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These materials are the A. Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communication's accreditation self-study report and re-accreditation recommendation from 2013-2014.

The Americans for Fairness in Lending (AFFIL) records (2000-2010) consists primarily of memos, reports, web data administration, research correspondence (emails and letters), artifacts, and publicity (print and electronic) generated by a non-profit organization (NPO) underwritten primally by large grants from the Beldon Russonello & Stewart, Ford, and the Annie Casey Foundation to advocate for changes in state and federal laws governing business lending practice.

The records, collected into seven boxes, have been arranged to reflect the organization's multifaceted public relations campaign against unfair lending practices in tandem with consumer state and national-level events, including the release of independent film documentaries, the rise of social media programs, the 2008 presidential election, the 2009 Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act and the 2010 passage of the Dodd-Frank Bill, which created the federal Consumer Protection Bureau.

The Administrative Files Series (2004-2010) consists of two boxes of correspondence (print and email), handbooks, grant applications, meeting minutes, letters of agreement, and employee notes relating to organizational growth. They are arranged in alphabetical order by subject. Some noteworthy items relating to the internal structure of the organization, including the "All About AFFIL" handbook, the search for outside funders, notes relating to conference calls with consumer movement experts, and the organization's strategic plan for the 2008 election cycle. Another key feature of this series includes AFFIL's agreements with the Ford Foundation, the public relations firm of Benesen Jansen Advertizing, the National Consumer Law Center, and Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) project agreements.

Finally, researchers of social media, such as Youtube and blogs, will also find several topics in this series of special interest, including the development of the organization's website, the tracking of web statistics, the creation of electronic contented targeting internet users, and the on-line outreach initiatives.

The Meetings Series (2005-2010) spans two boxes arranged in alphabetical order by subject and by date, containing correspondence, notes, and annotated research utilized in the planning and execution of discussions concerning different issues concerning the organization. The majority of the files in this series concern the formulation and execution of AFFIL's public interest policies.

Several folders relate to the division of administrative tasks and the formation of business policies for committee assignments, partners, contractors, consultants, the press, and the general consumer movement community, including AFFIL's general principles, field outreach strategy sessions as well as staff meetings and periodic discussions with the National Consumer Law Center. Other files contain documentation related to the organization's periodic updates to funders concerning their ongoing activities, including the Ford Foundation and the Annie Casey Foundation. Still, other files concern conversations between the organization and Magnolia Studios in trying to create a public relations campaign to promote AFFIL issues through the release of their documentary on American predatory lending business practices, Maxed Out.

Other sections of this series include files relating to conversations between employees and the Federal Reserve Board, whistle-blowers, lending victims, and members of the military. Finally, this series also collects material and advice provided in conversations with outside firms, such as Benesen Jensen, focus groups reviewing advertising campaigns, the National Council of La Raza, and web-based providers.

The Research Series encompasses two boxes of reports, newsletters, internet data, court documents, whistleblower, witness, and victim case files, government documents, and internally generated public relations campaign data.

Arranged in alphabetical order by date, these files comprise the heart of the collection, revealing the sources, data, and political focus of the Americans for Fairness in Lending. Some folders contain information generated by the United States government, including the Federal Reserve Board, National Usury Cap Legislation, S.500, 2009, and the California Reinvestment Act.

Other folders collect documents relating to different aspects of credit card and intermediary lending company operations, including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, medical debt, the Navy Federal Credit Union, the case files of a whistleblower, witnesses, and victims, Ritzen v Chase court files, and a brief history of the practice of usury. Still, other folders collect lending information generated by the entertainment industry, consumer groups, and noted AFFIL associates, including the television show Boston Legal, ACORN, AARP, the Legal Aid Society, the NAACP, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, and the Consumer Federation of American.

Several folders also contain information collected by AFFIL contractors, including focus group data, Kansas district voting patterns, marketing statistics, and targeted population demographics. Finally, this series also contains accumulated consumer lessons from different sources on a wide variety of topics, including Christmas holiday tips, lending and collection abuse guides, mortgage advise, student loans, and payday provisions.

