Blue Mound School, Jefferson County
Date: Between 1900 and 1929
View of three boys with lunch pails walking from the Blue Mound School near Valley Falls in Jefferson County, Kansas. Also visible in the background are a shed and a girl standing near the school.

Busby School
Date: Between 1900 and 1943
View of Busby School in Elk County, Kansas.

Center Hill School, Hamilton County, Kansas
Date: Between 1905 and 1909
A photograph showing students and teacher Myrtle Matchett posed in front of Center Hill school, School District N 57, Hamilton County, Kansas. The school building was erected in 1889.

Crocker school house
Date: Between 1890 and 1920
This photographs shows the Crocker school house in Chase County, Kansas.

Dunlap Academy and Mission School, Dunlap, Kansas
Date: Between 1880 and 1899
This photograph portrays the students and teachers of the African American school in Dunlap, Morris County, Kansas. Dunlap was located in eastern Morris County and was established in May 1878. The colony was founded by Benjamin Singleton and the Tennessee Real Estate and Homestead Association. This was the last colony Singleton founded in Kansas.

Emigrants' guide to the Kansas Pacific Railway lands
Creator: Kansas Pacific Railway Company
Date: April 1871
A railroad company advertisement to emigrants promising cheap, abundant and good land for agricultural purposes.

Fall Leaf School, Leavenworth, Kansas
Date: Around 1900
A view of schoolchildren and their families assembled on and in front of the Fall Leaf School's porch in Leavenworth, Kansas.

Floyd and Glenn Cunningham burned in schoolhouse fire, Stevens County
Creator: Hugoton Hermes
Date: February 16, 1917
Newspaper article in the "Hugoton Hermes" describing the Stevens County, Kansas schoolhouse fire that destroyed the school and severely burned brothers Floyd and Glenn Cunningham. Thirteen year old Floyd, 1903-1917, died from his injuries two weeks later. The physician treating seven year old Glenn, 1909-1988, told him that he would never walk again; but with rehabilitation and personal determination, he recovered to become one of the nation's greatest milers. Between 1932 and 1936, Glenn won Big Six indoor mile titles and participated in the 1932 and 1936 Olympics. In 1938, Cunningham became the world's fastest miler as he set a new indoor mile record at Dartmouth College. In 1978, he was named the outstanding track performer in the 100-year history of Madison Square Garden and, in 1979, he was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.

Hand book for the Kansas Pacific Railway
Creator: Kansas Pacific Railway Company
Date: 1870
This Kansas Pacific Railroad publication advertises good abundant and cheap land readily available on its rail line between Kansas City, Missouri, and Denver, Colorado. The booklet containing a description of the country, cities and towns lying along the Kansas Pacific Railroad and its branches.

Herkimer School in Marshall County, Kansas
Date: Between 1900 and 1910
This photograph shows an interior view of the Herkimer School in Marshall County, Kansas. The students are posed in a group with the teacher and desks, organ, chalkboard and wall hangings are visible.

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.

It is just as important to transport ideas as hogs
Creator: Kansas Good Roads Association
Date: 1920s
This pamphlet by the Kansas Good Roads Association argues that the state should work to improve rural transportation to better child education. The pamphlet equates the importance of childhood education with agricultural production and commerce.

Jefferson County Classroom, Jefferson, Kansas
Date: Between 1890s and 1910s
A black and white photo depicting an interior view of a Jefferson County classroom with three young boys formal posing before the camera. In the background, the daily lessons have been written on a nearby chalkboard.

Kansas Smaller High Schools Association Booster
Creator: Kansas Smaller High Schools Association
Date: January 31, 1955
This publication of the Kansas Smaller High Schools Association includes minutes of the first meeting, minutes of the executive council, the constitution, and a list of participating schools. The association represented the interests of rural schools and communities and formed largely to respond to pressure for the consolidation of rural schools.

Lands in Kansas : ask your nearest ticket agent the cost of a ticket to Kansas
Creator: Union Pacific Railway Company
Date: 1893
Union Pacific Railway Company pamphlet advertising cheap and affordable land in Kansas for purchase.

