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The Kenneth S. Davis Papers (1886; 1912-2000) documents Davis’s career as a prominent historian and writer. Davis’s Estate holds the copyright to his literary works. The majority of the collection is related to his writings.
The Writings/Journals Series (1919; 1935-1967) consist of one box and includes some of Davis’s early writing efforts when he was seven years old. Davis kept journals for the years 1935, 1937, 1941, 1953 through 1955, 1961, and 1966 through 1967. In 1958, Davis began keeping a journal with is his wife Florence (Flo) Olenhouse Davis and they continued writing in the same journal through 1959. This series also includes some of Flo’s writing efforts. While she was never published, Flo was a highly skilled and diverse writer who wrote about topics that interested her such as trains, souvenirs from Chicago, and relatives.

Contained in 12 boxes the Correspondence Series (1934-1999) includes letters between Davis and his agents and publishers and editors and other correspondence. The agent's letters are arranged chronologically in one box while the publishers/editors are arranged alphabetically and stored in three boxes. Other correspondence is arranged alphabetically, consists of eight boxes, and includes letters from historians David McCullough, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and William Shirer. Some other correspondence of interest includes letters from Kansas individuals such as Dave Kendall host of the PBS show Sunflower Journeys, Bill Koch, Karl Menninger of the Menninger Foundation, and Richard Seaton of The Manhattan Mercury newspaper. Davis received letters from K-State individuals such as Betty Bailey, Earle, and Kay Davis, George Kren, Don Mrozek, Homer Socolofsky, Ralph Titus, President Jon Wefald, and Dent Wilcoxon.

The Awards/Certificates Series (1935-2000) is housed in one box and includes the Friends of American Writers Award that Davis won in 1943 for his fiction novel In the Forests of the Night, the 1960 Thormod Monsen Award for The Hero, Charles A. Lindbergh, and the American Dream, and the 1973 Francis Parkman Prize for FDR: The Beckoning of Destiny, 1882-1928. In 1963 Davis received the Centennial Award for Distinguished Service at K-State, he received an Honorary Doctorate degree from Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1968, and in 1975 he became a member of Phi Beta Kappa at K-State. Between 1967 and 2000, Davis was often listed in the Marquis Who’s Who in America.

Housed in one box, the Organizations/Clubs Series (1952-1999) includes Davis’s membership in the Society of American Historians, Bohemians, Inc., Century Club, and Dickens Fellowship and some other documents related to the organizations. Of interest in the Society of American Historians is correspondence from Kenneth T. Jackson announcing in 1973 that Davis won the Francis Parkman Prize and had been elected to membership in the society. Davis presented programs to the Bohemians including “What’s Wrong With The Press,” “The Problem of a Biographer,” and “Puritan Kansas: New England Influence” and gave a speech about remembering Clarence Daigneau. Adlai E. Stevenson proposed Davis as a member of the Century Club in New York City and William Shirer also played an instrumental role in Davis’s election into the club. Davis and his wife, Flo, were active in the Dickens Society in Worcester, Massachusetts and this section includes newspaper clippings about the Society’s Christmas dinners.

The Fellowship and Grants Series (1953-1982) is contained in one box that includes documents on Guggenheim Fellowships, National Endowment for the Humanities grants, the Stern Family Fund, and the Woodrow Wilson Scholar. In 1961, Davis applied for a Guggenheim Fellowship, however, it was not granted, and in 1974, he received a $12,000 grant. In 1980, Davis applied for a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, but he did not the grant.

Contained in four boxes, the Speeches Series (1942-1998), includes Davis’s 1943 acceptance speech for the Friends of Americans Writer Award he received for his novel In The Forests Of The Night. Other speeches of interest in this series include Davis’s 1947 speech for the Topeka Chapter of the League of Women Voters titled “UNESCO-Its Nature and Function,” his 1971 speech for Assumption College titled, “Thinking About FDR: Some Problems Of A Biographer,” his 1975 speech at the Kansas State Historical Society Dinner titled, “Portrait of a Changing Kansas,” and his 1994 Lou Douglas Lecture at K-State titled, “Mass Communication and the American Democracy.” Davis and his wife, Flo, were actively involved in the Dickens Society and speeches of interest to this group include the 1962 “Of Dickens and ‘Bleak House’” and the 1968 “Edwin Drood Concluded, Again,” speeches.