The Publicity Series spans three boxes, collecting the artifacts, posters, and media related to the organization's public relations campaigns. Several folders collect documents generated for Maxed Out Screenings, including fliers, questionnaires, house party lists. Other files hold fact cards, business cards, fliers, press kits, and reports, which AFFIL distributed at consumer conferences.

Some of the artifacts collected in this series also include promotional folders, hats, and visors. The strength of this series, however, remains the collection of DVD, CD, microcassette, VHS recordings of AFFIL videos and advocate interviews on several news magazine programs, including Nightline, Fox Business, and 60 Minutes. Finally, a number of small and large posters depicting lending and mortgage horror stories featured as part of AFFIL's on-going campaigns have been retained for preservation in this series. P. Thomsen April 6, 2011 Rev. April 11, 2011

The American Council on Consumer Interests (ACCI) records document the activities of the group from its beginning in 1953 through 1983.

The first series contains incoming and outgoing correspondence of the executive directors, Edward Metzen (1973-1976), Karen Stein (1975-1978), Mel Zelenak (1978-1982), and Barbara Slusher (1984- 1986). The correspondence pertains mainly to payment of membership dues, a proposed site relocation, 1978, and publications.

The second series, the board of directors, consists of minutes from board meetings and annual reports to the board from the executive directors (1976-1982).

The third series, committees, is one of the largest comprising forty-three folders. The executive committee sub-series (1956- 1982) contains correspondence, agendas, annual reports, and documents concerning annual business meetings, meetings, conference calls, and miscellaneous matters.

The membership committee (1972-1977) is the second sub-series and contains correspondence regarding membership in ACCI and a promotional manual. Conferences is another sizable series in the records. It spans the years 1953-1978 and is housed in one box. In this series is information about each annual conference including registration, program, finances, and planning.

The fifth series contains financial documents. It is divided into three sub-series; financial documents (1955-1983), grants (1963- 1981), and Internal Revenue Service (1967-1979). The first sub-series includes monthly, budget, and accountants reports, financial projections, and miscellaneous items. The grants sub-series contain information on grants applied for and/or received from Consumer's Union and the Office of Consumer Education. The third sub-series, Internal Revenue Service, has information pertaining to tax status, employee withholding, and miscellaneous tax information.

The last series contains miscellaneous material for the years 1965-1982. It concerns the following; ACCI history (a history of ACCI written by Henry Harap in 1969 is found here), an internship program that began with the Conference of Consumer Organizations, a booklet on lobbying by public interest charities, National Consumers Week, and testimonies from the Consumer Federation of America.

Collection primarily contains amateur radio club QSLs, administrative/program materials, and station logs. Meeting minutes, the club constitution, and licensing material is included. Also in the collection are brochures, guides, and other publicity for the club itself.

Alma Williams, author of the 1975 book, Educating the Consumer: A Practical Guide, advocated for consumers around the world. Based in Great Britain, Williams was an active member of the International Organization of Consumers Unions (IOCU). Through her work with IOCU, she traveled extensively throughout Europe, Israel, Asia, and the Pacific Region to work with consumer advocacy organizations. Williams served as IOCU’s representative to UNESCO. Her collection includes numerous IOCU programs, proceedings, and reports as well as a questionnaire for consumer advocates and an outline of her tasks at an IOCU Regional Office.

Within Williams' collection, there is evidence of her work for IOCU’s Asia and Pacific Regional Workshop on Consumer Testing and Research. One organization she worked with was the Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development. Materials from this group include scripts for programs targeting consumer products such as shampoo, detergent, and acne preparations.

Williams’ involvement in other international consumer organizations is represented through a variety of documents including conference proceedings, correspondence, papers, consumer education materials, and reports. Some of the organizations she had ties with are the Hong Kong Consumer Council, the Council of Europe, the International Congress on the Children of the Fourth World, Consumers Association, and Consumer Assembly (based in Great Britain).

