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The Horticulture, Forestry, and Recreation photographs were generated by the Department of Horticulture. These photographs, slides, and glass slides document horticulture areas near campus, as well as in Honduras, Costa Rica, Florida, and elsewhere. Images largely include crops, trees, floriculture, and landscapes. There are also photographs of various events held or attended by the department, notably Kansas State Fairs, the apple blossom festival, and the 1921 Potato Show, as well as student and faculty awards. Medals and framed certificates are included. Approximate years covered by the records are 1876-1991.

This collection consists of 58.7 hours of audio files and the accompanying transcripts of oral history interviews with custom harvesters. Those interviewed were all from the United States except for one participant from Saskatchewan, Canada. American participants were from Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, or North Dakota. The time period discussed in the interviews ranges from pre-World War II to 2010, with first-person accounts of harvest from the 1950s to 2010. All persons interviewed were retired or working custom harvesters, yet the project has a distinct group of interviews, 21.5 hours in length, exclusively with Mennonite custom harvesters. The interviews with Mennonite custom harvesters began when Mr. Schmidt recommended interviewing Waldo and Doris Froese of Inman, KS, one of the communities in the Mennonite settlement area of south-central Kansas. Other communities include Buhler and Moundridge. Dr. Holcomb then recruited others in this area for a separate project, which included interview questions pertaining specifically to Mennonite custom harvesters. Dr. Holcomb received grant funding from the Kansas Humanities Council for the Mennonite project, with sponsorship from the Mennonite Heritage & Agricultural Museum in Goessel, KS, which he used to pay for travel and transcription expenses. There is a subject index of the transcripts of the interviews with Mennonites.

Dr. Holcomb obtained 244 complimentary photos and news articles from participants to augment the interviews. Photos were either from the personal collections of those interviewed or were taken by the research team. There are two photo keys that provide captions for the photos. All interviews were conducted between 2008 and 2010. Interview questions were in the broad categories of family history and background, labor, origins of custom harvesting as a vocation, the work of custom harvesting, identity and lifestyle, equipment, places along the harvest route, changes in the communities where they harvest, crops harvested, weather, hardships, meals, lodging, relationships, and sense of place. Dr. Holcomb asked Mennonite participants additional questions, including details about their faith, the relationship between faith and their work, pacifism, and the alternative service conscientious objectors performed.

The John C. Reese papers include a 2013 curriculum vitae, a 2006 grant application, and reprinted publications from 1971 to 2015 of Kansas State University entomology professor John C. Reese. An expert in plant host resistance, Reese's papers document his career and associated research.

John Thirwell's collection contains the Consumer's Association annual reports from 1966- and 1970-1977 and 1980. Additional publications include Which? & Consumer Association (1966), Articles of Association of Consumers' Association (1957), a brochure outlining the history of the International Organization of Consumers Unions from 1960-1981, and the 1987-1988 annual report from The Association For Consumer Research. The collection also includes a type-written overview of the Consumer Movement in Britain, minutes from one 1956 meeting of the Association of British Consumers, and minutes from two meetings of the Association for Consumer Research Limited, one dated 1957 and the other undated. There is also a handwritten graph showing the annual income of the Consumers Association from 1958-1990.

This collection cointains information about the Kansans for ERA organziation, their organizational issues, and organizational documents.

Materials include meeting minutes, 1949–1951; annual reports, 1950–1954, 1957, 1959–1960; newsletters (Bull Tales), 1953–1955, 1957–1958.

This collection offers insight into the operations of the now defunct Kansas Center for Rural Initiatives in the School of Leadership Studies at Kansas State University from 1991–1999. The focus of the collection are the Rural Resource Directory and the program "Sustainable Manhattan." Documents for these two programs include: corrections, budgets, information sheets, correspondence, essays, newspaper clippings, and newsletters.

The collection is an amalgamation of Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska ephemera derived from multiple sources, dating 1940-2000. Maps, promotional brochures, and travel guides feature prominently.
Most materials pertain to the state of Kansas. Topics include plants, regions, municipalities, sites, programming, and transportation routes. Researchers interested in the state's highway and water resources, the tourist industry, and public services may find the collection especially beneficial. Highlights include a state-issued map illustrated by F. Richard, "Travel Kansas: Kansas, the Friendly State Welcomes You" (1940) and a Corps of Engineers - Kansas City District brochure pertaining to the construction of the Harlan County (Nebraska) Dam (May 1947).

These calendars are produced by the university or by vendors with historical materials from the university. Subjects include campus images, athletics, and historical figures in university history.

Kathleen Ward was a Communication Specialist for Research and Extension at Kansas State University. She has been a longtime writer for Kansas State University. Ward's collection consists of copies of articles and local newspapers clippings dated from the late 1970s to 2010. Among other things, the collection includes multiple local publications on wild animal trapping.