- Series
- 1943–1978
Part of Charles L. Marshall Sr. papers
Part of Charles L. Marshall Sr. papers
Folder 23: Registration: Arkansas
Part of Donald W. Otis papers
Part of Donald W. Otis papers
Folder 29: Agriports, Inc. project
Part of Donald W. Otis papers
Folder 30: Brinkley, AK contract & specifications
Part of Donald W. Otis papers
Folder 31: Haubstadt, IN contract & specifications
Part of Donald W. Otis papers
Folder 32: Information Clearing House proposal
Part of Donald W. Otis papers
Folder 3: Guyana State Department project paper
Part of Donald W. Otis papers
The Franklin A. Coffman papers contain letters, autobiographical materials, paternal and maternal family genealogies, legal documents, literary works, awards and honors, printed materials, photographs, scrapbooks and photograph albums, and artifacts.
Personal correspondence is mainly amongst family members though there is a letter from J. Edgar Hoover regarding a poem Coffman published. Business correspondence is sparse. Coffman received a bound volume of congratulatory letters upon his retirement. The letters provide the best account of Coffman's work with the United States Department of Agriculture within the collection. Many describe interactions with Coffman during field work and visits to experiment stations across the country. There is no official governmental correspondence in the collection documenting Coffman's work.
Coffman handwrote autobiographical accounts of his life during his later years. These accounts are mainly of his childhood, college days and work in the Philippines. The accounts covering the years Coffman spent in the Philippines are extensive. They provide many details and impressions about the native people. The accounts also cover his travels to other Asian countries while based in the Philippines.
Coffman spent years gathering genealogical information from relatives and researching his ancestors. He traced his father's Coffman ancestors back to 1737 and his mother's Bayle ancestors back to 1796. There are notes, different versions of family trees, and extensive narrative written by Coffman describing the lives of his ancestors.
Legal documents are sparse.
Coffman was a prolific poet. There are clippings of poetry published in the Washington Post. Some poems were published without his name. Others have his initials, F.A.C., including two series of poems compiled in notebooks. There are also unpublished poems.
There are certificates for scholarly and service awards and honors, and the registration certificate for the Marion Oat. There are not certificates for all the awards and honors listed on Coffman's resume.
There are just a few United States Department of Agriculture's bulletins and farmer's Bulletins that Coffman authored or co-authored. The vast majority of Coffman's published research is not part of the collection.
One of Coffman's hobbies was photography. There are hundreds of photographs documenting his personal and professional lives. Subjects are wide-ranging. Coffman signed some of his photographs, mainly what he referred to as the "salon prints." There are photographs taken by others including professional portraits and candid photographs of Coffman at various ages. Many photographs are undated and unidentified.
There are seven scrapbooks containing photographs and memorabilia. 1) Photographs and memorabilia document a 10 day automobile trip to eastern cities and New England that Coffman took with his wife and daughter in 1936. Expenses totaled $110.96.
2) "The Farm" album contains photographs of family members, neighbors, friends, crops, farmhouse interiors and exteriors, Rocky Ford School, and Rocky Ford dam and mill. The album is dated 1913 and some photographs are identified. There are also approximately 56 photographs of Manhattan and Kansas State Agricultural College. The subjects are the campus, buildings, classmates, lake recreation, train depot, street car, and a railroad bridge. Some photos are identified and dated 1914.
3) This photo album with narrative is titled "The Many Faces of F.A.C." and is written by "A Couple of Norths and Shanghai Louis Kao."Â It was compiled in 1962 and contains photographs of Coffman in various locations.
4) The album has photographs of Coffman's family and ancestors (earliest date 1884), Sunday school class, the First Baptist Church in 1902, Kansas State Agricultural College, and Manhattan. There is extensive Kansas State Agricultural College memorabilia including a cadet corps certificate, 1908 fall term schedule, invitations, commencement programs, band programs, banquet programs, clippings and a baseball ticket. The album also has correspondence and drawings. The album has memorabilia from Coffman's transit back to the United States on the Shino Maru including menus and passenger list. There are photographs of the transit and memorabilia from a Hong Kong visit en route. There are photographs of Kansas State Agricultural College, Oklahoma A&M and Akron, Colorado. 1916.
5) The Philippines album contains photographs of Coffman's trip across the western United States to board the S.S. Manchuria for transit to the Philippines. Coffman photographed the Golden Gate Park, the Panama Pacific International Exhibition grounds, onboard ship recreation, Honolulu, Tokyo, Nagasaki, the Philippines' countryside, Filipinos' daily activities, Philippine experiment stations, cultural activities, villages, Coffman's office and co-workers, YMCA sports, Viscayia (German naval ship), Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kobe, Yamaa, Yokahoma, the voyage back to the United States on the Shino Maru (not to be confused with the Shinyo Maru), Honolulu experiment station, Universal Film City, and the San Diego Exposition. 1914-1916.
6) The photographs and memorabilia in this album are compiled in honor of Coffman's brother, Will, who died in 1920. It contains drawings, report cards, class schedule and photographs of Kansas State Agricultural College, Manhattan, University of Kansas, and Will's travels. Loose commencement programs from Kansas State Agricultural College, 1913-1915, are with the album.
