KU history professor emeritus, also known for banana memorabilia collection, dies at 85

In this file photo from 2011, retired Kansas University history professor Charles Stansifer shows off some of his more than 1,000 banana-themed pieces of memorabilia.

Kansas University history professor emeritus Charles Stansifer was known for fostering partnerships between KU and Latin American universities.

He also had a zany collection that paralleled, somewhat, his academic interests — more than 1,000 banana-themed pieces of memorabilia, from toys to puzzles to limericks he wrote himself.

The KU community this week is mourning Stansifer, of Lawrence, who died Feb. 4 at age 85.

“I join the University of Kansas community in mourning the death of Charles Stansifer, renowned for his research in Latin American studies and work to expand KU’s reputation in the field,” Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said in a statement.

Stansifer was born in Garden City, grew up poor during the Depression and didn’t leave Kansas until he was 18, according to a 2005 interview he did for the KU Endacott Society’s Oral History Project.

In this file photo from 2011, retired Kansas University history professor Charles Stansifer shows off some of his more than 1,000 banana-themed pieces of memorabilia.

But his horizons would broaden immensely.

Neither of his parents had a high school education, but “both were convinced that education was the way out of poverty,” Stansifer said in the interview.

After high school, Stansifer got a job laying and tamping railroad ties for Santa Fe Railway, where he started picking up Spanish from co-workers, almost all of whom were Mexican-American, he said.

He went on to college, earning a degree in Spanish and a master’s degree in history from Wichita State University. He received his doctorate in Latin American history from Tulane University.

It was in New Orleans, at a Tulane faculty party on a banana boat, where Stansifer’s fascination with the fruit began, he said in a 2011 Journal-World story.

An inability to access records from the United Fruit Company stymied his idea of doing a dissertation on the history of bananas. But bananas found their way into his curriculum through the years and, of course, into his memorabilia collection, according to the Journal-World. He was known for donning banana glasses and other collection items for his humorous semesterly banana lectures.

“You couldn’t do the history of Central America without being interested in bananas,” Stansifer told the newspaper. “That was essential.”

Stansifer started at KU as an assistant professor of history in 1963 and retired in 2004. He directed KU’s Center for Latin American Studies from 1975-89 and chaired the department of history from 1993 to 1996.

He served for more than 20 years on the board of directors of the Kansas-Paraguay Partnership and negotiated the first university exchange agreements between universities in Paraguay and the state universities of Kansas, according to KU. He also was the driving force behind the digitization of Central American Theses and Dissertations Collections available in KU ScholarWorks, and left contributions to KU Libraries.

“Charley played a substantial role in building the Latin American collections in Watson Library, and the Griffith Collection remains one of the best of its kind across the world thanks to his efforts,” Kent Miller, interim co-dean of KU Libraries, said in a KU news release. “Additionally, Charley was a generous friend and donor. The recently endowed Charles Stansifer Fund for Latin American Literature will continue to support collections at KU Libraries.”

Until dementia in later years limited his independence, Stansifer traveled all over the world for fun and in pursuit of his many interests, according to his obituary.

A memorial celebration is planned for a later date. The family suggests memorials through KU Endowment to the Stansifer Scholarship Fund, which benefits students of Central American Studies.