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unkarchives.bsky.social
UNK Archives
@unkarchives.bsky.social
1.9K followers 270 following 120 posts
Official account for the University of Nebraska at Kearney Archives and Special Collections. All things #archives, especially #HistEd
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unkarchives.bsky.social
Even creatures of darkness need to do their banking (undated, from "Old Photos" binder). #archives #Halloween #ArchivesCreepy
Person in a black costume and witchy mask/makeup depositing something at the bank
October 31, 2025 at 2:28 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
Can't trust those Canadians; they say they see unicorns, with horns like ammonites.

...love you, northern neighbours!

From Travels in the Interior Parts of America : Communicating Discoveries Made in Exploring the Missouri, Red River, and Washita (1807)
#HistSci #Archives #Ammonites
A Canadian, who had been much with the Indians to the westward, speaks of a wool-bearing animal, larger than a sheep, the wool much mixed with hair, which he had seen in large flocks. He pretends also to have seen a unicorn, the single horn of which, he says, rises out of the forehead and curls back, conveying the idea of the fossil cornu ammonis
October 28, 2025 at 9:49 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
We're having a "what is time?" kind of month. Soooo although Ask an Archivist Day is done, ask us All The Questions (whenever you'd like; that's what we're here for).
#AskAnArchivist #archives
Light bulb and question marks. UNK Archives & Special Collections text treatment
October 17, 2025 at 2:41 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
Watch out for sharks, at least if you're the Pittsburg State Gorillas in 1975! This was one of many entries in the @unkearney.bsky.social Homecoming lawn decorating competition. That year's theme: Cartoon Carnival.
#UNKHomecoming2025 #archives #Snoopy
Lawn decoration in front of the library. A shark is eating a gorilla, Snoopy is on a ship. Sign reads: put the bite on the gorillas
October 7, 2025 at 2:37 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
As @unkearney.bsky.social kicks off Homecoming Week, we're flashing back 75 years. Lawn decorating isn't on the schedule this year, but who could resist this 1950 shot? It has it all: dragons & knights, plus bad puns!
#Archives #UNKHomecoming2025
lawn decorations in front of a brick building. A dragon with a Doane sign is battled by a Nebraska State College knight. Banner reads "Let's keep doane duckin and send them home dragon"
October 6, 2025 at 2:10 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
We join the world in mourning the passing of Dr. Jane Goodall. She visited @unkearney.bsky.social in 2005. Part of her remarks highlight hope: "However grim and bleak the world seems today, it will change. Each one of us can do our bit."

openspaces.unk.edu/unkantelope/...
#JaneGoodall #Archives
Jane Goodall in front of a microphone "More and more species are vanishing," she said. "And as people say, extinction is forever." Although Goodall has seen many horrible things happening to the planet and its living beings, sh still has not lost her hope and trust in the human beings and their abilities to change the world in a positive way. "I would not stand here talking about hope without hope," she said. "Every individual makes a difference everyday. How can we not use those amazing brains we have?" Goodall said that there are four reasons for hope: the human brain that recognized the problems we have on our planet, motivated young people, the indomitable nature of human spirit, and the resilience of nature.
October 1, 2025 at 8:31 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
This #ThrowbackThursday, we're featuring a 1969 #poem from an alt newspaper, The Scorpion. The Scorpion was a liberal response to conservative Kearney campus culture during the Vietnam War

Want to read more? It's available: openspaces.unk.edu/scorpion/6/
#archives #VietnamWar #poetry
Typed poem: Tale of the General. The General sat and cried, called for mama, But she had died. Summoned the priestest, And they went to bed, In the morning she was dead. Millions of men, Could he kill, with plastic G.I. Joes, But he only got 2 X 10, For that was all his fingers and toes. Don Weikle
August 28, 2025 at 9:34 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
Welcome back to campus! We hope y'all can join us for @unkearney.bsky.social Blue and Gold (5-8pm, 8/22). Blue and Gold is a long-running tradition. These pics are from the 1997 version, which came complete with carnival rides. We can't promise that today, but there will be food! #UNK #Archives
White man in an apron serving food outside to a Black woman in a yellow shirt and blue pants Man sitting in an outdoor dunk tank next to a yellow screen with a target Tables with food set up on pavement outsidethe Nebraska Student Union building Sizzler and other carnival rides set up in front of classroom buildings
August 22, 2025 at 4:59 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
The weather is heating up here. We hope y'all are coping, whether with some cooling wading like these 1910s Nebraska State Normal School at Kearney students or hanging out in the lovely AC at @unklibrary.bsky.social
#ThrowbackThursday #Archives #Nebraska
1910s photograph of four women with linked arms, wearing long dresses and standing knee-deep in a lake
July 24, 2025 at 8:24 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
Keep pedaling 🚲 towards the weekend. You can do it!

