Scope and Contents

The collection was a gift from Karen Herman in June 2022. It consists of correspondence, organizational documents, photographs, publicity materials, research, and travel journals relating to the Women’s Foundation, the Hunger Project, and United WE. Of particular note are travel journals from trips to Bangladesh, India, Bangkok, Vietnam, and Cambodia containing drawings, observations, myths, and organizational plans.

Scope and Contents The Karl Kratz Collection contains documents and memorabilia from the life and career of Kratz, who spent time in Kansas City with the Kansas City Civic Ballet Company and at the Conservatory of Music and Dance. Materials from both Germany and America offer a glimpse into dance history both here and overseas. Including documents such as biographical information, correspondence, newspaper clippings and instructional texts, as well as programs, periodicals, photographs, and a scrapbook that...

Scope and Contents The Kathe “Kathleen” Kaul Collection was gifted to the UMKC Libraries in January 2014 by Kathe Kaul.Housed in LaBudde Special Collections, the manuscript collection is divided into two series: Radio Broadcasting and Mutual Musicians Foundation (MMF). The first series consists of popular record surveys distributed by local radio stations, including WHB, KUDL, KBEQ, KCMO and KCKN. There are also surveys by Oklahoma-based radio stations KOMA, KWHP and WKY. Also included is various...

Scope and Contents The Katherine K. Davis Collection was acquired through Jack L. Ralston, Director of the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri-Kansas City at that time. The collection highlights nearly 200 pieces of published sheet music composed by Davis. The collection also includes several songbooks composed, compiled or arranged by Davis and photocopies of three manuscript scores composed by Davis. Rounding out the collection are business and personal correspondence between Davis and...

Scope and Contents The Kerry Strayer collection was a gift to the University Libraries in October 2016 from Strayer’s wife, Gailyn. The collection is comprised of jazz arrangements for ensembles of varying size and instrumentation, with many pieces arranged by Strayer himself. There are also a handful of original compositions by Strayer, such as “Jeru Blue” and “KAS’s Blues.” In this collection, there are arrangements for the Polycurrents ensemble; jazz quartet, quintet, and sextet; Kerry Strayer and the New...

Scope and Contents The L. Perry Cookingham Collection was donated to the University of Missouri-Kansas City during the late 1970s and through the early 1980s by Mr. Cookingham. The collection contains a fairly concise and annotated selection of Cookingham’s personal and professional life. Inclusive dates are circa 1870-1993. Included is correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs, slides, cassette tapes, date books and material related to the growth of Kansas City during 1939-1990. The material has been organized...

Scope and Contents The Leon M. Jordan Collection was purchased by LaBudde Special Collections from Brian Thurn Antiques of Kansas City, who acquired the material from Phillip Banks. The collection consists of material belonging to Kansas City police detective and political leader Leon Mercer Jordan and his wife, Orchid Irene Ramsey Jordan; and ranges in date from the 1910s to the 1980s. Much of the collection focuses on their experiences in Liberia, Africa, where Mr. Jordan spent time training the national...

Scope and Contents

The LeRoy Pogemiller Collection was transferred to LaBudde Special Collections from UMKC University Archives. It is in two series, each organized alphabetically by file name. Personal/Professional includes documents from Pogemiller’s personal life and professional career. Gasparini Research includes materials related to Pogemiller’s dissertation and career long involvement with the works of Italian Baroque composer Francesco Gasparini (1661-1727).

Scope and Contents The Lewis Reuben Rowland Collection was gifted by an anonymous donor in October 2009. The collection contains items of Kansas City interest, particularly information relating to Paseo High School in the late 1920s, where Rowland attended. Included are programs, club notes, speeches and committee functions. There is correspondence from Rowland’s friends, family and others which contain insight into his social activity, along with his goals for his future education. The collection gives an...

Scope and Contents The Linda Hood Talbott Collection, housed in the Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections, was donated in August of 2017 to the University of Missouri-Kansas City by Dr. Linda Hood Talbott. It contains documents from Dr. Talbott’s time working as a philanthropist in the Kansas City area. She worked with a number of organizations, though the bulk of this collection focuses on her work with the Soroptimist Kansas City Foundation (Formerly the Soroptimist Welfare Fund). Included...

Scope and Contents The Louis Katzman Collection was a gift of Michael M. Katzman in July 2013. Housed in LaBudde Special Collections, the bulk of the manuscript collection consists of sets of band and orchestra parts, mostly for tunes arranged by Katzman. Also present are some pieces of sheet music (individual songs and collections) in which Katzman played a role as composer or arranger, as well as publications including advertising materials, discographies, and periodicals.Housed in...

Scope and Contents The Lucile H. Bluford Collection was transferred from Jackson County Historical Society in 2010. It includes documents related to not only Lucile Bluford herself, but subjects such as Kansas City social issues, as well as Civil Rights. Bluford’s community activities are documented in several studies and reports. There are 35 photographs in the collection, which depict historical moments during the struggle for civil rights, such as the Black Monday demonstrations of September 22, 1969,...

