Cotton gin
Creator: Southern Cotton Gin Company
Date: between 1860 and 1865
The Southern Cotton Gin Company of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, manufactured this wood and cast metal cotton gin. Joseph Piazzek, a Polish immigrant living in Valley Falls, Kansas, purchased it for $60. Although not a significant crop in Kansas, cotton was grown more frequently during the Civil War when southern cotton was scarce. Piazzek processed bolls from as far away as Fort Scott in southeastern Kansas, typically accepting one-fifth of the finished product as his fee.

Leigh R. Webber to Miss Brown
Creator: Webber, L. R.
Date: August 30, 1862-August 31, 1862
A letter written by Leigh R. Webber from Gibson County, West Tennessee, addressed to Miss Brown, a daughter of John Stillman Brown, a Unitarian minister who lived west of Lawrence, Kansas. Webber begins with the news that the troops may return to Kansas, though he and the other soldiers particularly wished to avoid Lawrence due to previous negative experience there. He describes camp news as well as local individuals and commerce. The second portion of Webber's letter relates news that the troops would be sent back to Missouri and expresses dread at the prospect of guerrilla warfare.

Henry and Clara Smith to John P. St. John
Creator: Smith, Henry and Clara
Date: May 7, 1879
Henry Smith and his daughter, Clara, wrote this letter to Kansas Governor John St. John requesting information about black emigration to Kansas. Smith wrote on behalf of his community in Marshall, Texas, saying that a number of people were hoping to emigrate because they were unable to make a living due to discriminatory practices. According to the letter, some of the Smith's white neighbors were threatening to follow black emigrants if they attempted to leave the area (to what end is unclear). In addition to his role as Kansas governor, St. John served on the Board of Directors of the Kansas Freedmen's Relief Association.

Clifford Hope
Creator: Forsythe
Date: February 1953
A black and white photo of U.S. Congressmen Clifford Hope from Kansas and members of the Cotton Advistory Group and Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson. Left to Right seated: Rep. Clifford R. Hope, (R.Kansas) Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, and Secretary Ezra Taft Benson. Standing: J.F. McLauin, President, National Cotton Ginners Association, Bennetsville, South Carolina; Alonza Bennett, Vice President, Federal Compressing and Warehousing Co., Memphis, Tenn.; Charles Cannon, President, Cannon Mills, Kannapolis, N.C.; George Wilson, President, California Farm Bureau Federation, Berkeley, Calif.; W.B. Coberly, jr., President National Cottonseed Products Association, Los Angeles, Calif.; A. M. Crawford, President, American Cotton Shippers Assoication, Memphis, Tenn.

Isaiah T. Montgomery to Governor John P. St. John
Creator: Montgomery, Isaiah T. (Isaiah Thorton), 1847-1924
Date: May 23, 1879
Isaiah T. Montgomery of Hurricane, Mississippi, wrote Governor John P. St. John of Topeka, Kansas, concerning the migration of twenty five families of black refugees from Mississippi to Kansas. Montgomery described the difficulties faced by the families and a visit he made to Kansas to assess their conditions. He also critiqued the relief programs in Kansas and made recommendations for assisting present and future migrants. In addition, the letter addresses Montgomery's broader effort to establish a community for black refugees in Kansas and the oppressive conditions under which blacks lived in Mississippi. Montgomery dictated a letter sent to him from William Nervis regarding the conditions of the refugees. During 1879 and 1880 a mass exodus of blacks from the deep South, known as the Negro Exodus, overwhelmed the state's ability to accommodate the refugees. These refugees were called Exodusters. Governor St. John established a Freedman's Relief Association to assist the migrants but its efforts were largely seen as a failure.

Roseline Cunningham to John P. St. John
Creator: Cunningham, Roseline
Date: June 18, 1879
Roseline Cunningham, a black schoolteacher from Westpoint, Mississippi, wrote this letter to Kansas governor John St. John concerning emigration to Kansas. Cunningham, like many other Exodusters, was unable to make a living in the South and sought information about settling in Kansas. She also wanted to know if there was a governmental agency or society that would help her (and her neighbors) cover the cost of emigration. Governor St. John served on the board of the Kansas Freedmen's Relief Association.

Twenty-ninth Biennial Report, Statistics by county showing population, acreage, production, and livestock, 1933-1934
Creator: Kansas State Board of Agriculture
Date: 1935
This section of "Statistics by Counties, Showing Population, Acreage, Production, and Livestock" is from the Twenty-ninth Biennial Report of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, to the Legislature of the State for the Years 1933 and 1934. It contains statistics compiled by the State Board of Agriculture pertaining to crop conditions, livestock, and other farm products. The most useful sections for seeing the impact of the Dust Bowl on agriculture are the sections for the counties of Finney, Ford, Grant, Haskell, Hodgeman, Morton, Seward, and Stevens in western Kansas.

Thirtieth Biennial Report, Statistics by county showing population, acreage, production, and livestock, 1935-1936
Creator: Kansas State Board of Agriculture
Date: 1937
This published report contains statistics compiled by the State Board of Agriculture pertaining to crop conditions, livestock, and other farm products for all Kansas counties. It was copied from the Thirtieth Biennial Report of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, to the Legislature of the State for the Years 1935 and 1936. The most useful sections for seeing the impact of the Dust Bowl on agriculture are the sections for the counties of Finney, Ford, Grant, Haskell, Hodgeman, Morton, Seward, and Stevens in western Kansas.

Thirty-first Biennial Report, Statistics by county showing population, acreage, production, and livestock, 1937-1938
Creator: Kansas State Board of Agriculture
Date: 1939
This published report contains statistics compiled by the State Board of Agriculture pertaining to population, crop conditions, livestock, and other farm products in western Kansas during the Dust Bowl years of 1937 and 1938; copied from the Thirty-first Biennial Report of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, to the Legislature of the State for the Years 1937 and 1938. The most useful sections for seeing the impact of the Dust Bowl on agriculture are the sections for the counties of Finney, Ford, Grant, Haskell, Hodgeman, Morton, Seward, and Stevens in western Kansas.