Undated image from the Kearney State College Bike Bowl
#Archives #KearneyStateCollege #tricycle
People riding tricycles on a track with many spectators in the bleachers
July 17, 2025 at 4:49 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
For National Stamp Day, here's the great 1958 Freedom of the Press stamp. This one was used to mail a letter to Dr. Henry E. Baumgarten. Baumgarten was involved with the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union (NOU). We've partnered with NOU to digitize their archives. #NationalStampDay #Archives #Stamps
U.S. Postage 4 cents. Freedom of the Press. Illustration of a hand holding a quill.
July 1, 2025 at 6:28 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
Why archives? They give us voices from the past, whether literally through oral histories or through other evidence. #WhyArchives #Archive30
People in a variety of chairs facing a very old TV
April 30, 2025 at 2:47 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
This includes Chernozem, a poetry magazine in the 1970s. Chernozem published local poets like Don Welch and Hargis and Nancy Westerfield as well as poets from elsewhere. Like many small publications, it was short-lived.
archives.nebraska.edu/repositories...
#ArchiveCollection #Archive30 #poetry
Chernozem poetry magazines in pastel colors with stick art covers Title: Trackside, with Tumbleweed Body: Here the mind makes a garden: Clump of old-field grass, fan Of white heads, reflections in rainpool: Mind makes a flower-garden: gallant amaranth, Never-fading, slender, green-crested: Tall tumbleweed, blue-green Infinite leafage clear in rainpool: Infinite depths, mystic wonder. (Yet is this barren High Plains Trackside; long apron of concrete, Staggering row of paintless warehouses, Stark straight distance, nothing-horizon, Sand, and weeds.) Here the mind makes a garden and peace: Clear garden of dawn where light Haloes heads of old-field grass, Gallant amaranth, blue-green tumbleweed: Mystic depth of universe, trackside Barren, apron of concrete, no horizon: Here the mind makes a garden of infinite Knowing: the mind makes a garden. By Hargis Westerfield Title: Parallel Trackage, Impartial Vision Body: Here the mind makes a garbage; These disorders of the foreground-- Waste in water, wanton weed-rows-- Shorten distance, narrow mind's room To a low and closed horizon. Thinking coarsens: what perspective opens To the might-be, if the near be wholly Careless vegetation, rot and spillage, broken stone? Broken-hearted, here in mind's waste, watch The dreamer trip upon his own distortion: in the overgrowth, the mellow of ditchside carrion Mealing upwards in the sun. By Nancy G. Westerfield
April 29, 2025 at 2:26 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
The first building on campus was the Administration Building, also called Old Main. We ran out of space almost immediately, so added wings on in the decade after its construction. This pic is from the paving of the areas around the building c. 1910 #ArchivesBuildings #Archive30
Black and white photo of a three story building with columns. Workers with horse-drawn wagons are laying concrete in front of the building
April 28, 2025 at 2:36 PM
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This letter to Carrie Miller from James E. McAvoy is an archive nightmare - insects have damaged it, obscuring portions of the text, including the date and part of the location. Learn more about the Carrie Miller Collection: archives.nebraska.edu/repositories... #Archive30 #ArchiveNightmares
It seems and feels as though the delights of spring are ever more stunning. For after having such [animal damage to paper] it makes a person [paper damage] and so "frisky". Why Carri! - (as I don't like formality you will please excuse me for using your name in this manner.) It was so cold here this winter that the people had to fly around after wood and coal like a bob sled on a hill side, and there whisky was so congealed as to be eatable instead of drinkable. The bottoms were knocked out of the thermometer. Why, I chanced to take a stroll one night with one of your sex and what she whispered to me froze into glaciers as it passed from her lips. I tell you it was terrible. Just think of it.