Williams’ focus on educating consumers is evident in her papers. There is a booklet about adult education and television, a consumer education kit for teachers in Penang, and a paper titled Definition of Consumer Education from Consumer’s Association in London which, interestingly, quotes Dr. Richard L. D. Morse. Also of interest is correspondence from a House of Lords sub-committee member about her upcoming testimony to that group. On a lighter note, there is a caricature of Williams, as well as a handwritten score for a tune titled Consumer Rights, by Samuel Liew.

A letter in the donor file reveals that Williams remained active in the consumer movement in her later years continuing to represent IOCU at UNESCO, working with overseas consumer organizations, and developing a safety curriculum for the European Commission targeted at children in secondary schools. She noted the curriculum was for twelve countries and would be in nine languages.

The Alice L. Paddleford Wood Papers contain personal writing, newspapers items from her college days, and advertising. The papers are housed in ten boxes.

The advertisements and the printed materials are from Wood's work in advertising from 1925 to 1933. Most of these are from the Periodical Publishing Company and the Jaqua Company, although there are some ads from the Chapin's and Martin's department stores. The printed materials are mostly catalogs and journals that advertise furniture or give tips on how to make a house look nice.

The Literary Works contain articles and writings from college that Wood wrote as well as clippings that that was about her. Some of the articles written by Wood are from the Brown Bull. These have been transferred to the cataloged publications area of the University Archives.

The Edited Works contain edited documents by Wood and the Subject Series focuses on important people, times, or events. Wood edited the Kansas State Collegian in 1924 and 1925, and the Manhattan Daily Nationalist from September 8, 1924, to November 18, 1924, excluding the Sunday editions. These papers are in the Edited Works. The Subject Series is organized alphabetically by subject heading. Topics include important events and people such as the sinking of the Titanic, President Harding's death, Theodore Roosevelt, and World War I.

The remainder of the series is smaller. The Correspondence Series has some memos from her work at the Periodical Publishing Company and letters to Clementine Paddleford. The Invitations Series has invitations that could have possibly been designed by Wood as well as those she received. The Photographs Series contains photos of furniture and room layouts. The Sign Series includes patriotic signs from World War I.

The Alice C. Nichols papers (1922-1962) contain correspondence, notebooks, tax records, book typescripts, drafts of articles, newspaper clippings and printed material. These items document the time in which Ms. Nichols established herself as a writer from the age of nine until her death in 1969, with special emphasis on the year 1954 when her most notable publication, Bleeding Kansas, was published.

The papers are housed in five boxes constituting two linear feet. The papers are divided into five series: 1) correspondence, 2) notebooks and notes, 3) financial records, 4) literary productions and 5) printed material. Each series is arranged chronologically.

The correspondence series includes the years 1942-1961. it contains both personal and business letters. The personal correspondence is generally congratulatory during the time Ms. Nichols wrote and published Bleeding Kansas.The business correspondence deals with magazine editors of Country Gentlemen, Men's Wear, American Home, Collier's, Ladies' Home Journal and Farm Journal with whom Ms. Nichols collaborated when she worked for the United States Department of Agriculture as food guide editor. The majority of the business correspondence is with Oxford university Press, publishers of Bleeding Kansas. Some notable correspondents include Milton Eisenhower when he was President of Pennsylvania State college and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Correspondents from Kansas include Robert Conover of the English Department of Kansas State College and the staff of the Kansas State Historical Society.

The next series, notebooks and notes, include notes for two literary works ("A Group of Joe Nelson" and "The Self Possessed"), geology notes, class notes, and notes taken from a meeting in Liberal, Kansas. Financial records, series three, are from 1947 to 1956. The contain U.S. and New York State income tax returns, profit shares from Western Printing and Lithographing, inc., a royalty account at Oxford university Press and the results of a trip to the Saratoga Racetrack.
The literary productions series is divided into five sub-series: 1) books, 2) photostats, 3) articles, 4) article summaries and 5) drafts. Two complete typescripts and one carbon copy are included in the books sub-series. The two books, both written by Ms. Nichols, are entitled D.A. Fay and One Destiny. Within the photostats are maps, newspapers and illustrations proposed to be included in Bleeding Kansas. The 27 articles are primarily children's short stories. They were written when Ms. Nichols was employed by Artist and Writers Guild, Inc.

