Scope and Contents The Brian Thurn Collection was formed by various purchases from Brian Thurn Antiques of Kansas City, beginning with the initial acquisition in January 2006. The collection consists of photographs, posters and miscellaneous material that primarily reflect aspects of the African-American cultural experience during the 20th century, particularly in and around Kansas City. Some material has been removed from this collection to form discrete collections: Ernest Daniels Collection (jazz...

Scope and Contents The “Cactus” Charlie Menees Collection was donated to the UMKC Miller Nichols Library by his family in 1994. The collection, focusing on big band and traditional jazz between 1917 and 1980, consists of personal and professional material, awards, news clippings, books, periodicals, sheet music, posters and graphics, memorabilia, several hundred photographs, over 25,000 sound recordings on LP, 78 and 45 formats, as well as additional audio/visual material. The manuscript collection is housed...

Scope and Contents The Calder Pickett Collection was gifted by Pickett to the Miller Nichols Library at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Spanning the 1960s-2000s, the collection consists of hundreds of scripts primarily for the award-winning radio series The American Past, hosted by Pickett and produced by Kansas Public Radio at the University of Kansas from 1973-2000s. Also included are scripts for NBC’s radio series Image America and the 26-part Canadian television documentary Vietnam War: The Ten...

Scope and Contents The Carleton Coon Collection was donated in September 2015 by Carl Jakopec. Personal documents and correspondence, articles and periodicals, and photographs comprise the bulk of this collection. The items represent a large swath of Coon’s brief life, with photographs from his childhood until the period shortly before he passed away. There is also some information about other players who performed with Coon.As the Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawks Orchestra was one of the first...

Scope and Contents The Carol Marinovich Collection was donated to the LaBudde Special Collections in July of 2021. The collection, covering Carol Marinovich’s career from 1987 until 2016, consists of speech and presentation transcripts, outlines and notes for speeches, personal and professional calendars, correspondence, ethics commission reports, programs and brochures, and news releases and reports. Transcripts, outlines, and notes for speeches and presentations serve as the largest source of material,...

Scope and Contents The Carroll Lewis Collection was gifted to LaBudde Special Collections by Paul Smith in April 2015.The bulk of the collection consists of handwritten music manuscripts composed and/or arranged by Lewis. Rounding out the collection are miscellaneous items such as photographs, awards, publications and scrapbooks.Addendum I was gifted to LaBudde Special Collections by Paul Smith. This addendum contains miscellaneous photocopies of various materials pertaining to Carroll Lewis’...

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The Catalog Collection is an artificial collection comprised of various catalogs grouped by topic and spans from 1881-2006. The majority of items in this collection deal with film, books, and music. Other types of catalogs include but are not limited to toys, clothing, home furniture, electronics, collectibles, and theatre.

Scope and Contents The Charles Sanford Skilton Collection was donated to the University of Missouri-Kansas City by Skilton’s son and daughter. Housed in the Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections, the collection consists of several of Skilton’s major works in manuscript form, including the operas The Day of Gayomair, Kalopin, The Sun Bride, and Ticonderoga; and works for vocal/choral and organ/harmonium as well as instrumental compositions. Also included are published scores by Skilton and by...

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LaBudde Special Collections received the Children’s Mercy Hospital Collection in spring 2015. The collection includes personal narratives and booklets, as well as biographical sketches of Dr. Katherine Berry Richardson and Dr. Alice Berry Graham, correspondence, board of directors’ activities, finances, reports, the former School of Nursing, pediatric residents, research and development, social services, ephemera, and memorabilia.

Scope and Contents The Classical Music Manuscript contains a wide array of score and parts, in both manuscript and printed form, from composers and music educators dating back to the Eighteenth Century. Along with recognizable names such as Domenico Scarlatti, there are many far lesser known composers from the time of Mozart and Beethoven that are represented here in this collection, with rare scores and pedagogical manuals. Not only are the items an interesting glimpse into virtually unknown works, they are a...

Scope and Contents The Claude “Fiddler” Williams Collection was gifted to UMKC Libraries in January 2009 by Blanche Fouse Williams, widow of Claude Williams. Inclusive dates are circa 1960s-2008, with the bulk of the collection dating from 1989-2004, the year of his death.The manuscript materials include correspondence; contracts; numerous awards; event programs; posters; news clippings; photographs; and miscellaneous ephemera and memorabilia. In particular, the correspondence, awards and various...

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The Clete Huske Collection was a gift of Michael J. Fagras, who donated a selection of his personal record collection to the Marr Sound Archives in December 2014. As part of that donation are scrapbooks housed in LaBudde Special Collections containing clippings of a multitude of musical artists taken from various jazz and blues publications.

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The Commercial Documents Collection includes receipts of sale involving merchants, companies, and Andrew Bell and William Paterson. Also included in the collection are invoices, ledgers, and debt statements from surveyors to Andrew Bell.

