The Kansas Collection is the regional history division of the University of Kansas Libraries. The Collection provides researchers with primary source materials that document the history of Kansas and the region. In order to support teaching and research, the staff of the Collection acquire, preserve, and make available resources such as manuscripts, photographs, maps, architectural drawings and blueprints, books, newspapers, periodicals, film and videotapes that document the "Kansas Experience." The Kansas Collection is also a depository for publications of the state of Kansas and for Douglas County records.
The bulk of the Collection's holdings cover the Kansas Territorial period (1854-1861) to the present. Materials beyond Kansas include documentation from the contiguous states and the Great Plains generally. Regional representation of agricultural, political and social movements, economic development, and overland trail migration expand both the time frame and types of materials available.
The African American experience in Kansas and the region is a major area of focus, with the legacy of African American individuals, families, businesses, churches, and schools documented through substantial collections of correspondence, photographs, organizational, educational and business records, books, pamphlets and newspapers.
The history of Douglas County is well documented through an extensive collection of local Douglas County, Kansas records, for the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Included are marriage records, Deed and Mortgage records, Tax Rolls, Property Appraisal records, and District Court records.
Manuscript and photographic holdings in the Kansas Collection are extensive and provide resources needed for the study of social history.
One of the largest assemblages of US left and right wing political literature in this country. The bulk of the collection covers 1960 to the present and includes hundreds of thousands of books, pamphlets, periodicals, audio tapes, and printed ephemera from hundreds of organizations across the political spectrum.