The summaries of articles by Ms. Nichols include seven articles written about such topics as the Reformation, free will, letter writing, medieval church, and modern science. They were apparently completed just before Ms. Nichols' death in 1969. The drafts are hand and typewritten stories, predominately unfinished, with one finished work: "Heracitus on Essays in Optimism".

The series of printed material has five sub-series. The are 1) magazines and articles, 2) newspapers (Nichols Journal), 3) newspapers (originals), 4) newspapers (photocopies) and 5) miscellaneous. Magazines and articles are printed articles from the Century Magazine, each on a different topic, which Ms. Nichols used in her ten-year research process for Bleeding Kansas. The second sub-series contains one issue of The Nichols Journal, Ms. Nichols first publications. She published the small newspaper in Liberal, Kansas when she was nine years old.

The third and fourth sub-series (newspapers, originals and photocopies) cover the years 1947-1961. The highlight the publication Bleeding Kansas and include reviews, autograph sessions with Ms. Nichols and summaries of her book. Also included in the newspapers sub-series are articles about the history of Liberal and Ms. Nichols' parents. Cities represented among the newspapers are Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit and Atlanta.

The miscellaneous sub-series of publications houses such items as a bookjacket of Bleeding Kansas, a program from the Mid-America Regional Writers Conference held at Kansas State College and a briefing from the United States Court of Appeals, U.S. against James W. Elwell and Co., Inc. and Charleston Stevedoring Company, et.al.

This collection features many pieces of correspondence. In addition, there are items concerning Francis Lewis’s activities in Cooperative Extension and 4-H. There are family expense books, receipts, canceled checks, bank statements, and other statistical financial information, plus photographs, awards, and ribbons. A major portion of the collection deals exclusively with the registered bull records. This material begins with the start of the herd to the dispersal auction in 1987. Another part of the records is ranch-related correspondences from the time John M. Lewis owned the herd to the final days of Walter’s control of the farm. Most of these letters consist of requests for bull prices and information, bull shows, bull sale confirmations, and association with the American Polled Hereford organization.

The Correspondence Series consists of nine boxes of personal letters from Robert and Martha Lewis to their parents. The letters begin when each child were students at Kansas State University, and continue through their academic pursuits. Also in this series is ranch-related correspondence to John and Walter as foremen of the herd. These letters are arranged alphabetically by the name of the person or company and in chronological order within each. Boxes eight and nine contain letters related to various subjects such as international, awards, hotels, publications, university, legal, and cattle organizations.

The second series concerns Francis Lewis. It begins with her time as a student at Kansas State Agricultural College and continues with her involvement in 4-H and a meats instructor/judge. Printed items in her collection concern meat cooking, judging, showing, and education. These items include brochures, pamphlets, books, and charts. There are various items dealing with meat judging contests including scorecards, statistical information, team placement information, and some unidentifiable material. Also contained are family expense booklets and receipts.

The third series comprises Walter and Francis’s judging for the Herford and Polled Hereford Association in arenas and shows in various countries which drew contestants from around the world. The fourth series is the Financial Series. Because of the nature of the records, this series includes both family business and ranch business. There are credit card records, canceled checks, bank statements, farm receipts, and Cooperative receipts. The fifth series is Cattle Records/Documentation. Within this group is a wide range of cattle records dealing with registration, births, deaths, sales, purchases, history, and transfer of the majority of the Lewis herd. There are various records, some complete and some incomplete, from the Polled Hereford Association Application Records to the Guide Lines Program records. This series also contains printed material associated with Walter Lewis, “Farm Management Records,” miscellaneous farm records, and weekly planners and calendar books pertaining to both Walter and Francis.

Photographs make up the sixth series. This includes family members, awards, shows, and cattle. The photos are organized by subject, although a portion of the collection is unidentified. The seventh series is Artifacts, primarily those of Walter Lewis. They include pins from shows in the United States along with some foreign countries. Also included are buttons representing Walter’s activities. Other items include an assortment of name tags and ribbons from both Walter and Francis. Whenever possible, a few of these items, such as the pins and buttons, have been photocopied for easier identification and retrieval.