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Records relating to the history of Cooperative Extension work in Sedgwick County Kansas and focusing particularly on the Prairie Gem unit of which Lou Herndon and her mother, Ruth Wilkins, were charter/lifetime members.

The Louis H. Douglas papers document the career of Douglas and the lecture series that was named after him at Kansas State University. Included are photographs of Douglas and speakers at the lecture series, as well as additional documentation regarding his time as a political science professor at Kansas State University from 1949–1977 and the Lou Douglas Lecture Series that began in 1980.

The Louis S. Meyer papers reflect the varied consumer interests and activities Louis S. Meyer participated in from 1969-1986. His involvement in the consumer movement began as a successful businessman. With a degree in political science, he pursued a political life as a state campaign coordinator and became an expert in government and community interrelationships. With this latter expertise, Meyer became the consumer advisor and moderator for conferences held on the deregulation of the telecommunications industry.

The first series of the collection demonstrates Meyer's concern with various consumer and legislative issues, such as medical malpractice reports, health and nutrition pamphlets, transcribed lectures on children's television advertising, pamphlets on the national use of the metric system, and the Universal Product Code for pricing. His interest in rural and utility legislation led to a close contact with Senator Lee Metcalf of Montana who pursued such legislative acts as the Family Farm Development Act, the National Electrical Energy Conservation Act, and the Consumer Representation Plan of 1975-1976. This close contact is seen by the correspondence in the series with the Senator and the numerous Congressional Records found in the collection. In 1975, Meyer became an active member of COCO and later held numerous administrative positions with the organization.

The second series contain organizational files from COCO which includes annual and financial reports, memberships lists, and minutes from the Steering Committee from 1976-1985. In this series, there is extensive conference material the donor collected and filed in notebooks. The conference material has been removed from the notebooks and filed in folders and boxes according to its original order.

The third series contains the bulk of the collection and documents the important role COCO and Meyer played in advising AT&T on consumer/community relations during the deregulation of 1979-1986. This series is divided into five sub-series; 1) conferences on deregulation, 2) Joint Consumer Advisory Panel Meetings, 3) reports and transcribed lectures concerning telecommunications, 4) information from other telecommunications companies, 5) judicial information and government documents. Community impact conferences were held on deregulation throughout the United States in 1982-1983. Meyer monitored the conferences and compiled material from each of these conferences. This material has been kept intact and is largely made up of pamphlets, agendas and reports. COCO and AT&T organized a Joint Consumer Advisory Panel in 1975 which met on a regular basis until 1985. All correspondence, minutes, and agendas have been placed in chronological order and maintained as Meyer had compiled it. The collection contains numerous reports and transcribed lectures on telecommunication legislation and deregulation from 1979-1986. The processor placed these within the third sub-series due to related content. COCO advised other telecommunication companies.

The fourth sub-series documents the advisory meetings between companies including ATTIX, NACAA, and API, Southern New England Telephone, and PCC from 1980-1984. The agendas and minutes of these meetings are within this sub-series. The final sub-series contains various judicial and government documents. The judicial information describes court cases of Western Electric (1982) and the New England Telephone and Telegraph (1983). There are Federal Communication Commission hearings concerning different telecommunication topics such as customer equipment and services, AT&T regulation of domestic and interstate services, and the MTS and WATS structure inquiry. This sub-series also contains legislative acts and bills including the Communications Act of 1978, Telecommunications/ Deregulations Act of 1981 and 1982 with their respective amendments, the Disabled Act of 1982, and various unnamed bills H.R. 13015, H.R. 4102 and 4103, H.R. 5421, and H.R. 6121.

The fourth series is audio-visual material and contains recordings of audio and video cassettes. The audio cassettes are 60- and 90- minute tapes of various speakers at the Food and Education Conference (1974), Erie Consumer Credit (1976), COCO Internship Conference (1976), Utility and Energy Conference (1976), the Legislative and Regulatory Process Workshops (1976), and the Consumer Protection Conference (1977). There are also recorded lectures by Meyer on subjects such as the future of rural America, the food industry, and consumer protection. The video cassettes' are primarily concerned with the telecommunications industry. Some deal with public relations, others are recorded interviews, still, others are speakers at a utility conference. A 30 minute 16mm film, produced by COCO, called "Keeping Up With Technology" is also found in this series.

