The Dottie Wellington Papers consists of two boxes of original copies and reprints of the syndicated “Let’s Cook” cooking column by Dottie (Dorothy Anne Wellington, 1924-2015) that appeared in the Ottawa Herald of Ottawa, Kansas, and many other newspapers, as well as correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, and receipts that pertain to the publishing of “Let’s Cook” articles. Some of the correspondence and receipts relate to Dottie’s successful efforts to have the “Let’s Cook” articles published in two “Let’s Cook” cookbooks and the advertisement of the cookbooks. Dottie was a well-known member of the Ottawa community throughout her life as a volunteer and teacher of cooking classes. Her papers were donated to Kansas State University by her son, Thomas, upon her death.

The collection was created by Jane Franz Butel during her college education and her career.
Series 1 is divided into two sub-series: Articles about Jane Butel and Articles by Jane Butel. Articles about Jane Butel include numerous newspaper and magazine articles ranging from 1976-2014, covering interviews with Jane Butel as well as reviews of her cookbooks and featured recipes. Included are articles from the <emph render='italic'>LA Times, New York Times,</emph> and the <emph render='italic'>San Francisco Chronicle,</emph> as well as travel magazines, ladies magazines, and cooking magazines. The March 1996 issue of Bon Appetit names Butel's cooking school as one of the top four in the world.  Articles by Jane Butel include clippings from newspapers and magazines written by Jane Butel between 1976-2008, covering topics such as chili and the history of Mexican cuisine. Included are recipes and stories appearing in <emph render='italic'>Cooking Light, Food and Wine, Los Angeles Times,</emph> <emph render='italic'>First for Women,</emph> and several publications from New Mexico.
Series 2 includes undated documents relating to publishing, press releases, research, and publicity tours for three of Butel’s cookbooks, <emph render='italic'>Chili Madness, Tex Mex,</emph> and <emph render='italic'>Hotter than Hell,</emph> as well as her unpublished manuscript<emph render='italic'>, The Efficient Kitchen.</emph>
Series 3 includes documents relating to cooking schools, many of which Butel hosted for private corporations as team building events.  Microsoft, Southwest Airlines, Hewlett Packard, Firestone and the Carlyle group are among her clients.
Series 4 contains documents on Butel’s consulting for corporations. Companies include Grand Union, Del Taco, Sargento and many others. Most include background information on revenue for these companies.
Series 5 has limited documentation about JBA, Jane Butel Associates.
Series 6 has product information and promotions for her business, Pecos Valley Spice Co. Yearly reports, status updates and demographic reports for the company are among the documents.
Series 7 contains letters sent to Jane Butel from 1965-2009, including fan mail ("nice letters") and thank you cards from school attendants. Also included is correspondence to and from magazines, newspapers, publicity companies and television stations.
Series 8 documents the early years of Butel’s career. Her work for the Public Service Co. of New Mexico, resumes, and extensive consumer papers from GE and Con Edison are included as well as papers relating to her work as Vice President of Consumer Affair and Marketing at American Express.
Series 9 contains copies of Con Edison speeches about cooking. Woman of Achievement award, KSU Entrepreneurship award, as well as New Mexico Woman award are included along with an invitation to the 1969 Presidential Inauguration.
Series 10 has Butel's coursework for her journalism and reporting classes as a student at Kansas State University.
Series 11 chronicles meetings and conferences Butel attended as a guest or honored award winner.
Series 12 contains extensive documentation about Butel’s publicity tours, advertisements, book promotions for things such as her books, as well as cooking schools and JBA. Included are contact lists, press releases and schedules.
Series 13 includes papers relating to organizing, planning, distributing, producing, and financing Jane Butel’s cooking show, as well as television show scripts and outlines.
Series 14 contains correspondence and contracts with Jane Butel’s Southwest Kitchen television show sponsors. They include the American Dairy Association, A.G. Russell Knives and Vitamax.
