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LAWRENCE -- A book published in 1518 and originally donated to the University of Kansas library in 1891 by Salina's founding father, William A. Phillips, will be carried to Salina by KU librarians for a 7 p.m. Oct. 16 program to honor area high school seniors at the Salina Country Club.
Phillips' gift of a 1518 volume of Pliny's "Natural History" was among the first books donated to KU's library. Phillips came to Kansas in 1855 as a special correspondent for the New York Tribune and stayed to found the city of Salina in 1858.
KU's first librarian, Carrie Watson, wrote, "The first most noteworthy gift the library ever received was from Hon. W.A. Phillips of Salina. It is one of our oldest books in two ways. It is among the first books of the library, and its date of publication, 1518, makes it the oldest book we have."
William Crowe, KU Spencer librarian, said the book, a great work of natural history, is no longer the oldest book in Spencer's special collections department "but it holds particular pride of place as the foundation gift of our rare books collection."
Crowe noted that KU's rare books collection has been built largely by gifts from friends such as Phillips and that natural history is one of the collection's strongest specialties.
Richard "Rick" Clement, head of KU's special collections, will take the book to Salina on Oct. 16 for a Kansas Honors Program for 90 area high school seniors from Ellsworth, Lincoln, Ottawa and Saline counties. Clement will talk to the seniors, their parents and KU alumni and their guests attending the annual KHP program.
The library's special collections department collects and preserves original sources from around the world and from all periods in history for use by students of the humanities, the history of science and the history of the book.
The collections now include about 250,000 volumes printed since the mid-15th century and about 500,000 manuscripts dating from antiquity to the present.
Judy Lilly of Salina Public Library said William Addison Phillips was born in Scotland on Jan. 14, 1824, and died of natural causes Nov. 30, 1893, at Fort Gibson in Indian Territory.
The Salina library's Web pages include a short biography of Phillips and a photograph of him in military uniform. During the Civil War, Phillips was commissioned as a major of the Third Indian Brigade and later promoted to the rank of colonel of a Cherokee regiment. After the war Phillips served as a Kansas representative in Congress from 1872 to 1878. He served as an attorney for the Cherokee Nation, representing their interests in Washington, D.C.
The library notes that Phillips came with his parents and siblings to Randolph County, Ill., in 1839: "As a newspaper reporter during the territorial years of Kansas, Phillips championed the free state cause, writing for the New York Tribune. Phillips was the primary force in the founding of Salina in 1858."
None of Phillips' descendants remain in Salina.
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