Scope and Contents The Luyben Music Collection was donated by Annette Luyben to LaBudde Special Collections in summer 2020. The collection consists of business records, correspondence, publications, events, organizations, resources, awards, memorabilia, and photos relating to Luyben Music, Luyben clarinet ligatures, and members of the family who ran the business. Materials include official documentation on the building for the store, records on interaction with customers, products or merchandise, letters, news...

Scope and Contents The MacDowell Collection (formerly MacDowell Colony Collection) was purchased from the artist residency and workshop and is housed in LaBudde Special Collections, UMKC Miller Nichols Library. Broken down into four series, the collection consists of compositions and arrangements by a variety of musical artists. The first series contains manuscript music material arranged by composer/arranger last name. The second series contains material by arranger P. Hans Flath. The third series contains...

Scope and Contents The Major N. Clark Smith Collection was gifted to the University of Missouri-Kansas City by Mrs. Robert Lee Groves on April 25, 1973. Housed in the Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections, the collection consists of original and photocopied manuscript music scores and published sheet music composed and/or arranged by Major N. Clark Smith, including Frederick Douglass Funeral March, O’ Lincoln High, Tuskegee Institute March, and Negro Folk Suite. Also included are titles by...

Scope and Contents The MANA de Kansas City Collection was gifted to the LaBudde Special Collections in November 2010 by Freda Mendez Smith with additional accruals from MANA de Kansas City in June 2015 and Mary Estrada in 2019. It holds historical organizational documents pertaining to the local Chapter of the Mexican American Women’s National Association. Inclusive dates of the material are 1977-2008, with the bulk of the material dating from 1990s-2008.The MANA collection has been divided into...

Scope and Contents The Marciem Bazell Collection was gifted by Bazell’s colleagues in the Conservatory of Music and Dance, University of Missouri-Kansas City, in Spring 2015 with aditional materials gifted in 2021. The bulk of the collection consists of production books from various operas that Bazell directed during her career. Since dates are unclear on many of the items, the operas have been organized in alphabetical order and content is annotated, having been thoughtfully provided by her Conservatory...

Scope and Contents The Marjorie Powell Allen Collection was gifted to the UMKC Miller Nichols Library in 2018. The collection encompasses the personal, professional, and philanthropic life of Kansas City native Marjorie Powell Allen. It contains scrapbooks, notebooks, correspondences, newspaper clippings, awards, and organization information belonging to Powell Allen. The collection also contains a number of photographs of Powell Allen from childhood through the rest of her life. In 2017 Powell Allen’s...

Scope and Contents The Mark Hayes Collection was donated to LaBudde Special Collections in April 2019 by Hayes himself and consists of concert programs, handwritten notes, pedagogy books, published music scores of piano, organ, voice, choral, various chamber ensembles, and audio CDs related to Mark Hayes’s life and career. The collection is particularly strong in Christian music, including over 900 published scores of Hayes's original and arranged music. Additional audio/visual material related to this...

Scope and Contents The Martha Jane Starr Collection was gifted to the LaBudde Special Collections by Martha Jane Starr in March of 2010. Due to the nature of Mrs. Starr’s strong connections to the University of Missouri-Kansas City and her deep rooted involvement with the Women’s Council and Family Life Education, the Starr Collection is rich in documentation and showcases the breadth of her devotion to education. Her dedication to the importance of marriage and family enrichment led to the...

Scope and Contents The Matchbook Cover Collection was an anonymous gift to LaBudde Special Collections in Spring 2009. The collection consists of matchbook covers related to businesses, products and services; and divided into six series: Missouri – Kansas City; Kansas – Kansas City; Missouri – Other Cities and Towns; Kansas – Other Cities and Towns; Other States; and Miscellaneous. The Miscellaneous and both Kansas City series are categorized by topic, while the remaining series are arranged by geographic...

Scope and Contents The McLean Family Collection was acquired in April 2009 as a gift from Martha McLean Simpson, daughter of Minnie and Lawrence McLean. The collection contains both personal information about the McLean Family as well as material relating to the McLean Band Shop in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. The band shop was patronized by many local and well-known visiting musicians. There are photographs of such celebrities as Benny Goodman, Tex Beneke and Sammy Kaye. Hal McLean, Lawrence McLean’s older...

Scope and Contents The Mel Lewis Collection was donated to the Miller Nichols Library at the University of Missouri-Kansas City by Doris Sokoloff in 1996. The collection consists of material related to Lewis’ life and career and dates from the 1940s to the 1990s.Housed in LaBudde Special Collections, the manuscript materials include biographical information, correspondence, business records, programs, datebooks, publications, clippings, awards, music scores, miscellaneous ephemera and memorabilia,...

Scope and Contents The Michael O'Laughlin Collection was a gift of O'Laughlin in July 2020. It consists of book reviews, correspondence, presentation notes and research, Irish Roots Café website and podcast viewership statistics, summaries and outlines of future podcast episodes, song lyrics, publications, O’Lochlainns Personal Journal of Irish Families, photographs, sheet music, and audio and video that O’Laughlin created and collected related to Irish music, genealogy, and Kansas City and Midwest cultural...

Scope and Contents

Materials in this collection pertain to the formation of Missouri’s fourth constitution, adopted in 1945. Inclusive dates in the collection are 1944-1945.