Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Gibson Family Collection, 1913-1915, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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A collection of photographs from the Gibson sisters' time at the Kansas State Manual Training Normal School, including Helen and Evva and their friends.

Helen C. Gibson Dubois (1894-1978) and Evva Louise Gibson (1896-1980) were sisters who both attended the Kansas State Manual Training Normal School (now Pittsburg State University). Evva received her first bachelor’s degree in 1918. She received a second in 1922, and a master’s degree in 1925, both from Columbia University in New York. She returned to Pittsburg in 1923 as an assistant professor at the college. In 1947, she became head of the Home Economics Department, …

Eighmy, Earle, Scrapbook, 1924-1927, 1957, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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Earle Eighmy was born in 1904 in Topeka, Kansas, and passed away in 1987. At some point Eighmy lived in Pittsburg and was a fan of the Pittsburg State University sports during the time. Earle married Verna Mae Olson (1904-1986) and they had several children. In the late 1920s, the Eighmy family moved to California. Both Earle and Verna Mae passed away in Henderson, Nevada.

The Earle Eighmy Scrapbook mostly contains newspaper clippings. The central focus of the scrapbook is Pittsburg college football and basketball. There are occasional notes written in the margins of the clippings that denote time period …

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).

Perry, Esther A., Collection, 1908-1978, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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A collection of photographs, a program, and a newspaper clipping related to Esther Atkinson Perry, her family, and her friends from the 1910s to the 1970s.

Esther Atkinson Perry was born to John and Mary Atkinson on April 29, 1897. She grew up in southeast Kansas, and lived in Pittsburg, Girard, and Webb City, Missouri. In 1933, Esther married Thomas Hall Perry in Jackson County, Missouri. Afterwards, they moved to Webb City where Thomas was the manager of a café before working as a chemist at the Eagle-Picher Smelting Company in Joplin. Thomas passed away in 1947 of coronary thrombosis. …

Brinkerhoff, Fred, Papers, 1905-1930, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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A collection of correspondence and newspaper clippings related to Fred Brinkerhoff and the Pittsburg Headlight- now the Morning Sun.

Fred W. Brinkerhoff, born in 1885, was the editor for the

Pittsburg Headlight (now the Pittsburg Morning Sun) for approximately fifty years. Brinkerhoff first began working for newspapers while in high school, working under Henry J. Allen at the Ottawa Herald. He studied at the University of Kansas before working at Fort Scott and Chanute papers as well at the Kansas City Star. Brinkerhoff moved to Pittsburg in May 1911 and became the editor of the …

Cuthbertson Family Diaries, 1874-1981, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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The Cuthbertson Family Diaries contain personal diaries of a long-time Girard, Kansas family with Scottish roots.

There are diaries from three individuals from the Cuthbertson Family: Mary Kirkwood; Jessie Smith Cuthbertson; and William C. Cuthbertson.

Mary Kirkwood (1858-1945) was born in Illinois in 1858 to native Scots, Matthew J. Kirkwood and his wife, Janet Craig Kirkwood. At an unknown date, the family moved to Girard, Kansas in southeast Kansas. Mary Kirkwood married Andrew W. Smith, and their daughter, Jessie Smith, was born in 1889 in Kansas. In 1924, Jessie Smith married Charles A. Cuthbertson, and their son, William C. Cuthbertson, …

Marshall Family Collection, 1880-1974, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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A collection of documents, letters, and items regarding the Marshall family of Kansas and Oklahoma.

Joseph R. Marshall was born on August 22, 1902 and died February 14, 1991. Mabel F. Farnsworth Marshall was born on July 18, 1906 and died April 28, 1991. Joseph and Mabel married on July 2, 1925. They had four children: Dorothy, Richard, Phyllis, and foster son Chris Smith. Joe and Mabel bought Western Auto Dealership in Tonkawa, Oklahoma in 1939 which they operated until 1985.

Degruson, Eugene, Papers, 1841-1997, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

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This collection documents the professional and personal activities and research interests of Eugene DeGruson, who was Curator of Special Collections and University Archivist at Pittsburg State University from 1968 until his death in 1997.