The documents included in the Commercial Documents Collection range from the early eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century.

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The Composers and Musicians Autograph Collection contains autographs of famous and significant composers and musicians. The signatures are accompanied by a picture of the signer. Many of the signatures are on letters or notes written by the signer. In the case of both Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and Nikoly Rimsky-Korsakov, handwritten music accompanies the signature.

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The Cora Davis Sanders Music Collection was a gift of Joy and Arden Sanders in June 2010. The collection consists of a series of piano lessons accessed through correspondence with the American College of Music in Kansas City, Missouri. Included are lessons along with recitation blanks, which were tests that were taken by the pupil and returned to the school for grading. Although the materials themselves are not dated, postmarks on the mailers indicate the year 1925.

Scope and Contents The Coterie Theatre Collection was gifted to LaBudde Special Collections by the theatre in March 2014. The date range of the contents is from 1978 at its inception until 2013. Materials include production scrapbooks, financial data, various publications, posters, photographs and slides.Scrapbooks contain mostly news clippings with scant correspondence. As the theatre evolved from its inception, the productions become more elaborate and dimensional. Local news reviews observe the...

Scope and Contents The Dan Jaffe Collection was gifted to the LaBudde Special Collections in March, 2011.Materials date from the 1940’s to 2011, with the bulk of the material ranging 1960 to 1990.Within lies a culmination of literary capital from the inspirational career and a life of creativity by a publisher, scholar, mentor and wordsmith guru. Included are correspondence,published and unpublished manuscripts, plays, operas, graphics, photographs and miscellaneouspublications. In addition to the Jaffe...

Scope and Contents Dana Suesse Collection was gifted to LaBudde Special Collections by Peter Mintun in January 2015. Boxes 3-6 were later gifted to LaBudde Special Collections by Mintun in 2021. The collection relates to Suesse’s life and career, and includes promotional and publicity material, original and photocopied music, and scripts for comedies and musicals written by Suesse. Rounding out the collection are two dozen photographs that provide a concise representation of Suesse at different ages of her...

Scope and Contents The Dan Conn Collection was a gift from the Dan Conn estate in June 2010. Conn was in the music industry and the collection strongly reflects his occupation. Included are magazines, album covers, promotional material and much memorabilia. The highlight of the collection lies within the plethora of posters, primarily related to musical artists and events, and a rare 12” LP promotional copy of Bruce Springsteen’s album Born to Run, featuring the original cover that used a graffiti-style font...

Scope and Contents The Danny Mayo Collection was established in LaBudde Special Collections, consisting of a small amount of non-audiovisual materials from the collection, after Mayo’s sound recordings were given to the Marr Sound Archives by Deborah Dooley in 2014. The assorted ephemera include posters, liner notes, a few images, the framed gold album Ozark Mountain Daredevils, and other miscellaneous items.Recordings from the collection are searchable in the UMKC Libraries catalog. ...

Scope and Contents The Dave E. Dexter, Jr. Collection was gifted to the UMKC Libraries by Dave Dexter prior to his death in 1990.Housed in LaBudde Special Collections, the manuscripts collection includes correspondence, writings and photographs. Dexter's correspondence with Capitol Record executives and other individuals provide pertinent information concerning the recording industry. His prolific writings are reflected in numerous formats from record liner notes to typed drafts and published works,...

Scope and Contents The David A. Gordon collection is comprised mostly of original compositions in handwritten and copied manuscripts. David Gordon composed for a wide range of ensembles: this collection contains orchestral and other large ensemble works, chamber and solo instrumental music, large and small ensemble pieces with voice, and a cappella arrangements. The collection has been organized to reflect these categories. In addition to full scores, there are also sets of parts to a number of the pieces in...

Scope and Contents The David Basse Collection was a gift to the University Libraries from David Basse in January 2010. Materials date from 1954-2010, with the bulk of materials ranging from 1990-2009. The collection includes items mostly related to Basse’s musical career, but also contains some personal ephemera. The jewel of the collection lies within the plethora of photographic images which document Basse’s musical career, dating back to the early 1970s. Also noteworthy are the numerous posters which...

Scope and Contents The David Dean Conn Collection was a gift of the David Conn estate in July 2010. The collection contains materials related to Conn’s music profession while working at the Music Exchange record store and Handleman Music Distributors, both located in Kansas City. Included are correspondence, press packets, music catalogs, periodicals and posters. There are also photographs and some limited edition prints by artist Gary Huston. Some of the highlights of the collection are related to Conn’s...

Scope and Contents The David Morantz Collection contains items relating to Judaic Studies. It has been organized into six series contained in three boxes. Inclusive dates range from 1907 to 1959, with bulk dates being 1934 to 1943. Included are some correspondence, primarily relating to Morantz’s syndicated column, Talmudic Tales. There is much focus on religious studies and Morantz’s involvement with Sunday school education in local synagogues. Of particular interest are the local church newsletters which...