Notice of Floyd Cunningham's death, Stevens County, Kansas
Creator: Hugoton Hermes
Date: February 23, 1917
Newspaper article from the "Hugoton Hermes" reporting the death of Floyd Cunningham, 1903-1917, older brother of miler Glenn Cunningham, 1909-1988. The brothers were severely burned in a fire at the Sunflower schoolhouse located in southwest Stevens County. Thirteen year old Floyd Cunningham died of his injuries two weeks later. The physician treating seven year old Glenn told him that he would never walk again. With rehabilitation and personal determination, however, he recovered to become one of the nation's premiere runners. Between 1932 and 1936, Glenn won Big Six indoor mile titles and participated in the 1932 and 1936 Olympics. In 1938, Cunningham became the world's fastest miler as he set a new indoor record at Dartmouth College. In 1978, he was named the outstanding track performer in the 100-year history of Madison Square Garden and, in 1979, he was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.

Pottawatomie Indian Mission church
Date: 1905 ?
View of an unidentified Pottawatomie Indian mission church, c. 1905.

Pottawatomie Indian Mission church
Date: 1905 ?
View of an unidentified Pottawatomie Indian mission church.

Report of the majority, in report and testimony of the select committee to investigate the causes of the removal of the Negroes from the southern states to the northern states, in three parts
Creator: United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on Negro Exodus
Date: 1880
This report, written by the majority party of the Senate select committee investigating the Exodus, outlines the majority's conclusions about why Southern blacks were emigrating to the North during the post-Civil War period. This committee, composed of majority and minority parties, had taken testimony from hundreds of people having direct knowledge of the exodus movement. In essence, the majority party (the Democrats) concluded that blacks in the South had not emigrated due to "any deprivation of their political rights or any hardship in their condition" in their home state. Furthermore, the report maintained that aid societies in the North (such as the Freedmen's Aid Association of Topeka) were working with the Republican Party to encourage black emigration for purely political means. The majority party was composed of three senators: Daniel W. Voorhees (Dem., Indiana), Zebulon B. Vance (Dem., North Carolina), and George H. Pendleton (Dem., Ohio).

Sod schoolhouse, District #13, Sheridan County, Kansas
Date: 1897
This photo shows students and a teacher standing by a sod schoolhouse, District #13, Sheridan County, Kansas

Spirit of 76 schoolhouse
Date: Between 1960 and 1970
Photo of the Spirit of 76 schoolhouse located on the Horning property in Jefferson County near Grantville.

Students, Greeley County, Kansas
Date: Between 1880 and 1890
A black and white photo depicting a group of students with their teacher in front of a one-room schoolhouse in Greeley County, Kansas. Two of the children are informal posed with their respected mules. For many students, during the 1880s and the 1910s, the commute to school consisted of walking or riding a livestock animal.

Student working on arithmetic
Date: Between 1890 and 1920
View of a student standing at a chalk board working on arithmetic.

Susan Dimond journal
Creator: Dimond, Susan B., fl. 1870-1873
Date: Between January 3, 1875 and January 12, 1875
These entries from the journal of Susan Bixby Dimond describe her experiences as a settler in Osborne County, focusing primarily on her position as a schoolteacher and the harsh winter weather. Also, Dimond states that her family is surviving in Kansas but that "at present I advise all to keep away." Dimond sent her journals to an unidentified friend in order to maintain contact; this may explain the journal's conversational tone.

Urbin I. Rudell photograph collection
Creator: Rudell, Urbin I., 1878-1966
Date: Between 1907 and 1912
Photographer Urbin I. Rudell, 1878-1966, was born in the Lenape community of Leavenworth County, Kansas. His family later moved to Loring, Wyandotte County, where he attended school. Rudell became interested in taking photographs at age 15 and taught himself the art of photography with a German-made camera he acquired. Rudell married Alice Mae Barry in 1903 and the couple moved to Bonner Springs in 1907. About this time, the city leaders were promoting Bonner Springs as a health resort. Rudell was hired to take photographs of Bonner Springs businesses, homes, and other points of interest, which were published in the booklet "Kansas Karlsbad." During the Depression, Rudell was hired to carry mail and parcel post between the post office and the Union Pacific depot, and he held that job for the next twenty years. He continued to operate his photography business and worked out of his home taking photographs when requested and whenever a major event occurred in town.