UNK Archives and Special Collections

UNK Archives and Special Collections Archives and Special Collections at the University of Nebraska Kearney. We collect and share items related to UNK history and central and western NE.

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/unkarchives

This year we decided to forgo recreating something from the early cookbooks in our collection and instead chose to use a...
04/26/2026

This year we decided to forgo recreating something from the early cookbooks in our collection and instead chose to use a couple of the holiday recipe books compiled by the Home Economics classes in the 1950s. Specifically, Pineapple Cookies from 1951 and Athens Nut Pie from 1955. They were served at the Library's monthly Birthday and Anniversary treat day and received generally positive reviews. The cookies were tasty (not enough pineapple), but no one understood why the pie was called a pie when it's actually a cake! :P

Different items need different sized boxes (shocking, I know). This is one of our larger boxes, perfect for clothing. We...
04/17/2026

Different items need different sized boxes (shocking, I know). This is one of our larger boxes, perfect for clothing. We have cheerleading uniforms, interleaved with acid-free tissue, in this one. Besides keeping items separated, the tissue also helps a bit with folds - if an item isn't repositioned regularly, you can start to see damage along the fold line. Softening/padding that with tissue helps prevent that.

We can't do have the time or expertise to do much conservation in-house but sometimes works come to us with evidence of ...
04/15/2026

We can't do have the time or expertise to do much conservation in-house but sometimes works come to us with evidence of previous conservation. One of our newest acquisitions, Nathanael Low's Almanack (1784) has mending on its first page. While it stabilized the page, it also obscured some of the text. Win some (like we won the Revolutionary War), lose some.

The Stephen Lawhead Collection was one of our biggest projects (and collections) to date, involving cataloging hundreds ...
04/12/2026

The Stephen Lawhead Collection was one of our biggest projects (and collections) to date, involving cataloging hundreds of book and processing many many boxes of archival materials. Final count: 22 archival boxes and several hundred books. Thanks to Stephen and Alice Lawhead for the donation and to our fabulous folks here at UNK Calvin T. Ryan Library for all their hard work on this collection.

You can find the books in our library catalogue. The archive collection description is available: https://archives.nebraska.edu/repositories/6/resources/4768

We work with community groups to care for their archives. For the Daughters of the American Revolution time capsule, fro...
04/11/2026

We work with community groups to care for their archives. For the Daughters of the American Revolution time capsule, from the Kearney Cemetery gates, we digitized everything and provided online hosting before returning the items. Most of the items date from the 1920s and emphasize World War I casualties, while other items were added after a 1960s car accident damaged the gates.

View the contents online at https://openspaces.unk.edu/dar-capsule/

Today's post comes from our Processing & Outreach Archivist, Jenny Haddon. To augment the “Americans and the Holocaust” ...
04/10/2026

Today's post comes from our Processing & Outreach Archivist, Jenny Haddon.

To augment the “Americans and the Holocaust” traveling exhibit we recently hosted, I prioritized processing collections related to Nebraskans in World War II. Shown here is an assemblage of 82 letters dated 1943-1946, written by a number of soldiers and sent to the Doane family of Bayard, NE. This was originally a digital student project titled “Retracing Old Lines”. The students had already arranged the letters by author and year, so all I had to do was label the folders and create a finding aid. If only every collection came to me so well organized!

If you'd like to check out Tatiana Moore and Mitch Robey's exhibit, Retracing Old Lines, you can find it at https://unkarchives.omeka.net/exhibits/show/retracing-old-lines

We have a LOT of sports pictures, particularly from the 1950s to 1990s. However, we love these early tennis pictures. Th...
04/09/2026

We have a LOT of sports pictures, particularly from the 1950s to 1990s. However, we love these early tennis pictures. They show off tennis's wide popularity. We're sure our UNK Tennis players are very glad they don't have to play in old-fashioned athletic clothes!

For those of you with keen eyes, you can also see one of the Administration Building wings under construction.

Group photo: date unknown, likely 1910s or 1920s
Pairs photo: early 1910s, likely taken by faculty member John Stryker

The Archives is full of the past (and, we'd argue, the seeds for the future). E. Ruth Pyrtle's 1922 State Superintendent...
04/08/2026

The Archives is full of the past (and, we'd argue, the seeds for the future). E. Ruth Pyrtle's 1922 State Superintendent of Instruction campaign materials fascinate us, both for what she believes Nebraska's children deserve, and for what pieces of her past she chooses to emphasize.

In addition to her education and teaching experience, Pyrtle highlights her war welfare work during World War I, her international travel, her involvement in many women's organizations, and how she proved up on a homestead.

What stands out to you?

We have lots of cute animal pictures in the Archives. This is....not that. We are lucky enough to have a late 80s/early ...
04/07/2026

We have lots of cute animal pictures in the Archives. This is....not that. We are lucky enough to have a late 80s/early 90s Louie the Loper costume. Our brave archivist deigned to put on the definitely not haunted head.

But hey, this costume is definitely better than when people just work a rack of antelope antlers to sporting events? Right?

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2508 11th Avenue
Kearney, NE
68849

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