansas State College of Pittsburg (now Pittsburg State University) in 1967. Living in Frontenac and Pittsburg, Kansas, Cuendet worked with insurance companies such as the Fidelity Union Insurance Company, the Principal Financial Group, as well as with the Pittsburg Area Chamber of Commerce, the United Way, YMCA, and the Salvation Army. In 1986 Cuendet married Karen Clark. Cuendet passed away in 1988 during …

Meiszner, Woody, Collection, 1890-1948, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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A collection of approximately 190 black and white, tinted, and color postcards of places and buildings in Pittsburg, Kansas. Examples of the postcards include views of Broadway, Pittsburg State University, parks, and public buildings. The postcards donated were published by Souvenir Post Card Co., New York Souvenir Post Card Co., Acmegraph Co., and S. H. Kress and Co. A list of the postcards is included in the collection. Housed in the Kansas Collection, call number 741.683 P589.

Kabie Tour Collection, 1961-1962, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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A collection of a schedule, magazine, programs, brochures, and other items related to the annual KABIE Study Tour in 1961.

The Kansas-Agriculture-Business-Industry-Education (KABIE) Tour was an annual tour, conducted from 1950 to 1967, sponsored by the Kansas State Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the state universities and other Kansas businesses and associations. The two-week tour took teachers and students to forty communities in Kansas, travelling 2,100 miles. The theme or goal of this tour was to have Kansans see Kansas and all its attributes or a “free society in action” as Dr. M. C. Cunningham, past president of Fort …

Housing For All Collection, 1994-2002, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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This collection includes professional correspondence, official business documents, financial papers, photographs, and other miscellaneous materials related to the Housing for All organization.

Housing for All, Inc. was formed in 1994 in Pittsburg, Kansas, a non-profit organization to serve as an emergency/transitional shelter for people in need. The organization operated until 2002, when it was merged with the Southeast Kansas Community Action Program (SEK-CAP).

Rash, Harry E., Collection, 1941-1958, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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A scrapbook about the history of the banks of Thayer and Stark, Kansas, their fiftieth anniversaries, and Harry E. Rash’s career as a banker in the 1940s and 1950s. The scrapbook is comprised of newspaper clippings, photographs, letters, and cards.

Harry Edgar Rash was born on November 24, 1910 in Atlanta, Kansas. He began working as a bookkeeper at the First National Bank of Thayer, Kansas on June 1, 1927 and was elected to cashier in 1936. Two years later, following the death of Edgar Rash, his father, Harry was elected president of the First National Bank of Thayer. In …

Blunk, Robert And Katie, Collection, 1890-1930, 1951, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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A collection of magazines from the 1890s and 1900s.

Robert Blunk was born in Salyard, Kansas on December 14, 1923. He attended multiple colleges but received his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Kansas City Institute of Arts in 1950 and a Masters of Fine Arts in Sculpture at the Kansas Teacher’s College of Pittsburg (now Pittsburg State University) in 1952. Robert worked as an art professor at colleges for 40 years and taught at Pittsburg State University from 1962 until his retirement. While teaching, Robert painted and sculpted many works, taking inspiration from landscapes, seascapes, Egyptology and art, and …

Davis, Hiram S., Collection, 1946-1957, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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A collection of publications and works written by Hiram S. Davis and other authors covering wages, production, and unions in the 1940s and 1950s.

Hiram Simmons Davis, born on October 8, 1903 and brother of Edna Davis (see collection MS 180), grew up in Longton, Kansas. He was a graduate of the Kansas State Teachers College (1924), now Pittsburg State University. Hiram became a professor of economics and business at the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania, and from 1945 to 1953 was the director of the Industrial Research Department at the school. He later …

Pittsburg Pottery Company Collection, 1983-1994, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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A collection of legal papers, financial statements, and correspondence relating to the final decade of the Pittsburg Pottery Company.

The pottery business in Pittsburg began in 1888 when a smelting company provided a section for stonemasonry. In 1913, this section became independent and was named the Pittsburg Clay Works. Originally owned by A. K. and E. V. Lanyon, the company was bought by a group of people, including Henry Matarazzi, in 1925. Matarazzi gained complete ownership in 1944 and the name changed to the Pittsburg Pottery Company. Matarazzi passed the business on to his son in 1952 who sold it …

Murray And Burwell Family Collection, 1870-1951, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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A collection of correspondence, newspapers, photographs, and other writings related to the Murray-Burwell family in the early to mid-1900s.

David James Murray was born on October 19, 1873 in Pennsylvania and moved to Kansas when he was three years of age. In 1896 David married Mary Selvey (1878-1959) in Cherokee, Kansas. They would have five children. In 1902 their child Marguerite was born in Weir, Kansas. In Weir, David worked in the mines until 1930 when he transferred to the McNally plant in Pittsburg, Kansas. David passed away on December 12, 1943. Jack W. Burwell was born on July 25, …

Honstead, John, Collection, 1901-1930, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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A collection of records, ledgers, and receipts from John Honstead’s store. The collection also includes Chloe Honstead’s purse and notebooks.

John Honstead was born in Van Wert, Ohio, October 1851. He became proficient in carpentry and by the age of 19 was teaching the trade. Honstead came to Neosho County, Kansas in 1879 where he worked as a carpenter and farmed. A few years later, he moved to Moran, Kansas and became a contractor and builder, building the schoolhouse, businesses houses, and residences. Honstead then went on to operate the hardware and undertaking business in Mulberry, Kansas. John Honstead was …