7) The album contains photographs from Coffman's days in Akron and his travels to Amarillo, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Arlington, New York, Philadelphia and Mount Vernon from 1919-1922. There is memorabilia from Washington, D.C., New York including a Metropolitan Opera House program and a Hippodrome souvenir book, Coffman's wedding and showers, and a program from the American Society of Agronomy 1922 meeting. Morrill, Kansas, Twin Oaks, Estes Park, county fairs, and Manhattan are also subjects of photographs. Alta Johnson's School Girl Days: A Memory Book from Washington County High School, 1914, is boxed with the scrapbooks.
The most notable artifacts are four cameras, presumably used by Coffman:Â Univex Model A, 1933; No. 1-A Kodak Junior Model A, 1914; No. 2 Folding Autographic Brownie, circa 1915-1916; Kodak Six-16 camera and leather case, circa 1932-1936.
Coffman, Franklin A.
This collection includes serial publications from African-American publishers throughout the nation between 1964 and 1978. Robert Bontrager used these materials to teach his "Black Press in America" course from 1970 to 1989. There is representation from national publications like Ebony Jr! and The Journal of Negro Education, as well as smaller publications like Sepia (Fort Worth, Texas) and The Facts (Seattle, Washington).
Bontrager, Robert
Folder 11: Equal Time: A Women's Rights News
Part of Feminist Publications collection
Part of Donald W. Otis papers
Part of Feminist Publications collection
Folder 33: Farmland subcontract
Part of Donald W. Otis papers
Item 6: Black McCrea Oil Co. Pocket Pal Calendar, Bonnie C. Hatch
Folder 12: Proud (St. Louis, MO)
Part of Robert Bontrager papers
Filmstrip and tape for "Dimensions of Home Economics" presentation with a script booklet. Home Economics media instructions audio reel.
Folder 13: The Feminist Art Journal
Part of Feminist Publications collection
Part of Donald W. Otis papers
Folder 47: Registration: Pennsylvania
Part of Donald W. Otis papers
Part of Donald W. Otis papers
Folder 27: Effingham, IL contract & specifications
Part of Donald W. Otis papers
Item 5: Black McCrea Oil Co. Pocket Pal Calendar, Bonnie C. Hatch
Class composites (1929-1967), Department of Veterinary Medicine photographs of farm and lab animals, clinical pathobiology, meat inspection, surgery, labs, open house, students, staff, and the Veterinary Unit of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (1898-1977), banquet correspondence and pamphlets (1969).
A vinyl record for the "How we Create an Image" presentation by the American Home Economics Association (AHEA) and the accompanying filmstrip. Slides, in a carousel slide tray, for the "Dimensions in Home Economics" presentation. Carousel slide tray with slides for the "Winds of Change" family forum. Slides from the "Founders of the Future" presentation by the AHEA. AHEA slide series of "Facts About a Very Important Profession." Kansas Home Economics Association video tapes of interviews and "Making it in a Women's World." Video tape of "Women in Higher Education."
Part of Feminist Publications collection
Folder 1: Her-Self: Women's Community Journal
Part of Feminist Publications collection
Part of College of Engineering records
Photographs and descriptions of both Machinery and storage systems used in the process of farming. Some of the general ideas these photos fall under are farmstead and household equipment, buildings, and environmental studies.
Class composites (1929-1967), Department of Veterinary Medicine photographs of farm and lab animals, clinical pathobiology, meat inspection, surgery, labs, open house, students, staff, and the Veterinary Unit of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (1898-1977), banquet correspondence and pamphlets (1969).
Photographic negatives of Veterinary Medicine faculty, students, class pictures candids, buildings and construction, June Conference, surgery, intramurals, labs, open house, parties, sports, and graduation.
Folder 15: Women as Women as Women
Part of Feminist Publications collection
Part of Feminist Publications collection
Part of Donald W. Otis papers
Folder 26: Clearwater Co-op contract
Part of Donald W. Otis papers
Folder 10: Equal Rights Monitor
Part of Feminist Publications collection
Folder 37: Registration: Montana
Part of Donald W. Otis papers
Part of Donald W. Otis papers
Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering materials
Part of College of Engineering records
The Biological and Agricultural Engineering series contains photographs that cover Biological and Agricultural Engineering subjects. Along with slides from Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering faculty members Joseph P. Harner and Pat Murphy. They show reduced tillage, corrals, and proper crop storage in bins and problems that could occur with them and lastly documents with historical information about the Biological and Agricultural Engineering program at Kansas State University. The date range for this series is 1866-1977.
Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering
Part of College of Engineering records
Photographs and descriptions of farm machinery and farm power used in the process of preparing land all the way to harvesting crops. Some pictures and descriptions include Cultivating Machinery, Animal Hitches, for Farm Power, Rubber Tires, and various other tools as well.
Changes to Burt Hall and Veterinary Hall (1943-1961), Veterinary Hospital estimates and requests (1950-1954), Distinguished Service in the Field of Veterinary Medicine Award committee information (1954-1982), Kansas State University/Agency for International Development with Nigeria (1970-1976).
Kansas State University Student Chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association auxiliary (1958-1976).
Photographic negatives of Veterinary Medicine class photos, open houses, events, faculty, staff, candids, graduation, labs, buildings, and animals.
Folder 2: Another Mother for Peace
Part of Feminist Publications collection
Part of Feminist Publications collection
Folder 23: Farmland subcontract - Grant Park, IL
Part of Donald W. Otis papers
Part of Lou Herndon papers
Folder 61: ACI Journal articles
Part of Donald W. Otis papers
Folder 24: Farmland subcontract - Hopkinsville, KY
Part of Donald W. Otis papers
Folder 25: Laurel Engineers proposal
Part of Donald W. Otis papers