April 28, 2025 at 2:28 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
Our most popular item is Song of the Great Blizzard: "Thirteen were saved": or, Nebraska's fearless maid. During an 1888 blizzard, teacher Minnie Freeman saved her 13 students by walking to the nearest house 3/4 mile away. Available: openspaces.unk.edu/spec-coll/10/ #PopularItem #Archive30 #archives
Song of the Great Blizzard 1888, "Thirteen Were Saved" or Nebraska's Fearless Maid. Song and Chorus by Wm. Vincent. Published by Lyon & Healy, Chicago. Includes an etching of a woman holding a child, followed by other children trudging through heavy snow Sheet music Thirteen were saved; or Nebraska's Fearless Maid (An incident of the terrible blizzard throughout the Northwest in January, 1888)
April 24, 2025 at 2:20 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
We work with community groups to care for their archives. For the Kearney Centennial Time Capsule, we cleaned mold off what we could, digitized everything, and provided online hosting before returning the items. (Mostly) online at openspaces.unk.edu/kc-capsule/
#CommunityArchives #Archive30
Poster in yellow and red: Hale's Shows of Tomorrow Centennial Celebration Downtown Location Kearney 6 days starting June 25th Special matinee Sat., June 30th All rides reduced in price 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
April 23, 2025 at 3:42 PM
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Need some (bad) archives poetry to lighten up your Tuesday? Here you go! From What They Say About J. Perry Philben, the famous healer of Wymore, Nebraska. If you want to see some better Nebraska poetry, join us at the Kearney Public Library tomorrow (4/23/2025) at noon #archives #PoetryMonth #poetry
I made a trip to Wymore, I think the place is grand, I came to see the doctor That has a magic hand. He has a lot of poatients That come from near and far, He gives them all a treatment No matter who they are. He does a lot of good, The cost is not so much, So come and see the doctor And get that magic touch. He helps the lame to walk; He helps the eyes to see; Now where he gets that magic Is sure a mystery to me. I have been here just a week, Took a treatment every day; I am really feeling fine, He drives the pain away. I am sending out this message To those that suffer pain, To come and see the doctor And get your health again.
April 22, 2025 at 4:50 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
There's lots of action in baseball. These snaps from the Briggs Collection highlight UNK athletics from years past (1960s and 1970s).
#ArchiveAction #Archive30 #archives
Larry Jolenson swings a baseball bat Kearney State baseball player slides into base Baseball player in a Wayne State uniform jumps for a catch while a Kearney State player tries to make it to base
April 22, 2025 at 4:38 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
Some evergreen advice and study tips for students from Your Cue, Coed! (1945). We're biased, but we definitely think students should go to the library and study. At least today's students are safe from green caps (which denoted class status). #ArchiveAdvice #Archive30 #HistEd #Archives
Your Cue, Coed! Quarterly bulleting Nebraska state teachers college october 1, 1945 Kearney Message of Miscellany - cartoon of a girl holding a sheet of rules 1. Love they roomate as thyself. 2. They teachers have been endowed with human qualities. 3. THey reference books are located in the library and have matter of worth within their pages. 4. Thou should acquire the essentials each day, not the long night before the exame. 5. If thee lack sleep, thee will become a slacker. 6. Read they college catalog as carefully as thou art accustomed to peruse the comics. 7. If thee skip classes needlessly, ferocious frowns will be cast upon thee. 8. Thou should know that bored and sleepy eyes bring open windows and cold, cold air. 9. If thee would have an "A" do much unto thy subjects. 10. In college thou art strictly on thine own. 11. Thou must take some notes for thy mind cannot be that strong. 12. THou will see pedagogical pleasure if thee has the ourage to have an opinion. 16. Thee should take first things first. 14. They green caps will not adorn thy head forever. 15. THou should study, participate, and recreate in the proper doeses. 13. They convocations are compulsory. 17. Thou should observe thy dormitory rules and regulations. 18. Thou should acquire school spirit and loyalty. 19. Thee can have knowledge and fun also. 20. They making of thy college career lies in thy capable hands.
April 18, 2025 at 2:55 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
The Archives has a set of Chinese calligraphy scrolls donated by the artists after a Museum of Nebraska Art exhibit. Laurinda wrote a finding aid for them when they were in a temp position in the early 2010s. We've finally rehoused them in scroll boxes! #MiniMilestones #Archive30
April 17, 2025 at 1:55 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
Our #SomethingSmall is 8mm film. This reel is the 1951 Homecoming game, shown on top of a reel of 16mm in a standard movie-size can. #Archive30
8mm film in front of a large 16mm reel of film. the leaders of the films are held next to each other Roll of 8 mm film with the letter pulled out Small roll of 8mm film sitting on a large reel of 16 mm film in a metal case
April 16, 2025 at 4:10 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
Our intrepid Archivist Jenny attempted to recreate a kolache recipe from Early Nebraska Cooking (openspaces.unk.edu/spec-coll/35) -a major challenge given limited instructions & measures and no cooking temp or time + no compressed yeast availability. They were edible! #ArchiveFoodAndDrink #Archive30
