The book is worn and 153 years old, but it’s still important today.

Its title – “Kanzas and Nebraska: The History, Geographical and Physical Characteristics, and Political Position of Those Territories” – might not give away how important the book was to our state’s founding.

But today, the 146th anniversary of Kansas’ statehood, that book will get some recognition.

A newly donated copy of the book will be the focus of a reception at 3:30 p.m. today at Kansas University’s Spencer Research Library. The book, donated by the Historic Mount Oread Fund, will remain on display at the library through Feb. 16.

The book, the first on Kansas, was written by Edward Everett Hale in 1854, the year Kansas became a territory. It was published in Boston and helped spark anti-slavery sentiment there.

The New England Emigrant Aid Society, which founded Lawrence and fought for Kansas to be a free state, was located in Boston and had Eli Thayer (pictured above) as a leader. In fact, the copy of “Kanzas and Nebraska” at the Spencer Library is inscribed by the author: “To Eli Thayer Esq./The founder of Kanzas/with the regards of/E.E. Hale.”

The copy of the book was once housed at the Oread Collegiate Institute of Worcester, Mass.