About Special Collections
About Special Collections
The Richard L.D. and Marjorie J. Morse Department of Special Collections is located on the fifth floor of Hale Library. In addition to a reading room for researchers, the Kenneth S. Davis Seminar Room provides space for instruction that uses materials from Special Collections and Archives.
The department houses the Libraries' most valuable, rare and unique materials, including the university archives. Additionally, the department digitizes and preserves materials and coordinates the university's records management program.
Our collections
The Morse Department of Special Collections houses the university’s rarest and most valuable research materials. In addition to collecting and preserving K-State’s institutional records, the department also serves as a vital epicenter for research pertaining to the consumer movement, cookery, Kansas culture and K-State history.
An important note regarding our collections:
K-State Libraries’ digital collections may include images and text reflecting various forms of oppression, including but not limited to offensive language or negative stereotypes. Instances of bigotry reflect the attitudes, perspectives and beliefs of those that created and participated in them and should be considered records of the era in which they were produced.
The collection period includes the modern day, as born digital resources are collected regularly. They are presented here without censorship as evidence of past activities.
Butler Digitization Lab
Established in 2021, thanks to a gift from the Butler Family Foundation, the Butler Digitization Lab provides the space and equipment for our in-house digitization program. Special Collections staff scan, describe and document archival materials, making them accessible online for researchers all over the world.
Our history
During the 1960s, the need for a library department to house the university's rarest and most unique research materials arose with the acquisition of several important collections. K-State Libraries created the special collections department in 1967. Twenty years later, the university formally acknowledged the need to collect and preserve its institutional records by establishing a university archives within special collections. In 1997, the department was named in honor of Richard L. D. and Marjorie J. Morse for their long-term support and the establishment of the consumer movement archives.