Literary Works (1934-2000) is comprised of 51 boxes containing Davis’s works of published and unpublished articles, manuscripts, book reviews, essays, poems, and short stories. The series is chronological within each section, except for the published books, which are in alphabetical order. The most notable of the literary works is Davis’s Franklin D. Roosevelt manuscripts, which includes his research for the series of books, working drafts, and manuscript chapters. A sub-category of the FDR manuscripts is the 1997 FDR Symposium at K-State that includes the book from the symposium, correspondence, invitation, programs, and the speech Davis gave at the Symposium. Those who participated in the symposium with Davis were Nancy Kassebaum Baker, James MacGregor Burns, Doris Kearns Goodwin, William E. Leuchténburg, and Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Other subjects Davis wrote about that are of interest include Kansas history, Clarence Darrow, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Robert H. Goddard, James Lane, Charles A. Lindbergh, Adlai E. Stevenson, Eli Thayer and topics such as the birth control pill, fire departments, Kansas history, social security, stone walls, and UNESCO.

The Subjects Series (1942-1971) is housed in five (5) boxes and consist of information pertaining to Milton Stover Eisenhower (K-State President and his work with UNESCO, Alexander Meiklejohn who was a professor of Davis’s at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Adlai E. Stevenson, who lost by landslides in two races for president against Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and 1962. The files contain correspondence between Davis and each of the individuals, speeches that Davis wrote for Eisenhower and Stevenson, other correspondence, newspaper clippings, and programs.

Death and Memorial Series (1999) is stored in two boxes and consists of Davis’s death certificate, eulogies, funeral papers, memorial service, obituaries, and sympathy cards.

Davis Family Series (1907-1999) is comprised of nine (9) boxes. Two (2) boxes are made up of family documents, three (3) boxes contain French souvenir postcards that Charles Davis collected during World War I, and four (4) boxes contain family correspondence. Correspondence of interest is the letters between Charles and Lydia Davis while Charles was stationed in France during World War I.

The Photographs Series (circa 1912-1999) is stored in two (2) boxes and arranged alphabetically. The majority of photographs are of family members.

The Media Series (circa 1972-1999) is comprised of three (3) boxes. Included are 3 ½ inch disks and 5 ¼ inch disks, and the files that were able to be retrieved from these disks. Documents retrieved from the disk include correspondence and manuscripts that are not found anywhere else in the collection. Items of interest are correspondence between Davis and his last editor Robert Loomis of Random House and some drafts of Davis’ first FDR books.

There are three (3) Scrapbooks in the collection: In The Forests Of The Night, 1942, Soldier of Democracy, 1945, and A Prophet In His Own Country, 1957. Because of their fragile conditions, the scrapbooks were taken apart and photocopied. Each scrapbook includes book reviews and correspondence.

The Oversize Items (1927-1997) are stored in one box. The Oversize Items include Davis’s 1927 Junior High School Diploma, his 1930 High School Diploma, and his 1934 Kansas Agricultural College Diploma. It also includes the 1973 Francis Parkman Prize certificate, the 1994 Lou Douglas Lecture Poster (Davis was the speaker), 1996 Presidential prints of President Bill Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore, and two posters from the 1997 FDR symposium.

The Map Series (1919-1985) is stored with the Oversize Items and includes National Geographic Society magazine maps and a few maps from France dated 1919.

The Artifact and Art Series (1955-1997) is housed in (1) box and includes two caricatures of Davis, one by his first wife, Flo, and one by F. Mason, and a watercolor sketch. Other items include award plaques, badges, a guest book, and jewelry.

Printed Material is made up of four (4) boxes, one being a flat box for oversize documents, and consists of journals, leaflets, newspapers, pamphlets, and the Davis Family Bible dated 188 that is in the Swedish language.

Records contained in this accession include early agriculture experiment station press reports and bulletins.
- Folder 1: Agriculture Experiment Station: Press Reports 1898-1900
- Folder 2: Press Bulletins 159-178
- Folder 3: Press Bulletins 1-115
- Folder 4: Press Bulletins 1-34
- Folder 5: Press Bulletins 35-70
- Folder 6: Press Bulletins 71-124
- Folder 7: Press Reports 125-158

This collection maintains the papers regarding Lorena Meyers as related solely to the Federal Drug Administration. It includes interviews with Meyers as well as numerous speeches she gave throughout her career. Additionally, this collection includes a booklet containing the legislative history of the FDA and an orientation handbook for the FDA. Of important note is an interview completed by Meyers with Ronald T. Ottes in 1990 regarding Meyers' career through her retirement in 1984. This interview is bound with a speech Meyers gave as well as documentation from her job at the FDA.

The Loren W. Elliott papers consist of documents pertaining to the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity, Alpha Kappa Psi Fraternity, and Phi Kappa Phi, during the time Elliott was a student at Kansas State Agricultural College in the late 1920s and 1930s. Included are Laboratory Outlines and Elliott's class notes for General Botany I, General Botany II, and Laboratory Experiments of Elementary Organic Chemistry. Elliott was also a member of the President's Club (1981-1982 and 1987). A vinyl record (33 1/2 rpm) titled "Purple Pride 1971-72" is included in the collection.

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 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.