NOTE TO MEDIA: This is the seventh in a series of columns by Dr. Sam Dicks, university historian, concerning the history of what is now Emporia State University and the people who helped the university get to where it is today. The name of his column, "Wave the Old Gold," is taken from the title of a song that served as an alma mater (school song) in the early years of the institution.

EMPORIA, Kansas - "'When Kansas Boys Roamed Like Wild Young Mammals:' The Lives and Works of Vernon Kellogg and his Best Friend, William Allen White," is the title of the 2002 John J. Zimmerman Memorial Lecture on March 13 at Emporia State University. Professor Mark Largent of the University of Puget Sound will be the guest lecturer. (The quotation in the lecture title is from White's 1937 obituary of his friend Vernon Kellogg.)

Vernon Lyman Kellogg (1867-1937), a graduate of Emporia High School, was the eldest son of Lyman Beecher Kellogg, the first president of Kansas State Normal School (now Emporia State University). He and White attended the College of Emporia, and Kansas University together. They studied, played, worked, and camped together in their college days and remained the closest of friends in later years.

While White was becoming a noted author and newspaper editor, Kellogg became a noted entomologist at Stanford University. The author of over 30 books and over 300 articles, Kellogg worked under Herbert Hoover in Belgian war relief during World War I. He received the highest civilian decorations of the Belgian, Polish, and French governments for his wartime efforts.

After the war, Kellogg became the first permanent head of the National Research Council. Here he continued to be a leader in scientific research, and in many public issues and controversies related to the sciences, including Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Kellogg's widow Charlotte and White edited a memorial book which included some of Kellogg's writings and tributes from friends, scientists, and statesmen throughout the world.

Largent received his Ph.D. in the history of science from the University of Minnesota and is presently researching and completing a book titled "Vernon Kellogg: Biology and Reform in America."

The lecture, sponsored by the ESU Department of Social Sciences, will be at 7:30 p.m. on March 13 in the Colonial Ballroom of the Memorial Union. There is no admission charge and the public is invited. According to University Historian, Sam Dicks, the Colonial Ballroom is an "especially appropriate place for the lecture since Vernon's younger brother, Joseph Kellogg, was the architect for the Union."

The University Archives has a copy of the memorial book and much other information on Vernon Kellogg. William Allen White also comments frequently on Kellogg in his Autobiography. For more information contact Sam Dicks, (620) 343-2137 or (620) 341-6431, dickssam@emporia.edu Largent may be contacted at (253) 879-3977, mlargent@ups.edu

CONTACT: Dr. Sam Dicks, 620-341-6431

Last Updated July 2, 2007>