Series 15 contains correspondences with potential sponsors for Jane Butel’s cooking show. They include Con Agra Foods, Inc., Eastman Kodak, Gallo of Sonoma, General Electric, Land of Lakes, Mrs. Dash, and Southwest Airlines.
Series 16 has approximately 2,400 photographs taken of and by Butel, mainly of her cooking school and participants. There are also publicity photos, personal photos, and food photos. Only a few photographs are dated. Most of the people in the photographs are unidentified.
Series 17 has over 100 tapes of Butel's cooking shows, television appearances and feature stories. Of note are appearances on Regis and Kathy Lee, Emeril and Friends, and the Today Show. Filming for Butel's cooking shows, including Jane Butel's Southwest Kitchen, took place in 1998-2000. The series ran for seven years nationally on PBS as well as a channel out of Denver and one out of Dallas. The cooking shows are recorded on Betacam SP tapes.

The Manuscript Cookbook collection includes 125 cookbooks with culinary recipes and home remedies dating from the early 16th century to the late 20th century. The cookbooks originate from various countries, such as Austria (1), Denmark (1), England (25), France (1), Germany (7), Ireland (3), Mexico (5), Palestine (1), Slovakia (1), Switzerland (2), and the United States (42). The books vary in size and shape and are almost exclusively handwritten. Although most are written in English, other languages include German (10), French (2), Danish (1), and Hebrew (1).

The Correspondence Series (1834, 1845-1966) consists of twelve boxes and four sub-series.
The first sub-series are correspondence between family members and friends between the years 1834, and 1845 and 1966.  It consists of nine boxes and twenty additional file folders in box 10.
The second sub-series is Education and made up of one file folder.  Correspondence in this sub-series contains “pressure notes” to Olive and Mary Page when they attended Mt. Holyoke-Female Seminary wanting the twins to change their religious beliefs.
The third sub-series is Medical and is comprised of 33 file folders that contains correspondence that deal with Dr. William H. Page’s medical practice.
The fourth sub-series, Military, contains two file folders of World War I letters to Olive Page between 1918 and 1919.
The Art Series (1851-1852) consists of one cartoon that was created by Daniel Page when he was sent home from the Phillips Exeter Academy “because he did not know enough to enter the academy.”
The Cookery Series (ca. 1910-1920, undated) includes Mary Page Hastings undated manuscript cookbook.  This cookbook includes recipes for cream pies, feed for 40 hens and washing fluid.  Also in this series is a score card when Olive Page Rogers judged butter contests between 1910 and 1920.
The Education Series (1844-1929, undated) consists of school transcripts for Daniel Page from Phillips Exeter Academy, Florence Page from Newark Art School of Fine & Industrial Arts and Kingman Page from Bowdoin College.  Essays by Mary Page, Nina Page, and William Page are included.
The Family Series (1817, 1943-195[2], undated) consists of eighteen file folders. These folders include genealogical information, garden records, church membership, wedding gifts, funerals, marriages and school medical examination.
The Financial Series (1821-1948) is housed in fourteen file folders contains ledger books with minutes and legal information, receipts for payments to teachers, individual accounts, and financial documents pertaining to organizations and society pins.  A flat box includes an account book for pigs/hogs, horses, cattle, hens, sheep, wall paper for the Portland Street House, feed supplies, clothing, utilities, labor expenses, etc.
The Legal Series (1789-1947, undated) is comprised of real estate documents, deeds, a law suit that Alice Page filed against Daniel Page and Benjamin Page in the 1840s, and wills and estates.
The Literary Series (1823-1923, undated) consists of essays by William H. Page, Poetry by Beatrice Page, Mary Page Hastings and Minnie Hastings and Valentines to William Page and Huldah Page.
The Medical Series (1840s-1885) is made up of documents from William H. Page’s medical practice.  Items included are record books of patients, records of military recruits examined by Page at Boston during the Civil War, prescriptions, cures, and documents Page’s eye injury.
