Commemorative spoon
Date: between 1890 and 1920
Sterling commemorative spoon. Scene of the "State Normal [School]. Emporia, Kans." in bowl. Handle bears the State Seal on the obverse and an image of the State Capitol on the reverse. Kansas State Normal School opened in 1865. In 1923 the name was changed to Kansas State Teacher's College, and in 1977 to Emporia State University.

Frank Rostetter, World War I soldier
Creator: Rostetter, Madge
Date: 1918
Around 1919, the Kansas State Historical Society and the American Legion solicited biographical information from returning veterans (primarily members of the 35th and 89th infantry divisions) and the families of those who died in service, notably from the Gold Star Mothers. Each veteran or family member was asked to provide letters, photographs, a biography, and military records. This file contains information on Frank Rostetter, written by his widow, Madge. Frank died overseas on September 12, 1918, after being shot in the abdomen.

Governor Thomas Carney college and university lands, 1863, correspondence
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1863-1865 : Carney)
Date: 1863
Thomas Carney compiled this series of correspondence on college and university lands in 1863 from letters he received while governor of Kansas. A searchable, full-text version of this correspondence is available by clicking "Text Version" below.

John Henry Kuck, Track and Field Olympian
Date: Between 1926 and 1928
This black and white photograph shows Olympic champion John Henry Kuck, (1906-1986). Born in Wilson, Kansas, he set over a hundred records during his athletic career in the discus, javelin and shot put. Kuck held the national high school record in the shot put as a student at Wilson High School. He went on to a successful collegiate career at the Kansas State Teachers College in Emporia, Kansas. In 1926, he became the national collegiate champion in the shot put and javelin. In addition to holding the world record in the shot put, Kuck was one of the first athletes to throw a 16-pound shot over 50 feet. He represented the United States in the 1928 summer Olympics held in the Netherlands where Kuck won the gold medal in the men's shot put. His wining throw broke the previous world record by 13 inches. After the Olympics, in 1929, Kuck became the assistant track and field coach at the University of Kansas. He later moved to Idaho to work in the timber and mining business. For sixteen years he also owned and operated a resort in the Idaho area before moving back to Wilson, Kansas, in October of 1972, with this wife Lida Cooper Wilson. On September 21, 1986, the state's first Olympic gold medallist and 1961 Kansas Sports Hall of Fame inductee passed away at the age of eighty-one in Wilson, Kansas.

Kansas State Normal College Band, Emporia, Kansas
Date: Between 1890 and 1900
An informal view of the members of the Kansas State Normal College Band of Emporia, Kansas.

Kansas State Normal School, Emporia, Kansas
Date: 1890
A view of the administration building at the Kansas State Normal School in Emporia, Kansas.

Kansas State Teachers College Emporia, Kansas
Date: 1900
This black and white photograph shows a classroom at the Kansas State Teachers College in Emporia, Kansas. The students dressed in formal clothing are gathered in a large circle with their teachers. In the background, a group of women are observing the students and a Christmas tree has been decorated. A nearby chalkboard has decorations and stockings adorning it's surface.

Kansas and the country beyond, on the line of the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division, from the Missouri to the Pacific ocean
Creator: Copley, Josiah, 1803-1885
Date: 1867.
An account by Josiah Copley on traveling through Kansas and beyond on the Union Pacific Railway, from the Missouri to the Pacific Ocean. This account, written in a series of letters to the Pittsburg Gazette, is from his own personal observations as well using information drawn from other sources.

Memoirs of Charles Homer Dewey
Creator: Dewey, Charles Homer, 1885-1976
Date: Between 1940 and 1944
This item is a memoir of Charles Homer Dewey's life to 1943 and a postscript to 1944. Included are recollections of his life on the farm near Piedmont, Kansas; studies at the Kansas State Normal School (now Emporia State University); work as a teacher and school superintendent, the latter at Randolph and Grenola, Kansas; college and medical school at the University of Kansas; medical practice in Buffalo and Elk city, Kansas, during the Great Depression; and military service as a physician at Civilian Conservation Corps camps in Kansas, Missouri, and the western United States and a prisoner of war camp at Little Rock, Arkansas. The memoirs also describe farm life and the agricultural economy in the late 1880s and the political debate over the Spanish-American War.

State Normal - Information Desired
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1915-1919: Capper)
Date: February 13, 1915
This letter to Honorable Hackney in the Board of Administration is requesting data from the State Normal School, today it is called Emporia State University. This is part of a bigger collection of Governor Arthur Capper correspondence.

To Kansas & Colorado : Kansas Pacific railway, the great through route!
Creator: Kansas Pacific Railway Company
Date: August 1875
This Kansas Pacific Railway brochure promotes land acquisition, tourism and freighting in both Kansas and Colorado. Included is a map of Kansas and Colorado with the Kansas Pacific Railway marked. There are timetables for the Kansas Pacific and connecting lines. On the reverse side is a view of Manhattan, Kansas, and Clear Creek Canon in Colorado. There is mention of the State University at Lawrence and the State Agricultural College at Manhattan.