The University Archives Morse Department of Special Collections is the recepient of a collection of memorabilia from the first months of the Iraq war.

Lonnie Maynard, Independence, Mo., donated correspondence, photographs, maps and artifacts he brought back from Iraq.

Maynard contacted Mark Parillo, director of the Institute for Military History and 20th Century Studies, about donating the items to K-State, because he heard about the growing concentration in the Department of Military History, Parillo said.

"They decided this would be the best place," Parillo said.

Parillo said Maynard heard through a friend that K-State had a growing military history institute and decided to donate the items to Hale Library.

"He wanted it to go somewhere where it would be appreciated," Anthony Crawford, chair of the Morse department, said.

Maynard is employed by General Motors in Kansas City, Mo., and has photos still to bring to Hale Library.

He is also an active National Guardsman and is scheduling time to bring the other memorabilia is difficult, Crawford said.

Maynard wrote frequently to his wife and described what living conditions were like, Crawford said.

Maynard was a military police officer, training Iraqi soldiers to patrol Baghdad, and he wrote about these and other experiences.

"He writes a lot of intimate things," Crawford said.

There are also about 750 photographs from Maynard's time in Kuwait and Baghdad.

"The collection provides the experience of a soldier in Iraq," Crawford said.

In addition to the photos of Iraq and Afghanistan, there are also photos of Maynard's children and family.

While in Iraq, Maynard also picked up some Iraqi uniforms left in a building, as well as medals and other items.

Although such items are considered contraband now, they were brought home during a time when bringing such objects wasn't illegal, Crawford said.

The items aren't on display yet, because they are still being examined.

Crawford said the uniforms need to be cleaned, and the photos still need to be labeled before they can be presented to the public, he said.

The University Archives contain office records, publications and printed material, photographic records, audio and video tape recordings, and papers of alumni, according to the University Archives general information catalogue.

In addition, there are military history archives spanning from the Civil War to the Iraq War.

"Our mission here in the archives is to support the academic programs here at Kansas State," Crawford said.