The Military Series (1861-1863) contains a discharge record book of Civil War soldiers from Massachusetts and New Hampshire.  This book provides the rank, company, regiment, state, residence, date of discharge, volume number and page number.
Printed Material (1839-1927) includes advertisement, announcements, annual reports, booklets about agriculture, medical, mining, silver ware and travel; a New Testament Bible belonging to Daniel Page; broadsides; calling card; invitations, and newspaper clippings.
Diaries Series (1854-1988) consists of 26 diaries.  The most prominent diaries in the collection were written by Nina E. Page, daughter of Dr. William H. Page, from 1911 to 1942.
Memo Notebooks Series (1874-1881; 1909; 1973; undated) is comprised of two Page family address books (1909 and 1973), an undated events book, and an autograph book.
Correspondence Series, Alphabetical, 1972-2004 and undated consists of correspondence to Carolyn Page and Roy Zarucchi and their business The Nightshade Press.
Correspondence Series, Chronological, 1834-1946 and undated is made up of handwritten correspondence between Page Family members.  These letters were not included in the original collection as Carolyn Page was using them for research.  This series also includes correspondence, 1847-1878 and undated, that are typewritten because they had been transcribed onto a CD.
Subject, 1851-2002 and undated, is comprised of information relating to some of the Page family members and information pertaining to The Nightshade Press such as press releases, poetry book reviews, and some authors who wrote for the journal.
The Financial Series, 1850-1947, is made up of Account and Note Books and financial information kept by Victor E. Page and Olive Page Rogers.  These accounts include prices of food, clothing and other household items purchased as well as crops and livestock bought and sold.
Legal Documents II, 1822-1912, consists of real estate records and deed, marriage records, wills, and estate records.  The most interesting items in this series are the wills and estate documents of Benjamin and Huldah Page.
Literary Works II consists of an incomplete manuscript by Carolyn Page titled <emph render='italic'>Homesteading in Desperate Times.</emph>  It was to be a book about the twins, Mary and Olive Page.  Mary married and moved to Missouri, while Olive taught school in Boston.  Often Mary wrote home asking Olive to send her old clothes so that she could sew clothes for her children.
Printed Material II, 1839-2000, includes articles, books published by The Nightshade Press, book reviews, hymn lyrics, The Nightshade Press journals from 1989 to 2000.
The Photograph Series consist of three (3) photographs: Daniel and Maggie Page, Dannie, Lilli and Nettie, and an unidentified person.
The Media Series consists of one Compact Disk (CD, undated).  This CD contains Page Family correspondence that has been transcribed.  Researchers should try to match the transcribed letter to the original handwritten if all possible for accuracy.
The Art Series II, 1930 and undated, consists of artwork by Carolyn Page, Anne Croom, Wilma Fulkerson, Ray Gengenbach, Florence Page Woodes, and Roy Zarucchi.
The Oversize Series, 1865-1889, 1986 and undated, is made up of three Physician Record books belonging to Dr. William H. Page and to Nina A. Page and some art work by Anne Croom, Ray Gengenback, Joe McLendon and Carolyn Page.
The Artifacts Series, 1889-1890, 1915 and undated includes a birthday card, calling card case, a medical prescription pad, two wallets – one black and one brown, and a wooden letter box.  There are also empty envelopes in this series that did not have correspondence attached.

Shirley Sarvis papers reflect her professional career during the second half of the twentieth century, primarily dated 1960-2005. The collection contains her biography and several personal photos, including those from notable birthdays, family pictures, and some portraits. A large portion of the collection is made up of magazine, newspaper clippings, and other documentation in regards to wine tasting and food pairing – specifically focusing on California wines. Additionally, there are numerous recipes relating to Woman’s Day and entertaining in the home – some of which contain personal recipe notes from Sarvis. The collection also holds personal correspondence with friends, publishers, and prominent people in food and wine business, most notably with Julia and Paul Child. Series 13, 14, and 15 contain information and documentation from Sarvis’ trips to abroad, specifically Mexico and multiple trips to European countries.