What do Harold Bell Wright, Allen Ginsberg, Jane Addams, John Phillips Sousa, William Inge, Jack London, Helen Keller, Upton Sinclair, Clarence Darrow, Ralph Nader, Louise Brooks, and William Jennings Bryan have in common? All of them have a connection to Southeast Kansas. Information about how each of them is connected can be found in the Leonard H. Axe Library on the campus of Pittsburg State University.
Axe Library’s Special Collections and University Archives contain a variety of published and unpublished materials pertaining to the Southeast Kansas region and to Pittsburg State University. Included are extensive holdings of printed materials such as books, newspapers, and ephemeral publications about Kansas or by Kansas authors. Also included are numerous collections of personal papers, business records, photographs, organizational records, and other memorabilia pertaining to the history, culture, and personalities of Southeast Kansas such as Harold Bell Wright, Vance Randolph, Gordon Parks, Osa and Martin Johnson, Louise Brooks, and William Inge.
Researchers at Special Collections in recent weeks have come from Maryland to study the history of zinc mining and smelting in Kansas, from California to find information about family members who were mining coal in the 1890s, and from Washington, D.C., to examine the atomic energy files in the papers of former U. S. Congressman, Joe Skubitz. A request for a copy of the sheet music of a Carson Robison western song was received from Australia and a graduate of Pittsburg State University requested a reproduction of a photograph of the football stadium from the 1960s.
Interest also continues in our extensive collection of more than 1,900 “Little Blue Books” from the Haldeman-Julius Publishing Company and in the files of the Socialist newspaper, The Appeal to Reason, both published in Girard, Kansas.
The materials in Special Collections and University Archives are stored in a climate-controlled facility to enhance their preservation. All materials are available to the general public and may be used in a spacious research area. Several exhibits of materials from Special Collections and University Archives are also available for viewing in the research area.
Outside of the Special Collections and University Archives areas, Axe Library provides all of the services one would expect in a traditional library setting and much more.
In today’s information age, the Library's physical holdings are supplemented with online resources: 323,000 book titles with more than 12,000 in virtual collections, and more than 25,000 journal titles, about 1,600 of which are readily available in house. The Government Documents Department alone maintains a collection of more than 500,000 items including books, periodicals, maps, charts, and posters on all topics.
Need help with our 110 online databases? The reference librarians are happy to assist your research, and can narrow your results from thousands to perhaps 50 or 100 from which to choose. Can't find anything at all on your topic? With a few minutes of assistance, it may be much easier than you think. Classroom instruction is available on specific databases, and our Freshmen Experience classes introduce new students to our services and allow for some unique interaction between them and our staff. More than 100 public workstations allow for fast and easy access within the Axe or KTC libraries. Internet access provides library services to your home or office, and with a Gus PIN and ID, you may access the library's sources from anywhere in the world.
The Periodicals Department helps to tie our online citations to our holdings using one of two sources: Serials Solutions combines all of the library’s periodical holdings, either physical or virtual, into one searchable system. Article Linker tells you if the article cited on one database is available full text in another, and quickly takes you to it.
Even with all of this information available to local users, material needed to support current instruction and research may not be enough. Thanks to the Interlibrary Loan Department, you have access to a much larger library. Using WorldCat, books, newspapers, dissertations, and many other items that are not owned locally are available, usually at no charge. Starting in 2005, photocopied articles have been digitally delivered to user accounts, allowing for quick online access from home or office.
Axe Library can trace its roots to 1903 when Ebenezer Porter sponsored a bill in the Kansas Legislature to establish a Manual Normal Training School in Pittsburg. More than 100 years, a fire and three moves later, Axe Library continues to support the university in all aspects of student and faculty research and community service.
