State Library's LIS Collection

The state of Kansas has been publishing directories of businesses and industries in the state for many years as a means of promoting commerce in our state. Two gems recently added to the State Library of Kansas' KGI Online Library are: Directory of Kansas Manfacturers (1932) and Kansas Buyers' Guide (1943). These small volumes provide a good look at working/commercial life in the Great Depression and at the height of the USA's involvement in World War II. Just looking over some of the subjects below in the 1943 edition is an eye opener in understanding the technological advances of the times as well as some of the terms used. For example, I learned that "tipple" was not just what Great Aunt Iona did with the cooking sherry when nobody was looking.  No... it's also a structure used in coal mining! Keep in mind that what follows here is just a sampling of what appears in the 1943 volume.

A SAMPLING OF SOME OF THE SUBJECTS FOUND IN "KANSAS BUYERS' GUIDE [1943]" :
Foreword -- Abrasives -- Advertising Signs -- Agricultural Implement Manufacturers -- Agr. Implt. Parts -- Amusement Devices -- Angles, Channels, Etc. (Iron and Steel) -- Awnings-- Bakers -- Baskets-- Beverages -- Blinds (Venetian) -- Boards (Fibre) -- Boats -- Books (Blank) -- Boxes -- Brick (Building) -- Brick (Paving) -- Brooms -- Buckets -- Butane -- Butter -- Candy -- Canvas Products -- Carriages And Wagons -- Carriers (R.R. Tie) -- Cases (Show) -- Casings -- Castings -- Catches: Window -- Chat -- Cheese -- Chicks (Baby) -- Chips (Potato) -- Cleaners (Grain, Etc.) -- Clocks (Program) -- Coal -- Collars (Horse) -- Compressors -- Controls (Air) -- Conveyors (Belt) -- Cores (Radiator) -- Cornices -- Covers (Coal Hole, Etc.) -- Crib (Corn) -- Crowbars --  Dairy Products -- Dental Supplies -- Diplomas -- Disinfectants -- Dresses -- Eggs (Dried) -- Eggs: Frozen -- Enamel Extracts -- Fan Housing -- Fire Escapes -- Flooring -- Flour (Pancake) -- Flour (Self Rising) -- Flour (Wheat) -- Food And Feed (Cattle, Etc.) -- Forgings (Iron and Steel, General Use) -- Forms And Molds -- Furniture (Church) -- Furniture (Lawn) -- Gas (Oxy-Acetylene) -- Gas (Propane) -- Granite -- Handkerchiefs -- Hangers (Airplane) -- Heaters (Unit) -- Hoists -- Holders (Electrode) -- Ice -- Ice Cream -- Ice Cream -- Insulation (Building) -- Jail And Cell Work (Steel) -- Janitor Supplies -- Knives -- Lamps -- Leather: Remnant, Etc. -- Lining (Flue Chimney) -- Lumber -- Macaroni, Etc. -- Machine Work -- Machinery (Cement Mill) -- Machinery (Packers) -- Machinery (Saw Mill) -- Markers (Grave) -- Mauls (Post, Cast Iron) -- Mausoleums -- Meal (Corn) -- Meat Packers -- Medicines (Veterinary, Etc.) -- Milk (Pasteurized) -- Mixers: Plaster, Mortar, Etc.) -- Monuments and Memorials -- Mops -- Neon Signs -- Office Supplies -- Oil (Illuminating) -- Oilfield Equipment -- Packers (Apple) -- Parts (Airplane) Petroleum Pipe (Concrete) -- Pipe (Corrugated) -- Playground Apparatus -- Pots (Solder) -- Poultry And Eggs -- Printers -- Printers -- Prints (Photostat) -- Pruners -- Pumps (Well) -- Repair (Locomotive) -- Roofing -- Salt (Ice Cream) -- Salt (Medicinal) -- Sand And Gravel -- Sash, Doors, Etc. -- Seeds -- Sheet Metal -- Sheet Metal Silos -- Spouts (Grain) -- Standpipes -- Stone (Building) -- Stone (Crushed) -- Tags -- Tanks (Freezing) -- Tanks (Storage) -- Tents -- Tipples (Coal Mine) -- Towers: Oil -- Trays: Laundry -- Twine -- Vinegar -- Welding Apparatus -- Welding -- Zinc Oxide.

So if it's raining cats and dogs where you are, or you're enduring another blazing August day find your way into the cool, dry, virtual stacks of the State Library of Kansas' KGI Online Library, sit back in a comfortable chair and take a look at working life 70-80 years ago in the Sunflower State.

(The link will take you to a collection of industry/business/commercial directories issued by Kansas state agencies, 1932-1992. Just click on either of the above years in the icons and/or take a look at other years!)