The Lucille Byarlay Abel papers include diaries of Lucille's time as a student at Kansas State Agricultural College and Kansas State College from 1928 to 1937. She created the entries in the day books and collected comments and signatures in the autograph books from classmates, friends, and acquaintances. Additional materials include transcriptions of the diaries, Kansas maps, genealogy charts, photographs, newspaper clippings, legal documents, and a name index. Subjects include her courtship with Orval Abel, her teaching duties in Clay County, Kansas, rural social activities in the 1930s, and genealogy.

The collection consists of four Carte de visites (CdV) documenting Manhattan, Kansas and spanning the years 1863-1866. The photographs have been attributed to George Burgoyne (active Manhattan 1859-1890), and were presumably taken from his studio window. At the time of acquisition (2000), all four views bore penciled identifications on the versos, each image identified as Burgoyne's work, each subject identified and dated. Some of this information was presumably transferred from an album that once included the pictures.
The earliest CdV, dated 1863, includes Manhattan's main street, Poyntz Avenue, looking towards the East. The second, dated 1864, presents the town's residences, outhouses, and dirt streets in the direction of Bluemont Hill to the North. The third and fourth images return to the easterly vantage point of the 1863 image. One shows phalanxed U.S. troops crossing the mouth of the Big Blue River as part of the Indian Expedition on 28 June 1865. The final Carte de visite, dated 1866, reveals the addition of new commercial buildings along the city's main artery.
The collection is an important one for frontier Manhattan, as it includes the earliest known views of its commercial and residential districts.

The Manuscript Cookbook collection includes 125 cookbooks with culinary recipes and home remedies dating from the early 16th century to the late 20th century. The cookbooks originate from various countries, such as Austria (1), Denmark (1), England (25), France (1), Germany (7), Ireland (3), Mexico (5), Palestine (1), Slovakia (1), Switzerland (2), and the United States (42). The books vary in size and shape and are almost exclusively handwritten. Although most are written in English, other languages include German (10), French (2), Danish (1), and Hebrew (1).