Kolaches (This recipe, brought to the State by Bohemian settlers, has been revised for ordinary conditions.) Scald one pint of milk, let cool until lukewarm. Dissolve one and one-half ckaes compressed yeast in one-fourth cup lukewarm water to which has been added one teaspoon of sugar. Let raise while milk cools. Add dissolved yeast to cooled milk and make a sponge. Let raise until light. Cream together one cup sugar and one cup butter. Add three egg yolks and 2 whole eggs well beaten, two teaspoons salt. Put in the sponge and mix well. Add flour enough to handle well. Let dough raise until light and roll out to one-half inch thickness. Cutout with biscuit cutter. Make a depression in the center and fill. Let raise and bake in a quick oven. Any of the following fillings can be used: Fruit filling: mash stewed prunes, add sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle with cocoanut or chopped nuts. Apricots, peaches, apples or any canned fruit may be used. Poppy Seed filling: grind poppy seed and boil in just enough water to keep moist. Then add sugar, cinnamon, maple syrup, raisins and three or four ginger snaps. Cottage Cheese filling: Combine grated rind of lemon, one-half cup sugar, one tablespoon cream, two egg yolks and one pint of dry cottage cheese Kolaches ingredients such as yeast, flour, and salt, in bowls on a kitchen counter Sticky, stringy dough stuck to a person's hands Baked round kolaches with various fillings
April 15, 2025 at 1:59 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
One of our emeritus faculty members, Yozan (Dirk) Mosig, was an influential figure in Lovecraft studies. We acquired a letter archive from one of his correspondents. This wideranging letter, from Mosig to Taylor, debates various aspects of H.P. Lovecraft's thought. #UnusualArchives #Archive30
Letter. Header: In the Name of the Old Ones Miskatonic Literary Circle. Dirk W. Mosig, December 21st, 1975 Dear Prof. Taylor: Thank you for your kind letter of December 19th. I was myself quite sold, initially, to the autobiographical interpretation of The Outsider, but later research makes me dout that HPL's childhood was nearly as miserable as my sketch suggests....There is little doubt that some autobiographical elements entered in the composition of several of Lovecraft's tales (The Outsider, The Silver Key, The Thing at the Doorstep, &c) but I doubt that any one tale can be reduced to strict autobiography.... Yes, indeed, Jung is anything but parsimonious.... But then, Freud's hypothetical constructs are also objectionable on the same grounds. The only psychological theory completely devoid of hypothetical constructs and intervening variables is Skinnerian behaviorism....Although I generally agree with Skinner's conclusions about the determination of behavior by the contingencies of reinforcement, a literary analysis in terms of operant conditioning theory would be, I fear, rather dull. My own favorite interpretation of THE OUTSIDER is the rationalistic one. After reading my little paper, Frank Belknap Long wrote that he felt confident that, had HPL lived to read the thing, he would have initialled the mechanistic-materialistic elucidation.... I am less confident of this than Belknapius, but it does fit with HPL's Weltansicht. I am particularly interested in HPL's philosophical thinking, not only because it parallels my own, but because I feel that his cosmic-minded rationalism provides the key for the appreciation of his memorable tales. George Wetzel made some suggestions on this line years ago, as did Matthew Onderdonk in the FRESCO Symposium. A few days ago I had the pleasure of reading a couple of MA theses (Svartz 1972, Brown U., Lynn, 1970, U. df R.I.) which also pointed out the significance of Loveeraft's materialistic-phi1osophy for the interpretatio… SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE is now available as an inexpensive Dover reprint ($1.50), and would be ideal for a course in weird fiction, indeed. Let me know if your proposed course materializes. The WHISPERS papers are minor, one a Jungian analysis (sketchy and superficial) of a series of HPL's tales -- I was inspired to write this one by Prof. Barton St. Armand, whose forthcoming book from Mirage should be most interesting. The other should be out this month, and is a brief essay on HPL's prediction of "future shock" and a new dark age.... Digressing, Freud did make a good point when he called religion "the obsessive neurosis of mankind...." Jung, on the other hand, was involved in too much mysticism to be truly scientific. Nevertheless, it is curious to observe that both theories have received some borderline support from modern neurophysiological and ethological research. The modern "tri-unit" theory of the brain (metabolic functions & basic drives mediated by the "reptilian brain" -hindbrain plus midbrain plus diencophalon; inhibition of previous learning made possible by the limbic system; and planning & "higher" functions, like reasoning, involving the neocortex) shows an uncomfortable resemblance to the old trichotomy of id-superego-ego.... Ethological evidence as to the inheritance of fixed action patterns (such as that resulting from the research of Konrad Lorenz, Niko Tinbergen -the recent Nobel prize laureates-, Eibl-Eibesfeldt, and others) make the Jungian conception of the archetype less ludicrous. However, that is a long way from saying that either theory has been significantly validated. Jung's theory seems to be slightly more elegant, when applied to HPL's tales than Freud's libidinal approach, but neither should be taken seriously.... Back to another subject, I have been wondering for some time whether the academic community may be ready to lend at least some support to a Lovecraftian Journal) perhaps titled LOVECRAFT STUDIES, and patterned a…
April 14, 2025 at 8:09 PM
unkarchives.bsky.social
It's #ArchiveTechnology, 1850s style! Writing from Boston in 1858, Thomas Doane lays out the double rail system and its claims to superiority. #Archive30 #railroad
Double Rail. Illustration of a double rail system with a train wheel. Explanation of how the double rail system works
April 14, 2025 at 7:36 PM