Hale Library features Kansas printer on K-State's Founders' Day

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Source: Anthony Crawford, 785-532-7456, arcford@k-state.edu

Monday, February 12, 2007

HALE LIBRARY FEATURES KANSAS PRINTER ON K-STATE'S FOUNDERS' DAY

MANHATTAN -- The Morse department of special collections at Kansas State University's Hale Library, in conjunction with the K-State Historical Society, will be host to a program by H. Craig Miner, a professor of history at Wichita State University.

Held on K-State's Founders' Day, Miner will present "A Voice in the Wilderness: Don Drenner and His Magical Kansas Press" at 2:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16, in Hale Library's Hemisphere Room. The program is free, but reservations are requested and can be made by calling the library's university archives at 785-532-7456. A reception will follow Miner's presentation.

Founders' Day 2007 marks K-State's 144th birthday.

The subject of Miner's talk will be the printed works of Donald von Ruysdael Drenner, a Kansas native and self-taught letterpress printer who ran The Zauberberg Press from his home in Coffeyville from 1952-1995. Letterpress printing is the fine art and craft of hand-setting lead type one letter at a time and printing using traditional hand presses. Drenner completed 27 books as a printer, some of which were his own poetry.

Miner's presentation also coincides with the opening of the exhibit, "Donald D. Drenner: Kansas Printer" in the Hale Library's special collections gallery on the fifth floor. The department of special collections is home to a complete collection of Drenner's printed works, personal papers and library. The collection includes numerous letters with Robert Conover, editor of Kansas Magazine which was published at K-State from 1933-1968. Personal papers in K-State's Drenner collection include correspondence with several notable authors like John Ciardi, Langston Hughes and Courtland Mathews.

Miner has used sources in K-State's university archives for several of his publications about the history of Kansas. His most recent book, "Next Year Country: Dust to Dust in Western Kansas, 1890-1940," was published in fall 2006 by the University Press of Kansas.