These materials are records documenting the development and history of McCain Auditorium, the campus cultural center for the live performing arts since 1970. The bulk of the collection consists of programs, broadsides, contracts, newspaper articles, administrative files, and photographs. Of note, are programs from the first performance in the auditorium and early performance broadsides.
The McCain Performance Series includes handbills, programs, and season brochures of performances between the years of 1970 and 2010.
The Internal Records includes advertisements of McCain performances, contracts with performers, correspondence between McCain and the performers, financial reports on the cost of events, grants that were written to help pay for various events, and press kits made available to newspapers, television, and radio stations to advertise events. There are also 105 3.5" floppy disks and 62 5.25" floppy disks with internal documents. The 3.5" floppy disks include material such as advertisements, brochures, database files, events, and Friends of McCain mailing list. The 5.25" floppy disks include material such as advertisements, brochures, budgets, calendar events, fonts, lighting information, mailing lists, newsletters, photographs, postcards, posters, press releases, programs, sponsors information, surveys, system disks, and workshop information. There are two boxes that are oversized that house advertisement mock-ups of performances and events.
Photographs and Slides include some of the artists participating in the McCain Performance Series and the Other McCain Performance and Events Series. Box 59 houses oversize photographs that include photographs of McCain Auditorium and the Philharmonic of China.
Other McCain Performances and Events include Kansas State University (KSU) organizations such as KSU Bands, KSU Chamber Music Series, Department of Music, Theater, and Dance, K-State Orchestra, K-State Players, K-State Singers, Men and Women's Glee Clubs, and Spring Dance.
The Friends of McCain includes advertising and promotion of Friends events, list of board of directors, monthly board minutes, yearly budgets, correspondence between the board of directors and members of Friends, financial reports of funds raised and spent on events, reports from the KSU Foundation Center of donors designating their donations to Friends of McCain, fundraising brochures and campaigns such as the Yearly Holiday Home Tours, membership lists of Friends of McCain, Friends of McCain newsletters, and season campaign brochures.
Media: CDs, Audio Cassettes, and Reel-to-Reel Tapes are made up of one box. It contains two CDs, 24 audio cassettes, three reel-to-reel tapes. The two CDs are titled McCain Movie and are not dated. The audio cassettes titles include Women Light 21, Women Heavy 40, Men Light 10 and 5, Men Heavy 13, 16 and 22 Dolby, Men Heavy 28 and 40, McCain Auditorium with Tag, Frances Mayes Lecture, Posing Music, Cathy Hougland, and Women Light 25, David and Cathy Hougland "Cool the Exgines," Big River "Running to the River," and Reduced Shakespeare Company, "The Bible." The titles of the Reel-to-Reel tapes are New York City Opera National Company "Figaro" and La Boheme Radio Ads and Gypsy Radio Ad.
Newspaper articles about McCain Performance Series and Events are from the K-State Collegian and The Manhattan Mercury as they covered performances and events.
Oversize is made up of McCain Performance Series and Other McCain Performance and Events Broadsides and Blueprints of McCain Auditorium. The broadsides are extra large posters advertising the date and time of a particular performance. The broadsides include performances such as ballets, plays and musical plays, operas, and concerts. Some ballets performed were The Nutcracker by Ballet Oklahoma, Kyiv Ballet and the Tulsa Ballet, Swan Lake by the Russian National Ballet, The Sleeping Beauty by Houston Ballet, and Romeo & Juliet by Ballet West and The St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre. Plays and musical plays performed include Winnie the Pooh, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by the Montana Repertory Theatre, Sweeney Todd, Cats, Hairspray, Babes in Toyland, Fiddler on the Roof, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Diary of Anne Frank by the Montana Repertory Theatre, The Sound of Music, John Amos in Halley's Comet and Ted Neely in Jesus Christ Superstar. Some operas performed include La Boheme by the Texas Opera Theatre, Rigoletto and Madame Butterfly by the New York City Opera National Touring Company, The Barber of Seville by the Western Opera Theatre, Die Fledermaus by the Kansas State University Opera Theatre, The Merry Widow by the London City Opera and Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) presented by Mozart Festival Opera. Concerts performed include Vienna Choir Boys, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, National Philharmonic of Russia, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, The Uptown String Quartet, Canadian Brass, Venice Baroque Orchestra, and the Kronos Quartet.
The Blueprints of McCain Auditorium are of when the auditorium was first being built. These blueprints are of the lighting systems throughout the auditorium.

McPherson collection includes a multitude of documents pertaining the McPherson extension office as well as the 4-H program. Documents range from executive files such as financial records, meeting minutes, membership lists, and construction plans to documents such as photographs, slides, and program guides.

Photographs depict meat lab and meat sciences students working in the lab, photographs of patented equipment by the department still in use today, and various meat cooking techniques, judging techniques, guidance about food safety, and images of staff and faculty.
Many photos are labeled and identified.
meat-001-meat002d offall after slaughter
meat-003 Class in Meats
meat-004 Lamb carcass
meat-005 Carcass Grading Committee
meat-006 Meat chewing machine
meat-007 Color of meat
meat-008-009 Meat chewing machine
meat-010-011 Meat tenderness machine
meat-012 Meat tenderness investigations
meat-013 Meat Dealers Short
meat-014-015 Effect of temperature on cooking
meat-016 Skelton side of beef
meat-017 Meat exhibit 4-H Roundup
meat-018 Steer Carcass
meat-019-021 Home curing
meat-022 Cuts of Lamb
meat-023-024 Meat Dealers Short Course
meat-025 Meat ID contest
meat-026-027 Meat Exhibit
meat-028-029 Home curing
meat-030 Student Activities
meat-031-032 Double Muscled Carcass
meat-033 Home curing
meat-034 Meats investigations
meat-035 Meats equipment
meat-036 Original Warner shear
meat-037 Ribeye of 1920's
meat-038 Warner Bratzler sheer #1