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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN WWW.KANSAN.COM | NEWS | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2007
in brief
Wichita's Big Ditch needs millions in repairs
WICHITA The Big Ditch, which protects a large section of Wichita from flood damage, has suffered erosion damage and needs millions of dollars in repairs, city and federal officials say.
The ditch, formally known as the Wichita-Valley Center Flood Control Project, stretches 18 miles along western Wichita and has 50 miles of connecting channels and more than 90 miles of levees. When necessary, water is diverted into the ditch from the Arkansas River, the Little Arkansas River, Cowskin Creek and Chisholm Creek.
The water inside the ditch usually is shallow, but it has been bank full in recent weeks and an annual inspection by the Army Corps of
Associated Press
Engineers last week found erosion. The corps plans to complete a damage report within 90 days.
The ditch was built in the 1950s by the corps and is maintained by the city and Sedgwick County. An application for money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency sought up to $6 million for repairs, but final cost estimates will depend on the corps'final report.
Bush backs Palestinian leader in battle with Hamas
WASHINGTON President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday sought to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his battle with Hamas for primacy, calling him a moderate voice and the only true leader of the Palestinian people.
Bush and Olmert, before meeting in the Oval Office, both spoke positively to reporters of the prospect for new talks between Abbas and the Israelis.
Bush called Abbas "the president of all the Palestinians" and "a reasonable voice amongst the extremists."
Bush and Olmert met in the aftermath of turmoil that left Abbas, a Western-backed moderate, in control of one Palestinian government in the inland West Bank and his Islamist rival Hamas in control of the separate Gaza Strip on the coast.
Associated Press
KU researcher wins award
CAMPUS
By Sam Carlson
scarlson@kansan.com
For Susan Craig, more than a decade of work — most of it done without the help of a computer is finally being recognized.
Craig, head of the Murphy Art and Architecture Library at the University of Kansas, recieved the Art Libraries Society of North America's Worldwide Books Award for Electronic Resources for her electronic book, "Biographical Dictionary of Kansas Artists (active before 1945)."
"It's a record of cultural history for the state," Craig said.
Craig began the project in 1981 when she came to the University, after she realized that no such resource on Kansas artists existed. Craig worked on the manuscript throughout the '80s, but abandoned the project after plans to publish the book fell through.
Along with national recognition, Craig said she continues to receive notes from people who have relatives listed in the dictionary or own a piece of art by one of the listed artists.
"I literally shelved it in my attic," she said.
The book lay untouched until 2005 when Craig decided to continue her project utilizing Internet and other computer resources to track down a good deal of information that had previously eluded her.
The eBook, published in August 2006, is a free dictionary of artists who were either born in Kansas or produced art while they lived in
the state.
Craig said she chose online publication instead of traditional publication because she had found so much free information on the Internet.
"I wanted to share the work that I had done that same way," she said.
Some of the entries contain as much information as an artist's birth and death dates, a list of artworks, awards received, and other biographical information. Other entries are less complete, including only the names of people who "lived in Kansas and called themselves artists at certain times," Craig said.
She said she used 1945 as a stopping point because it marked an important shift in art history. The movement of people and the development of art institutions after World War II changed the way art was produced, Craig said.
Charles Eldredge, professor of the history of art said that the resource could benefit collectors, students, archivists and history preservation professionals alike.
"It's the kind of fundamental resource tool that is far too seldom encountered," said Eldredge.
"The Biographical Dictionary of Kansas Artists (Active before 1945)" can be found online at KU ScholarWorks.
Craig said she will continue to expand the dictionary's information and plans to release a second volume, though she didn't know an exact date.
- Edited by Ben Smith
Famous artists from Kansas
Francis Blackbear Bosin
- A Native American artist
with Kiowa and Comanche
affiliations, Bosin was appointed
Governor's artist in 1977, three
years before his death.
John Steuart Curry - Born in Dunavant in 1897, Curry painted the award-winning "Tornado over Kansas," He later painted murals in the Kansas Statehouse.
Aaron Douglas - This Tope ka-born painter was a key figure of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. He is considered the "father of black American art."
Rudolph Wendelin - Born in 1910, Wendelin studied architecture at the University of Kansas. He later joined the U.S. Forest Service and helped launch the Smokey Bear project.
- Frederic Remington - This artist, born in 1861, specialized in western scenes, and his sculptures and paintings of the old American west are among the icons of American art.
— Taken from The Biographical Dictionary of Kansas Artists (Active before 1945).