Special Collections Research Guide:Other Collections Within Special Collection

Primary source material in Fort Hays State University history, military history, and genealogy, as well as information about Western Kansas and the American West.

Cecil B. and Laura G. Currey Archive of Military History

     Includes the personal papers and library of Dr. Cecil B. Currey, an FHSU graduate who retired in the late 1990's from the University of southern Florida where he was a professor of history.  Most of the items pertain to military history with an emphasis on the American Revolution, Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Viet Nam Conflict.  Mr. Currey also donated his personal library of over 800 books to the Archive, including 16 titles he wrote or co-wrote.  The subjects within the libray range from Benjain Franklin to World War II to the Viet Nam Conflict.

 

Research Files in the Currey Archive

 

Edward Geary Lansdale - Air force officer and agent for the Central Intelligence Agency who was sent to Vietnam in an advisory role in 1954.

Follow Me and Die - Interviews with World War II military personnel

Exercise Tiger Operation - a military pre-invasion practice exercise to prepare for D-Day in which approximately 800 soldiers and sailors were killed

Interviews with Veterans - One file contains tape cassettes of the interviews and another file contains transcripts of student interivew with veterans

Vo Nyugen Giap - led the military campaign against the U.S. and South Vietname during the 1960's and 1070's

Self Destruction - Interivews with Vietnam military personnel, special Vietnam studies and copies of reports written by officers

Benjamin Franklin - American Statesman

Long Binh Jail - Interviews with 163 individuals who had first hand experience with the U.S. Army Vietnam Installation Stockade (USARVIS) or Long Binh Jail (LBJ)

Early American History - contains 126 transcribed documents, many of which are unavailable elsewhere in the U.S., as well as transcripts and reporductions of various documents which are pertinent to Early American History

 

"C" Collection

    Rare books in the "C" collection consists of materials separated from Forsyth Library's General Collection because of scarcity or exceptional format.  Books in this area cannot be checked out. This collection is located in Special Collections, Room 122.

Center for Ethnic Studies

     The Center for Ethnic Studies is housed in a separate room on the main floor of Forsyth Library.  The Center focuses on the heritage of the Volga Germans who settled in the area in the late 1800's.  The collection contains a variety of pertinent reference works, bibliographies, and specialized studies, as well as pamphlets, jounals, newspapers and dissertations published in the United States and abroad.  General histories, church histories, parish registers, family histories, diaries and genealogies, obituaries, works on folklore, folk music and art make up the core of the collection.  In addition, the collection contains numberous maps, photographs of bridal couples and of individuals and groups, as well as several video documentaries and recordings of folk music and of interviews.

Smoky Hill Trail Association Archives

The archives of the Smoky Hill Trail Association are located in Room 112. Not officially part of Forsyth Library's holdings, the materials are owned by the Smoky Hill Trail Association which asked for a designation place to hold their archives. Most of the materials are available for the public to view and do research with. Materials in the collection include maps, books, articles, pamphlets, conference materials, and meeting minutes.